Project Nexus Concerns

PROBLEMS:

This location is close to the river:
1. This provides addicts and the homeless an easy and convenient path to relapse, and most assuredly homeless camps will appear in this part of the river valley as soon as it’s warm enough in the summer. The #1 thing you need as a homeless person is easy access clean water, and putting a homeless shelter this close to the river valley is an unfair and cruel temptation for those that go to the shelter to get healthy from addictions. Any easy route to relapse is a threat to early recovery.
2. This location is upstream of the city’s drinking water supply! Pollution, littering, and human waste from any homeless that decide to leave the shelter and pursue their old habits will start to sully this area, and will create yet another risk to our city’s only water supply. I don’t think the importance of this requires further explanation, but if you’ve lived in Calgary recently you understand the criticality of fresh water for your city’s residents. Keeping the majority of residents healthy is the city’s primary responsibility.
3. Polluting & littering that will ensue from this location will only further damage our city’s riparian river ecosystem. This is blatantly obvious for anyone who has ventured into the trees along portions of the river valley closer to downtown. The river valley in this city is one of it’s most beautiful attributes, enjoyed by 1000’s of taxpayers and visitors during the summer month including swimmers, river floaters, and fishermen/women. Why then are we putting this at risk recklessly.
This location is close to 3 Mile Bend Dog Park:
1. 3 Mile Bend is unlike any other Dog Park in Alberta, and is famous amongst Alberta dog owners for its combination of forest, water, and good hospitality for the dogs and their owners. This shelter will put this gem at risk, and the people and animals who frequent it daily. Why are we devaluing our assets most beloved by the citizens instead of promoting this park as a tourist attraction? This is perhaps the most irresponsible thing a city counsel could do.
2. Creating a situation where homeless and potential addicts will infiltrate this park will only intensify ostracization, resentment, and most likely violence against a group that is already marginalized and misunderstood. The attendees of this park will be fiercely protective of their dogs wellbeing, and they will most likely defend with against any opposition. The most convenient and available group will be the addicts themselves. Recovery is only achievable when it is understood as a disease by the addict, and supported by a community of his peers. If an addict/homeless is placed in a hostile situation, where everyone will meet him/her with contempt and hate, you further rob their chances of recovery and potentially even doom them to an alcoholic death or overdose.
3. Harm to the dogs, children, and attendees of this park will be inevitable. Despite your best efforts, the park will be littered with needles from relapsing addicts, putting an immense risk to the dogs, not to mention the humans that frequent, swim, and play at this park. There are endless paths through the forest in this park, and some where only the dogs go. These are perfect places for homeless camps and using grounds. Furthermore, because citizens rarely occupy these zones, any harmful paraphernalia and litter will remain indefinitely for the dogs to find and get sick on. Regardless of the humanitarian and animal rights issues this raises, one sure way to induce rage in your citizens is put their children and their dogs at risk. This will result in massive voter abandonment or worse.
4. A using addict is completely beyond cognition and sense. We have all seen addicts walking down the street yelling to themselves, and some have even been involved in physical altercations resulting from this impaired state of mind. I’ve been on both ends of these altercations, and there is no sense to them, no calm resolution, no reasoning. They just are, and they just happen, inevitably. This again places your citizens, their children, and their pets in unneeded risk.
Cost to Tax Payers:
1. The additional police resources & bylaw officers that will be required to patrol this area after this shelter opens will place even more strain on a police force that is unable to control the crime in this city. Citizens already can’t leave a thing unlocked in their yards due to theft, nor they dare mistakenly leave their car doors open for 1 night. Pulling officers away from their current and unsurmountable duties to clean up after a foolish decision on this shelter is completely unfair to your voters. The only solution will be to increase taxes even further. Property taxes in the city have risen every year I’ve lived here regardless of the housing market, and further financial strain is the last thing that Canadian citizens can endure right now. Something has to give, and the citizens are fed up with surmounting costs because of bad decisions.
2. There is already an unbelievable cost associated with clean-up efforts to remediate homeless camps in parks and public spaces. This now puts another vast wilderness at risk, including 3 Mile Bend, and the forested areas north and south of 3 Mile Bend. Clean up efforts will again need to be expanded, and the only way to pay for this is increasing taxes. Add to this the lack of resources already present in Red Deer, as most parks aren’t getting cleaned up anymore. This includes (but certainly not limited to) the Waskasoo Creek park just south of Red Deer Polytechnic.
SOLUTIONS:
1. BEST: There is already a newly opened Recovery Center (EHN Recovery) north of Red Deer near Labuma. If you want to open a homeless shelter responsibly, put it next to a recovery center.
  1. This allows the homeless a clear path and temptation towards recovery instead of relapse. If we really care about the homeless, put them in an environment of recovery to promote their health, instead of building a facility designed for them just to live. Research “The Rat Park” experiment performed by Bruce Alexander in the 1970’s: this study showed that drug addicted rats naturally progress towards sobriety when placed in a healthy, sobriety based environment inhabited by healthy rats. I can tell you from personal experience that this also applies to humans and especially to recovery, and is the basis of all treatment centers already. If you want to help the addicts and homeless that still suffer, focus your efforts on acquiring land/facilities in these locations.
  2. This is in an industrial area that will impact the public minimally, and as a result backlash against them will be minimized.
  3. This location is out of the way from temptations like downtown and the river valleys, providing further incentive to recovery and health. It is a lot harder to relapse when you need to hitchhike into town.
  4. The attendees of this treatment center themselves would benefit immensely from the chance to help suffering addicts!!! This is a strong fundamental of most recovery models, and is the strongest tool available to help keep a person sober and achieve long term sobriety. Not only does this help the homeless, but will create a positive feedback loop that addresses the addiction epidemic on multiple fronts. In the long term, this leads to less shelters to begin with.
2. Perhaps look into the old Woody’s RV lot in Gasoline Alley, or other industrial areas. This again, removes the homeless from the temptation of a nice camping spot, and also reduces interaction with potentially hostile citizens. Furthermore, industrial areas have the business capital that can be combined to afford their own security guards, which not only lifts the burden from the city, police, and the taxpayers, but will also create jobs for your constituents.
3. Consider why are we creating a new shelter in the 1st place, when we have (2x) existing in Red Deer already. Instead of spending money on a new facility, why aren’t we considering expanding the facilities that exist and keeping collateral damage contained to where it already exists?
4. Additionally, start advertising 3 Mile Bend for the wonder and treasure that it is. Neither Calgary nor Edmonton have anything like 3 Mile Bend. Furthermore, I’m a very travelled man throughout Canada and the USA, and there isn’t a dog park I’ve seen to date that rivals 3 Mile Bend. Instead of putting such a valuable natural asset at risk, use it to our advantage and promote tourism to Red Deer. This will not only help put Red Deer on the map as something other than “a stop between Calgary & Edmonton”, but it will support our dwindling and failing small business sectors downtown, our restaurants, and our service industries. Furthermore, it is a chance to start instilling pride and a form of patriotism in the residents of our city. There is no force stronger than a team of humans with a common cause and pride in their heritage. This is being lost in Canada, and the only way to restore it is to start with 1 small incentive at a time. Do this for your voters, strengthen your office, and strengthen our pride as citizens and residents of this fantastic city.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column/op-ed suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.

by David Heikkinen, P.Eng

Project Nexus Concerns

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