Pubdate: Sat, 04 Jan 2003
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Richard Watts

PARKADE 'HELL' LAST STRAW FOR BUSINESS OWNER

Junkies and their druggie droppings -- excrement and injection trash-- have 
turned a downtown parkade into a filthy hell, complains the owner of an 
adjacent business.

Denyce Burrows, the owner of Old Fashioned Flowers, 738 Johnson St., said 
the parkade beside her business has become such a hellhole she wants to 
start a petition to demand the city do something. It's either that or 
Burrows will consider leaving downtown altogether.

There's the human dung. There are the used needles and bloody tissues, the 
wrappers from the alcohol swabs and the little plastic bottles that once 
contained sterile water. And there are the condoms filled with everything 
from sexual leavings to urine and blood.

Finally there are the junkies themselves, she said. They are asleep in the 
parkade most mornings, and troop in to shoot up in the afternoon.

Once, Burrows said, she locked a group of junkies outside in an alleyway. 
They pressed against the bars of the gate, hands and arms reaching through, 
clutching at the air begging "please, we want to get in, we want to get in."

"It was like a nightmare horror movie," she said.

Larry Gives, the security guard who works at the Johnson Street parkade, 
said the number of junkies in the parkade seems to have quadrupled since 
September. Gives said he and the other security guards came to know and 
recognize the addicts before that. They even gave them nicknames. Now there 
is a new addict every other day, he said, and they are dangerous.

"I've had needles thrown at me. I've been spat on. I've had needles with 
blood in them squirted on me," he said.

Burrows said she has complained repeatedly to city officials. Last month 
she even called on Mayor Alan Lowe and presented him with a box of that 
day's pickings of refuse.

"They all say the same thing 'we know, we know, but there is nothing we can 
do,'" said Burrows.

Now, she never walks to her car without calling for the security guard as 
an escort. Despite a 20-year history in her downtown location, Burrows is 
considering leaving, perhaps to Langford.

Her landlord wants her to sign a five-year lease but she isn't sure.

"This is no way to live,' she said.

Police say they are not giving up on enforcement, and politicians say their 
commitment to downtown remains firm.

"I take Denyce's concerns very seriously. She has been there for 20 years 
and I've gotten to know her," said Lowe. "I don't want her to leave."

Lowe said he has instructed the staff members to look into Burrows's 
concerns and see if they can come up with some solutions.

Victor Van den Boomen, Victoria manager of parking services, said the city 
is considering better lighting, better locks and better positioning of 
security cameras.

Deputy police chief Geoff Varley said nobody should think police have given 
up on the downtown, "One hundred per cent, absolutely not." On Friday, for 
example, three people were arrested for drug trafficking in the area, he said.

On most days, downtown will have eight to 10 beat officers walking or on 
bicycles.

Katrina Jensen, manager of health promotions at AIDS Vancouver Island which 
runs the needle exchange, said people like Burrows can call on her group to 
help dispose of needles.

"We are trying to be good neighbours," said Jensen.

She said it might be hard to believe, but most drug addicts are responsible 
and do bring their needles back. The exchange collects 104 needles for 
every 100 it passes out, she said.

Jensen said she hopes people like Burrows aren't too quick to move out of 
downtown Victoria, and they should not hesitate to call for any support to 
deal with the issue.

"We are working to find community solutions to this problem," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth