Pubdate: Mon, 27 Feb 2006
Source: Beach-Riverdale Mirror (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Beach-Riverdale Mirror
Contact:  http://www.insidetoronto.ca/to/beaches/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2221
Author: David Nickle

CHURCH GETS TOUGH ON ALLEGED CRACK HOUSES

East End Parish Aims To Deal With Crime, Alleged Slum Landlords

A local church's move to collect addresses and photographs of alleged 
slum landlords, crack houses and trouble spots in the neighbourhood 
has some area politicians and police worried.

St. Monica's Anglican Church, on Gerrard Street East near Greenwood 
Avenue, began collecting the information earlier this month after 
hosting two well-attended community meetings to deal with crime 
issues and landlord-tenant issues across its east-end parish.

According to Rev. Janet Sidey, the church has collected information 
on a total of 17 addresses, and publicized the location of one.

She told The Mirror that the church is simply trying to help the 
community improve itself. The meetings took place after the church, 
which operates a weekly food bank out of its storefront operation, 
sent out students to research the needs of the community.

"What came back were problems with crack houses and slum landlords," 
Sidey said.

The first meeting, which took place in January, drew 130 people from 
across the parish, which is bounded by the CNR tracks to the north, 
Coxwell Avenue to the east, Jones Avenue to the west and the lake to the south.

"The people from the neighbourhood were really quite fed up with what 
they perceived to be inaction," Sidey said. "After that we asked 
people to sign up."

The group of residents coalesced into St. Monicas NAG (Neighbourhood 
Action Group). That group has been collecting information from 
residents about alleged crack houses and bad landlords - information 
that includes photographs. They've posted photographs of one house. 
And they're deciding what to do with the rest, Sidey said.

"We haven't decided that yet," she said. "On these potential crack 
houses we want more than one source saying that we think it is a crack house."

Sidey said the group is considering posting the information on the 
church's website.

But for Ward 32 Councillor Sandra Bussin (Beaches-East York), the 
church has already overstepped its boundaries. She told The Mirror 
she intends to complain to Anglican Bishop Colin Johnson.

"This approach is not helpful," Bussin said. "People could presume 
that certain people are responsible and take certain actions of a 
vigilante sort. I have real concerns about this."

Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth), whose ward is 
actually home to the church, was more conciliatory.

"They want to be an advocate for people, for people against bad 
landlords and for people as a whole to get crack houses out of the 
area," she said.

"They're very zealous in their efforts to eliminate the crack houses. 
This is sometimes the way some storefront operations operate - 
pointing a big finger, hoping to scare people out of the 
neighbourhood. The one place you could run into problems with this 
would be if you misidentified the house. I would not want my home 
misidentified as a crack house. But I think that there are those in 
the community who feel strongly about this, and they've reached the 
breaking point."

Staff Supt. Wayne Peden, who recently took charge of Toronto Police 
Service's 55 Division, gave the church "full kudos" for taking such a 
proactive step - although he disagreed with the tactic of posting pictures.

"I can't say I think that's the right thing to do, but I know the 
reverend and the people there are very committed and feel this is the 
right way to go," he said. "It's not something I would support, but I 
do understand the concerns and desires."

Peden said police have been giving the area a great deal of 
attention, making arrests and increasing police presence - including 
that of the drug squad.

He acknowledged there are some problem addresses. But he added that 
many of these addresses aren't necessarily crack houses, just 
lower-rent rooming houses where some of the tenants engage in illegal 
activities.

"There are people who can't afford anywhere else to live," Peden said.

"You don't want to be grouping people. I think there are a number of 
these houses where there are people who are engaging in illegal 
activity, but to say that everyone who lives in that house is a 
criminal, that's a stretch. Everybody deserves a proper test of 
whether or not they have in fact done something wrong. Just because 
somebody perceives something as being wrong with the best of 
intentions, an area can be labelled."
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