Downtown business owners and those working in the city core are speaking out about continued vandalism and aggressive behaviour in the area.
Todd Perrin, a chef at Rabble Restaurant on Water Street, says he and his co-workers arrived at work this week to find damage done to yet another nearby downtown business.
Perrin says it’s become commonplace.
(Via Todd Perrin on Facebook)
“Someone had obviously picked up a piece of concrete and flicked it through the window…one in a litany. It seems like every morning there’s one or two.”
Perrin says it’s not hard to understand what’s happening, but people seem to feel as if there’s nothing that can be done.
(via Facebook)
Darren Halloran of Always in Vogue says damage done to a neighbouring business was actually brought to his attention by a child visiting the capital city who had just disembarked a cruise ship with her family.
Halloran says business owners want solutions to the growing problem.
“I’m a 200 pound, 6 foot person who, even when I walk down the street lately, I have concerns for aggressive people coming up to us.
“And when you say ‘no, I don’t have any change or money on me,’ they become more aggressive. It gives me an eerie feeling, so I can’t imagine a family from away.
The front window of the Peaceful Loft was recently smashed out (VOCM News)
Mayor Seeking Answers from Government
St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen (VOCM News)
Mayor Danny Breen is seeking concrete answers from the provincial and federal governments to questions raised by residents concerned about open drug use, increased mental health challenges and homelessness in the capital city.
The mayor has written Premier Tony Wakeham, Justice Minister Helen Conway Ottenheimer and MPs Joanne Thompson and Tom Osborne seeking a “coordinated and transparent response.”
He is asking questions about what action both levels of government are willing to take in areas over which the city has no jurisdiction.
The mayor says residents “no longer feel safe” and while the city continues to respond to discarded needles and other hazards, it is limited in its ability to address underlying causes, or respond to the broader health, housing and public safety challenges that contribute to them.
He says health care, addictions treatment, supportive housing, criminal law, income supports and policing are all responsibilities that fall under the provincial or federal governments.
Breen says residents are seeking answers on the overall strategy to address open drug use in public spaces while ensuring proper health and social supports, and the legal consequences or intervention options available when illegal drug use occurs in public places.
He says residents also want details on governments’ plans for early intervention, detoxification, treatment and recovery programs, and plans to reduce discarded needles.
He says the city believes there is a “need for greater transparency, accountability and collaboration among all orders of government.”
Questions Danny Breen is asking of the provincial and federal governments on behalf of residents (City of St. John’s)
