25965 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Is this not a seasonal move? It would make sense for people to move from where winter weather is harsher, to the milder climate of Victoria.

Vancouver started a crack-down. People move to where it’s easier to be a layabout.

[Sparky]

Ya why can’t people just tell the truth. The campers on East Hastings are getting their asses kicked off the sidewalk by the fire marshal.

Period.

Outcome……welcome to Victoria.

[Victoria Watcher]

Campbell River’s mayor raised concerns about the levels of downtown disturbances during a recent committee of the whole meeting.

Mayor Andy Adams addressed Tuesday’s meeting after speaking with businesses who told him homelessness issues have “escalated to a different level” and are impacting how they do things.

Adams says the owner of the Comfort Inn is concerned about the influx of negative guest reviews regarding “disturbances in the downtown core,” while nearby Berwick By The Sea experiences similar problems.

The general manager at Berwick, a newer retirement home, says staff is refraining from moving residents into ground floor units out of fear of activities happening “right out on the patio of those residences,” according to the mayor.

https://www.cheknews...-level-1089586/

Coun. Ron Kerr told council that local businesses “have basically given up” and calls the ongoing issues “a blight on our downtown.”

“This is not new,” said Kerr. “Things are getting worse, absolutely. But they have been worse for years. This is something that we have not been able to address, have not been able to take care of … and just acknowledging the fact that it’s happening is not the answer, we have to do more.”

__________

After hearing from residents, Adams says concerns also spilled over to Ostler Park last weekend, with parents hesitant to let their children play at the park due to strewn tents and belongings under its Longhouse pavilion.

But the mayor finds communities across B.C. are in the same boat and hopes for an “essential” discussion aimed at resolving issues at the upcoming Union of BC Municipalities convention, happening Sept. 10 to 16 in Whistler.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 September 2022 - 03:31 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Business improvement associations from around British Columbia, including Victoria, are urging politicians to act swiftly when it comes to downtown crime they say is “plaguing” communities.

Business Improvement Areas of BC, which represents dozens of business associations, is calling on municipal, provincial and federal governments for increased funding and resources to address issues of crime and safety, mental health, addictions and homelessness impacting core downtown areas.

The group says while those issues were once seen as being confined to urban centres like Vancouver, they’re being seen more and more in smaller communities like those in the Fraser Valley, or in cities and towns outside of Victoria on Vancouver Island.

“We recognize there is a vulnerable population that suffers from addiction, mental health and homelessness in this province – and there is no disputing the need for our elected leaders to address those issues as a matter of urgency,” Teri Smith, president of BIABC said in a news release Monday.

“However, there is an immediate need to advocate for small business owners, their employees, and the communities they serve that are also being drastically impacted.”



https://www.cheknews...-crime-1091293/




Who knew that increasingly permissive attitudes towards street addiction and petty crime would not be good for business?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 12 September 2022 - 04:58 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Tiny home villages as solution to homelessness? 3 B.C. mayors say yes

 

Sites up and running in Victoria and Duncan, Port Alberni on its way to do the same

 

 

Three Vancouver Island mayors say they have found a successful path forward for lessening homelessness in their communities.

 

Victoria mayor Lisa Helps, Duncan mayor Michelle Staples and Port Alberni mayor Shari Minions were the panelists on a discussion around local solutions to homelessness and addiction at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Whistler Tuesday (Sept. 13).

 

All three municipalities have built, or are in the process of building, small-scale temporary villages of tiny homes to transition people living on the street into permanent housing.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.vicnews....mayors-say-yes/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 September 2022 - 10:26 AM.

[Nparker]

...Three Vancouver Island mayors say they have found a successful path forward for lessening enabling homelessness in their communities...

There, fixed that.

[aastra]

 

The mayors said homelessness and housing have long been challenges for them, but that the pandemic put them in a position where they had to act. Tent encampments began to crop up...

 

The challenges have been longstanding, going back years and decades, but there really wasn't any need for action prior to 2020. It wasn't until the tenter encampments came on the scene (in 2020, because of the pandemic) that there was finally a need for action.

 

I'm wondering if the word "fulsome" might have been used deliberately in the following sentence:

 

 

...while the municipalities waited on the government to fund shelter spaces, they started thinking of more fulsome solutions.

 

adjective

1. offensive to good taste, especially as being excessive; overdone or gross: fulsome praise that embarrassed her deeply; fulsome décor.
2. disgusting; sickening; repulsive: a table heaped with fulsome mounds of greasy foods.
3. excessively or insincerely lavish: fulsome admiration.
4. encompassing all aspects; comprehensive: a fulsome survey of the political situation in Central America.
5. abundant or copious.

 

Synonyms for fulsome:
    adulatory, gushing, gushy, hagiographic (also hagiographical), oily, oleaginous, soapy, unctuous

Words Related to fulsome:
    drooling, slavering, slobbering
    cloying, sickening
    demonstrative, effusive, mushy, uninhibited, unreserved, unrestrained
    artificial, backhanded, feigned, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealymouthed, sanctimonious, two-faced
    disarming, endearing, ingratiating, winning, winsome
    extravagant, lavish, unrestrained
    abundant, copious, profuse

[aastra]

Off topic, but we don't give Mike K. his due credit. He's a mean administrator and he runs a wicked message board. He epitomizes oversight. His thinking is fast. He's always throwing out good ideas and he's always putting out creative inspiration. He's been holding all of us up for many years, and it's about time we acknowledged the things that he's been doing.

[aastra]

Fulsome praise, but he's earned every bit of it.

[lanforod]

Stop posting about yourself!

[Mike K.]

I also stick up for aastra, with good intent.

[Victoria Watcher]

The manager of a Parksville hotel currently used for supportive housing is upset that the people staying there now have an uncertain future.

BC Housing has been using the VIP motel, renamed Ocean Place, for supportive housing but last week Parksville City Council denied a temporary use application that would’ve allowed people to stay at the motel until March 31.

It means the 21 residents who live there will have to move out.

The decision worries those who support the residents.

“You don’t want them out on the street and yet you don’t want them housed. I don’t understand. There have been no problems here,” said Kelly Morris, the manager of Ocean Place.

https://www.cheknews...ed-out-1092154/

Mayne says BC Housing never consulted the city about putting supportive housing at the motel in the first place as they should have but the city will help reach a fair solution.

“We’re going to work with BC Housing to establish a written compliance agreement that would provide a reasonable time frame for example for up to 180 days to allow an orderly relocation of those individuals,” said Mayne.



Good on Parksville. Time to only accept these projects in their own terms.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 September 2022 - 07:23 AM.

[Nparker]

...BC Housing never consulted the city about putting supportive housing at the motel in the first place...

And this is at the heart of the matter. No one was consulted before the "great hotel takeover" took place.

[dasmo]

And this is at the heart of the matter. No one was consulted before the "great hotel takeover" took place.

Very much so. I have connection is Parksville and that is part of the contention. The hotel was sold recently and then this happened to it. It changes the dynamic of the area since the lifestyle spills out so to speak. So it's not like it flies under the radar. Supportive housing is needed these days with the madness of housing here but there has to be a way to do it without such a disruption to the rest of the community. 

[Nparker]

Two hotels/motels within 3 blocks of my home were taken over by the province for "supportive" housing*.  At no point was I allowed any input into the matter.  I've had more say when someone wants to place a sandwich board outside their business than I had in a major change in the residency situation in my community.

*and this doesn't even include the tiny homes that were "temporarily" dropped into my 'hood

[dasmo]

Off topic, but we don't give Mike K. his due credit. He's a mean administrator and he runs a wicked message board. He epitomizes oversight. His thinking is fast. He's always throwing out good ideas and he's always putting out creative inspiration. He's been holding all of us up for many years, and it's about time we acknowledged the things that he's been doing.

I second this. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Close to 100 people gathered at the Nanaimo courthouse Wednesday and called on all levels of government for improved community safety in the wake of a stabbing that killed a man with developmental disabilities.

Numerous speakers spoke about how they have been impacted by crime, some are business owners who have suffered numerous thefts.

“After numerous insurance claims my insurance agent told me that if I made another claim that I would get denied insurance. If I get declined insurance my bank will decline my mortgage,” said Brian Rice, the owner of Maffeo Salon and Day Spa.

https://www.cheknews...thouse-1092540/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 September 2022 - 05:12 AM.

[Nparker]

The 900 block of Pandora now seems to have tents covering most of the boulevard space. For the political candidates who come to this forum, can you please explain what you will do to ensure this stops happening?

[Victoria Watcher]

Missing from all these stories is any official response from the City - that is ignoring its own bylaws.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A narrow sliver of Fernwood parkland is ground zero in a simmering dispute between tenters and the park’s neighbours.

 

About 1,000 people have signed a petition to end camping in Stadacona Park in Victoria, citing negative impacts both on campers and the area’s housed residents.

 

The petition says that “for the past three summers, Stadacona Park has experienced large, shifting encampments of unhoused individuals.”

 

One of those individuals is 60-year-old Cliff, who said he’s been sleeping in the park for four months.

 

“I see a lot of kids come in here, I see a lot of people come in here from all over the neighbourhood,” he said. “There’s people here who don’t use drugs … most of the people in here, if there’s a kid around they won’t use in front of them. They have respect.”

 

Cliff said his name has been on a provincial list for housing for more than five years.

 

“I’m still waiting,” he said.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...s-crime-5836582

[Victoria Watcher]

 

https://twitter.com/VoteYYJWilliams