London Ghetto: Drugs, Children, Skinheads, Negro Gangs, Junkies, Pissed Off Moms & Race Related Violence

“It’s the worst place ever . . . this place is known as the ghetto.” Gladys Regnier, who lives in a public housing complex at Southdale Road and Millbank Drive.

This is no place to raise a child, says Gladys Regnier.

The mother of three wanted to leave the London neighbourhood even before a local teen intentionally hit her eight-year-old son in the face with a golf club.

But it's not that easy.

The 45-year-old mother applied for a housing transfer more than a year ago, but spaces with the London and Middlesex Housing Corp. are limited.

"It's the worst place ever . . . this place is known as the ghetto," says Regnier, who lives in a public housing complex at Southdale Road and Millbank Drive .

"I walk around and find crack pipes."

That's no place to raise her children, she says, two of whom have special needs.

Karen, who has lived there for three years and didn't want her last name used, is also frustrated.

"It's (a) drug haven," she says.

Another woman, near tears, says, "I'm ashamed to live here."

On July 29, 2006, gunshots rang out at the 172-unit complex that's home to 300 children and 203 adults.

Two shots were fired at 11 p.m. and more at 12:30 a.m.

No one was injured and no property was damaged, but residents feared for their lives.

Some said the conflict was racially motivated -- that skinheads and black youths were at war inside the complex.

Others said the people involved didn't even live in the community.

Others blamed it on a youth gang called the Bloods, identified by their red clothing and bandannas, who residents say live in the neighbourhood.

For their part, police made no arrests. They have said between six and 12 men were involved, but they don't know who or why.

But it shook the neighbourhood to its core.

Mounds of garbage accumulate before the week's scheduled pickup because there's no recycling program for the complex and most residents put their garbage out too early in the week.

The hot summer days intensify the smell and raccoons scatter the contents across the walkway.

But the garbage problem also has to do with people outside the complex who treat the area like a landfill, regularly dumping their own trash, despite the efforts of residents to prevent it.

Front lawns are dirt patches with no gardens or flowerpots. Some backyards are unkept and filled with junk.

The worn-down basketball court in the centre of the community is a youth hotspot at night for fights and drugs.

"There are way too many kids in here . . . it's about two to four kids per unit and a lot of young kids running around," says resident contact Steve Bates.

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