Enough is enough.
How much longer are Abbotsford city council, the Abbotsford Police Department, and the taxpayers of Abbotsford going to be held hostage by the vagrant terrorists they call the homeless?
My guess is the BC Supreme Court is going to rule in favor of the BC/Yukon Drug War Survivors and now the insanity will really start. The 500 or so vagrants that are being relocated in Vancouver will be looking for a new community to terrorize. Abbotsford will have a new sign that says “We welcome all vagrants.” This sign will be seen all across Canada and the vagrants will come.
A homeless camp on Valley Road. What a joke. These vagrants are not moving that far away from the Salvation Army’s free restaurant on Gladys Avenue.
Has anyone done a survey to inquire if other Valley Road area residents want this camp in their backyard?
Would this property be made available if it was on Eagle Mountain? I think not. Would the city allow vagrants to camp on Eagle Mountain? Not a chance. Then why in other residents’ neighbourhood?
The vagrant camp on Gladys Avenue is the highly visible one but there are many more. There are camps and reminders of previous camps all over Abbotsford. I assume these camps must have a positive effect on property values. I’ll have to check with the property owners on Gladys Avenue who are trying to sell their properties.
The new vagrant camp at Highway 11 and north of South Fraser Way is at the back of my subdivision. I do not want this camp to remain. I do not want the children in our subdivision exposed to this lifestyle or drug abuse, nor do I want their safety jeopardized.
I went to the City of Abbotsford’s bylaw department about this camp. Bylaw’s attitude is it’s not our problem – it’s not on our property. Typical City of Abbotsford response.
This camp on Highway 11 is also located along a provincial highway right-of-way and a provincial fisheries stream (Marshall Creek) right-of-way. I assume this stream makes a fantastic sewer system for these vagrants.
I went to MLA Michael de Jong’s office to inform them of this vagrant camp on a provincial right-of-way. They at least said they would check into it and get back to me. As of this time, I’m still waiting for a return call.
Might be the same as everyone else’s attitude – it’s not my backyard so I don’t give a damn. Might be the same reason residents drop off packages at the vagrant camp on Gladys Avenue. If I support the vagrants in your neighbourhood, the vagrants won’t turn up in my neighbourhood.
It is not my intention to discriminate against these vagrants. During the summer it was announced there were approximately 140 vagrants living on our streets. Thirty percent were from the Lower Mainland. They failed to inform us how many of these vagrants were from Abbotsford. I assume, few.
My position has always been that if they are from Abbotsford and living on the streets, let’s get them off the streets and get them the assistance they need.
If they are from Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Toronto, etc. send them home.
These out of town vagrants are not Abbotsford’s responsibility.
This is my rant. I know I am not alone.
C. Howard, Abbotsford