Vancouver to put $500,000 into Granville Street closures to curb rowdies
Last Updated: Sunday, March 16, 2008 | 1:46 PM PT
The Canadian Press
Vancouver will put half a million dollars into police funding for road closures to curb rowdyism on the Granville Street entertainment strip, Mayor Sam Sullivan says.
Police have closed the street in the past to deal with public disorder on specific nights when the numbers of people at bars on the strip have been high, Sullivan said.
"I came down here twice to observe the outcome and I was very impressed," Sullivan said. "It completely changed the street scene. It completely relaxed and reduced the disorder that was present in other nights."
The city is also advocating the use of controversial software that records the IDs of people entering clubs in an attempt to cut down on gang activity.
Coun. Kim Capri said a motion to institute the ID scanning system has been delayed in the wake of a complaint to the province's privacy commissioner. She said the system would allow for greater control of who enters nightclubs, such as known gang members and criminals.
"Because of this complaint, that whole system is in jeopardy," Capri said.
She wants council to approach the solicitor general and the privacy commissioner "to take a positive stance" and support the system. The moves come as concern about gang activity in the city remains high.
Suspected gang activity has left a number of people dead in shootings in the past year.
Last September, a 34-year-old man was found shot dead in his SUV outside an East Vancouver high school. Police said he was known to them and the attack didn't appear to be random.
Earlier that month, two people eating in an Italian restaurant in trendy Kitsilano were wounded by a gunman shooting through the window. Another restaurant shooting on Aug. 9 in the midtown area left two people dead and two others wounded.
