Street Beautification or Social Cleansing?

(Gregory Hartnell over at the CCC Blog (my vote for best local political blog) just reposted a letter that I had published in the May issue of Street Newz that was entitled ‘Open Letter to the Mayor of Victoria’, so I thought I would also post it here, as I had not done it before. This may be the first time that I’ve reposted my own writing from someone else’s site.)

Mr. Mayor,

I commend your past work on the issue of homelessness, though I feel it is difficult for a Mayor and Council to properly deal with such an issue in the context of institutionalized prejudices within all levels of government and outwards into our society.

One of these prejudices being the tendency to isolate homelessness from poverty, to isolate the issue of poverty from that of finance, industry, culture and education and to isolate the public from a deeper understanding of any issue.

In short, I don’t expect ‘homelessness’ to be solved on a municipal level, to say the least. So I understand the limitations of the City of Victoria to address these issues, which requires you to make difficult choices.

What I’m trying to say is that I have serious objections to the plans to ‘beautify’ Pandora in order to discourage loitering.

I have read the news reports and I have heard you speak at various locations about the work of the Coalition to End Homelessness. I don’t doubt that you have been working hard to help create housing, and I am glad to see there is a Mayor willing to take that on while we wait (without an end in sight) for the Province and the Federal Governments to step up to their responsibilities.

I am aware that you and Victoria Council object to the idea of tent encampments, and I have heard you remark, when asked to explain your position, that you would rather see real housing. In the same vein, when it comes to dealing with the people on Pandora, I would rather see a more substantial impact on the deeper societal causes of such things as mental illness, drug abuse, family violence and ‘homelessness.’

I would point out as well that advocates of autonomous shelter communities are working to create a short term response to a problem that many cannot wait to be solved.

When we have dealt with the root causes of poverty, violence, drug additions and other human ills, then we won’t need to pave greenspace to discourage loitering. Just as when we have built all the affordable housing we need, we won’t need to advocate that people be allowed to shelter themselves.

There are people on the street who can no more wait for those homes than the business owners on Pandora can wait for you to ‘end homelessness.’

In this city, like every other, some folks get what they want, and others wait. I understand that. I realize that discouraging drug use and other activities near to a homeless shelter will raise the safety level of those homeless people seeking to reintegrate back from the street and allow them to not be tempted, exploited or otherwise exposed to that element.

I see how this could have been spun as something more substantial to the people who need relief from poverty than just extra cart parking, so I appreciate the honesty of the explanation for why these plans had to be approved.

And while I cannot offer you another way to appease the business owners and tourism industry as society slowly digs its way out of a deep crisis, I must however stand firm that in no way do I find it acceptable that public funds be used in such a manner to be seen as social cleansing.

Aside form the fact that I don’t feel that actions meant to alienate an entire class of people are appropriate, I don’t see the plan working. I don’t see this beautification alone keeping Pandora free of loitering people. (Though I imagine it is supplemented by a new policing tactic). It isn’t greenspace and benches that attract them there in the first place.

Given that we haven’t ended homelessness or addiction to street drugs yet, it seems that discouraging people from one area only drives them into another. If there are no homes for them, and you aren’t planning to arrest or hospitalize them all, will you pave every square foot of greenspace they land on as you chase them around the city?

I realize that this plan has already been approved, and I should have contacted Council earlier to register my objections. I work two jobs and I find it hard to keep up on on civic issues sometimes.

I read the article that appeared in the media just prior to the meeting, but did not assume that the plans would be approved by Council so quickly.

That was my mistake, but I would also like to at this time make the suggestion that the City make its website much more dynamic and informative, that minutes of meetings be posted quicker than the one month lag time we seem to have right now, and that when you do get a webcam in chambers, footage of meetings be divided into sections and searchable by issue, so that we don’t have to watch two hours of zoning amendments unless we have cause to.

We should be able to choose to view sections relevant to us. This will help keep all of us more informed, and more able to make timely, informed and constructive comments on the issues facing Council.

Thank you for your time.