Pubdate: Mon, 25 Sep 2006
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Jonathan Jenkins, Toronto Sun

MARCH FOR A SAFER CITY

West-End Residents Hit The Street 'Disgusted With The Hookers, Pimps 
And Crackheads'

A small but ardent band of west-end residents marched defiantly 
through their neighbourhood with police yesterday in a show of 
solidarity against petty street crime blighting the area.

"I'm tired of cleaning up condoms I haven't had the pleasure of using 
myself," said accountant Alec Wright, a member of the Dupont 
Improvement Group: Improving Neighbourhoods, or DIG IN.

"We're disgusted with the hookers, pimps and crackheads."

Police Commanders

The Junction-area march, which had about 50 people -- including the 
commanders of both 11 and 14 Toronto Police divisions, local city 
Councillor Adam Giambrone and mayoral challenger Jane Pitfield -- 
left from Campbell Park and wound around the Dupont and Lansdowne Aves. area.

Jack Fava organized the event and said it was all about creating 
safe, clean, healthy neighbourhoods.

"There's safety in numbers," Fava said. "It's only when we come 
together that we can make changes."

Drugs -- and the prostitution and burglaries associated with the 
trade -- are the most common complaint.

And while the area has avoided the kind of pitched gun battles and 
high body counts of the city's most notorious neighbourhoods, Fava 
said the daily burglaries, street robberies and loitering "are the 
stuff that gets under your nails."

"People here fear going down to Lansdowne and Bloor," he said.

A Long Decline

Katie Kwaczek, a mother of a 2-year-old, said she was born in the 
Symington Ave. area and just recently bought a home there.

"Drugs, definitely drugs" are the biggest problem, she said.

Over her 32 years in the neighbourhood, she said she's seen a long 
decline, with single-family homes turned into rental properties for 
tenants with fewer roots and less commitment to the area.

Staff-Insp. Brodie Smollett, of 11 Division, said police and 
residents must work together if things are to improve.

"We're going to need everybody -- all hands on deck -- to solve these 
problems," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman