Dear editor,
As a property owner in the downtown core, I share the concern of where to locate a homeless shelter.
I would like to offer a location solution. The Maple Pool Park.
This is an ideal location, as it's a big area, already in use in this regard, close to the welfare office.
It would solve a dilemma for the City and the park's owners and it would address the concerns of the homeless committee and the downtown business community, to a location solution.
Instead of having to build any structure, we could look at bringing in those shelters, built and developed on the mainland, for homeless people. That would save a lot of money and give everyone concerned complete flexibility and security.
To me this is a win-win situation.
We cannot afford to place this community in the downtown core. Business people can't afford any more taxes or expenses. Most are fighting for their financial lives already. The City should not be a landlord and the Regional District is incurring another expense, that has nothing to do with their mandate.
To address this situation is admirable and very humanitarian but to expect the downtown core to absorb any more expense is totally unrealistic as that could very well be the straw that breaks a lot of camel's backs, keeping in mind our commercial taxes are already way too high.
Geoff Stevens,
Courtenay