To the editor,
Re: More public space could indeed help enliven downtown, Letters, Nov. 10.
The only thing creating more public space downtown will do is make it more ghettoish. Law-abiding tax-paying citizens are afraid now to walk in our city centre. See Nanaimo Community Policing’s recent neighbourhood safety audits.
Parks have been shut down because of encampments and their criminal activity – fires, drug activity, bicycle chop shops, fencing of stolen property and assaults. Diana Krall Plaza is a wasteland.
Criminals are roaming our streets. Garbage and food litters our sidewalks. Shooting up and needles are commonplace.
The very, very last thing we need downtown is more public space. The problem has been getting worse for over 20 years and there is no improvement whatsoever in sight.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there are 30-50 individuals causing the problems downtown. Folks keep saying they want to help – they should kindly take these lost souls into their homes and restore our streets to sanity and safety and indeed help.
C.L. Cavanagh, Nanaimo
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