697 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Indeed, lighting and benches are planned.

[Victoria Watcher]

“Our city is in crisis,” Gardiner said, noting that of the 99 recommendations, 47 are city actions and she supports 31 of those. She was the only council member who did not endorse the plan in principle.

“Decisions made by Victoria council over the past decade have anchored the drug subculture into our city,” she said, suggesting the plan itself can’t be realized with current provincial policies. Gardiner said positions taken by Island Health and the province over the last two years don’t instill confidence that the plan will see success. “They are worse than a hurdle – they could scuttle the whole thing. I won’t give false hope to the public that a solution will be found.”

https://www.vicnews....ty-plan-8082366

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 June 2025 - 01:27 PM.

[aastra]

 

They just need to change your perception of safety in the city. Perhaps some smoke and mirrors would do it, or just repeating the lie over and over again that you are safe would work.

 

Officialdom's peculiar emphasis on perceptions over realities has been touched on many times in the crime thread and other threads on this board.

 

If crime and public safety really are nothing more than a matter of perception then why has the police department always insisted their resources are stretched to the limit? Is the crime and disorder real or isn't it? Are police officers rushing around all day and night in response to misguided perceptions? Are they overburdened by casework related to misguided perceptions?

Or are we suggesting it's the Vic PD's own perceptions that are somehow producing crime and disorder? If the power of perception was really so relevant then that power would have to include the perceptions of police officers, politicians, and city administrators, right? This issue wouldn't merely be limited to the perceptions of the hypothetical average citizen? Right?

 

Put it another way: if perceptions are so crucially important then why do the politicians never consider the possibility that maybe their own perceptions are problematic? Why do they never consider revising their own perceptions instead of devoting so much energy to (unsuccessfully) trying to revise the perceptions of others?

 

Are perceptions of crime and public safety so efficacious that they can actually manifest negative issues that otherwise wouldn't exist? If perceptions do indeed have such power over the downtown scene, then how come perceptions never manifest positive things? Have perceptions ever cleaned up a street in downtown Victoria, removed trash and graffiti, prevented a break-in or a bike theft, or helped someone get off drugs?

Flip it around: as an experiment if we all agree to adopt a very negative perception of Uptown Shopping Centre then will people stop shopping there because of it? Will vandalism and crime skyrocket at Uptown?

 

It's certainly a fickle issue, this perception thing.

Edited by aastra, 20 June 2025 - 02:15 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Predictably, the plan does not acknowledge that the CoV allowed far too many social housing projects to flourish in the City. They should have taken an approach that recognized they would permit a number proportionate with other jurisdictions either regionally or nationally. And no more.

 

 

 

Currently, there are 400 regular shelter beds in Victoria, 25 in Saanich, and 33 in Sooke, though not all of these beds are available year-round.

 

https://www.capitald...saanich-shelter

[Mike K.]

Sooke is having problems because of this shelter.

And now in addition to the shelter, Sooke is hoping the government can answer why the costs of addressing issues at a new social housing project built by BC Housing and operated by Makola has been downloaded for cost of policing and other services to the municipality.

Meanwhile early AM on Friday in downtown Victoria:

VicPD:

Police are investigating incidents of property damage to businesses and vehicles in downtown Victoria that occurred in the early morning of June 20.

At approximately 1:45 a.m., police received multiple reports of a man damaging business windows and parked vehicles in the 1600-block of Government Street. A witness also reported the suspect overturned a planter near Johnson Street and Government Street and damaged a vehicle’s side mirror while attempting to smash a window at a nearby business. Another witness reported the suspect smashing a vehicle window near the intersection of Yates Street and Government Street.

Thanks to detailed descriptions provided by those who called in, Patrol officers located a man matching the suspect’s description near the “Whale Wall” in the 1300-block of Wharf Street and arrested him at approximately 2:10 a.m.

A suspect was taken into custody and held on pre-existing warrants, then released while the investigation into these events continues.

Investigators believe there may be additional unreported incidents and are asking anyone who may have noticed damage to their business or vehicle in the 1300-1600 block of Government Street, or who has information related to these incidents, to contact the E-Comm Report Desk at (250) 995-7654, extension 1, and reference file number 25-22968.

[Barrister]

My simple solution is to not go downtown and to not shop there. I feel bad for the merchants but i dont see them putting forward a different slate of candidates for city hall.

[Sparky]

I took the time to read the plan.
Our city is in serious trouble.

[Barrister]

The city plan seems to be to spend more money, raise taxes AND ACCOMPLISH NOTHING GOOD.

[Victoria Watcher]

Diversity celebrated with low-cost events in downtown Victoria this summer

Block parties, free live music, festivals and more set to come



https://www.vicnews....-summer-8085071



Lolz there is actually no evidence that our diversity is positive. It’s probably a negative. It’s not politically correct to say so.

Point me to the multicultural country in the world that is so great.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 June 2025 - 10:17 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Happy to hear evidence worldwide otherwise.

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria councillors plan to press province on help with downtown housing

Request comes one week after council endorsed a community wellness and safety plan, with a heavy focus on downtown

 

https://www.vicnews....housing-8090523

 

Housing so many of these miscreants near downtown is the problem, not a solution.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 June 2025 - 05:30 PM.

[Bambam]

They dont see this as an issue but rather an opportunity to provide jobs for the bonus in the poverty industry.

 

Check out the salaries of senior and in many cases not so senior managers in that "industry". They're eye-popping........

[Victoria Watcher]

Check out the salaries of senior and in many cases not so senior managers in that "industry". They're eye-popping........

 

Our Place:

 

 

https://apps.cra-arc...hdl3_dsplyovrvw

 

For the 153 full-time employees, they earned a total of $12,089,900 in 2023/2024.  That's an average of $79,018 each.  $40.52 per hour, if they work a 37.5-hour week.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 June 2025 - 06:05 PM.

[Sparky]

Too bad they couldn’t hire one more to keep the sidewalk clear for pedestrians just like we do when it snows.

You know safety first stuff.

[Barrister]

The real action plan for the city needs to be to get rid of this city council. Otherwise all else fails.

[Victoria Watcher]

Comment: Victoria needs a plan that will truly make city safer

 

 

 

 

The report fails because it misses one clear and ineluctable truth — the disorder on our streets is the result of the city’s failure to come to grips with illegal drug use. The report takes us in a different direction. Rather than tackle policies that address open drug use and its attendant problems, the report explores other causes, including racism, “classism,” poverty, inequality and homophobia.

 

There is no evidence to suggest that there has been a spike in racism, homophobia and inequality that correlates with the spike in crime and disorder on our streets. This report would have us running off in all directions trying to solve an array of social ills that are not in the remit of Victoria city council and would take years to implement.

 

The grand experiment — Victoria “leading” the region in the support of needle exchanges with yellow needle collection boxes in public places, Island Health’s “safe” consumption site on Pandora Avenue, de-criminalization of small amounts of illegal drugs, encampments in our parks and on our streets; in sum, the normalization of open drug use and addiction on our streets — has been an abject failure.

 

While we can’t eliminate overnight the social conditions that have led to drug addiction and its attendant social disruption, we can take concrete steps to put things right. Our problems in Victoria are not unique, but they are especially severe because of decisions made by this council and previous councils over the past decade.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...-safer-10859038

 

 

Here is an action plan:

 

• The city must inform the provincial government that we will henceforth accept only supportive housing (housing for people under care) that leads to rehabilitation and a pathway to a better life.

 

• The city must demand that B.C. Housing phase out any supportive housing in Victoria that allows illicit drugs, alcohol or weapons. Such housing must be converted to drug-free transitional or treatment facilities.

 

• The city must demand that Island Health cease operating a consumption site in the city.

 

• The city must end the financial support or tax exemption to social service programs that permit illicit drug use. The city must promote rehabilitation. We need more agencies like the Salvation Army and facilities like Our Place’s New Roads in View Royal.

 

• We must ask the province to exempt supportive housing from the Residential Tenancy Act to permit managers of supportive housing to remove tenants who disrupt the lives of other tenants or traffic in drugs. Supportive housing in Victoria without safeguards of removing criminal and other disruptive elements have become “war zones” and threats to the safety and well-being of other tenants.

 

• We have the bylaws to ensure safe streets. We need to enforce them. This means enhanced police and city bylaw presence on our streets, more foot patrols and the hiring of police officers who can handle traditional police work as well as outreach to street communities in partnership with city bylaw.

 

• The City of Victoria must be prepared to support involuntary confinement for those who are a danger to themselves and others. Surprisingly, there is no mention of involuntary treatment or confinement in the report despite the fact that the provincial government has recently acknowledged such a need.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 June 2025 - 07:44 PM.

[LJ]

Yes, yes, and Yes!!!

[Victoria Watcher]

Not going to happen. Pretty sure “safe injection” employs at least 150 people here now.