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Victoria homelessness and street-related issues


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#16441 aastra

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Posted 11 June 2019 - 10:11 AM

 

....a decade a go, there were a number of low-cost housing options, flops, and squats throughout Victoria where most of the street folk could disappear too.  Not to mention the extensive camping grounds across/under the bridges. But then development came in and took those away, so the street people problems that we were able to ignore before were pushed out on to the sidewalks.

And yes, Pandora has been this bad before (in the early 2000s), and you'd probably have to go back to before the court rulings on panhandling and the like to find a time when they weren't aggressive or in your face.

 

*****

 

Daily Colonist
May 1, 1980

Bugged by panhandlers? Grin 'n bear it

"Campers" in park at foot of Wharf have to move on, but begging tolerated.

The bumper crop of panhandlers that has shown up in downtown Victoria with the spring blossoms may be here to stay awhile...

As four business-oriented organizations turned to city hall and police for action Wednesday, the word was that little could be done about the situation.

"It's been a continuing problem around here," said a sympathetic Victoria police spokesman. "They can sit out in front of the liquor store on Yates Street asking for money as you pass and there's no law to deal with it. They took away the vagrancy charge years ago."

If the person putting the hammer on you is carrying a weapon or grabs you in a way that would constitute assault, that's another matter. Or if he gets in your way and impedes your travel, he can be charged with causing a disturbance.

The groups seeking help maintain that the normally pretty face of the city is being given an ugly look by the unwanted people of the street.

"They're turning the city of gardens into skid road..."

The complaint is that Victoria has been invaded earlier than usual by bothersome panhandlers. The problem is compounded by drunks.

Of the panhandlers, Acs says: "Some of them get quite belligerent if you refuse."

Philip Holmes, president of the business association, believes council should bring in a tough bylaw giving police power to deal effectively with the situation.

Information centre officials say they will send a letter of protest to city council, particularly because of verbal assaults on female staff members.

Included in complaints to council are stories about beggars walking into the Causeway tourist bureau to bother visitors, and drunks shouting obscenities and urinating in public.



#16442 Awaiting Juno

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Posted 11 June 2019 - 10:32 AM

*****

 

Daily Colonist
May 1, 1980

Bugged by panhandlers? Grin 'n bear it

"Campers" in park at foot of Wharf have to move on, but begging tolerated.

The bumper crop of panhandlers that has shown up in downtown Victoria with the spring blossoms may be here to stay awhile...

As four business-oriented organizations turned to city hall and police for action Wednesday, the word was that little could be done about the situation.

"It's been a continuing problem around here," said a sympathetic Victoria police spokesman. "They can sit out in front of the liquor store on Yates Street asking for money as you pass and there's no law to deal with it. They took away the vagrancy charge years ago."

If the person putting the hammer on you is carrying a weapon or grabs you in a way that would constitute assault, that's another matter. Or if he gets in your way and impedes your travel, he can be charged with causing a disturbance.

The groups seeking help maintain that the normally pretty face of the city is being given an ugly look by the unwanted people of the street.

"They're turning the city of gardens into skid road..."

The complaint is that Victoria has been invaded earlier than usual by bothersome panhandlers. The problem is compounded by drunks.

Of the panhandlers, Acs says: "Some of them get quite belligerent if you refuse."

Philip Holmes, president of the business association, believes council should bring in a tough bylaw giving police power to deal effectively with the situation.

Information centre officials say they will send a letter of protest to city council, particularly because of verbal assaults on female staff members.

Included in complaints to council are stories about beggars walking into the Causeway tourist bureau to bother visitors, and drunks shouting obscenities and urinating in public.

 

And today this is unlikely to make the news at all because it is that wide spread.


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#16443 Nparker

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Posted 11 June 2019 - 10:33 AM

And today this is unlikely to make the news at all because it is that wide spread.

And doesn't fit the narrative of today's elected officials.



#16444 On the Level

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Posted 11 June 2019 - 10:39 AM

I was sympathetic to the developer and its concern for the residents until I read the part about them being less concerned if the City was willing to compensate them financially.


I didn't take it that way. They are already out of pocket $1M and simply want to limit their losses. They jumped through all of the hoops to get the building approved to then have another level of government pull the rug out.....

#16445 Kyjen

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 12:11 AM

Stumbled across the documentary Seattle Is Dying on YouTube, done by KOMO News Seattle March 2019.

 

Talks about the impact the drug and homelessness problem is having on Seattle and possible solutions.

 

An hr long but worth the watch if you're a regular follower of this thread.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw


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#16446 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 02:10 AM

900 Block of Pandora - BBQ and Planning Charette - The Mayor's Task Force on Pandora is holding an urban planning charette (afternoon high-level strategizing workshop) on Monday June 24 from 2 to 5pm on the 900 Block. The event will be facilitated by City Urban Designer Joaquin Karakas, and architect Franc D'Ambrosio. Everyone is welcome. Participants will include people with live experience using the services on the 900 Block, residents, businesses, developers and more. Many thanks to Alison James from the Mayor's Office, and Janine Theobald from the Coalition to End Homelessness for coordinating this event. There will be a pre-charette BBQ on Monday June 17 from 11:30 to 1:30pm on the same block, complete with a pop-up show from Pacific Opera. Join us as we work together to answer the question "When you imagine the 900 block of Pandora Avenue as a safe healthy welcoming community, inclusive of all, what do you see?"

#16447 Nparker

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 05:46 AM

More of my tax dollars being spent to not deal with the root of the problem. People with mental health issues (as many of the denizens of the 900 block of Pandora most certainly have). need more help than just clean needles, naloxone and free meals. Of course if I were to attend this "charette", I'd be tarred and feathered if I tried to suggest that the current "program" is doing more harm than good.


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#16448 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 06:15 AM

vancouver homelessness is up 2% this year and last.

#16449 pennymurphy2000

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 06:30 AM

Do we get paid 20 bucks to attend? What is the point of having a meeting facilitated by an architect? Will police be present? I can't imagine a more hostile and one sided meeting. They actually think joe average citizen would go to this and dare to speak up about the real problems with that block in a room filled with SJWs and their pals? Hard pass.


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#16450 Mike K.

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 06:40 AM

There's pressure on City Hall to clean up that stretch now that hundreds of residential units will be situated along or overlooking that block.


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#16451 rmpeers

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 08:20 AM

More of my tax dollars being spent to not deal with the root of the problem. People with mental health issues (as many of the denizens of the 900 block of Pandora most certainly have). need more help than just clean needles, naloxone and free meals. Of course if I were to attend this "charette", I'd be tarred and feathered if I tried to suggest that the current "program" is doing more harm than good.


Everything I've heard anecdotally over the years suggests that many of the "support" organizations merely serve to enable mental health and drug addiction issues rather than making a serious attempt to help these people. Eg, as long as you don't OD and you use with someone else, everything is great.

I'm not advocating here for "tough love" etc, but just keeping the problems going, simply so a few executives and agencies can keep raking in the bucks while others suffer, does not seem right.
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#16452 FawltyVic

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 10:33 AM

There's pressure on City Hall to clean up that stretch now that hundreds of residential units will be situated along or overlooking that block.

I don't know. Current people in city hall care more about those committing crimes than those who work and pay taxes. My guess is this meeting is for show with the only people who will be planned for in mind are those who stretch current resources.


Edited by FawltyVic, 13 June 2019 - 10:34 AM.

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#16453 FawltyVic

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 11:05 AM

*****

 

Daily Colonist
May 1, 1980

Bugged by panhandlers? Grin 'n bear it

"Campers" in park at foot of Wharf have to move on, but begging tolerated.

Victoria has had problems in the past; The motel on Hillside/Douglas behind the 7-11, the rampant prostitution downtown with prostitutes as as young as 14 working the streets, the Douggie Hotel alcoholics, the drug drop offs to users just off Store Street near Discovery, the dealings on Pandora/Douglas and Broad between Johnson and Yates, the Whale Wall mural park that was filled with drunks, drug users and street people, the drug/sex acts/bathroom use behind the businesses off Millie's Lane, and the flashers and street people in Beacon Hill Park at night (even a bunch of pre-teen/teen kids doing stunt driving in a stolen SUV in the snow near the top of the hill at one point), etc.

 

Problems have existed then, now and always will but as I said previously, I find it's the numbers and the aggression. Your experiences will differ from mine but through the experience I've had, even as one of the kids who hung out downtown in the 80's, I don't ever recall seeing it this bad.


Edited by FawltyVic, 13 June 2019 - 11:10 AM.

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#16454 Midnightly

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 01:48 PM

Victoria has had problems in the past; The motel on Hillside/Douglas behind the 7-11, the rampant prostitution downtown with prostitutes as as young as 14 working the streets, the Douggie Hotel alcoholics, the drug drop offs to users just off Store Street near Discovery, the dealings on Pandora/Douglas and Broad between Johnson and Yates, the Whale Wall mural park that was filled with drunks, drug users and street people, the drug/sex acts/bathroom use behind the businesses off Millie's Lane, and the flashers and street people in Beacon Hill Park at night (even a bunch of pre-teen/teen kids doing stunt driving in a stolen SUV in the snow near the top of the hill at one point), etc.

 

Problems have existed then, now and always will but as I said previously, I find it's the numbers and the aggression. Your experiences will differ from mine but through the experience I've had, even as one of the kids who hung out downtown in the 80's, I don't ever recall seeing it this bad.

 

 i think much of the problems in the past were more hidden then they are today.. they were behind closed doors or more in alley ways, much more quiet and out of sight, still there but your average person walking through the downtown core wouldn't see it unless they looked for it..  now we have made it acceptable for this type of behavior to happen out in the open on the sidewalks and streets for everyone to see... and then we tell the world that it's not their fault they have a mental illness


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#16455 Arnold

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 02:16 PM

now we have made it acceptable for this type of behavior to happen out in the open on the sidewalks and streets for everyone to see... and then we tell the world that it's not their fault they have a mental illness


I know this will garner some less than flattering fan mail but that’s what they WANT you to see.

They (the social justice ne’er do wells) want you to be made to feel uncomfortable about seeing the unfortunate mess that these poor human beings are going through. They also want to know why you are not disgusted enough to do more than you already have to eliminate the hardship. The government can’t do everything to help these people you know. Or can they?
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#16456 DustMagnet

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 02:28 PM

 The government can’t do everything to help these people you know. Or can they?

 

Narrator: They can't. won't?



#16457 FawltyVic

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 06:23 PM

 i think much of the problems in the past were more hidden then they are today.

Yup, hidden in the stairwells and basements of public buildings, down alleyways, in wooded areas like Beacon Hill Park, and even under the Johnson and Bay Street bridges. Local band The Wardells even had a song about the goings on under the Johnson Street Bridge on their album "Back to the Drawing Board".


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#16458 rmpeers

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Posted 13 June 2019 - 10:53 PM

Not enough Wardells references on this forum. Thank you. :)
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#16459 spanky123

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Posted 14 June 2019 - 06:38 AM

There's pressure on City Hall to clean up that stretch now that hundreds of residential units will be situated along or overlooking that block.

 

I think that there is pressure to clean up that stretch now that developers are finding the market softening and they are having trouble selling less desirable locations.

 

I drove by yesterday and it is starting to look more and more like East Hastings with people hanging out in the street as well as camping on the sidewalks.  Must have been 100 people in that two block stretch.


Edited by spanky123, 14 June 2019 - 06:40 AM.

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#16460 Mike K.

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Posted 08 July 2019 - 06:42 AM

The City of Victoria is proposing 25-units of additional supportive rental housing and a 22-bed substance use treatment facility within the 2915 Douglas Street complex. The use will also require adding 20 parking spaces to exclusive use of the residential complex (the parking lot has also doubled as a park-and-ride facility and is used by patrons of Spoons Diner).


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