Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers Contact: http://209.115.237.105/kelowna/publish/include/letterToEditor.php Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531 Author: J.P. Squire And Ron Seymour MERCHANTS UNITE AGAINST ADDICT HOUSING St. Paul Street merchants and property owners will conduct their own research, launch a petition drive and make their own presentation to city council on a proposed transitional housing project for street people and drug addicts. The St. Paul Street committee will be similar to the city's committee and face the same March 13 deadline, but will have the added element of intense lobbying of city councillors, the ultimate decision-makers in the location of the 30-unit housing project. During an organizational meeting Monday, St. Paul Street co-ordinator Jim Carta said the ultimate goal is to convince elected officials the city made the wrong decision in recommending late last year that the $4.5-million apartment block be built at 1436 St. Paul St. "This isn't about real estate anymore but the process which has failed us and the people it was designed to help," Carta said after the one-hour meeting with 30 people ended. "Our game plan is to put together a model, an objective assessment that clearly shows the city project was not well thought out." Based on his research, Carta said placing recovering drug addicts, alcoholics and those with mental disorders in an apartment doesn't always work. The success rate increases when clients have access to social activities and green space, he said in concluding the St. Paul Street property is too small. Since the controversy over the location erupted in early December, Carta says he has received calls from people who own larger properties willing to swap them for the St. Paul Street site. "One is not too far from the downtown and even offers green space," he said, declining to reveal any of the owners' identities or property locations. "(City officials) didn't do their homework. Their decision was founded on convenience: the city owned the St. Paul Street parking lot, and it was already zoned. But we're not here to blame anybody; we're not here to point fingers. We're here to emphasize the importance of community involvement," he said. "We're not NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard); we want this to work. All we want to do is be heard and to be part of the process." An effort to add a representative of the St. Paul group to the city committee studying the issue failed at City Hall on Monday. Mayor Sharon Shepherd and Coun. Barrie Clark were the only two who endorsed the idea, saying members of the St. Paul group deserved to have direct representation on the committee given the project's possible impact on their neighbourhood. "I would rather have them on the committee than on the outside trying to provide input," Shepherd said. "They're asking for a voice," added Clark. But other councillors suggested members of the St. Paul group would have a bias against locating the apartment block in their area. In the debate over the makeup of the review committee, Coun. Carol Gran suggested the facility's prime purpose - helping addicted people beat drugs or alcohol - was being obscured. "In the politics of this, we're losing sight of what this building is all about," Gran said. "(The clients) are the ones who are hurting, they're the ones whose lives are in chaos." The site review committee will have its first meeting 4-6 p.m. Wednesday in City Hall meeting room No. 3. To access meetings after 4 p.m., use the staff entrance on the northwest side of City Hall, adjacent to the parking lot, and ring the buzzer. Meetings are open to the public, but those in the audience can only address the committee if there's a scheduled time for public input or through special approval of committee members. The committee plans to hold five meetings with a report back to council by mid-March. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman