Re: 鈥淲orkers feel unsafe near Our聽Place, council told,鈥� Feb. 10.
Not all readers might realize that the sa国际传媒鈥檚 Sunday headline referred to a single conservative councillor who reported that he heard from the police chief (who is lobbying for a bloated budget by taking popular services hostage and ransoming them) that he heard from someone that some city workers suggest that they won鈥檛 work without police presence.
Meanwhile, the union president states that he is unaware of any of his members refusing work in the area.
The allegedly 鈥渨orsening鈥� situation is the result of ghettoizing the poor by using police to stop them from spending time in other parts of town, and to break up tent cities that have tried to survive elsewhere. Bizarrely, Coun. Geoff Young claims that the problem and solution are the same: Increased exclusion of more people from more parts of the city so they end up with nowhere but Pandora Avenue to go.
The reported statements of Young and the police chief are dehumanizing, unkind and inaccurate, and will result in stigma and bad policy if heeded.
Bradley Clements
Victoria
