Needles In Westboro: Another City Hall Blunder

First the refugee housing problem solution was discussed internally but not with the public.

Then that process’s solution, sprung structures or rather glorified tents, was thrust upon the public as were potential locations with no consultation. The ensuing public backlash, as fierce as we’ve seen in recent years, caused the city to very slowly back down.

So the city responded by using the old YMCA building downtown and the former CBC headquarters in Westboro Beach as temporary housing solutions.

Not only that but planning committee chairman Jeff Leiper pushed for the ability to put shelters in any part of the city.

Well that experiment is already not working even before it began. Drug-users needles are being dropped on the ground in the Westboro Beach area … the same area where children play and walk to and from school. Leiper and his supporters saw the shelter issue through NIMBY eyes rather than people concerned about the effects of such a structure on the refugees themselves and the community as a whole. Some people wrongly accused opponents of racism.

But at least some of what Nepean residents feared with sprung shelters is now appearing in the quiet community of Westboro Beach. Drugs and needles. For what purpose is the old CBC building on Lanark Avenue being used?

What is this? Sprung Shelters II: The Wrath of Needles?

It’s one thing to screw up a file like sprung structures. At least, as it unfolded, there were no victims. But needles around our children? That’s unconscionable. Another blunder by city hall.

What will it take for Premier Doug Ford to appoint a board to run an Ottawa City Hall that has become a menace to itself, the people it supposedly represents and now its children’s health?

For the love of god, someone needs to step in.

Ken Gray

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