What does DTK need?

[danbrotherston]

In the spirit of the actual purpose of this thread (What does Kitchener need), does anyone have any solutions that they’d like to offer to help combat these issues?

I have long believed that the best way to make our downtown “feel” more secure and safe for children is to increase the number of people living and working there. It’s a chicken & egg problem for nervous suburban families - they don’t want to live downtown because it’s safe, but the more people who live downtown will increase the general safety. 

As a short term fix, I’d love to see our inflated police budget leveraged towards something tangible that increases perceived safety, such as by constructing a “koban” outpost station along King downtown. This is something that has been discussed elsewhere in the forum before:
https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...5#pid83735

Regarding our drug supply, it’s unfortunate that the province has chosen to shut down our only safe consumption site. I’m not an expert in this issue, but people who are seem to have thought this was a poor move. I have no idea what the plan is now to help drug-addicted people transition to leading less-harmful lives. 

Are there any other things you think downtown Kitchener needs to feel safer for raising families?

Ultimately, the "solutions" don't really fit into the category of "what does DTK need", because these aren't a downtown problem, these are a Kitchener (and Waterloo, and all of Ontario, and most of Canada) problem. The "solutions" in as much as there are solutions are vastly more (sustainably built, non-sprawling) housing, better transportation options across the city, better mental health and addition supports including supervised consumption sites. I'm probably missing some as well.

These things cannot all be downtown.

So what does DTK need? DTK needs the rest of the city to step the fuck up!

As for the plan, there is no plan...they don't want to help these people, the catch phrase is "cruelty is the point", but that is not facetious either, most of the voters that are being pandered to here would rather believe that addiction is a moral failing and that people affected by it should be hurt or killed as a result of their "moral failing". They (wrongly) believe that this harm will "scare them straight", and even if it doesn't, these people suffering is fine. They believe this because it is easier than facing the reality that the past 50 years of their choices have created a crisis situation.

Boomers and GenX have seen a rise in house values unprecedented in the history of our world. And good for them. But now, they'll be the last generation to enjoy this prosperity.