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Letter: Royal Crescent location ‘a grave mistake’

‘Problems tend to spill out into the surrounding neighborhoods.’
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Dominic Flanagan, with B.C. Housing, and concepts for modular homes on Royal Crescent. (THE NEWS/files) Dominic Flanagan, with B.C. Housing, and concepts for modular homes on Royal Crescent. (THE NEWS/files)

Editor, The News:

Re: Some in Maple Ridge like the idea of social housing, some not so much.

I have been a resident of Maple Ridge since 2002. Also, I am very familiar with dealing with homeless people and those with substance abuse problems.

I spent nearly four years doing drug education work for the province of Alberta. I was also the executive director of the Alcohol Drug Education Society of Alberta.

In addition, I was also on the drug education advisory committee for Alberta and was a resource leader and trainer for the crisis line in Edmonton.

In my professional opinion, I am totally opposed to the placing of a shelter for the homeless on Royal Crescent. I believe choosing this location is a grave mistake for the development plans for the downtown core of Maple Ridge for the following reasons:

• the City of Maple Ridge has spent considerable time and money over the past few years eliminating drug dealing and prostitution from the Maple Ridge downtown core;

• not all in the Anita Place homeless camp have problems with drug abuse, but some do, and this can be attested to by the number of first-responder calls to this location;

• many of the residents in the apartment building adjoining the proposed development are long-term senior residents;

• one-half block east of the proposed development, there is a small senior facility, and one-half block west is another senior’s residence – these residents frequently walk down the sidewalk on the south side of Royal Crescent, which means they will have to walk right past this homeless shelter for their daily outings (this is less than ideal);

• the major shopping area for Maple Ridge is within one block of this proposed development;

• This shelter is not going to offer proper ongoing treatment for substance and social problems – only minimal counselling and supervision.

Without in-depth help, facilities like this tend to become revolving-doors, which allow these problems to continue.

Unfortunately, these problems tend to spill out into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Yes, there is a definite need to help the homeless.

However, I strongly feel that placing these people and the problems associated with them in the middle of the downtown core of Maple Ridge is a drastic mistake that the community will not quickly recover from.

Ed Lineham

Maple Ridge