GROW OP STARTED AFTER SECURITY CUTBACK

Former Superintendent Still Fears For Her Life

Organized criminal elements in one of the buildings behind the city's
biggest grow-op bust moved into an east end highrise shortly after
the building operators drastically cut back on private security.

Police say the marijuana growers moved in late last year, some months
after a hard-working, crime fighting couple who were the
superintendents at the Grandville Avenue building was chased away by
gangs who shot up their car.

The couple was part of a broader community push to clean up the
building and the surrounding Riverdale neighbourhood in east Hamilton
that is plagued by crime, drugs and gangs.

The community that tipped off police continues to try to fight,
despite the setback of the grow ops.

The massive scale of the $11-million bust puts the spotlight on three
buildings, all operated by the same company, Di Cenzo Management Inc.
It raises questions about how the operations could have escaped detection.

Police say the owners and managers of the three buildings are not
suspects. But the former superintendents, current tenants and the
ward councillor say more could have been done to prevent the problem.

Di Cenzo vice-president Anthony Di Cenzo did not return repeated
phone calls from The Spectator yesterday. The Di Cenzos own dozens of
buildings in the city.

Councillor Chad Collins wants the managers to beef up their screening
of applicants for apartments.

"There are certain things you can do to make sure you don't invite
these problems," he said, pointing to the condition of the building
and the screening process.

Di Cenzo said Wednesday that landlords are limited in their ability
to screen apartment seekers. He said there was no way his company
could know what was going on in those units.

Collins said the three buildings have been problems for years, but
there are others in the area which don't have any problems at all.

On Wednesday, Di Cenzo said there had been no complaints or
indications of the grow ops. Residents disagree. Scott Metcalfe is
one of a number of tenants who said they did complain to the
superintendent of sawing and drilling noises, unusual activity. He
said those complaints weren't dealt with.

"I started making complaints about construction going on. We heard
drills and saws. I said, 'What is all this noise about? Someone needs
to check it out.'"

The city launched a property standards blitz at 11 Grandville in 2002
to try and fix up the building, but it only had limited success.

Heather and Ed Ambo were the superintendents of the building until
February 2006, when they moved away for safety.

"As soon as we were out of there, there was an opportunity to move
in," Heather Ambo said in a telephone interview.

Heather Ambo said that, shortly after they moved out, the security
company for the building was changed. Then it was drastically scaled
back from a 24-hour-a-day operation to only Friday and Saturday nights.

The Ambos had an extra officer at night and a dog. Both were
eliminated after they left. After their departure, there was less
communication with police and less supervision of the building.

"It made it easier for people to come and go," Heather said.

Ambo still fears for her life, but enjoys her quiet, post-Grandville existence.

A two-bedroom apartment at 11 Grandville Ave. rents for $650 a month,
including hydro.

There is high turnover in the buildings and many residents are recent
immigrants. Heather Ambo said any credit or reference checks on
potential residents are done at head office.

She is sure of one thing -- there were no grow operations in the
building when she was there. She had found one at another building
she managed and knew what to watch for, like tin-foiled windows.

She figures a big building like the one on Grandville is a target
because a marijuana farm is less obvious when plants are scattered
across many units.

She hopes the bust will be the start of a renaissance for the community.