A commentary by a 27-year resident of the North Park neighbourhood.
The July 19 article, “Residents worry homeless hub could turn North Park into another 900-block Pandora,” paints residents of North Park as fear-mongers exaggerating the threat of a homeless encampment moving into the community because of the proposed Dowler facility.
We are not.
The article gave weight to the argument that SOLID has answered all the neighbourhood’s questions at community engagement meetings — meetings plural. Not true.
The community is still in the dark, stuck waiting for the operating agreement through the FOI process.
One public meeting has taken place with the community at large, a meeting that was scheduled nearly four weeks after the hub’s announcement and held in a room too small to fit the crowd that attended.
The event was over before the community — including those listening from the hallway — had adequate responses to reasonable questions:
• How will the city prevent tenting in the area?
• How will the city protect the families who live in the neighbourhood from the crime, violence, drug paraphernalia, and waste known to accompany unhoused populations, even those seeking to improve their lives?
• How will the city address the logistics of 300 people moving in and out of the Dowler hub on a daily basis as they pass through popular public recreation areas of Central Park and the grounds of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, travel along residential streets, and cross busy roads, including six-lane Blanshard Street and Dowler Place itself, which is heavily trafficked by Island Farms’ milk tankers?
How, during these transitions, will the safety and well-being of both those accessing the hub and the public be protected?
• If there is no danger to the community, what does the City of Victoria think of Victoria Police Department’s decision to assign extra community liaisons for North Park, as a direct result of the Dowler announcement?
And what about VicPD’s advice to homeowners in the vicinity of the Dowler facility to add security cameras and higher fencing to protect themselves from those accessing services?
• Why does the City of Victoria believe relocating services for substance users into a well-established residential neighbourhood with children and low-income seniors is a choice that keeps people safe and protects citizens from harm?
We don’t know the answers to these questions.
The article ends with a quote from SOLID executive director Jack Phillips suggesting residents of North Park lack empathy. We do not.
We have great empathy for people with substance use issues, mental illness and trauma. We want them to access the medical help they desperately need — medical help and services delivered by licensed professionals, in a regulated environment, carefully and strategically located and administered to keep all British Columbians safe.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
