Just got back recently from a weekend trip to Vancouver. The problem there is way way way worse. I walked all the places you're told not to walk. In Gastown, Yaletown, Downtown there is open drug use and disorder. People don't bother cleaning up emptied dumpsters or garbage on the street. Dozens and dozens of social housing projects in East Hastings have not made a dent in the the problem. The Woodwards building used to be on the edge of things, now it is fully engulfed in daily chaos. I don't know how Chinatown there will survive except out of sure will, and because Vancouver remains on the most desirable places to live.
Happened to be there during the municipal elections, almost all the lower mainland (even places like Nelson) elected new mayors and councillors that are promising more on safety and crime. The new Vancouver mayor is promising 100 new police officers. People are fed up.
I feel now that some of these challenges are outside our collective will to resolve. The pandemic, opioid crisis and other factors like affordability and job security mean there's more people than ever on our streets. I think 'housing first' policy has merit for only a very small percentage of folks, the opioid crisis has fundamentally changed the equation in terms of what our response should be. We have places in our NA cities now that are just open drug use and the anti-social behaviour that drives people away from those area. Search for any city on YouTube and you'll find complaints about the same things around drug use, crime, vandalism, etc. Our police don't want to deal with disorder all the time or aren't resourcing it, our private security is costly and doesn't have to the tools, our leaders mostly are looking toward long term solutions that don't always address root causes or the reality of the crime and disorder on the streets right now.
It makes for some tough choices for all of us on where we choose to live, work, spend our time. Cities that had strong Downtowns pre-COVID are recovering much fast it seems, and are more resilient desirable places. But even Vancourites have their limits. The difference there is the amount of people on the streets (density) all the time. Here seems to be that most people are wanting to take pedways or drive vehicles because the streets are still relatively empty. This has always been a winter reality but how do you have your Downtown recover without people walking on the streets again? It feels so chicken-and-egg.
Just trying to share my thoughts as I see them and work out the issues in front of us.
