Category Archives: Issues

Issues, Municipal

Simply because we can?

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If Mayor George Peary is correct and the Abbotsford Police lack “adequate resources”, why are they wasting any of their limited resources chasing the homeless from campsite to campsite around the City of Abbotsford?

I would not have thought that engaging in the pointless moving of the homeless from campsite to campsite around Abbotsford would have been a priority the APD would be spending its limited resources pursuing.

I am reasonably sure that in this time of cutbacks and restraint (at least for other city councils in BC) that taxpayers, having to dig deep in their pockets for the $4,000,000 increase in the police budget, expect to have that money spent wisely on priority needs.

I am also reasonably sure that taxpayers do not consider chasing the homeless from campsite to campsite a priority when gunfights are breaking out on city streets.

So why are we?

Consider, Issues

A Penny in my thoughts.

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A lone bouquet of flowers stands guard against the cleanup dumpster under the Peardonville underpass, in forlorn tribute to mark the passing of the homeless man who died under that underpass.

A poignant counterpoint to the crowded sanctuary at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church for Penny Jodway’s memorial service just two weeks earlier. A memorial made possible by the generosity of the members of the church.

Penny was a well known member of the homeless/street community in Abbotsford and the 150 – 200 people who filled the pews at her memorial say more than mere words can about how members of that community felt about her.

In contrast the police, understandably so, had to investigate Jean’s death to insure it was accidental.

Two deaths in the homeless/street community close to each other in time which garnered markedly different media and public attention.

Jean literally went out in a blaze of glory by dieing in a gloriously photogenic blaze that made not only the front page of the local papers, but coverage on the Vancouver TV news. In his death Jean had garnered more public attention and concern than he garnered in his life.

Penny died quietly and without media fanfare or notice, as have others of the homeless/street community in Abbotsford, BC and Canada this year.

Penny’s passing was noted in the local papers only because of submissions to the papers by people from and involved with the homeless/street population. Yet she was a remarkable enough person that 150 – 200 people attended her memorial to say goodbye and mark her life.

I feel sad about the deaths of these two who I knew, but I feel an even deeper sadness for what these events say about society.

Consider, Issues, Municipal

This is a Police Priority?

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I have heard city councillors moaning over the large budget increase given the Abbotsford Police Department and the affect this will have and has had on other budget areas.

I was thinking about this because the police are so hot-to-trot about tearing down homeless camps around town.

I rather doubt it was to tear down homeless camps that the police were given their $4,000,000 budget increase?

But with the spectacular fire and death under the Peardonville overpass providing cover justification, the police want to move quickly, before the image fades from the publics mind.

Is chasing the homeless from spot to spot, time after time, really the best use of police resources when there are gunfights taking place on our streets and our city is becoming a gang hangout?

Let me be clear I, and the homeless themselves, would agree and be happy to see some of the camps torn down or the residents required to maintain their campsites – as homeowners are required to upkeep their property.

We all are aware of the horror stories of neighbours who have old cars or other junk piled in their yard or of the problem of having someone on your street selling drugs out of their residence.

Those whose camps are their home feel the same way about bad neighbours as others feel about bad neighbours near their home.

These are the homeless whose camps will never make the television news or the newspapers because they are neat, tidy and well kept.

One couple I know has just started to clean up an abandoned pigsty of a campsite, having already cleaned up one such site in their neighbourhood. Considering the great deal of effort involved since they have to remove the debris one shopping cart load at a time, these are the kind of people you want as neighbours.

The police should be focusing their time, resources and taxpayer dollars on problem solving and dealing with real problems not chasing people who are and want to be good neighbours around the city from spot to spot simply because they lack the resources to meet their housing needs.