Filed for publication with the Mirror
Mayor (Andy) Adams,
Since 2018, crimes and severe crimes have dramatically increased in our city. We are ranked at 38th in Canada at 148.19 when the national average is at 79.45
Before you disregard this letter because homelessness is a problem everywhere not just in Campbell River, just remember, you are running a city that stands out as one of the worst in Canada; number 80 out of 1,137.
I have been a citizen of Campbell River for most of my life, homeowner, taxpayer, business owner and operator. Never in my life have I ever seen the crime rate property damage and drug use as high as it is today.
I look around and see the needles thrown everywhere, along with the garbage and human waste that line our streets. It makes me question everything I have been brought up to believe about right and wrong. This city has become a haven of drugs and crime.
Every day I hear my customers and fellow entrepreneurs complaining about the direction our city is heading. They are disgusted with the lack of care and transparency from elected officials. They need change, and that change needs to be in favor of taxpayers that are being robbed and attacked, not in favor of the criminals running our streets. People are getting physically attacked and verbally abused on their private properties, and at their businesses. The citizens of Campbell River are not safe to walk the streets of the city they pay for.
And what does our city council do?
They use taxpayers’ dollars to buy a restaurant to convert it into a drug den full of stolen property. Right down in the center of our former beautiful city. Whoever thought of this approach needs to give their head a shake, and be held accountable for the damages that are being done.
If you think I am joking, go down their yourself and look what your wonderful idea has created. The other night after I was robbed, the police went and recouped some of my stolen property. It was safely stored in the compound I paid for with my tax dollars. I had video footage of it being stolen from my compound, (that I also paid for) but the officers could do nothing as the thieves wore masks, how nice.
At least the officers could retrieve some of my property and fortunately they knew exactly where it was. Turns out fenced compounds only keep out honest people. I have now spent another $15,000 adding to my alarm system. Maybe I should keep some of those property taxes I pay to the city to help pay for it.
The things I have seen and continue to see in our downtown core is incredibly dumbfounding. The fact that elected officials want this for Campbell River is saddening.
I would like to suggest that mayor and council begin to focus on the honest, voting, taxpaying, hardworking citizens, and businesses of Campbell River instead of continually making life easier for drug addicts and criminals.
If a life on the streets is made easy by government subsidies and handouts, why would a person living this lifestyle want to do the work it takes to change? Your actions have done nothing but increase the drug addict population and with this the criminal element that feeds them.
Everything I have stated in this letter is fact with no embellishment or exaggeration. If you do not begin to act on these issues you either don’t care or you are living in denial.
Maybe you need to speak to our police force because they are doing their best and tired of this as well.
Tim Kraushar,
Manager Adams Tarp and Tool,
Campbell River
