Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jul 2013
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Canoe Inc
Contact:  http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Leo Knight

TIME TO CLEAN UP THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE

Calgary Herald columnist Licia Corbella drew a
firestorm of heat last week when she suggested in
a column that Glee actor Cory Monteith might have
lived were it not for the relaxed attitude towards drugs in Vancouver.

Now I wouldn't suggest for a moment that the
Insite supervised injection site had anything to
do with Monteith's untimely death =AD something
Corbella asserted. Indeed, in my experience these
celebs have no end of adoring sycophants who will
do their bidding. And I also take issue with
Corbella saying heroin was not easy to obtain in
other Canadian cities. It is. But as easy as it is in Vancouver? Probably
 not.

Corbella was vilified on social media and in the
mainstream media for the column she wrote.
Speaking to CKNW's Simi Sara on Friday, Corbella
asked if the radio host was defending heroin
users? Sara replied that she was =93defending Vancouver.=94

Whether or not you agree with the column,
Corbella's salient point was well-made. The
Downtown Eastside is a blot on the landscape of
Vancouver. True, parts of it are being
gentrified, much to the chagrin of the Pigin
Restaurant protesters who seem to think it's
desirable to live in a cesspit. But at least
several blocks of the DTES are still one of the
world's largest open-air drug bazaars.

Back in the 1980s, I walked a beat in the DTES.
Back then we called it the =93Skids.=94 It was a
constant battle to keep a lid on the bubbling
cauldron of crime. But at least we showed up for the fight.

In the early 1990s, Vancouver Police Department
management dismantled the beat teams and
instituted what was termed community police
officers. There were six of those positions. They
were told to go out and engage the community in dialogue.

Community barbecues were held and certain
scumbags became =93clients.=94 It was embarrassing
and an abdication of police responsibilities.

The problem for the VPD is once you give up the
street it is next to impossible to get it back.
The department has reinstated beat patrol
officers in recent times, but they are being
asked to do their job without tarnishing the
department's image. The beat guys I have spoken
with have taken to calling it the =93Jimage,=94 after Chief Jim Chu.

Drugs and stolen property are openly sold, bought
and used on this stretch =AD an area that houses Insite.

Corbella took Vancouver to task in her column
despite being wrong about the Monteith
connection. Defenders should open their eyes and not attack the messenger.

Drive down Hastings Street. The problem is obvious.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom