Burnside Gorge Rally Together as a Community Against Crime

   One poor decision after another by the City of Victoria and BC Housing led to the decimation of Burnside Gorge's safety. 

   Topaz Park and the Pandora Corridor Tent Cities, have failed. 

   The number of incidences phoned into VicPD, Public Works, and Service Providers is climbing.

   Deaths from the opioid crisis took more lives than the real threat: COVID 19.

   Homeless camps and shelters have formed directly across from the Rock Bay Landing and inside Beacon Hill Park.

   As BC Housing and City of Victoria panicked to find a solution, they began to decamp the Tent Cities. 

   Hastily the City of Victoria focused on finding hotels in Victoria, with little to no consideration for locating hotels in the neighbouring municipalities outside Burnside Gorge. 

   These ill-planned decisions eventually lead to the rental and purchase of several hotels.

   The Travelodge on Gorge Rd East, Comfort Inn on Blanshard, and the Rock Bay Landing form a triangle.

   Now dubbed the "Triangle of Crime;" the criminal element is thriving.

   Support workers, rather than professional physiologists and therapists staff the hotels.

   The VicPD and Municipal workers are overwhelmed. Seizing stolen items is a full-time task.

   Most of the items recovered (such as bicycles) have been chopped, stripped, and destroyed. 

   Neighbours go to bed at night only to wake up to their valuables missing from sheds, fenced-in yards, and vehicles.

   Two significant changes were the original intent of the Gorge-Rd-East petition at change.org. 

1. Stop the eviction of the existing tenants of the Travelodge; and

2. Demanding that City of Victoria and BC Housing find a better solution to the homeless situation. 

   Namely not moving the homeless into a community (Burnside Gorge) already saturated with approximately 80% of Greater Victoria's affordable housing.

   Burnside Gorge Neighbours are working hand-in-hand with VicPD to raise Block Watch awareness.

         "Neighbours looking out for neighbours; the second set of eyes on your home."

   Cst. Sean Hand from VicPD has three separate officers focused on identifying the gaps and barriers. One at each the Travelodge, the Howard Johnson, and the Comfort Inn.

   Officers are on duty to respond to any 911 call. However, Burnside Gorge Neighbours still has crime, and incidences occur several times a day. 

   Burnside Gorge Neighbours wants a safe community. 

         "Everyone has a right to feeling safe in their homes."

   The criminal element plays one of the most significant threats to the community. 

   There are long-term solutions to the homeless situation. One of them is a distributed housing model. 

BY SIGNING THIS PETITION:

You demand that City of Victoria and BC Housing be proactive by:

1. Implementing Distributed Housing across all of the CRD to help break the cycle of homelessness, substance abuse, and addiction; 

2. Helping those with mental health issues by providing adequate wrap-around services, including qualified professional psychologists and therapists.

   If you'd like to learn more about what Burnside Gorge Neighbours is doing, please email 

info@burnsidegorgeneighbours.ca

Or follow, share, like, and comment on Social Media.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BurnsideGorgeNeighbours/

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https://www.burnsidegorgeneighbours.ca/