It’s a common occurrence. The downtown cores of many cities can be described as “colourful.”
People of all walks of life gather there. And that’s perfectly OK as it’s a phenomenon that brings diversity to these areas and gives them character.
Our downtown area is, of course, no exception. Generally, I have no issue with it. In fact, I find most of the peddlers asking for change more polite than some of the businesspeople I encounter. I hold no judgment, either. I don’t pretend to know what happened in anybody’s life to get them where they are and the truth of it is, we’re all a few paychecks from landing on the street.
What I do take issue with, however, is being subjected to inebriated individuals hurling obscenities at one another (or me on occasion), fighting, spitting, using illegal narcotics, and generally ignoring the rules of common courtesy while in a public place.
Yes, my office is downtown and I expect to see some unfavourable things from time to time, but it’s become a daily occurrence. It’s also created a level of discomfort for those of us needing to walk through the passage way between the bus terminal and the liquor store to get back and forth to our vehicles that is not acceptable.
And it’s spreading. Many of us have changed our routes and have found that it’s not any better when going through the parking lot or even using the sidewalk along Paris Street. This is not OK.
GSPS, Greater City of Sudbury officials, I implore you to come up with some plan to manage this issue. I know you can’t paint all of these individuals with the same brush and assume they are all into nefarious activities, nor do I want you to, but the drug deals and use of drugs are certainly not done covertly. And the public drunkenness is as obvious as can be.
It’s time for stronger police presence downtown. Is this the solution? I don’t know, but I do know that the powers that be need to open their eyes to the problem and then put their heads together to find a way to clean sweep downtown.
Natalie Dumont
Sudbury