Pubdate: Tue, 21 Feb 2012
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608

NUISANCE BYLAW DEALS ONLY WITH SYMPTOM

The city is once again using its nuisance bylaw to crack down on a 
southend apartment plagued by drug and crime problems. While the 
legislation may help authorities clean up this particular part of the 
community, it doesn't tackle the root causes of the trouble.

The Newport apartments, located on Haliburton Street, is the latest 
property to be slapped with the nuisance designation. Nanaimo city 
council made the declaration last week, which means that the owners 
will be billed when police are called about complaints.

Police have received almost 50 calls about the apartment building 
during the past two years, with reports of prostitution, sexual 
assault, drug trafficking and theft. Residents have complained about 
breakins and garbage and drug needles tossed out of windows onto 
sidewalks below.

There are also issues with people coming and going from rooms at 
will, making the place seem "more like a flophouse than a legitimate 
apartment building," said Randy Churchill, the city's manager of 
bylaw services.

Police are now investigating after a 56-year-old woman was found dead 
in the parking lot behind the property.

The manager at the Newport claims the property is being unfairly 
targeted by the city and says that efforts are being made to clean 
the place up.

This isn't the first time city officials have used the nuisance bylaw 
to clamp down on a socalled crime "hub."

Nanaimo sees several properties a year declared as nuisances and all 
of them eventually make their way off the list, according to 
Churchill. The Value Lodge motel on Nicol Street had "hundreds" of 
visits from RCMP, prompting city council to label it a nuisance 
property in December 2009 and give it a bill of nearly $5,000 for 
police services. It worked itself off the list of nuisance properties in April.

A new manager and an aggressive plan to remove "problem tenants" 
resulted in the Value Lodge improving its image.

On the surface, it seems that the nuisance bylaw works. It did clean 
up a problem property that had been housing a wellentrenched culture 
of crime and drug dealing.

People could also argue that this bylaw helped to break up the 
problem, scattering it across the city rather having it remain in a 
single, concentrated location. This makes dealing with the problems 
more manageable, authorities say.

A similar argument has been made for Nanaimo's red zone, an area of 
downtown that convicted drug dealers are prohibited from entering. 
Breaking up the criminal activity makes it less intrusive and 
overwhelming on a single neighbourhood.

But these types of enforcement measures simply push the problems 
elsewhere. Nanaimo's nuisance bylaw won't address issues of addiction 
and poverty or reduce the number of people consumed by a life of crime.

Those types of problems can only be solved with comprehensive and 
well-funded social programs that attempt to tackle the root causes of 
these issues.

The city's nuisance property bylaw is nevertheless a useful tool when 
it comes to cracking down on a single location. But we shouldn't 
expect too much of it.

This legislation will deal with some of the symptoms, but it won't 
tackle the overall problem. Addressing the root causes of crime and 
poverty requires a more complex solution that no single bylaw could provide.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart