Free parking for stolen shopping carts

‘The Major’ is irked by a ridiculous Victoria city council ruling:

... I opened my beloved Times Colonist to read that city hall will build parking spots for shopping carts used by the homeless to prevent cluttering up the avenues ...

... To sum up: The only free parking spots in Victoria will be for stolen shopping carts due to the large number of them ... er, stolen.

... A dear friend of mine owns several up-scale markets carrying such items as the rare outflow mushroom or organic-bunny key chains.

He, at great cost, had special shopping carts built that allowed for giant cups of coffee to be held safely, with a small passenger seat for the heir apparent to swaddle in.

To walk with him through the streets is to hear the sound of castanets as his teeth begin to chatter at the sight of one of his carts being pushed through traffic by someone whose eyes are spinning like a fruit machine whilst carrying a small but equally perturbed friend.

Each cart cost $400 and much to his chagrin, his insurance company has long stopped taking his calls.

Victoria city council and the media spend more time worrying about and enabling the bad behaviour of the city’s dysfunctional underclass, than anything else. Parking for stolen shopping carts is one of the loonier examples. Then there’s free crack pipes, needle exchanges and camping in the city’s parks.

Enabling the destruction of a neighbourhood

Further to the previous post here’s an excellent description of how the Victoria needle exchange has wrecked a neighbourhood:

For those of us who observe the devastation of a neighbourhood in the name of a social experiment, resentment is focused not on the unfortunates, but on those who planned and implemented this disaster, including our mayor and council.

This on a day that started with me scooping diarrhea embedded with needles off my front steps.

Used needles, human feces, discarded underwear, assorted condoms and other unsanitary byproducts of addiction are frequently deposited on properties in the neighbourhood.

...for a 70-year-old pensioner who grew up in a city where she once walked fearlessly, it is utterly disheartening.

...many senior citizens, some handicapped, live here. Many are unable to sleep at night, never mind take a walk. They are intimidated by the arguments and yelling, the confrontations and their increasing fears of violence.

The needle exchange is a gathering place for addicts and the predators that they inevitably attract.

...the predictable consequences of "injecting" a crime-prone subculture into what was once a beautiful, pleasant and safe neighborhood.

Also predictable is the silence and inaction of the mayor and council on the citizens’ plight. Silent, that is, except to call for more needle exchanges and safe injection sites which will create an even bigger mess. Their deep ‘caring’ for addicts doesn’t extend to the real victims here.

I don’t suppose the bleeding hearts will ever understand that their ‘caring’ will never help an addict who only cares about the next fix. In fact the ONLY way an addict will ever get around to quitting dope is to care enough about himself to try. With the city making it easier to use dope that becomes less, not more, likely.

Stop enabling drug abusers

Victoria has a needle exchange located in a busy downtown area. I drive by it every day. It's always an eyesore - littered with trash, feces and dopers hanging out or sleeping in the doorways.

Though the mayor and council are cronic, bleeding heart enablers, a sizeable proportion of the populace have their heads screwed on right.

According to this poll two thirds want the needle exchange gone.

Victoria, world-class enabler

enabler: one who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior (as substance abuse) by providing excuses or by making it possible to avoid the consequences of such behavior.

Victoria is a beautiful spot -- scenic, temperate climate and a city offering most amenities along with a laid-back life-style -- all the reasons I moved here a dozen years ago.

These are the same reasons most people are attracted to Victoria. But, as well as productive citizens it has also attracted a substantial underclass of alcoholics, drug addicts, panhandlers, vagrants, youthful able-bodied ‘free spirits’ - most if not all of whom are homeless. Over the years it’s been hard not to notice the growing numbers of chronically dysfunctional people inhabiting the down-town streets and parks and gathering around the many facilities aimed at 'helping' them.

And, while it’s difficult not to notice the growing underclass, it’s nearly impossible not to notice the growth of a ‘poverty’ industry that clamours for ever more ‘help’ for the poor souls on the street. It’s a rare day that there isn’t a headlined story in the newspaper, a radio or TV talk-show or other media event highlighting the problem and appealing for help. In today’s local paper there’s a full four page advertising section detailing the ‘Our Place Society’s programs and asking for donations. And to hear the mayor and council going on about it one gets the impression it’s the only issue on their agenda.

‘Help’ includes soup kitchens, food banks, street outreach, drop-in centres, shelters, needle exchanges and just this week it was announced that the BC Health Minister will recommend approval for three ‘safe’ injection sites in Victoria. Vancouver has one. Victoria needs three?

It seems logical that, as a basic rule of thumb, the easier you make it for people to lead a dysfunctional, parasitic life, the more dysfunctional, parasitic people there will be. More facilities for street denizens will lead to more people living on the street. So, you might ask, how’s it really working out in Victoria? What are the numbers? Is there objective evidence that the city’s strategy of enabling dysfunctional behaviour is yielding more of it?

Yes there is! In 2005 the Victoria Cool Aid Society did a comprehensive survey to find out how many street people or ‘homeless’ there were. The count was 668 region-wide. The survey was repeated in 2007. The new count was 1242. That’s an increase of 85% in just two years - and bear in mind that for Victoria these are economic boom times with very low unemployment and ‘now hiring’ signs plastered in the windows of many, many businesses.

Now don’t get me wrong. Many of these street people, especially the addicts and the otherwise mentally challenged, certainly need help (beginning with an attempt to help themselves). And the people trying to help them have their hearts in the right place:) But you sure have ask whether a strategy of enabling bad behaviour, a strategy that attracts ever more troubled people to the streets, is the right one.

Victoria is unlikely to change its approach any time soon. It's a world-class enabler. So I predict the Cool Aid Society’s 2009 homeless survey will yield another big jump in the numbers.