Businesses feeling the effects of addiction

SEVERAL BELIEVE THE SITUATION IS NOT BEING HANDLED PROPERLY

Since the opening of the supervised consumption site back in February, many businesses located in the vicinity have been hesitant to speak publicly of the issues they have faced regarding increased nuisance, crime, and a loss of business as their traditional customer base moves out of the area.

However, as the opoid crisis grows, the problem is compounding for those businesses as well.

Back in February, Lou Mate, owner of Graphcom, spoke to the Herald and was critical of the decision to put the SCS in a business district.

“The clients come out of that building, and then they come over to my place and hang out on my loading dock because it’s a sheltered area,” he said at the time.

“It was happening before, and I knew it was going to happen (when the site opened).”

Mate spoke about his concerns for the safety of his staff, as they are the ones using the back entrance to the building at times of the day when there are few other people around.

“Many times, they come and there’s somebody in our loading dock area, or multiple people having sex, shooting up, sleeping,” he said.

“They are afraid to come in the back door and I just don’t see that getting any better.”

Bernice Kistenfeger, the manager at Cloverdale Paint, told the Herald in that same story there hadn’t been issues for her store in the short time since the SCS had opened, but that she personally felt the SCS was the wrong way to deal with street-level addiction.

“I know they’re saving lives,” she said at the time. “I get it,” she said. She added there should be more of a push to get drug users off drugs. “We should be doing rehab,” she said. At the time, Mate said he was worried about what the future would bring.

“The biggest concern we have is when this thing gets full-blown going, how many people are going to be going in there every day?” he asked. “And how many are going to be walking out stoned and cruising our neighbourhood?”

“That’s what we have to wait and see. This place just doesn’t belong in a business district. And it’s absurd for anybody to say this is a great location for it.”

More recently, a local business owner who issued a public plea to City Council for help with the issue along with an admission that SCS overflow issues may drive him out of business within the year.

“I have to voice my opinion,” said Doug Hamilton, owner of Hamilton’s Carpet One, last week. “If this lasts for a year, and I don’t move, I’ll be out of business.”

Hamilton said his walk-in traffic is down by 50 per cent and vehicle traffic is being chased out of the area. There have also been added costs for security and concerns for the safety of customers, his staff, and the store’s management.

Two weeks ago, Hamilton sent a letter to Council regarding his issues with the loitering and public drug use around the supervised consumption site. The letter was also shared with local media and shared widely after it was posted on social media.

“Every morning I walk my property, clean up discarded clothes, condoms, food, drugs and drug paraphernalia,” he wrote.

Hamilton said the biggest issue is that the City is not able to move fast enough on the issue to help small businesses suffering now.

Instead, he believes the City is focusing on longer-term initiatives that are two or three years down the road. These initiatives are simply taking too long to be of use to small business.

Hamilton said he is supportive of the work being done, but the area has been overwhelmed. Wait times at the SCS are causing much of the public drug use around it.

“We invited them to the area, and they have no place to safely inject — so they inject everywhere,” Hamilton told the Herald.

“I feel like the City has abandoned me, and all the businesses down in this area.”

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