Description
why is it that there are so many drunks and drug dealers down town and nothing gets done about it no wonder no stores stay there send these people where they belong i think we all know the place
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why is it that there are so many drunks and drug dealers down town and nothing gets done about it no wonder no stores stay there send these people where they belong i think we all know the place
63 Comments
cb (Guest)
Well it probably doesn't help that Social Services, Adult Probation, Youth Probation, Mental Health are located in the Mac Mall. There are also bingo halls, a liquor stores, hotels with old run down bars, 2 cold beer and wine stores. The mall is full of parolee's on day pass from the correctional or pen.
I'm sure all these so called drunks and drug dealers have dealt with the police and at one time or another have been charged and let back out onto the streets. Its a lose , lose situation for everyone with a business down there.
ms bizz (Guest)
people (Guest)
concerned (Guest)
Love this city (Guest)
D. Vogel (Guest)
megan (Registered User)
sc1 (Guest)
pooky (Guest)
I think it's a matter of, will the police do anything? Because they have to have adequate proof that someone has committed or is about to commit a crime.....So it would probably just be bothersome for people to be calling all the time, but they have a station downtown, why can't they just hire a cop to walk around all day! Oh wait, everyone would complain that taxes would go up.
It happens everywhere, right in front of me at a gas station i see people handing eachother little packets.
I think there just needs to be security guards hired, or cameras put up so there's evidence. It costs money, but that would result in returns as more customers feel comfortable coming around there.
I do agree that this is a problem in prince albert, it's a small city and this kind of behaviour is not kept to one part of town, it's everywhere in the public eye!
In other cities, it usually stays down in the "bad" areas. But here, it's prominent everywhere!
sc1 (Guest)
Tim (Registered User)
The answer Big Bob: In your backyard.
You seem to understand everyone's history, so you can care for them better than anyone else.
A solution to this will not come overnight and it will cost everyone money.
-- It must be lawful.
-- Included will have to be a long-term plan to get people see that their methods of making a living are not acceptable to society.
-- Make assistance readily available to help them. (everything from basic housing needs, job search, addictions concerns...etc etc.)
-- Document their needs, problems...perhaps new jobs could be created???
-- If none of the above works, generate a new "3 strikes" bylaw. If they repeat the same or similar offense 3 times, have them banned from City of Prince Albert.
Request to ALL posters:
- Let's get productive instead of destructive.
- Post flaming alone is just a waste of everyone's time. If you flame, you could at least have the courage to post at least one original idea or thought of your own.
(I am not perfect, but at least I try.)
P.A. PROUD (Guest)
pakj (Guest)
Cheryl (Guest)
PA Proud, that's one of the problems. I'm *not* born and raised in Saskatchewan, never mind PA. I never heard the phrase "Go back to where you came from" or "go back to where you belong" until I came out west. Those are hateful phrases that I can't stand. "We", obviously, all don't know where the people downtown are supposed to go. Any time I've heard that reference, it either means that someone is to go live in Europe or Asia or Africa or go back to the reserve, depending on where they appear to belong, usually the latter.
I'm not saying that one group or another dominates the downtown area. I meant to imply that both groups, native and non-native, are part of the 'downtown problem'. So where is BigBob going to send these people? Where do they belong? What happens if they were born and raised in PA? Where do they go then?
As for how to fix the problem, I have no clue. I've met some of the people from the downtown area and they don't want to be part of the rest of the world, it seems. They want their drugs or booze or money and not have to work for a decent place to stay. What some of them need is a good swift kick in the pants, but we're not allowed to do that, so that option's off the table.
Programmes will only go so far. If the people don't want to help themselves, they're not going to appreciate anyone trying to "help" them. Sometimes, there *isn't* a fix to a problem. You just have to accept that that's human nature for some folks.
By all means, contact the police chief and City Hall and demand more foot patrols. It won't do much more than move the people out from the downtown area into the nearby residential districts, but at least they're not in front of someone's business, right?
megan (Registered User)
I want to thank @ Pooky, @Jim, and @Cheryl for coming up with some possible solutions. Does anyone else have some suggestions? I also want to reiterate what Tim said. Let's be productive instead of destructive.
Keep SeeClickFixing!
pooky (Guest)
It's not like that in other places, i've walked around downtown Vancouver alone and felt safer.
Tim (Registered User)
Judging by the posts of PA Sucks and pooky, it appears the PEOPLE downtown are not the ONLY ones who we need to fix.
============================
Another part of the needed solution:
============================
- It appears that there are PEOPLE here that need a course on stopping racism. (since YOU are also a part of the problem)
Just Ask Google: Prince Albert stopping racism
=====================================
http://www.paherald.sk.ca/News/Local/2011-03-21/article-2350377/P.A.-group-fights-racism-by-using-pancakes/1
=====================================
btw: You can find scary people everywhere, not just downtown. :P
midtown resident (Guest)
a friend of mine works at the mall doing security...he says its aweful...he kicks a drunk out one door, they just come in another...they eventually just have to deal with the "worst cases" and do what they can, but they arnt miricle workers..
my wife works at a business along central ave...they will drop off their taxes at H and R block..then stand in the doorway of her business waiting until their check is ready...well, they scare off all potential clients, you ask them to move or leave...they just move to the next business or tell you to "F" off and ask what your problem is...sometimes they come inside and pretend to look at stuff, admiting that they need a warmer place to wait....
cant we impliment some type of loitering bylaws?...how about inforcing the "drunk in public" byalw..??....would it help to hire some type of "rent a cops" working on behalf of the city?
how about putting in some bright lights along the riverbank...usually drunks dont like to be seen...
its not only drunks...its the young kids that walk around like they are wannabe gangs.....no one feels safe downtown and I worry about my wife when she goes in and out of the store she works at....
Terrible place to live right now..
midtown resident (Guest)
Tim, no matter how much I want to agree with you unfortunitly I think your
wearing a little of the "rose colored glasses"
and I agree with you that you can find scary people everywhere, not just downtown...but you could also say that approx 80 percent of the scary people would be downtown, 10 percent cornerstone, 5 percent superstore, and another 5 percent trying to thumb a ride on the highways surrounding PA...
Play the percentages....I'm not trying to put you down, but I'm trying to be realistic
D. Vogel (Guest)
Discusted :( but PA born and raised (Guest)
justnorth (Guest)
policerock (Guest)
Love this city (Guest)
race is irrelevent in this conversation. I always thought if you moved all the social agencies, safe injections etc. out of downtown you move the problem as well but where do you move it? Not in my back yard!! The police are way to busy already to deal with the same people over and over for this. A 3 strike rule is great but the kicking them out of town won't fly. Human rights issue i'm sure.
What about a mandatory rehab after 3 strikes? I know there are alot of social problems that need to be resolved and people need to take ownership of their issues and deal with them!!
heypa! (Registered User)
Hey Hey (Guest)
Love this city (Guest)
Mojo (Guest)
midtown resident (Guest)
we all know boot camp wont happen...
lets think of some ideas that might accually materialize
boot camp is a great idea, but some "human rights" executive somewhere would find something wrong with it....
think of something else
dave (Guest)
Betty (Guest)
Betty (Guest)
dave (Guest)
disappointed (Guest)
good citizen (Guest)
Edna (Guest)
When a child grows up in a violent or neglectful family, is it the child's fault that he/she did not learn how to live a law abiding productive life? There are generation after generation people like this. It's insanely frustrating. What should be done. These people are victims as well as vicimizers. People can't be forced to get off the drugs or alcohol. That is like somone else trying to force you to lose weght, it is only going to happen when you decide that it should happen.
Too Bad (Guest)
It simply isn't safe.The needles,drunkenness, and vulgarity are something that is here and spreading through this scenic northern gateway.
Not sure how or what has happened ,but is a sad state we are in.
Wish I knew how to fix this, Policing does not seem to be working and values seem to be a forgotten way of life.
sick of the sights (Guest)
Why is this not identified, and dealt with?.The City Council in all their lack of wisdom and trouble shooting skills have done nothing and turned a blind eye to this problem.
Why hasn't the Police cleaned these activities and the people responsible for this self degradation up?.
This City is becoming a half way house for the wayward and addicted to take refuge.
With the upcoming warm weather and summer coming these pigs will only increase in numbers and continue to embarrass the City and it's reputation.
Vlasic (Registered User)
TJ (Guest)
Downtown PA IS the northern getto and it aint gonna get better There are no easy solutions and if someone even mentions something that would work they get jumped on by the political correctness crowd.
So since we can't fix it then we have to live with it. As for it being scary? I don't think so, I have no problem walking around downtown and no one bothers me...but then I know a lot of the people the rest of you are scared of and they really are not that bad. They have problems but most are not violent towards people they don't know. So instead of being scared and demanding someone else solve the problems head downtown a few evenings of the week and buy some cups of coffee. Then go out and pass the coffee to the first people you encounter and if they want to talk listen to them. Maybe after you get to know them they won’t seem so scary, in fact they may even become your friend if you let them. They are people and they have feelings so if you treat them fairly they will do the same back.
dave (Guest)
someone with a heart (Guest)
yup. (Guest)
I attend University downtown and I never get bothered, nor have I actually seen a drunk during school hours. I do miss the times when I could walk along the riverbank and feel safe, maybe if the lower-rent apartments were moved or demolished you would hardly see any of them.
DT core (Guest)
People are encouraged to say it's not their fault for their own situations and not be held accountable for themselves.
With all the advantages there are out there now days,it is baffling why we have this problem at all. We should stop the sympathy, to a certain point, and protect decency, and hold them to a productive standard for our society.
dave (Guest)
Vlasic (Registered User)
UMAD? (Guest)
sfds (Guest)
Vlasic (Registered User)
UMAD! (Guest)
Discuss and Debate (Guest)
It is about a problem,that has alot of people fed up with what they are seeing nowadays.Saying it is racist is a easy and underlying agenda for some who feels threatened and defensive for reasons only known to them.
Please stay on topic or don't comment on it.This is a way to discuss and explore different points of view..............the only one I have seen so far with malice was yours who declared "RACISM"
UMAD? (Guest)
dntcmplyn (Guest)
I have worked downtown for over 5 years now, and I've been annoyed by drunks and drug dealers 90% less than the 40ish teenagers that drive past my house at all hours with subwoofers. My point is that people do not like seeing these types of problems because of a perceived fear and prejudice, not because they are being personally violated. This type of ignorance leads to a lack of compassion for people who have made mistakes and are now living with them. It is a difficult problem to deal with, so we complain. Most of us are guilty of exactly that. Complaining with out a personal dedication to fix the problem, is a cop out to make ourselves feel better about doing nothing. And with that said, I am not out there fixing problems as much as i should either; I just believe that putting down our city, the police, mayor and council, the drunks, downtown, or anything else, is just making the problems worse. Be apart of the solution, or don't be apart of it.
Vlasic (Registered User)
JIMBILLYBOB (Guest)
it's time they legalized pot;
watch the you-tube movie;
RUN FROM THE CURE; RICK SIMPSON
intel (Guest)
intel (Guest)
even keel (Guest)
disgusted midtown home owner (Guest)
flabberghasted (Guest)
PAeddy (Guest)
theThinker (Registered User)
over 10 years later and nothing has changed, except MORE homeless folks sleeping downtown
this is not just a PACity issue.
the majority of the homeless folks come from somewhere else. MANY of them from places that receive Federal funds to help them, but the money never makes it to them for the help.
We've known this for a LONG time, and when a Gov't tries to do something about it, there is an uproar, lawsuits, cries of racism, etc...
perhaps it is time for a Gov't to try "tough love" and put the $$funding$$ linked to the person and the help they receive
Just like our health care, the $$ should follow the patient
TJ (Registered User)