To the editor,
Re: Safety audits show residents downtown don’t feel safe, Oct. 6.
If a bridge, for example, greatly needs to have some repairs done to make it more safe and functional, the smart move would be to do the required work instead of having to go through bureaucratic red tape and having to wait years while city councillors continue to debate it or pass it along to one of the many committees to talk about it yet again.
The same wacky political policy is at work here in the case of downtown safety. There are despicable gangs, and the downtown and the five other neighbourhoods audited are probably feeling like they’re in a crime drama while misfits are running around virtually unchecked. The court system acts more like a revolving door because the criminals end up re-offending while the arresting RCMP officer writes yet another report.
The only way to actually start is to become part of the solution instead of using the same-old familiar excuses such as ‘It’s not my concern,’ ‘I’m not going to call the RCMP,’ etc. Yet at the same time, the downtown and the residents will still be caught up in a state of limbo with no hope.
You cannot just put a bandage on something that requires stitches.
Al Munro, Nanaimo
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