Every single day,7 days a week, deals are being made.Whether it is in the boardrooms or a simple handshake to agree to terms of an arrangments.This is what business is all about,right! Then there are these people(sellers & buyers),they are doing this with no fear of getting caught on the streets of our great city.It is like the police are constantly turning a blind eye.I work full time,and drive down Gottington St.. Everytime I drive by this certain establisment some sort of deal is going on, right across from a pre-school.Whether it is a drug deal or what, it is not hard to figure it out.There are always,on any given day 5 to 15 people standing around.And these people never seem to care about who is watching.I recognize most of these people,because i see them everyday.It is like they are allowed to do there “business” with no fear of getting caught.Are these people untouchable or what?There is alot of foot traffic at this time of the day, and it is only a matter of time before some innocent person is gonna walk into a bad situation,simple by walking to work,or dropping there children off at the pre-school.
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2008.
Are you talking about the Methadone clinic???
Methadone clinic or not, the Halifax police department is neglegent in tackling these problems. Though I support the methadone clinic’s work, what occurs just beyond it’s doors is an embarrasment to the entire city. If I was a 4′ 7″ police superintendant or a seemingly inept police chief I’d be ashamed to show my face in public with full knowlege of what is going on on my watch.For all their PR bluster and obfustication, HRMPD seems incapable of stopping the obvious and flagrant dealing of drugs along Gottingen St.. I am unaware of any other area of the city where this seems to be permitted to occur. It’s obvious that one doesn’t require a year at Holland College, a belt bearing a virtual armoury, and the support of lord knows how many other officers only a radio call away, to observe what’s going on. The inaction of HRMPD regarding street level open drug dealing along Gottingen St. and the surrounding area is nothing less than criminal in itself.
Clearly the first reply has hit it on bang on. This is stunning that such open brazen deals could be done, mere blocks from the police station.The city doesnt really want that area cleaned up. It has done everything in its power to make all other areas nice, but not that one. I have no real reason why that is, but much money has gone elsewhere, rather than fix up that eye sore called Gottigen
I am not disagreeing here but I wanted to point out that Gottigen St. has had money put into cleaning it up a bit, several times actually. They paid for paint and also put in hanging plants along the road etc. The spray paint and drug dealing returned so fast that it was hard to see and very easy to miss it. Blink and the crack dealers and users will ugly up a place so fast that it will look like NOTHING has been done. That’s why the city seems reluctant to put more money into a sink hole.
The police has no interest in bettering that area. It isnt worth much to the city. THey dont generate a lot of taxes. That area is ignored because politicians with more influential citizens, get better policing. There is no way you should see the same size presence in some areas of clayton park as you do gottigen.