Open letter to Mayor Larry Jangula:
I appreciated your recent comments in The Record regarding the lengthy issues with “the house” on Panorama Crescent. As Mayor, you not only have the right, but the mandate to pressure those contracted to police our city. I was delighted to read between the lines that you would not be satisfied with the status quo in their management of these many situations.
Yes – the job of policing is difficult, and reprobates abound … If “difficult” was an excuse for lack of success, I dare say we would have very few professionals of any kind. Difficult situations are the very reason a professional specialty in “preserving the peace” was created.
The people on Panorama Crescent endured a difficult situation for seven years, it seems. Professionals were called in regularly, to no apparent effect for all that time. The members of the police service, and municipal bylaw enforcement seem frustrated by negative press. Those very police officers and bylaw enforcement officers are able to go home after work to quiet, pleasant neighbourhoods where residents treat each other with respect. We are left to endure the noise and lawlessness that we know will carry on most of the night. That’s frustration.
As a neighbour to a “known address” for years, we were subjected to 24/7 disruptions, including “questionable” transactions, loud parties, loud vehicles, foul language and general disrespect. After years of attempting to co-operate with the police and bylaw enforcement, it took a firearms infraction to have the offenders removed from the residence. As did we, the people on Panorama eventually discovered the seriousness of the risk that had gone unchecked.
Now … on to 20th Street, where my heart goes out to those poor people trying to live decent lives and raise children in such a degenerate situation. I hope the press will keep this horrid situation alive until it resolves for the sake of those unfortunates who naively chose 20th Street as home. Now and in the future, the City to whom we pay taxes for protection needs to intervene meaningfully.
J.C. Olson
Courtenay
