Your hands, their safety
Mayoral candidates campaign for votes on homeless issue
Public safety has emerged as the main issue in Penticton’s municipal election campaign, say all three frontrunners in the race for the mayor’s chair.
Where the three differ, however, is on the best way to deal with the problem.
Jason Cox says he would implement a two-pronged approach that first deals with “the safety of our most vulnerable and getting them resources from the province to help with homelessness, addiction and mental health.”
That “will free up police time to deal with crime and open drug use and the other issues that are affecting the community.”
The incumbent, Andrew Jakubeit, believes some of the measures already put in place, such as an expanded bylaws department and extra RCMP patrols, are working, as will developments that are just around the corner.
“I think next year having almost 200 units of housing coming online for homeless and low income will help significantly. We’re hiring one more RCMP officer who will be assigned to downtown and the youth. We also have a youth centre opening up. So those are all things to be optimistic next year about and helping the situation,” said Jakubeit.
The other challenger, John Vassilaki, is advocating for better co-ordination of the community policing program, RCMP and the city bylaws department.
“I’d like to see Penticton be the leader in that area in the province where we can put the bylaw, the police, the public all together in order to work together in order to get rid of the problems that we have on the streets today,” said Vassilaki. “And the problems are all over the province,” he added. “We’re not being singled out by any means.”
Vassilaki will wind down his campaign today by meeting with supporters and non-supporters and addressing any questions put forward by the undecided voters.
Jakubeit is scheduled to speak at a seniors’ residence in the morning and plans to visit businesses in the industrial area in the afternoon.
Cox will spend the day sign-waving and visiting businesses on Main Street. General voting runs Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Penticton Trade and Convention Centre on Power Street and Penticton Seniors’ Drop-In Centre on South Main Street.