Penticton's downtown, drugs, crime, housing & 5cent diseases

[SouthernOkanagan]

This post is just my two cents on the continuing problem in Penticton's Downtown core, well, it's more wide spread than that, but we'll start with the downtown area and it touches on a few things, modular housing, drugs/crime and the Sunrise Pharmacy 5 cents per dirty needle return program.

What are YOUR thoughts on these issues happening in Penticton?
]Everyone feel free to weigh-in, I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear what others are thinking or feeling about the issues here!


Why not put this so called "modular housing" thing down by the Penticton Marina at Okanagan Lake at the aptly named hobo trails?
There's what seems to be a fairly permanent neighborhood in the trails consisting of tents, foul language, garbage, sightly slap together structures and people who feel it's their property.
I actually had one of the fine folks "living" back in there ask me, no wait, tell me "not to walk so close to my entrance to my tent, it's like my front yard, buddy."!
The city might as well just get some bulldozers in there, level the trees, level the land a bit, actually wait, don't even need to level the land or sloping areas, just build the modular housing on on angle like some houses I've seen, you know, terraced!
They seem to want to be down there and the washrooms right there at the marina make it very attractive to more people moving in I'd say, at current you can pitch your space and have free bird baths every morning in the washroom!
Yummy! I love (sarcasm here) going in there to use the facilities to find a half naked person bathing in the sink and hanging their clothing to dry on the washroom stall divider! Call me old fashioned!

So yeah, City of Penticton people, please take my suggestion into consideration and put the modular housing at the "hobo trails", you can even leave a ring of deep trees and bushes around the facility so THEY have lot's and lot's of privacy and sit it right smack in the middle of a cleared out area.

To city officials continued...
And everyone wonders why there's a problem in and around the Penticton United (blue) Church?
Do ya think it has something to do with Sunrise Pharmacy giving away drug paraphernalia "bundles" as they call them?
They can now also turn in old needles there now for five cents per return!!!
(Tempting children that come from drug infested homes who don't know any better, to collect and return needles.)
Parents of all means & backgrounds need to have that talk about needles again, now there's a reason for them to touch the needles.
The United Church issue is directly due to two reasons, Sunrise Pharmacy and that boarding house that is seemingly easy on the element, behind the 24/7 store.

Question: Where's the first place a drug user can go to shoot up, snort or smoke their drugs other than the school grounds where the charge is worse if caught?
Answer: They go behind the church to get that immediate fix they need, to hell with walking home to do it, right?

It's all right there, handed to them, the Pharmacy, the boarding house where drugs are OFTEN sold and bought, plus they can probably get Brillo pad and baking soda at 24/7 quite easily, why wouldn't they use the church grounds/property?
The whole area is just too damn convenient for them! I feel for the church, I really do, but what, beyond what they're doing, can be done to fix the situation?
Not a heck of a lot, but it probably all starts with looking to the pharmacy and that boarding house for sure!
I see a food truck sitting there beside the building getting all ready to illegally sell food to the public without proper food safe or city operating permits (if required), either way I can see it's going to be skirting some rule somewhere because it's apparently on private property, they own the parking lot.
But as far as I know it's a different rule-set to run a restaurant or any business where food is being sold where a pharmacy currently is in operation?
Let's see if it's done correctly or not and hopefully they have a washroom nearby and don't run it in the winter time, wouldn't want to leave the poor clerk of the food truck/trailer out there in the cold all day, every day, walking around in their own feces, that would be very, ummm, cruel to humans.

O.k. I've sat back enough and now I had to speak up about how I feel, after all, this i why a lot of us live in a country like Canada, for this very freedom, freedom of speech.

[XT225]

Question: Where's the first place a drug user can go to shoot up, snort or smoke their drugs other than the school grounds where the charge is worse if caught?
Answer: They go behind the church to get that immediate fix they need, to hell with walking home to do it, right?

I've seen pictures on FB showing that they don't even need to go that far now (to the blue church); they just go right behind the Pharmacy and shoot up. Talk about convenience! Ugh! That area, though, does have serious problems and right across from the high school isn't ideal.

I like your entire post; very Democratic/free speech but expect to get blasted by a couple on here, especially since its friday night coming up and tongues get loose and critical after a "few" brewskies. Long live free speech though!

[Bunnyhop]

I agree with most of what you said. How the city allows a pharmacy so near to a school to be handing out needles to illegal drug users is beyond me. And why doesnt the school board object?

The city made such a stink about that housing project on Green ave being too close to the schools there but dont seem concerned about whats going on by the high school downtown.

[my10cents]

An easy answer to the so called "Pharmacy" across from Pen High ------ "

Hey City of Penticton: Wanna end that problem? Don't issue them a business license!!!!!!"

Just sayin'