Editor, The News:
Re: Ideas for a vibrant downtown (The News, Oct. 9).
It’s Saturday night and I have watched drug deals go on outside my condo three times in the past hour, and have then had people chucking beer bottles out of a third floor apartment across the street.
The cops have showed up and told them to stop, without arresting anyone. Why do we have law enforcement when nothing ever gets done when you call them? Why should we have to feel unsafe in our own building because of some junkies that have moved in?
The only thing I read about from the mayor is that we don’t have a drug problem here, or a crime problem.
I would like to ask the mayor what rock he has been living under?
We have had three arsons in a four- block radius and have four abandoned houses in a one-block radius. This is just attracting the wrong crowd.
I live across from a building that has a constant infestation of bed bugs with a building manger who won’t help these people. I should not feel unsafe walking outside at night or even during the day. The truth is I do and won’t now.
When we go out for a walk it’s like, ‘let’s see how many needles and condoms we can find on the ground,’ or ‘how many drug deals we are going to pass.’ Something needs to be done soon and people need to be held accountable. Downtown Maple Ridge is becoming the worst place to live.
Kim Plumridge
Maple Ridge
Don’t fall back
Editor, The News:
Re: Ideas for a vibrant downtown (The News, Oct. 9).
Our municipality is beaming with a variety of ideas designed to make Maple Ridge’s downtown core a vibrant place.
However, putting all eggs in the downtown core makes little sense if the immediate neighborhood has a diametrically opposite character.
Ironically, just a block south of the heart of this core area, adjacent streets have been historically plagued and polluted by prostitutes, pimps, drug manufactures, grow-ops, bad appearances and a bad reputation.
I recollect some friends were reluctant to buy property in this area, owing to its bad name and appearances. Several of us felt unsafe to walk after dark along 224th Street and the tunnel at comes out at River Road. Our condo had 34 car break-ins once in a single night.
The timely action of the District of Maple Ridge in demolishing and cleaning up of the Northumberland property and old gym, the RCMP raids on at least two other properties and their surveillance, especially along North Avenue, resulted in substantially lower level of criminal and undesirable activities. Then downtown BIA’s efforts to beautify and clean up our neighborhood served to improve the looks.
All this served as a preparation for a brighter phase for our neighborhood, which involves several millions of dollars of investments for road upgrading, constructing three new condo buildings and possibly a hotel with a conference centre.
In Maple Ridge, several hundred jobs will be created and new residents will occupy our newly constructed dwellings.
But just last week the discovery of a drug house on 224th Street caused serious concern for all the emerging businesses, condo buildings and residents in our neighborhood.
This time the commendable actions of our RCMP rounded up eight people and confiscated a variety of drugs and firearms. But we can not afford to let this neighborhood fall back to disrepute and risk several million dollars worth of investment. If an owner’s building has been boarded up twice for active drug manufacturing and or dealing, he should not escape the criminal and legal liability, besides the “no occupancy” order for the building, which should have the same fate as that of the real Northumberland Court.
And our civilian force of neighborhood can contribute as the eyes and ears for the RCMP in eradicating these virus cells that were let loose after the drug bust operations.
Hari Pal
Maple Ridge
