Did you know not all of the homeless camps are in Polson Park. There are many other green spaces being invaded and the homeless are affecting people? It may not be an inconvenience to you Catherine Lord, but I am woke up again by screaming and fighting for the third time now in about 10 days, so I am sitting and writing this letter to council at 2:09 a.m.
It is very frustrating for us that have to endure not only the eyesore of these camps but the loud, vulgar disruptions. Akbal Mund and Brian Quiring stated after their tour through Polson Park that these are not local homeless but transients.
All Scott Anderson saw on his tour through Polson Park was needles. Who are picking up these needles, the deer, the raccoons or maybe even birds? All of these so called camps have no washroom facilities.
Our taxes were yet again increased so we can pay to add dedicated bylaw officers to babysit these campers. Not to mention the major increase of regular bylaw and police complaints. I would like to know why at city council June 26, when Scott Anderson inquired as to why there were three police cars in Polson Park on a Friday night and if we are spending significant resources there, it was very quickly and strangely hushed with whispers. We will eventually pay tens of thousands of dollars to clean up after these campers when they are finally asked to leave.
Dalvir Nahal and Lord suggested paying to create 10 more shelter beds at a cost of about $40,000 for two-and-a-half months. I sure hope they meant out of their own bank accounts. Do you really think the 10 beds would make a difference?
Juliette Cunningham said, “It is not our mandate, not the responsibility of the City of Vernon to supply shelter,” but she does not have a problem jeopardizing our green space and our neighbourhoods instead.
I would like to know why instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars spent babysitting, controlling and cleaning up after these transient campers, that cities aren’t challenging the one person’s decision that allowed this. Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson’s ruling allowed the homeless to sleep in parks.
It constitutes a violation of section seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom which ensures our right to security of the person. The more you keep giving, the more you keep attracting these transients to come to Vernon.
I urge more people to call city hall 250-545-1361 to put a stop to this. Affordable housing will not resolve this situation as these are transients that do not want to pay for housing.
The only fix is stopping the camping in green spaces. These are not local homeless and I do not want my taxes to keep going up every year so we can attract more transients to come to Vernon for the free resources.
I would like to see all city council members open up their backyards to a couple homeless camps so they can appreciate first-hand what they are supporting and we are experiencing. Maybe then they will start lobbing for us to stop the transient’s right to camp in our green space.
It is not just Polson Park that these issues are occurring in. It is just a more public green space.
Sherry Frey
Vernon
