What does DTK need?

[danbrotherston]

Surely you guys are trolling with these claims - or you don't get out much.

Robberies, threats, assault and harassments have doubled since 2014. Crimes at businesses across the region have jumped 60 percent since 2020. Violent crime has also been on the rise. Fewer crimes are being solved - in fact it is at its lowest point in 20 years. The homicide rate in Waterloo Region is below the national and provincial average; in Ontario, that average is dropping whereas in Waterloo Region it has been rising sharply.

Fentanyl zombies and other flavours of addicts are one of the many causes of this (but not all), with large numbers of the users being homeless. 2021 saw 1113 overdose calls in Waterloo Region. If you look at the heatmap of these overdoses the vast majority all occur downtown Kitchener and Cambridge. Regarding fatal overdoses: 2020 saw 106 deaths, 2021 saw 99 and as of September 2022 there have been 55 but that number is no doubt much higher now. How do addicts - especially those living on the streets - get money for their drugs? Robberies, threats, assaults and sex work which are all crimes.

Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't happening. The region has gone to shit in more ways than one but a big reason is the sudden explosion of homelessness, drug addiction, petty crime, targeted shootings/murders which often relate to drug related crime (trafficking etc). Anything not locked down in this region - especially downtown - will be stolen. The homeless will gladly steal from your car, your property, your business and perform whatever sex act you want for a few dollars to feed their addictions. Acting like this isn't really happening is just foolish to do. And it's a huge reason why people tend to have the attitude that the region and urban cores are once again going to shit despite the apparent renaissance we were entering a few years ago where things seemed to be improving. Who is going to open a business downtown if it's going to suffer from constant thievery or robberies? Who wants to hang out downtown when addicts will constantly harass you and do goofy bullshit in general? Who is going to want to walk around Victoria Park when it's infested with homeless addicts and Julian Ichim? Who is going to want to live downtown if every time they step foot outside they see addicts or have their car broken into? This is not the sort of environment people want to live in and experience in their day to day life and it will kill our urban cores the longer we permit it.

"doubled"...I mean, I'm not going to look up the numbers to see if that's true because it doesn't matter. Our society is incredibly safe. If the rate doubled, it's still low. You are needing to see changes that are orders of magnitude to meaningfully change the safety in our society. It certainly does not mean things have "gone to shit".

And we absolutely have not had an "explosion" of targeted murders. You are spreading the kind of FUD that gets FOX News hosts their fucking jollies.

Stop drawing parallels between "seeing an addict" (which is not a crime or suffering in anyway beyond the pain of seeing another human suffering) and nuisance crimes like vehicle theft and extremely violent and dangerous crimes like assault and murder. These are three wildly different things, and equating them does not help anyone but realestate developers who want to pave our greenbelt.

But the worst thing you've referring to homeless people as an "infestation", that is an evil, dehumanizing thing to say.

This comment is not the sort of environment I want to experience thank you very much.