YES, THERE IS A PROBLEM DOWNTOWN

I've been getting more and more angry at some of the local
politicians. I am very frustrated at the obvious set of blinders
that Juliette Cunningham must be wearing about the "lack of problem"
we have downtown. She is a downtown business owner, and must have
similar problems that we all do with the resident homeless crowd .
Certainly a large number of them don't want to be homeless, or
addicted, but there are some that relish the lifestyle and don't want
treatment.

We owned two businesses, (had to close one), and have had our share
of thefts, damages, and security issues with the population. It's
not limited to the homeless either, the low cost apartments over one
of those businesses were having constant problems with drug and
prostitution deals transacting in full daylight view. It's a matter
of the "street life", and in fact most of the real problems come from
the dealers and drug runners that are not homeless but prey on those
that are. Quite a few of our customers complained about that street
life and always felt nervous about that activity, especially since
they often would have small children with them. Many of them said
that they did not like to come down and patronize that business anymore.

It's the "responsibility" of the merchants to provide a secure
environment for their customers and employees? Hmph! Indeed! That
is true to a point, but in the downtown area, we could use a little
help. We do pay taxes, and from that, expect that would entitle us to
something. The city promised us "The new bylaw officers", but for
the most part, we've only seen them doing their normal route,
ticketing parked cars, while right behind them aggressive panhandling
goes on. The city saw fit to remove the attendant from the parkade,
and has provided no help with problems that immediately migrated in there.

A number of the merchants have gone to the DVA, hoping to get some
leverage to deal with these problems, and the DVA has responded,
allocating funds to bring on board the Commissionaires. A community
meeting with the DVA brought to light a number of problem areas,
including back allies, Cenotaph park, the parkade, and the various
street corners where a lot of the illicit activities take place. We
were pleased that the DVA listened, and had the Commissionaires focus
their patrols on those areas.

The problem times at the parkade were addressed, with a patrol
manning it in the mornings and late afternoons when people going to
and coming from work have had the most problems Not only has the DVA
provided that funding, out of their limited financial resources, but
a number of merchants have stepped up and donated to that funding as
well, and now it was felt that the city can help out too. We realize
that it is a community problem, and that does need to be addressed,
but that takes time, and what do we do in the mean time.

I am getting tired of you saying that there is no problem downtown,
when it was obvious the large number of drug/prostitution deals were
going on right on your back doorstep in Cenotaph Park.

Talk about being out of touch with what's going on right under their
very noses and still they proclaim that there is no problem. I've
witnessed several drug deals, in plain sight, a serious assault by
one drug dealer on a "newbie" trying to encroach on "his corner" all
in plain sight in the middle of the day (and the RCMP took forever to
attend, and did not even question any of the people that reported the beating.)

What will happen if/when the Commissionaires patrols are shelved?
Will the parkade revert to the lawlessness it was at before they
started, and will the people that rent parking there stop renting
like they did before, will the drug dealers and prostitutes return to
Cenotaph Park, and the businesses owners that moved back around there
leave again? Will the back allies return to being squatter camps?
The downtown merchants are not asking the city to do it all, but only
to add their part to what we are already doing.

Mike Topf, downtown business owner