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I realize you can't always stop things from happening, but you have to deal with them fairly quickly and if you notice a recurring problem develop a plan to be responsive.

Throwing up our hands and saying it is happening everywhere, which may be somewhat true, does not help and really only leads to things persisting and getting worse.

People start feeling unsafe and places become even more unsafe if safety is not actively maintained. This is new infrastructure but if it is the environment around kept up, things may go downhill quickly.
 
McFee also said there would be zero tolerance on these activities a few months ago.

Then they got the funding formula and the salary settlement? Pilot project to bring Sheriffs to patrol? The former cafe space being turned into a patrol hub? We can throw so much resources at this but I genuinely don’t have any expectations at this point for EPS on this, they’ve consistently been disappointing on downtown and transit in general.

I’ve seen more Peace Officer presence than literally ever in the last few weeks (which is great to see) so hopefully this gets tackled. I’m consistently surprised they don’t have as much presence on Churchill itself.
 
MacLac said:
Of course it is….for some reason addicts love shooting up on our city’s transportation infrastructure……it’s happening in every city
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Almost like they have no place to go. Spend all the money you want on enforcement and unless you are willing to haul everyone to jail (Edmonton Remand is already the largest prison in Canada) then you are just moving the problem around. Push them out of transit and they will be in business entryways.

Until people have a place to go its just an endless game of whack-a-mole on the taxpayer dime.
 
SarcasticMarmot said:
Almost like they have no place to go. Spend all the money you want on enforcement and unless you are willing to haul everyone to jail (Edmonton Remand is already the largest prison in Canada) then you are just moving the problem around. Push them out of transit and they will be in business entryways.

Until people have a place to go it’s just an endless game of whack-a-mole on the taxpayer dime.
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It’s been a while for me but I remember seeing and having conversations with researchers and advocates in university about this whole situation, and how they were clearly raising the alarm bells about how if we continued on our current policy trajectory (essentially the beginning of the Jason Kenney policies) then the opioid crisis would expand with public spaces and transit being the most susceptible spaces to be affected.

This was in 2019. They ended up being absolutely right, with the situation being aggravated heavily by COVID. I remember them being ridiculed for fear-mongering by pundits and governing figures for their warnings and now 5 years later, we’re dealing with that shortsightedness.

I’ve been vocal here about my experience on the Valley Line when I take it during off peak hours and how sketchy it is at times and how safe it is at other times. Presence and enforcement helps but it doesn’t address the fact that with less safe consumption sites available, lowered shelter space and all the rest, it’s just gonna be shuffled on a cycle over and over again.
 
SarcasticMarmot said:
Almost like they have no place to go. Spend all the money you want on enforcement and unless you are willing to haul everyone to jail (Edmonton Remand is already the largest prison in Canada) then you are just moving the problem around. Push them out of transit and they will be in business entryways.

Until people have a place to go its just an endless game of whack-a-mole on the taxpayer dime.
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I still think this is a false dichotomy though.

Of course we need long term solutions.

But we can also say, for the meantime, if there are going to be unhoused people, we should minimize their negative impacts on other citizens too. Why should a 19 year old girl going to uni on the train need to worry about getting stabbed by the methhead tripping on the platform? It’s inexcusable.

If people are going to sleep outside, use drugs, etc, we should seek to keep them in places that reduces overall crime, violence, and disorder. Letting them stay in our most high value, busy, and critical infrastructure…train stations….it’s stupid. It’s not a short term solution, and obviously not a long term one either.

There are many other places in the short term that are better than train shelters and stations.

We can’t let great stop good. Housing everyone and stopping drug use and doing all the right things would be great. But “good” also looks like ensuring innocent, everyday, and often vulnerable (elderly, female, youth, disabled) people can safely use a transit system they rely on. That’s a very fair expectation.

I’m very happy to “move the problem around” in the short term of it means transit is safe and attractive to use.
 
thommyjo said:
I’m very happy to “move the problem around” in the short term of it means transit is safe and attractive to use.
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That's just it, you can't move the problem around enough to actually make transit safe and attractive to use. I don't disagree with your premise that the great shouldn't stop the good. What I disagree with is the idea that there is enough enforcement possible to make the LRT safe without throwing everyone in jail. Kick someone out of the one LRT shelter and they will just move into another one. There are very limited publicly available spaces to get out of the elements in our city and desperate people will keep going back to them no matter the enforcement level. It really sucks and I wish it weren't so but it's not a problem of enforcement, we spend the most in the country per capita on our Police and it's getting us nowhere. Basically, no matter what the City does the problem is here to stay until the Province actually gets its act together and starts investing in housing people.
 
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