The issues candidates aren’t talking about
It’s one of the biggest, most complex, most unremitting issues facing Windsor, and among the 50 candidates for mayor and city council, there is largely confounding silence.
It’s the opioid crisis and the epidemic of homeless people overwhelming downtown and spreading across the city. Coun. Rino Bortolin, who represents downtown, wants to scrap the $2.5 million earmarked for a possible pedestrian tunnel under Riverside Drive and spend $1.9 million of that money on seven more outreach workers to address the growing army of homeless people, many of them mentally ill or addicts.
But Bortolin is one of few candidates with much to say. A rookie candidate in an eastend ward joined him Monday in confronting the issue that everyone except the candidates is talking about.
In a unique, live, interactive video on Facebook, Ward 8 candidate Lisa Valente convened three people on the front line and Ward 6 candidate Jeff Denomme, and they toured the hot spots, debating causes and solutions. She called it Carpool Conversations. “People think this is a core issue,” she said. “It’s not a core issue.”
She saw four people sleeping in Roseville Park recently. There were four or five shopping carts there, too. “You’re not just seeing this downtown,” she said. “You’re seeing this all over the city. “We need to have these conversations, and these conversations are not being held.”
Bar owners downtown are patrolling the streets at night to combat related crime that they say is “going unchecked.” Phog Lounge owner Tom Lucier has described a “growingly brazen and desperate bunch of thieves hitting the neighbourhood” around his bar on University Avenue near Victoria Avenue.
He has listed 15 incidents in the last several months — break-ins to businesses and vehicles, windows and doors smashed, stolen GPS devices, cameras, musical instruments, luggage, even shoes. Property crime has increased almost 19 per cent. Calls for service for mental illness, addiction and homelessness have increased 11.5 per cent. Some staff and customers at downtown businesses are becoming wary.
Police are dedicating more resources downtown every day. They meet with almost three dozen social agencies every week to address acute cases. “But it’s not enough,” Police Chief Al Frederick said last week. “The community is changing in real time and has changed dramatically in the last two years.” City and public health officials announced a new opioid strategy this year. The city hired two more outreach workers. Mayor Drew Dilkens requested 12 more police officers, costing $1.4 million, to address rising crime. But none of this seems to be enough. Downtown Mission executive director Ron Dunn called it “out of control” and “spiralling ” in Carpool Conversations.
“All of our services are bursting at the seams,” he said, as the group passed a parking lot where authorities tore down tents, a bench that people sleep on and the throng outside Street Help. There’s no one demographic. “The face of homelessness is changing,” Lorena Garvey- Shepley of Voices Against Poverty said in the video. “There are a lot more families that are homeless. I know two families who lived out of their vans this summer. They’re at risk of losing their children.”
Outreach worker Stephanie Bertrand of the AIDS Committee of Windsor called for more and better drug treatment. Dunn agreed, saying, “I could point you to five people who would go into treatment today if it was available to them.” They talked about more affordable housing. The city is building 150 new units of affordable housing. But there are more than 4,000 people waiting for it. They talked about a universal basic income and safe injection sites. The provincial government has scrapped the first and suspended the second. Dunn praised Jelena Payne, the city’s community development and health commissioner. But, while some councillors are listening, “I don’t know about all of our elected officials,” he said. Payne is bound by council — “who can’t agree on what to have for lunch” — and by the money council allocates, he said. When Dilkens announced $1.4 million more for police, Dunn asked for the same amount for more services for the mentally ill, addicts and affordable housing. There was no response. There’s a growing army of hurting people out there, not to mention the growing impact on core residents and businesses who dodge discarded needles and wake to homeless people sleeping in their yards.
The city is offering millions in incentives to lure investment downtown, and developers are responding. But people don’t like going there.
“When I go downtown, I don’t feel comfortable,” Ward 10 resident Bert Scheyen told me. So where are the candidates? Mayoral candidate Matt Marchand said his downtown platform is coming. Ward 1 candidate Fred Francis works downtown. But so far, his platform doesn’t mention homelessness.
City council’s first duty is to care for our citizens. Political will can solve this.
“And, damn it, some compassion for each other,” added Dunn.
I could point you to five people who would go into treatment today if it was available to them.