Spearman committed to effort
MAYOR KNOWS NEEDLE DEBRIS IS A CONCERN IN COMMUNITY
Mayor Chris Spearman has made the issue of needle debris in Lethbridge a personal one.
On Friday, Spearman said he has taken on the responsibility of checking spots where public complaints about needle debris have occurred on his own.
“I’ve been out verifying,” he said. “Whenever there is something on social media saying there is needle debris, I go out, and very quickly go to that location and other locations.”
He said he has been visiting the locations since last week, and that he has included inspection of the downtown core as well as city parks.
“I’ll continue to do that wherever needle debris is reported,” he said. “If the location is reported, I’ll be going out to make sure we’re following up and cleaning up on those types of things.”
He said he has been disappointed by the social media response by some local residents.
“It saddens me,” he said. “I love our city. I think its reputation is suffering unfairly by overexposure on social media. We want people to respond to issues appropriately. We want them to use the processes we’ve provided for reporting needle debris.
“I think when people go to social media every time they have an issue, that inflames it beyond what needs to be.”
It should be noted Spearman himself has been engaged in a number of heated discussions online with local residents over the issue.
In recent months the number of needles distributed in the city has been drastically reduced as use of the supervised consumption site continues to grow.
ARCHES Managing Director Jill Manning said this month alone there have been around 9,000 visits to the supervised consumption site, and the facility is on track to see 10,000 visits by the end of June.
The City and ARCHES have also been working to increase the number of needle disposal boxes in the community to help curb needle debris.
There are currently 18 needle disposal boxes in city parks, and five more are scheduled for implementation in the next week. Manning said more will be coming in the future.
Spearman took issue with claims the City was not doing anything to address concerns from residents angry about finding needles in public spaces.
“The City of Lethbridge is not doing ‘nothing,’” he said.
He went on to list a number of ways the City has been involved with needle debris cleanup, including providing additional funding to the downtown Clean Sweep program, training for City staff to help them safely dispose of needles when they are discovered, and support through the addition of needle disposal boxes in some public spaces in the city.
He added he has been pressing the issue at Council to ensure drug-use hotspots are identified and that the community “is as safe as possible.”
He said the City has been working on the needle issue for the past two years and that supports needed for dealing with drug use and the surrounding issues were identified back in 2015.
The rapid expansion of the opioid crisis has highlighted deficiencies that exist in the city.
“It’s wonderful that we have a supervised consumption site,” he said. “It’s wonderful we’re diverting drug use into that area, it’s wonderful we’re building relationships with the drug users, but we have very few options in terms of how to provide them with ongoing treatment and where to refer them.”
He said Lethbridge was identified as a city that did not have the same resources as Medicine Hat or Fort Macleod.
“You can understand the frustration we’re dealing with in terms of dealing with drug addiction and the drug problems we have,” he said.