27642 replies to this topic

[rmpeers]

OUR PLACE TEMPORARILY CLOSES DUE TO SAFETY CONCERNS


I don't understand. I thought this was as easy as free homes and drugs.

https://www.iheartra...erns-1.16088781

Has it ever been this bad before?

[pontcanna]

Facing Rising Violence, Open Door Closes for a Day

 

Sept. 16, 2021

 

It’s usually an open door for the city’s most vulnerable but on Thursday Our Place Society, in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue, took the drastic step of locking its gates due to a rise in violence.

“This was based on some increases we’ve been seeing in levels of violence and aggression and also you know trying to get people to adhere to mask policies,” said Our Place Director of Services Jordan Cooper.

 

Video & Full Story: https://www.cheknews...r-a-day-885288/

 

[A Girl is No one]

OUR PLACE TEMPORARILY CLOSES DUE TO SAFETY CONCERNS


I don't understand. I thought this was as easy as free homes and drugs.

https://www.iheartra...erns-1.16088781

Isn’t it run by social workers?

[kitty surprise]

Isn’t it run by social workers?

If Social Workers can't handle Our Place, then how is the Peer Assisted Crisis Team (PACT) which consists of Social Workers even feasible?!

[rmpeers]

If Social Workers can't handle Our Place, then how is the Peer Assisted Crisis Team (PACT) which consists of Social Workers even feasible?!

I recommend that a special crisis team of Helps, Isitt, Loveday, Dubow and Potts be dispatched to handle all incidents.

[On the Level]

Isn’t it run by social workers?

 

There are lots of great people there working their hearts out, but I don't know there is a structured qualification to work there other than trying to do good.  Certain positions like nurses for sure, but the rest I don't know.

 

The traditional problem with Our Place it isn't how much they try, it's been the lack of a holistic view realizing you can't alienate those around you to maintain credibility.  I am seeing changes to address that and bring the community with them. We'll see if it goes far enough to be balanced.

[Victoria Watcher]

https://www.vicnews....ntre-for-a-day/

Our Place Society in Victoria sends strong message by closing drop-in centre for a day

CEO cites need to ‘regroup’ amid rising levels of COVID, mask non-compliance and violent incidents

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 September 2021 - 02:58 AM.

[Daveyboy]

^^

My guess would be that hired staff are so sick and tired of the daily violence and abuse that they are going to walk out en masse.  Management is desperate for that to not happen so hoping to send a message to clients.  But you can't instantly change behaviour that you have more or less tolerated for years.

[rmpeers]

^^
My guess would be that hired staff are so sick and tired of the daily violence and abuse that they are going to walk out en masse. Management is desperate for that to not happen so hoping to send a message to clients. But you can't instantly change behaviour that you have more or less tolerated for years.

I am more concerned by suggestions that staff in some housing facilities have reportedly enabled criminal behaviour, etc. Until that's addressed the perception will still be that this is city that welcomes criminal behaviour.

[Shelby]

do you still need ID to cross through the tweed curtain into Oak Bay?

No, just say chesterfield alot and leave the c out of schedule.

[mbjj]

No, just say chesterfield alot and leave the c out of schedule.

 

No, just say chesterfield alot and leave the c out of schedule.

That's what I called it growing up, lol. We never ever said "couch" and neither did any one of our friends. Most Canadians back then called it a chesterfield. 

[JimV]

Exactly! I would much rather drive to OakBay Fairways and pay a little bit more to shop where I feel safe than to run the gauntlet to get into Save-on or Market on yates.

I go to the Market fairly often, usually at 7 when it opens.  I’ve never felt any sense of danger but almost every time I see some drug addled street guy slumped on a nearby corner or twitching and jerking.  There is often a police car or wagon parked nearby.

[Victoria Watcher]

As heavy rain fell Friday a few tents could be seen scattered in Victoria’s Stadacona Park and along Pandora Avenue.

 

They won’t likely be up for long, however, as the city confirms 24/7 sheltering remains prohibited. It turns out the rule applies even if you’re showing symptoms of COVID-19.

 

One woman who has been tenting along Pandora told CHEK News she recently became sick with a fever and nausea yet was forced to take her tent down by bylaw officers each morning at 7 a.m.

 

As a result, she was forced out into the community each day, and she says she later tested positive for COVID-19.

 

https://www.cheknews...atients-886037/

 

 

 

 

 

this guy owned and ran a gas station.

 

 

 

 

String of rotten luck

 

McDonald needed a good laugh after a string of rotten luck.

 

Until 2010, he owned a Pioneer gas station in Kingston, pulling in close to six figures a year. But when gas rose to a dollar a litre, fewer customers showed up and he lost his business — then his house in Kingston's Cataraqui Woods neighbourhood and then his Dodge Durango.

 

Around the same time, his 10-year relationship with another man ended.

 

"I literally lost my whole life after the gas station — the life that I knew then," he said.

 

 

 

 

in a 30-paragraph article this is all they give to his current work situation:

 

 

 

Shortly after his first encounter with Cormier, McDonald vacated the apartment and began living in a tent. When it rained, he sheltered in an abandoned transport trailer he called his "cave," supplementing his monthly $1,124 Ontario Disability Support Program payments by roaming the city collecting what he calls "boozy cans." (McDonald suffers from social anxiety and is unable to work in a traditional setting.)

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...eless-1.6179272

 

 

 

 

 

he owned an ran a gas station but now he can't work in "a traditional setting" due to anxiety.  not so sure.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 September 2021 - 06:10 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A northern British Columbia city is enacting new restrictions meant to erase the homeless from its core, intensifying the grief that COVID-19 and the overdose crisis have already inflicted on those with nowhere to live, ­critics say.

 

The bylaw recently passed by Prince George council has tight restrictions on the homeless and is another example of how municipalities are increasingly using harsh regulations to force street people from public spaces, critics said.

It is now an offence to solicit within 10 metres of a restaurant, daycare, liquor store or a vehicle at a traffic stop, among other places. Open-air burning in a park or a street is also among prohibited activities.

_______________________

 

Terry Teegee, regional chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said the bylaw is unethical.

 

Indigenous people make up about 80 per cent of the homeless population in Prince George, and it’s punishing those who have mental health and addiction issues, he said in an interview.

 

“So really the bylaw is discriminatory in nature and it’s punishing the poor, you know, and especially now during a pandemic when there’s limited capacity for indoor space and for allowing people to go to drop-in places,” Teegee said.

 

“There’s no place to go to except in the streets, so if you’re loitering then potentially by the bylaw you can get fined.”

 

Hermer said the resurgence of such bylaws coincides with the shrinking of social services and housing. He added that those who live, sleep and use public space as a home, especially Indigenous and people of colour, are associated with high crime rates. “There’s no direct connection whatsoever, but it is a very powerful metaphor to start these nuisance bylaws particularly against homeless people.”

________________________

 

Hermer said the bylaw would drive people into using their drugs alone, which might increase overdose deaths.

 

“It seems very wrong-headed and severe that they would pass this type of bylaw at this particular moment.”

 

Coun. Kyle Sampson was one of the five who supported the bylaw during the council meeting, saying living in a community means following rules even for people who face addiction issues.

 

“It means we should help them understand the law,” he said while the bylaw was under ­discussion at the council meeting.

 

“And if we can’t help them, then we do need to enforce the law to whatever extent that looks like. I don’t think that’s an unfair expectation.”

 

https://www.timescol...-say-1.24360070

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 September 2021 - 05:26 AM.

[A Girl is No one]

Bravo Prince George! Indeed, we live in a society and we can’t have some disregard that fact otherwise the social contract collapses for everyone.
Reminding people, even drug addicts of those rules is by no means evil, if anything it might help them reintegrate into society instead of letting them go feral.
It sounds to me like accusing parents of mistreating their kids if they don’t let them do anything them want and send them to their room when they misbehave.

[Citified.ca]

A rendering of 1053-1057 Meares Street, a 50-unit supportive housing project now underway just west of Cook Street. The building is one of six coming to the City of Victoria, Saanich and Central Saanich as part of a nearly 300-unit BC Housing-led initiative to provide homes for people experiencing homelessness throughout the Capital Region.

 

Work gets underway on first of six supportive housing projects in Victoria, Saanich and Central Saanich

https://victoria.cit...ich-bc-housing/

[JimV]

Another good reason for the Y to look for new digs.

[On the Level]

A rendering of 1053-1057 Meares Street, a 50-unit supportive housing project now underway just west of Cook Street. 

 

  Not a very good rendering.  It is missing the extra dumpsters, garbage and temporary fencing.

[LJ]

 

Terry Teegee, regional chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said the bylaw is unethical.

 

Indigenous people make up about 80 per cent of the homeless population in Prince George, and it’s punishing those who have mental health and addiction issues, he said in an interview.

 

So what are they doing about their homeless problem, any free housing on the reserves?

[SimonH]

So what are they doing about their homeless problem, any free housing on the reserves?

What a preposterous suggestion, look after our own ? Only a white settler would come up with that!