Pubdate: Thu, 05 Jul 2007
Source: North Island Gazette (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 North Island Gazette
Contact:  http://www.northislandgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2783
Author: Tom Fletcher

SUMMER IN CITY, NOT SO PRETTY

VICTORIA - The "honour system" has finally been  abandoned on the
Greater Vancouver buses. The  establishment of "fare paid zones"
beyond the driver's  seat and at least the theoretical appearance of
someone  to check tickets is an effort to stem the problem of  people
refusing to pay and assaulting drivers who  remind them the ride isn't
quite free.

It seems that once a city reaches a certain size, it  doesn't have
enough honour left for honour systems.  Surveys indicated that Ottawa
doesn't yet have bus  anarchy, but Toronto does.

A relieved Vancouver bus driver interviewed on TV said  being spit on
wasn't the worst of it. He's also been  punched, kicked and pulled
from his seat while the bus  was moving.

Here in Victoria the Canada Day fireworks has been  known for a finale
involving drunken brawls on the  upper deck of those London-style
buses. (No reports yet  of fights breaking out in horse-drawn
carriages or  rickshaws, but with international soccer matches in
town I'm not ruling it out.) Victoria's just reaching  the critical
mass where such night-time public events  are surrendered and the
downtown streets given over to  purveyors of the nightly buffet of
blood, pee and  pavement pizza.

Then there is the illegal drug problem. Victoria's  mayor still
believes in something called a "safe  injection site," as the city
looks for a new home for  its blight of a "needle exchange program."
Nanaimo's  pilot project to hand out crack pipes has sputtered out
like a spent Bic lighter, due to threats from  ungrateful recipients.

The Capital Regional District, which still can't keep  its emergency
radio system working, is right on the  ball. They've just instituted a
crackdown, not on  crack, but on outdoor patio smoking. New provincial
  regulations are being worked out now to bar smoking  around doorways
and windows as of next year, but that's  not far or fast enough for
some urban social engineers.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is offering a bit of fresh  air on the
drug problems that plague his city. He's  moving on from the "safe
injection" and "needle  exchange" stopgaps that promote continued
abuse. Give  the hardcore addicts legal pills that approximate the
ups and downs of cocaine and heroin, he suggests, and  at least they
have a hope of getting off the mean  streets.

But the most sensible strategy is coming from  Vancouver-Burrard MLA
Lorne Mayencourt, who earlier  pioneered the radical notion that
pedestrians, like bus  drivers, shouldn't have to put up with being
threatened  or assaulted. He has been touring the province to  promote
the model of the San Patrignano treatment  community in Italy, a
remote self-contained rural  facility where people can check in and
stay for three  to five years, drug-free and working at a real job. It
  has more than 2,000 people in voluntary attendance, and  claims a 75
per cent success rate.

Mayencourt has identified a preferred location, a  former radar
station called Baldy Hughes located 30 km  southwest of Prince George.
It offers a dormitory,  mobile home pads, welding and woodworking
shops, a  bowling alley, curling rink and gym.

There are other remote locations around the province  that could take
a similar approach. It seems like a  better idea than waiting for
Vancouver or Victoria to  develop something that actually has a chance
of  working.
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MAP posted-by: Steve Heath