27097 replies to this topic

[avocado toast]

My comment finally showed up! I was wondering why people could comment on my post but I couldn’t see it. Anyways, this situation looks even worse now with them clearing out Pandora and then allowing them to move right back? This is enablement at its finest and it will lead to entrenchment if it’s not already there

[max.bravo]

How many times has the city cleaned up the visible junkie problem? At least 10 times in the last 4 years alone, I’m sure. Ask aastra… there’s nothing new under the sun.

[Victoria Watcher]

How many times has the city cleaned up the visible junkie problem? At least 10 times in the last 4 years alone, I’m sure. 

 

 

 

2012:

 

 

 

Arguing in favour of restoring the funds, Mayor Dean Fortin said the city needs to remain committed to ending homelessness.

 

Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said she has heard concerns from residents of Burnside-Gorge about the amount of social housing being located there.

Between 2005 and 2011, 152 of the 284 Victoria units of social housing that got CRD grants were in the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood, she said.

 

https://www.timescol...housing-4570774

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2021:

 

 

 

80 Days – There is A Plan

Council has set a goal of working with the Province to offer everyone currently living in City parks a 24/7 indoor sheltering opportunity by March 31st. That is 80 days from today. When that happens, we will change the parks bylaw back to allow camping only from 7pm-7am as per a 2009 Supreme Court decision that secured the right to overnight shelter for people without homes.

 

https://lisahelpscit...anuary-10-2021/

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016:

 

 

 

And then, last fall, came tent city. Maybe at the beginning some thought it would be a good idea to shove many of the hidden homeless into a highly visible place where government could no longer ignore them.

 

Sure enough, government did respond, housing 180 people — if only temporarily for most — in the old Boys and Girls Club building across from Central Middle School, in the mothballed juvie jail in View Royal and in the former Mount Edwards Court care home. The province also announced $30 million for affordable housing in the capital region.

 

Yet tent city remained, jam-packed, reinforcing the idea that homelessness is a constantly refilling cup, never to be emptied. Build a home for one camper today, another will take his place tomorrow, particularly in an inviting place like Victoria.

 

https://www.timescol...ss-kind-4637000

 

 

 

 

 

2008:

 

 

 

Homeless people seeking overnight shelter in Victoria's city parks can expect early morning wake-up calls from police officers.

 

Victoria Police Sgt. Grant Hamilton says a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that permits homeless people to camp overnight in parks doesn't extend to setting up permanent tent cities.

 

Police have arrested five people at Beacon Hill Park and issued $100 tickets to three people who pitched tents.

 

https://bc.ctvnews.c...e?clipId=104069

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 May 2024 - 01:05 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria OKs supportive housing facility in Vic West; ‘slap in the face,’ some residents say

 

Neighbours told council they were concerned a permanent supportive housing project would increase drug use and criminal activity in the area

 

 

 

Victoria council paved the way this week for a 40-unit ­permanent supportive ­housing facility in Vic West, despite neighbourhood opposition.

 

With vague promises that “this will be better” than a previous temporary shelter at the site, council adopted new bylaws and amended the official community plan for the project at 225 Russell St.

 

At a public hearing last spring, neighbours told council they were traumatized by the two-year temporary shelter that closed last year, and were gravely concerned that a permanent supportive housing project would increase drug use and criminal activity in the area.

 

While councillors acknowledged residents’ concerns, they voted 6-3 in favour of the project, with councillors Chris Coleman, Marg Gardiner and Stephen Hammond opposed.

Mayor Marianne Alto said she was torn, as council was voting solely on the land-use application, which she pointed out was “entirely appropriate” and will provide homes for 40 people, although she acknowledged it was difficult to separate the land use from the potential impact of the project.

 

She suggested, however, that the permanent facility will differ from the temporary shelter established during the pandemic.

 

“Having said that, it is actually profoundly disappointing to witness yet another example of the rigidity of B.C. Housing and their inability to read the room and be able to see that very small changes could move a very supportable application beginning from a place of absolute resistance to at least beginning in a place which was willing to give it a chance,” she said.

 

Last spring, council recommended that B.C. Housing secure the site for supportive housing, ensure it would give priority to residents aged 55 and older and/or Indigenous people, provide security in the area, and create a conflict resolution strategy for neighbours.

 

But B.C. Housing refused to include all the recommendations in its housing agreement with the city, other than securing the site as supportive housing.

 

B.C. Housing said supportive-housing occupants are already prioritized based on vulnerability and need, which includes consideration of age and Indigenous identity, and providing neighbourhood security is not within its mandate, noting it already has existing mechanisms for addressing conflicts.

 

That wasn’t good enough for Hammond, who said neighbours had to put up with a “horror show” for two years at that site.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...nts-say-8821713

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 May 2024 - 05:21 AM.

[Nparker]

And CoV residents have to put up with the horror show that is the "gang of 5" (and usually 6) until at least October 2026.

[Victoria Watcher]

‘Couldn’t believe there was so much garbage’: Volunteers clean up threat to Cowichan River

 

 

 

A mess along the Cowichan River was so big that Peter Williams, a volunteer with the Cowichan Valley Clean-up Effort, first didn’t believe the description.

 

“We actually couldn’t believe there was so much garbage in one place,” Williams told CHEK News on Saturday.

 

That is, until he saw it with his own eyes. Several tonnes of garbage from an abandoned homeless camp were found laying in piles behind Allenby Road near the banks of the Cowichan River.

 

So volunteers – who want to protect the river that’s faced record droughts, declining salmon stocks and in 2024, and has just 41 per cent of normal snowpack to see it through summer – came together Saturday as the Cowichan Valley Clean Up Effort.

 

“This is probably the biggest one we’ve ever seen, this is the biggest mess we’ve found on the river,” said Lehanna Green, an organizer and volunteer for the Cowichan Valley Clean Up Effort.

 

Truckloads of garbage were pulled out of the site Saturday. Everything from batteries, to needles, garbage, and clothing that young fish could become trapped in if the debris fell into the threatened Cowichan River.

 

“It can just contaminate the whole river system and all the fish spawning,” said Williams.

 

Tammy Davies is the owner of the neighbouring Van Isles Cowichan RV Park and Campground, and told CHEK News that the homeless camp has been a growing concern, so it was a relief to see it cleared out.

 

“It just kept growing and growing and growing. We could hear trees getting cut down, we could see smoke. It was just constant devastation of the land,” said Davies.

 

“And this river has huge cultural significance, so we’d like to see it protected. We’d like to do all we can do,” said Green.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...-river-1206285/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 May 2024 - 07:12 AM.

[Mike K.]

We see this sort of thing up and down the island. Complete devastation these people leave behind when they eventually move along. Same story, every time.

And in Victoria, some of the same people are now living in “apartments” in neighborhoods thrust into this mayhem and left to their own devices to ensure the safety and security of their properties from people who will take whatever they want whenever they want, and hopefully only from the exterior of your property and not try to break into the home.

[Victoria Watcher]

Adding insult to injury is the fact 95% of the stuff they leave behind was stolen or donated.  99.9% of it was stolen, donated, or bought with our tax money.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 May 2024 - 07:31 AM.

[Mike K.]

Somehow, on some desk, this is called success.

[mbjj]

My mum used to take me for a swim in that stretch of the Cowichan River in the 1960s. Nary a chocolate bar wrapper to be seen. Allenby Road runs from the side of what used to be the old Eatons  store, right down to the river and the old white bridge. Sad to think of all that junk! 

[Victoria Watcher]

‘What am I supposed to do?’: Pandora Ave., Irving Park sweeps displace homeless camper

 

 

 

Irving Park camper Jack Davis shakes out his wet tent. It’s his routine after a morning visit by Victoria bylaw officers.

 

The Irving Park campers have to take down their tents by 7 a.m., and Davis says getting up and packing all his belongings is tough.

 

“It’s pouring rain. They said we had 15 minutes to pack up,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

 

“So instead of being able to do things nicely, you’re pushing stuff around in the rain. Your stuff is getting soaked. I’ll probably go to bed tonight with wet sleeping beds.”

 

While he’s able to get reorganized, Irving Park, located at 250 Menzies St. in James Bay, will have one less camper.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...camper-1206624/

 

 

 

#1 find out how to get yourself on shelter lists

#2 make it so that you fit the criteria for shelter

#3 move to shelter

#4 get a job

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 May 2024 - 12:33 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria police are investigating after several people in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue were pepper-sprayed from a passing vehicle on Monday afternoon.

 

Police said three people were arrested after the 4:30 p.m. incident but charges have not yet been sworn.

 

About 15 people went to Our Place to rinse off the spray, said Grant McKenzie, spokesman for the group, which provides support services for the unhoused community.

 

He said the pepper-sprayers targeted people in the boulevard area, adding the incident was disturbing.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...pandora-8883573

[Victoria Watcher]

Courtenay shuts public toilet overnight after vandalism, those who have to go turn to streets

Coun. Wendy Morin wants city council to urge Island Health to pay for 24-hour toilet facilities downtown, as the number of people without homes grows sharply

https://www.timescol...streets-8884805

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 29 May 2024 - 04:11 AM.

[Mike K.]

900 Block of Pandora? I saw that the incident happened in the 800-block of Pandora, or at least also involved that block. Maybe that's where the vehicle was stopped? Have a look for yourself: https://www.facebook...77524684511850/

[Victoria Watcher]

Victoria Indigenous artist aims to inspire hope on Pandora Avenue

Alex Taylor-McCallum designed a mural at the Kool-Aid Society on Pandora

https://www.vicnews....-avenue-7368073




Almost all the homeless on Pandora are drug addicts or mentally ill, or both. There is little chance for hope for them the way we run things. Certainly a mural is going to make no difference.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 May 2024 - 04:32 PM.

[Nparker]

While the mural appears to be very nice, the folks along the 900 block of Pandora need hospitalization, not art work.

[Victoria Watcher]

Did taxpayers pay for it?

[Nparker]

Did taxpayers pay for it?

Who else?

[Beacon]

‘What am I supposed to do?’: Pandora Ave., Irving Park sweeps displace homeless camper

 

 

 

Irving Park camper Jack Davis shakes out his wet tent. It’s his routine after a morning visit by Victoria bylaw officers.

 

The Irving Park campers have to take down their tents by 7 a.m., and Davis says getting up and packing all his belongings is tough.

 

“It’s pouring rain. They said we had 15 minutes to pack up,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

 

“So instead of being able to do things nicely, you’re pushing stuff around in the rain. Your stuff is getting soaked. I’ll probably go to bed tonight with wet sleeping beds.”

 

While he’s able to get reorganized, Irving Park, located at 250 Menzies St. in James Bay, will have one less camper.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...camper-1206624/

 

 

 

#1 find out how to get yourself on shelter lists

#2 make it so that you fit the criteria for shelter

#3 move to shelter

#4 get a job

 

#5 Read the signs, you had more than 15mins notice to know who had to take your tent down and it was 100% not the first warning

[LJ]

Where do these folks get all their tents from?