EDITORIAL – All this talk about solutions to the shelter issue is just pablum

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

SO THE PATHWAYS shelter has been given a 20-month extension to operate at the former Butler Auto site on Tranquille Road. Will it make things better, or worse?

That’s a matter of opinion, of course, for there’s no empirical evidence either way. City council heard arguments from both sides at a packed meeting this week before approving the extension.

The “solution” is this: form a committee to look at how to keep the surrounding neighbourhood safe while looking for a permanent location.

Concerns about the shelter in its current situation centre on vandalism and theft at local businesses. Concerns about what would happen if the extension had been denied centre on its ‘clients’ who might end up back on the street without support.

The proposed long-term answers, essentially, amount to a lot of pablum. Look for long-term solutions. Bring all sides to the table. Come up with a unified community plan. Make the provincial government provide needed resources — it’s not council’s fault.

Basically, it was all about kicking the problem down the road. More about hoping it will go away than having a serious expectation that the two conflicting aspirations — providing compassionate resources for the addicted and the homeless, while at the same time providing safety and security for those who live and work nearby — can be reconciled.

Meanwhile, City council, which seems content to place blame on the provincial government and to therefore appear to be doing something, shrinks from a commitment to increase policing.

Fact is, the prospects of everybody being made happy remain unlikely. Fact is, the hard decision is still this: who comes first, those who cause disruptions on the street and in our neighbourhoods, or those who are trying to go about their everyday responsible lives and are being penalized when one of these facilities is dropped into their midst?

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.