Letter from Gwen Spearman regarding homeless in PILP

From: Gwen Spearman Sent: December 5, 2022 2:57 PM To: Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca Subject: Proposed housing of homeless in Portage Inlet Linear Park

To the Mayor and Council of View Royal:

I was appalled to hear of the proposal to allow overnight (ongoing) camping of the homeless in the Portage Inlet Linear Park.

We have already endured instances of 2 or 3 people at a time calling it their home over the last 4 or 5 years. The ensuing disgusting mess that attends their stays is something that should not be allowed. Used toilet paper being strewn about and of course the instances when toilet paper did not accompany the toilet acts was offensive. I felt sorry for your staff having to clean up items that should have been flushed in a toilet or deposited into a garbage can.

During times of extreme fire danger I have even witnessed these same tenters barbecuing their meals under tinder dry arbutus trees. They surely can not all be unaware of the rules and regulations by which the rest of humanity lives but I realize the reason many are homeless is their wish to avoid living under any rules and regulations whether it be parental or of society. Many do not wish to work and are just waiting for society to give them continuous handouts.

Why should we dutifully pay our local and provincial taxes for them to destroy our park settings? On a recent walk through the park, my neighbour and I, (we are both retired senior citizens), encountered a young couple smoking something that was definitely not cigarettes, and they exhibited glazed eyes. The young fellow crossed from a bench to the other side of the path and waved around a black object that he claimed was his "pretty vase" with smoke emitting from it. The stench was bad enough but the unease that I felt was not reassuring.

In July we had pre teen visitors from California for a couple of days. The youngest wanted to go swimming in Portage Inlet and could not understand when I explained that it was very shallow. However we strolled down to the Park and she clambered over the rocks and into the water which of course was only knee deep. When she came out of the water she was appalled to count 17 cigarette butts surrounding the picnic table and asked why someone was smoking there when it was obviously signed "no smoking" before we entered the Park pathway from the Saanich end of Portage Road. Now when a 10 year old can scan a sign and take in all the regulations why can not everyone else.

I moved into 1195 Portage Road in March of 1979 so I have certainly witnessed many changes to this stretch of ground and am pleased that it has become a peaceful park that I can get some exercise in a couple of times a day. However, if the homeless are allowed to squat here then all beauty is destroyed and our homes are at risk of being burnt to the ground by their fires, our vehicles and homes are not safe from theft and our very beings are at danger.

I request that you consider this matter very, very carefully, for the sake of those living not only in View Royal but those in Saanich as well.

Sincerely, Gwen Spearman