Vernon seniors fed up with vagrancy and drug use

Global is reporting that "More than 100 people from the McCulloch Court seniors' complex in downtown Vernon are fed up and have signed a petition calling for the city to take urgent action to combat drug use and vagrancy. They are worried for their safety and are calling on the city to do something about it." They have a valid concern. Seniors are being victimized by the public lawlessness. Enforcement is a crucial element of the four Pillars Program.

"We get approached for money all the time, followed, obscenities shouted at us. We can't sit on our patios without seeing people shooting up, having sex, screaming, shouting, fighting," the letter said. "We have them jumping our fence, tampering with our vehicles, stealing license plates, defecting, throwing bikes over the fence, stealing tire...Mr. Mayor and council give us our city back. We want to feel safe" the letter continued.

In June CBC reported that "Vernon residents and business owners yelled, cried and offered solutions as they took to the microphone at a town hall meeting Tuesday evening to address persistent issues plaguing the city's downtown core. More than 40 people spoke at the two-and-a-half hour meeting held by the city to hear concerns relating to a range of issues confronting the downtown core and surrounding neighbourhoods, namely crime, vagrancy, overdose prevention sites and open drug use." Crime skyrockets wherever you allow open drug use.

"I came to work [today]. I had to pick up feces on the ground, I had Wes, a street person, screaming and yelling at my customers all day." yelled Diana Vona, a shop owner, as she took the mic. "This is what we deal with every day. What is it going to take? All of us going out of business before you guys start realizing that this is a mess? Our town has turned into a hellhole."

This problem exists because the Gang task force in BC is COMPROMISED. They busted the Vernon Greeks but after the Kelowna Summer Jam, the Christy Clark disbanded the OMGU and transferred all the leaders to other departments. That's when gang enforcement in BC became compromised. That's when they no longer tried to stop crime and started trying to profit from it.

West Kelowna has the same problem: "The meeting was called after frustrated downtown business owners complained of people afraid to walk downtown as well as having to pick up needles, condoms and human feces from around their businesses."

The politicians are paid to stop crime not profit from it.



Lethal injection sites and lawlessness are NOT the answer. The Portugal model succeeded because of mandatory Treatment. The New York model succeeded because of Enforcement. These are the two fundamental principles that BC has abandoned making it criminally culpable in the opioid epidemic. Instead of suing the pharmaceutical companies we should be suing the government for failing to enforce the law. Anarchy Sucks.