Downtown ‘under siege’

If all levels of government proved something two years ago at this time, it’s that they can act as swiftly and decisively as the private sector when faced with an emergency. During the spring of 2020, political leaders and their bureaucracies moved with unprecedented urgency to respond to the threat of COVID-19. The quality and effectiveness of the response can be debated in hindsight but no one can deny that meaningful action was quickly taken.

That’s because the political and bureaucratic willpower to take action (and be seen taking action) was there.

For some reason, despite how bad downtown has become for everyone, the response has been slow, weak and inadequate.

We’re long past pointing at social housing projects under various stages of development and saying help is on the way.

Action is needed and action is needed now. Everyone knows what needs to be done but it seems no one wants to lead.

The solution is the same as it has always been and it has been used in numerous cities, big and small, for decades. Supportive housing, social services and law enforcement used together to simultaneously address the needs of the street population while restoring peace and security to city streets.

If prolific offenders have to be rounded up five time or 50 times and brought before judges five times or 50 times, that’s what needs to be done.

Property crime, vandalism and other non-violent crime need to be seen as gateway crimes. If they are ignored, it just paves the way for more serious crime. Long-term camping must not allowed in any public space and must not be tolerated under any circumstances.

The devil is in the details, of course – mistakes will be made and lessons will be learned but the situation will be better than what it is today. If who’s going to pay for all of it and take legal responsibility is the holdup, somebody throw all of the lawyers and accountants into a room to argue amongst themselves while out in the real world, action is taken.

How much longer will downtown be ‘under siege’? Ask your elected leaders and government bureaucracies because they are the ones with the solutions and the power to implement them.