Time for adult discussions about the Sally Ann

Aproposal by the Salvation Army to build a $50-million emergency shelter and social services hub in Vanier has rapidly spiralled into bitter name-calling. That’s unfortunate. Both the social problems Sally Ann seeks to address, and the concerns of a lively, improving neighbourhood, are too important to be mired in unseemly politicking.

To review: Everyone wants a solution to the public safety issues in the ByWard Market, including around the Booth Centre emergency shelter on George Street. So the charitable organization began working up an ambitious plan for better services, to be located at 333 Montreal Rd. It says it started talking to the city about this in 2015. The proposal only became public in June, however.

Stunned, many Vanier residents objected. The area already has its share of social services, yet has also worked hard to shed a historical reputation for being down and out, attracting interesting businesses and improving its main street. To both businesses and residents, the plan appeared to come out of nowhere. There had been no community discussion. Many felt the city was trying to shift a social problem from one part of town to another.

The Salvation Army, on the other hand, has taken great care to plan a state-of-the-art social “hub,” thinking carefully about where to locate it, and engaging expert architects. If the contents of a detailed letter it released this week are true, the organization also met regularly with city officials or councillors to discuss the new facility.

But now things are ugly. Feeling the anger of the local community, the Sally Ann claims in its letter that local Coun. Mathieu Fleury wanted it to delay publicly announcing the plan. Fleury retorts that the charity’s letter is “full of spin, full of assumptions” and accuses the Sally Ann of being “unorganized” in its communications.

The mayor, meanwhile, backs the Montreal Road proposal. “I’m open to those people who oppose it to come forward with alternative sites for the Salvation Army to look at,” Jim Watson says.

To us, it doesn’t really matter who dropped the ball on informing the public; what matters is that public education and consultations take place very soon, and robustly. Vanier residents have legitimate questions, and they’re not just NIMBYist. The city has a legitimate social problem. And the Salvation Army is a legitimate organization helping the underprivileged.

So please, let’s talk about this like adults. And admit how sad it is that a prosperous capital city such as Ottawa needs to confront it at all.