… may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

I was planning to heap scorn a society that, with growing homelessness, poverty and affordable housing needs, would spend $1.1 million on a trail. I thought to enquire if Greater Vancouver got $3.7 for trail improvement and Abbotsford got $1.2 million, how was it that when Vancouver got $80 million spent on affordable housing for the homeless Abbotsford got $0.00.

Do the homeless in Abbotsford not deserve help as well? More importantly why is it local politicians were/are silent rather than calling the Liberals on their continuing failure to recognize that the homeless and affordable housing crisis extends beyond Greater Vancouver into the Fraser Valley and particularly Abbotsford?

But …… it is a new week (Monday morning) and last week held excellent results for me with regard to the WRAP program, a program I strongly embrace. So, why depress myself because local politicians and assorted big-wigs don’t seem to care about those in need enough to act responsibly OR to provide leadership? Better for my mental health to focus on the positive aspect of this cash infusion and future plans to extent the trail even further with provincial $$$.

This trail network should encourage people to travel around west Abbotsford without wasting gas and while getting some exercise. While it would have been nice if the current project had pushed further west than Exhibition Park, it is close enough to Clearbrook that the Clearbrook homeless population will be able to access the trail network.

Not only will this provide access to and open up more good camping spots, it will allow the homeless population to spread westward along the convenient entrance to west Abbotsford. It will also relieve pressures on the mounting Clearbrook homeless population, which should in turn reduce the pressure for the downtown old Abbotsford to camp out in the Compassion Park area. Thereby saving their meagre possessions from confiscation by city work crews.

Indeed I would urge the City of Abbotsford to bring immediate pressure on Victoria to provide immediate funding for the western portion of the trail so that work on the east side can also be completed this summer. I believe it is more important to focus on the eastern area with its potential to open access to Sumas Mountain to the homeless via this network of trails.

While I am not sure opening up access to camping spots and spreading the homeless population out across the city is a good idea, it does serve to provide motivation to the entire city population to become involved in addressing homelessness and affordable housing issues. And at least council, our local MLA’s and the provincial Liberals are taking an action that opens up some interesting opportunities for the City’s homeless population

What do you know, there is a great deal of truth in the assertion that it is all in how you look at things. While not a course of action I would have advocated for addressing homelessness and other affordable housing issues, viewed from a properly skewed viewpoint this network of trails certainly constitutes an interesting approach to those pressing concerns.