A commentary by a member of Victoria city council.
On July 4, five Victoria councillors shut down discussion and debate on a motion I brought forward. Councillors Jeremy Caradonna, Matt Dell, Susan Kim, Krista Loughton and Dave Thompson, sometimes affectionately known as the “gang of five,” control most of the votes on council.
This is the motion I put forward: “That council direct staff to investigate options for methods in which residents affected by crime, nuisance and/or social disorder might be compensated and return to council with recommendations for such methods, including implications for their implementation.”
When Caradonna immediately called to end the discussion and his four colleagues fell in line, it was clear they had no time to consider ways to compensate Victoria residents and businesses who are, by no fault of their own, horribly affected by significant crime, social unrest and nuisance in well-known parts of our city.
For those who: illegally camp on sidewalks and streets (as no camping is allowed on streets, sidewalks and boulevards by any law or court in B.C.); steal to support their drug addiction; drive away business; intimidate, threaten and harm others; light fires; or urinate and defecate anywhere they want, we’ll spend whatever it takes to work with you.
However, for Victoria residents and businesses negatively affected by these behaviours, we’ve got nothing for you … not even a minute to give you a moment’s thought. You’re on your own and you’ll pay whatever it takes to keep yourself safe and/or in business.
The light bulb came on for me after some residents and businesses wondered why they pay the same taxes without the same quality of life.
With their permission, I anonymously quoted three people and their unfortunate situations in the background for my motion. (For full details, go to the city’s July 4 council meeting agenda.)
Briefly, the first person, who lives in the 1000 block of Pandora Avenue, said residents feel trapped on Pandora but still continue to contribute to city coffers.
The second person represented a business in an area he described as “new Pandora.” He told me about the damage to a customer’s truck as a “street [person] threw a glass jar at his vehicle … damaging his vehicle.”
He then wrote, “We have heard that bylaw won’t attend to this street without police escort, because it is a dangerous area. How does the city think we feel? Or our customers?
“Will our customers also be able to get a police escort, to come to our shop? We feel that the local businesses should receive a tax break, since we are getting reduced services.”
The third person told of a condo near Vancouver and Quadra where “the activity has ramped up to every night, lighting fires on the porch and sidewalk, large groups of people hanging out on the porch, sleeping, doing drugs and behaving in ways that make the residents feel very unsafe.”
While these have been reported to police, residents have hired a security company for eight hours every night at a cost of $2,240 per week.
Victoria council spends millions on big projects and our residents and businesses can expect at least a 53% tax increase in a five-year period. And if Victoria voters give us the OK to build a new Crystal Pool, that will add an additional two per cent per year for many years, compounded.
As for time, we’ve got plenty of that. At last week’s meeting, when my motion was voted down in record speed, council spent 21 minutes and 27 seconds debating and discussing how the wood from the soon to be removed sequoia in Centennial Square would be transformed into wooden cradles for orphans at the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Centre (I nodded off at that point, so my apologies if the wood is going to some other noble cause).
Things are worse on some streets, especially on and near the 900 block of Pandora. It’s common knowledge that many people “camping” have accommodations elsewhere and/or have more than one tent set up for various purposes, including illegal activities. I was told of one tent that was used as a “bathroom.”
Until the majority of council is willing to make real improvements in these parts of town, we should think of ways to compensate taxpayers who have done nothing wrong, except find themselves living or working in parts of Victoria none of us would want.
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