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Victoria homelessness and street-related issues


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#27401 Blair M.

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Posted 18 January 2025 - 08:57 AM

That was 16 years ago. People can mature a lot in 16 years.

They can also remain fundamentally the same person they were 16 years ago - it cuts both ways.

Which is why checks and balances, detailed research and background checks, and completely transparent management are critically important when public funds are used.

 

In the City of Victoria, that bridge whereby Mayor and Council say to the public "just trust us" - was burned many years ago.


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#27402 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 06:40 AM

Embedded: Why is there so little change on the 900-block of Pandora, after an end-of-year 'deadline'?

 

 

Dozens of people and a smattering of tents can be seen on most nights, despite months-long efforts to move people off the street


#27403 Blair M.

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 10:13 AM

Why is there so little change on the 900-block of Pandora, after an end-of-year 'deadline'?

 

Bad management at every level, both bureaucratic and political?

Or:

Expecting some blue fencing on the grass to un-do more than a decade of woke political support for crime, drug addiction, and tossing the mentally ill out onto the streets with no supports?

 

Or both?



#27404 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 10:22 AM

On average, there were just under 170,200 cases (family units and unattached single adults) and about 224,400 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in British Columbia’s social assistance programs during 2022-23.

 

 

 

https://maytree.com/...cial-assistance

 

 

Somehow over 200,000 people live on welfare in BC, but somehow there are 50 or 100 or 400 or whatever in Victoria that can't manage on $1,060 per month.



#27405 mbjj

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 02:39 PM

That couple pictured on the front page of the Islander, I've seen them in the library for at least ten years, well before Covid. She always seems very clean, tidy, and well-spoken. He had an altercation one time when I was there. In better weather I often see them at the church property just behind the Crystal Gardens. I wonder why they did not get an indoor place when Covid started? They don't seem like trouble-makers. 



#27406 Blair M.

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 02:56 PM

That couple pictured on the front page of the Islander, I've seen them in the library for at least ten years, ...

They spend many of their afternoons sitting right where they are in that picture, in front of the McPherson Playhouse.

From the hottest summer day, to the coldest winter frost - they sit for hours by that pillar in front of the Mac. 

They never leave a mess, they're never belligerent to passers-by, and their time spent there is always peaceful and calm.

As mbjj noted above, they've been around town (in exactly the same spots) for many, many years.

 

It goes without saying that their back-story leading to this choice of lifestyle must be extraordinarily complex.



#27407 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 03:15 PM

Why don’t they do some paying work each day?


I’d get super bored if I didn’t work some hours per day.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 20 January 2025 - 03:17 PM.


#27408 Blair M.

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Posted 20 January 2025 - 09:03 PM

Having said "good morning" or "good afternoon" to this particular couple more than a few times over the years, I'd guess there are rather profound mental health issues at play (proviso - I'm no expert on mental health).

 

I've long felt that their moving from one spot to another, sitting peacefully and having a bite to eat or reading a book is pretty much the limit of what they're capable of each day.


Edited by Blair M., 20 January 2025 - 09:04 PM.

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#27409 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 07:22 AM

Conservatory CEO has big plans for Pandora site, including music plaza

 

 

As a $250,000 exterior upgrade, including a new ironwork fence, takes shape, CEO Nathan Medd is advocating for a public plaza in front of the Victoria Conservatory of Music
 
 
 
Nathan Medd did not expect that responding to crises on the 900-block of Pandora would be part of his job when he became the head of a music centre and performance venue in Victoria.

 

 

 

[...]

 

 

 

The four-foot-tall fence — which arches up to six or seven feet high at the gate — is part of a $250,000 exterior upgrade to the conservatory that will hopefully bring more shows and more people into the hall.

 

The 800-seat hall has been running at half-capacity since 2021 because fire regulations stipulate that its Quadra and Pandora exits all have to be accessible when the hall is full, yet they’re often blocked either by tents or city fences put up to keep tents out.

 

Medd told the Times Colonist it doesn’t make economic sense to use the doors on Pandora — which have to be staffed with front-of-house staff and security — for concerts at Alix Goolden right now.

 

The lower seating capacity has prompted some promoters to pass on recent opportunities for artists to play there.

 

Last year, in an op-ed for the Times Colonist, Medd wrote that the “lack of law and bylaw enforcement” on the 900-block of Pandora has cost the conservatory more than $1.5 million in lost revenue and added costs since the hall began running half-full.

 

The cost of the new fence is estimated to be around $150,000. The goal is to have a design that’s in keeping with the Conservatory’s heritage-status building, he said.

 

 

https://www.timescol...-plaza-10105062


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 January 2025 - 07:22 AM.


#27410 Barrister

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 08:09 AM

The clean of Pandora Ave is a disgrace. By-law and police should be there twenty four seven and stop anyone even trying to erect a tent or sleep there. Time that drugs are re-criminalized so that the police have at least a chance of reducing the trafficking. 

 

A large portion of those poor souls need to be institutionalized and not just left to suffer. 


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#27411 Blair M.

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 08:13 AM

Reading that T/C article, the quote from City of Victoria Councillor Dave Thompson certainly stands out:

 

"There are still tents, belongings and garbage strewn on the street, he said. “I’d want to see it definitely looking better than it does now before I put money into a performance space or anything like that.”

 

This comment from a City of Victoria elected official, one who presumably leads and manages our downtown community.

It's certainly a definitive comment that highlights and defines Mayor and Councils defeatist and moribund efforts to remedy the 900 Block of Pandora.


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#27412 lanforod

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 01:35 PM

^ exactly. He's in a position to drive those changes. Where's the action?


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#27413 mbjj

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Posted 21 January 2025 - 02:55 PM

Regarding the couple, when the event happened in the library, she seemed quite rational and was telling him to stop and was trying to calm him down. I guess she's sticking by her man.

 

I was over at the Marks Work Warehouse by Mayfair and there was sure a mess on the street in behind the old Comfort Inn. 



#27414 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 23 January 2025 - 02:23 PM

Revitalization could transform despair into hope for Victoria’s Pandora

 

Upgrades are coming to Alix Goolden Performance Hall as part of a city grant, and could include a plaza co-created with Our Place Society
 
 
 
 
 
Our Place has destroyed this block.  Every business has been driven out, save for McDonalds, but you'd never take your kids to this one.  
 
WHY would Our Place be invited to help now?    :badpc: 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 January 2025 - 02:24 PM.

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#27415 Mike P.

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Posted 23 January 2025 - 03:16 PM

Exactly. And Our Place should be the ones paying for the Hall's fence. But nop, it's you and I paying for it once again.

Edited by Mike P., 23 January 2025 - 03:20 PM.

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#27416 Matt R.

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Posted 23 January 2025 - 05:46 PM

As a wise sage once said, even if OP pays, it’s really just you anyways.
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#27417 Mike P.

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Posted 23 January 2025 - 06:41 PM

Huh?

Edited by Mike P., 23 January 2025 - 06:43 PM.


#27418 Blair M.

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Posted 23 January 2025 - 06:55 PM

Huh?

Matt's saying the metaphorical "you" is always the person paying.

In the case of the Conservatory fence, say your favourite music artist is giving a concert in the Conservatory, and in a normal times and a normal Pandora Street scenario, each person pays $55.00 per ticket and goes on to enjoy their evening.

 

But in the reality we know exists on Pandora Street and around the Conservatory in 2025, there's the cost of the fence, the cost of extra security, the cost of cleaning up blood, urine, and feces from around the Conservatory - so your ticket now costs $85.00 in order to cover the costs required to make your attendance at the concert of your favourite artist safe and comfortable.

 

So for the fence - you always pay whether it's through taxes or tickets - the metaphorical "you" always pays.


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#27419 Mike P.

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Posted 23 January 2025 - 07:02 PM

Oh, I get it now, lol.

#27420 aastra

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Posted 24 January 2025 - 12:46 PM

 

As a wise sage once said, even if OP pays, it’s really just you anyways.

 

The fool likes to say "the government gave me some money!"

 

The wise sage likes to say "the government gave you some of your money back."


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