I feel for the residents and business owners in the area.
My business in Vancouver got broken into Friday night around 4am by some "low life junkies".
Cased the place for 45 minutes while the alarm was going off and took my iMac.
When the police came the next day, they laughingly commented about how it's likely someone for the rehab housing 2 blocks over.
These same officers took 1 hour to respond to our alarm during the incident, despite us being 2 blocks from the City's main police station
.
Presumably they were too busy with other "low life junkies" on a Friday night around the city.
It really got me thinking about how much resources are dedicated to these people. Safe needle sites, social housing in high demand areas, police and other first responders completely unable to deal with the scope of these problems and then completely unavailable to help the rest of us when we need them.
As a business owner or resident who can't even get police to help you, it really makes you a bit jaded.
It's like you're paying enormous taxes to support a system that screws you right back.
No one's gonna help that restaurant owner who busted his ass to start a business and employ people, and can't even get lunch patrons anymore.
No one's gonna help people who's property values suffer.
No one's gonna help parents who are worried about their children picking up used needles.
On the other hand, I think I'm an empathetic person and do want to see people recover from addictions, have a roof over their head and food on the table.
I guess I'm just rambling and venting a bit, but what is the solution!?
It's frustrating that the only victims who get resources are the drug addicts, but they're really not the only victims in all of this.