The Associated Press reported Aug. 19 that the unit, which is funded by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), is fighting the war against drugs by working on one block at a time. "You don't just rush in and do everything at once. It's about steps and timing," said Tim Vance who heads the 16-member narcotics unit.

Vance and his team use a three-point approach to rid city housing of drug dealers: managing properties so that it's difficult for drug dealers to set up shop; teaching tenants to give police information to build cases against dealers; and pursuing evictions in Housing Court.

So far, the Narcotics Control Unit claims to have driven drug dealers out of more than 2,000 city-owned buildings where drugs and gunfire were the norm, and transformed the neighborhoods into business and residential areas, complete with grocery stores, cleaners, meat markets and community gardens.

Since January 1989, the unit has initiated 7,700 narcotics investigations that have been turned over to police and referred 6,400 eviction cases to city Housing Court. "What Tim did is to recognize that it's not just a drug problem or a criminal problem. It's a housing problem and a community development problem," said Frank Braconi, executive director of the non-profit Citizens Housing and Planning Council. "He's emphasizing preventive measures."   

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