Safe As Houses

This mural, showing the attractions of the Niagara Escarpment, Limehouse Kilns and Hilton Falls, was painted by Toronto artist Robert Johannsen in Georgetown 8 years ago. Apart from its distinctive beauty in the historic part of town, it's notable for a couple of things:

1. There's no graffiti or gang-related tagging on the wall. Why? Georgetown has no gangs, despite scary talk from the local cops at budget time a couple of years back when they warned of hordes of Asian drug dealers heading our way. Hmm, they must have taken a wrong turning because we didn't hear another word after the cops got their dosh. And the local kids, despite occasional grumblings from their elders in the letters pages of the local rag, seem less inclined to scribble bad words on walls than their pals in the cities.

2. There are no CCTV cameras peering down on the wall from across the street or, in fact, anywhere else in town (apart from the shopping malls where shopkeepers love their customers to death, but don't trust them an inch out of sight). So, you can walk down the streets at any time, confident that no official voyeur is watching every step you take on a video monitor in a darkened room. In fact, our crime rate is so low that the cops seem to spend most of their working hours ambushing unsuspecting motorists with speed guns or enjoying donuts at the many local coffee stores . . .

Welcome to Georgetown, Ontario. Boring as hell, but safe as houses.