Scarborough councillor Mike Del Grande is right on the money when he says council should use some of its expanded powers under the City of Toronto Act to get tough on marijuana grow house operators. While these grow operations taking place in homes in residential neighbourhoods seem to be on a relative decline in Scarborough over the past years, now is not the time to become complacent.

Del Grande himself, the councillor for Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt, can take some credit for aggressively going after grow houses in his community. He helped make life difficult for the operators, and what was a flood of grow houses in the area three years ago has been reduced significantly. Over the past four years, 72 grow houses were busted in Ward 39.

After the shocking situation last year in North York in which a number of apartment units in a building were being used as a grow operation, it should be abundantly clear the criminals involved are endangering the lives of law-abiding residents. If there is a grow operation in your neighbourhood or apartment building, then your safety is compromised - be it from other criminals, fire hazards or structural weaknesses.

Yes, growing the drugs is illegal and operators should be arrested and jailed for doing it. They should also face the consequences of increasing the level of criminal activity in an area, and should be prosecuted for any fire or building codes they break.

The criminal side belongs to the courts and the federal government, which sets our laws, and we say the harsher the punishment the better for grow operators.

However, the city can play a strong role when it comes to building and fire bylaws, and that's exactly why Del Grande's call for council to step up to the plate should be taken seriously.

First and foremost, the city should be looking after the needs of law-abiding residents.

One relatively simple way to send a message about grow houses is to require disclosure on a home title document that the building was used as a drug house.

For huge criminal gangs, that's probably not a problem as losing the value of a few houses is simply the price of doing business. But for smaller operators, or irresponsible landlords who rent out properties to grow house operators, the consequences could be severe.

"It sends a message to the bad guys that it's not going to be as easy as it used to be," Del Grande explained.

It seems like a good first step, and one the city should be taking in an effort to help residents take back their communities from these criminals.