CALLS TO KEEP OUR STREETS SAFE DO MATTER

I attended the community meeting at Barrie City Hall on July 20
regarding the problems that are currently plaguing the downtown
Barrie, particularly the neighbourhood of Mary Street, Toronto Street
and Dunlop Street West.

I was impressed with how our city councillor, Jeff Lehman, moderated
the meeting, and with how Barrie Police Chief Wayne Frechette
responded to the business owners and residents with genuine care and
concern.

First of all, let me tell you that I have lived in Barrie for 22
years, most of that time downtown. I always felt the safest downtown
because it is well-lit and there are always people around and
businesses open.

I would walk around downtown at any time of the day or night and feel
perfectly comfortable.

It has been heartbreaking to watch my neighbourhood decline,
especially over the past two years. Recently, I have had someone offer
to sell me drugs, stepped over a used syringe on the sidewalk, found a
female crackhead urinating straight down the middle of my driveway,
and am asked by perfectly able-bodied individuals for money or
cigarettes on a regular basis. I am, for the first time in 22 years,
nervous to walk around my own neighbourhood.

I realize that, unfortunately, there is no magic solution to these
problems, but I'd like to share my thoughts and ideas:

- -- Downtown Barrie aesthetically looks terrible. There are at least
two empty storefronts on every block. The sidewalks are filled with
cigarette butts and litter. I am appalled that city council voted
against Coun. Lehman's request to temporarily fix up the fire site at
the Five Points with the lame excuse of not wanting to pay to improve
'private property'. The Five Points is the landmark intersection of
Barrie and is currently a disgrace. Tourists and residents don't need
to be enticed to go to other neighbourhoods around the city -- they
need to be enticed to go downtown. The other city councillors need to
set aside their own agendas for a while and allow funds to be
temporarily diverted to improving the downtown core aesthetically --
such as more municipal workers to empty garbage and recycling bins
(especially on weekends) and to market the downtown as a desirable
business destination;

- -- The owners of rooming houses that have a transient population need
to be compelled by city council to fix up and maintain their
properties and expect their tenants to do the same. If people are
forced to take pride in their surroundings, maybe they will begin to
take pride in their own lives as well;

- -- The bar owners need to be brought together and agree to staggered
closing times on Friday and Saturday nights. This will alleviate the
problem of all the drunks being let out at once and overwhelming
Dunlop Street. This would have to be done on a rotating schedule to
avoid one bar always closing the earliest and losing revenue. It could
be done fairly with cooperation between the bar owners. I'm sure the
bar owners would object to this idea, but really, what is more
important: money or the safety of their patrons and the neighbourhood?
(Sadly, I think I already know the answer.);

- -- I believe the biggest problem are the 'crackheads' that seem to be
infesting downtown. I walked to the store one day and there was a
crackhead all strung out ahead of me and another one all strung out
behind me in the same block. I have no idea of how to fix that problem
because it goes way deeper than simply arresting them. Chief Frechette
sadly verified that's just a "revolving door" and they are out on bail
and back on the streets the same day. Same with the prostitution, but
there wouldn't be a supply if there weren't a demand. I'd like to see
the police focus more on the 'johns' and less on the prostitutes
themselves. I would also like to see the police focus less on
recreational pot-smokers and more on the hard-core drug dealers and
'crackhouses.' I think the only solution to these problems is an
increased police presence in problem areas, which requires more police
officers to be concentrated in the downtown area where they can
respond quicker to calls and complaints.

Which brings me to a common theme at the meeting: many residents
seemed to be disillusioned with police responses to their complaints.

While it was generally agreed that the majority of police officers are
professional, courteous and helpful, unfortunately, it is the very few
that seemed to be abrupt and condescending that people remember.

People were also upset about the response times for their complaints,
saying that it took quite a while for police to respond to their calls
if they responded at all.

Chief Frechette explained, in not exactly these words, that calls
about incidents of a non-violent nature are placed at a lower priority
(and rightly so), but to please keep calling them.

I would like to expand on that and please correct me if I'm wrong. I'd
like to assume that all calls to the police are logged and eventually
audited.

If there are a higher number of calls regarding a particular
neighbourhood, then the police are justified in diverting resources to
that neighbourhood and, eventually, they can take those numbers to the
provincial government to request more funding to hire more officers.

So while residents may feel frustrated and helpless regarding the
police and the 'system', their calls do matter.

Once again, I'd like to thank Coun. Lehman, Chief Frechette and others
who are responding to the concerns of residents and business owners in
our neighbourhood.

I love living downtown and refuse to be frightened away from my home
and neighbourhood.

J. Allan

Barrie