Pubdate: Sun, 27 May 2007
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 Calgary Herald
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Kelly Cryderman

STEPHEN AVENUE'S DRUG TRADE WOES

Jason Leader points to the spot where the makeshift rooftop shelter stood.

Last month, he watched while police aided by two City of Calgary 
trucks cleared an elaborate shack that had been built on top of 
Cabernet Bistro Lounge -- the Stephen Avenue restaurant he manages.

Leader doesn't know how many people were spending time up there, but 
the rough-and-ready home was made up of at least two large sheets of 
plywood and was full of bar glasses and needles. It's unclear what a 
four-metre drainage pipe stretching from the rooftop to the alleyway 
had been used for.

"They took, like two Dumpsters and a truck full of stuff, off the top 
of our roof," Leader said. "From the look of it, they were living 
there. There was blankets, clothes, bedding, and planks of wood to 
create the shelter."

Certainly, Stephen Avenue Walk is the liveliest part of the city at 
lunchtime -- and with an abundance of new restaurants, patios and 
buskers, it is increasingly becoming a major force on weekends and 
after dark. The recently opened Flames Central sports bar is a new 
draw. One city planner calls it Calgary's "main high street."

However, with more and more people traversing the formal pedestrian 
mall on 8th Avenue between 4th Street S.W. and Macleod Trail, there 
are more eyes to notice the seedier corners of Stephen Avenue. The 
new vibrancy is bumping up against old -- and what some would say 
increased -- downtown problems such as public drug selling and use.

"If people come to Calgary, one of the areas that they are definitely 
going to be walking up and down is Stephen Avenue," said Clayton 
Morgan, owner of the Belvedere restaurant.

"The biggest concern is obviously the prevalent drug use," Morgan 
said. "I think it has increased because crack is a drug that has 
taken on a lot more visibility and is a lot more prevalent in our 
society than it was years ago.

"With the city growing at the rate it has been, I don't think the 
police have been given the tools to cope with these problems."

This week, during the Federation of Canadian Municipalities 
conference at the Telus Convention Centre, mayors and civic officials 
from across the country will tour the mall. And as the hot weather 
arrives, Tourism Calgary is expecting 2007 to be another record year.

Leader still thinks Stephen Avenue is a great place to do business, 
saying "there's nothing downtown you can't find." But he thinks the 
police and court system should be tougher on illegal activities. 
"They just have to crack down on them harder."

Vendors in the area are split on whether the problem is greater than 
in past years or has simply remained a steady worry.

Calgary police -- who have stepped up patrols under the city's Clean 
to the Core program introduced last year -- say that the presence of 
drugs has only increased with the size of the population of the city, 
and no extraordinary hike has taken place.

Sgt. Jim Shymka said it is a pleasure to patrol Stephen Avenue 
because "it is a fun place to be." But he said the people downtown 
who have drug addictions are not proud.

"When they get it (drugs), they want to use it right away. That leads 
to sometimes this problem of this open drug use. It's as soon as they 
can get it, they need to use it."

Many business owners take great pains to point out that homeless 
people who aren't doing anything illegal have as much right as 
anybody else to be on Stephen Avenue

"There are homeless people who work all day long," said Brian 
Guichon, owner of Riley & McCormick, a western and souvenir store 
which blasts the same country song all day long to keep people from 
hanging around out in front.

But Zia Rahman, manager of Great Canadian Pizza, tells tales of 
street people smoking crack in his restaurant. "It used to happen 
before, but now we've got the camera over there. See that. Just 
because of that (it's stopped), because they used to do crack right 
over there and you can't even ask them to leave. They will be like, 
'no, we are not leaving.' "

Rahman said an increased police presence has also helped.

Ald. Madeleine King says because Stephen Avenue is such a busy 
thoroughfare for pedestrians, what happens there affects more people 
than on other streets.

"It is a very important consideration because of our reputation," 
King said. "We need to be seen as a safe place to be and a safe place 
to do business in the downtown core in general.

"We have to find ways of stamping out the open drug use. It's been 
steadily increasing. It is definitely getting worse."

King said Stephen Avenue has been "turned around" from the neglect of 
previous years. "We need to keep up the pressure to ensure that it 
does stay good. One of the most important aspects is the more people 
that you have using Stephen Avenue in the right way, the more it will 
chase away the criminal behaviour."

Kathy Christiansen, executive director of the Calgary Alpha House 
Society, a shelter for people with addictions, said about half of the 
society's clients have an addiction to crack. She said all parts of 
the city have addiction problems, but the downtown street people 
using drugs "are the most visible and stand out."

Christiansen agreed that a larger population has made this problem 
more obvious, and many social agencies in the city are feeling more 
pressure from the growth. "That is something that has changed. It's 
something we're not as used to in this city," she said.

"It is a social problem. So a social response is an appropriate response."

In other parts of Stephen Avenue, the concerns are different.

Shaun Desaulniers, managing partner and executive chef for Belgo -- 
further west on the stroll -- said the increasing homeless population 
is what concerns him.

"My main concern right now is the lack of control of the street 
people. I don't see the drug use so much, but the people that coming 
to our doors, the people we're having to chase away from our back . . 
. people trying to get into our vestibules and things like that. It's 
horrible right now," Desaulniers said.

"Definitely, it's getting a lot worse, especially as it's warming up."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom