Pubdate: Fri, 15 May 2015
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Sam Cooper
Page: 6

EAST VAN NEIGHBOURS DEMAND ACTION

Residents gather signatures for petition, want city hall to step
in

Residents of an East Vancouver neighbourhood say the City of Vancouver
must respond to a "surge" of prostitutes, crime and drug activity that
they say is endangering area families and harming children.

Ewart Aitken and Marcia DeCosta are two of over 200 Kensington Cedar
Cottage neighbours who have signed a petition demanding action from
city hall and East Vancouver politicians including NDP MP Don Davies.

The petitioners want the city to bar prostitution from residential
neighbourhoods and contain it within a "red-light" district.

Aitken told The Province Thursday that he and other parents are
dismayed about walking to school with their children in the morning
and sometimes having confrontations with "tweaked out" sex trade workers.

According to the petition, prostitutes are sometimes "aggressively
chasing children and caregivers," and "aggressively soliciting after
being declined."

Sex work is occurring outside schools in the daylight, petitioners
say, and children have handled discarded needles and condoms. IV drug
use is being witnessed by children, and human feces is piling up on
sidewalks and doorways.

"I'm scared to go out at night," said DeCosta, a single mother of a
14-month old daughter. "I've been intimidated by some of the men
around these prostitutes."

Neighbours say they've worked hard over the past 10 years to improve
what was once a rougher area, but is increasingly populated by
professionals with young families. Aitken and DeCosta said they've
noticed a steady rise in Downtown Eastside-like street crime,
prostitution, and male predators trolling through the neighbourhood in
the past few years since a number of large social housing and
addiction services buildings were constructed in the Olympic Village
area.

"This happened when the city moved all those services out of the
Downtown Eastside," DeCosta said.

The petitioners want the city to work with senior governments to
create a "red light" district in Vancouver to contain prostitution,
which would be patrolled by police and give sex-workers access to
street nurses.

Meanwhile, Aitken and others plan to restart a neighbourhood "night
watch" to discourage prostitutes from connecting with johns.

"The idea is to have a presence in the streets, but emotions run high
and arguments start," Aitken said. "It turns into, we're basically
doing the police's job."

City planner Mary Clare Zak said Vancouver plans to meet with the
petitioners in two weeks to hear their concerns.
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MAP posted-by: Matt