December 23rd, 2024

City council catering to a small group with fencing decision


By Lethbridge Herald on August 10, 2023.

Editor:

Catering to poor provincial policy (whether UCP or NDP) does not make Lethbridge a better or safer place.

The only reason you apply for and get Guns and Gangs money is because you now have them. Did they suddenly appear mysteriously or did they appear as a result of no policy on drug addicts?

I will let you decide. My suggestions, and advice, is met with an eyeroll. Even though I have predicted everything that has occurred and will occur and seen this over and over again 30 times before!

Amusingly, council was trying to provide the citizens of Lethbridge with a safe downtown park by suggesting fencing. The eye-rollers were successful in making it a race and homeless issue. So they backed down.

So, you will lose Galt Gardens, and anything in between it and 5th Street North when council finishes catering to the provincial southern Alberta care campus nonsense. When it happens you will be aghast and claim you were unaware of course!

 The Commons in Halifax is fenced, that encouraged horticulturists to plant various trees flowers and created a very peaceful and truly beautiful area downtown. It is a place that could be enjoyed by anyone that acted within the limits of social tolerances. People regularily take their lunch into the Commons and watch the birds and flowers. 

Instead the City of Lethbridge let 40 eyerollers determine the direction of this city once again. So 40 people have saddled you with needles, feces and vomit as the centrepiece of your downtown for the next decade. Complacency costs big, and you are about to find out how big!

I know what council was trying to do, they went about it the wrong way of course but nevertheless they were attempting to save the centrepiece, and I give them credit for that. It took guts, so much for that!

Perhaps it’s time some people become a little more involved instead of allowing 40 to run your city? Just a thought!

Dennis Bremner

Lethbridge

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YQLDude

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s not only 40 people, and most of us aren’t as terrified and hateful as you are Dennis. Spend some time downtown, go to the park, touch some grass. It will be good for you – screeching into the void clearly isn’t.

Citi Zen

Dennis is absolutely right on the mark with this. You need to get your head out of the sand and face reality. We’ve all been downtown, been accosted, insulted, spat at.

YQLDude

I’m downtown all the time, along with thousands of other people, many who live there. If by “accosted” you mean someone asking if you have some change, then sure, that’s pretty normal, and also not threatening or scary to a sane well adjusted person. Being insulted and spat at certainly isn’t normal, and makes me think you are not actually downtown very often.

JustObserving

“Thousands of other people” ? Let me guess…you are “crowd estimator ” for Donald Trump !.
Galt gardens is a cess pool avoided by the “sane well adjusted person” you speak of. A loud minority…and I do mean minority have ensured the fuzzy minded on Council who are afraid to take a stand on behalf of those who trusted them on election day can dodge the issue by putting up playpens instead of cleaning up and securing the park .
I agree being spat at, insulted or accosted is not normal, but it is becoming the norm for the sane who dare trespass on the park and downtown core , particulalry in the early morn or late afternoon.
Enjoy your lunch in the park YQL, sit on the grass, run about barefoot if you wish…but get your head out of the sand and see how many others are “enjoying” the park and how many of them are not zombies, panhandlers, drug dealers, hookers and people being protected to death by the loud minority.

YQLDude

https://opendata.lethbridge.ca/datasets/619116eb0d7243bd9535978154020d24_0

More than a thousand people live downtown. So yes, I suspect they are downtown quite regularly.

SophieR

At some level, YQLDude, I’m comforted by the thought that these fellows are hiding in their bomb shelters eating spam rations, and not running around downtown with their hair on fire, making people feel unsafe and discouraging business.

YQLDude

Agreed – as the fence protest showed, the people actually out and about in our community are generally kind hearted and compassionate. Sunlight is the best disinfectant as they say – and it works on hatred as well.

Sheran.

YQLDude works for the city in the meda communications department and just like many at city hall, is oblivious to what goes on downtown. I supposed they think Hunter Heggies comments were also embellished.
There needs be a clean sweep of city hall!

YQLDude

I do? Would you mind letting them know they’ve forgotten my paycheck since I started? I could use the extra cash.

pursuit diver

This is hilarious! I just walked through Galt Gardens and there were about 100 vagrants all of the grass and on the benched and tables with makeshift tents as well. I saw about 40 new faces, one was a young thin male with yellowy blonde hair who looked like he had been living rough, stating to a young FN female and male that he didn’t steal their sh__, (I cannot say the actually word because this site has censored it so I put sh__, similar to feces), while in another group I hear a FN woman telling a FN male that they came down from Calgary on the bus.
So once again Lethbridge gets dumped on by other communities cleaning up their streets and we pay the price. So if they can do this why can’t we?
Why are police not protecting our property, our parks, our businesses?
Fencing is not the answer! Galt Gardens used to be enjoyed by people from all over the city and now they avoid it! Even the last event for Heritage Day saw small numbers and at times there were more vendors, displayers and performers than there were people who came to celebrate.
Do we really have to protest in large numbers and sue to get our city back?

pursuit diver

I saw feces on the sidewalk by SAAG art gallery and bet someone has walked over it, syringes on the ground, garbage strewn, illegal tents, with addicts taking up the tables and benches and laying all over the grounds.
They will be out tonight committing crimes, destroying out city at will, with no actions taken against them as usual!

bladeofgrass

You have this right Dennis. 40 Big mouths who don’t care about anyone else other than themselves and ‘their’ beliefs. They’ll turn Any event or comment into a racial one if they don’t agree what was said or done. The fencing wasn’t about race, it was about Safety. Our addicts are not just Indigenous.

Dennis Bremner

I have read the comments so its my turn again. You will note people like Chris (YQLdude) who profits from the Addict misery stands firmly in his position on his way to sainthood. If I stand firmly on mine I am the devil incarnate.
As we progress through this process, you will note that people like Chris will try to minimize each step along the way. So Gangs/Guns is now nothing more than a progressional state that raises the Safety for the Addicts. Prior to this I believe the Police stated that “almost everyone carries a knife” which was the previous stage of acceptance.
So when “Two Beavers” shoots “Charlie” in the head it will be marketed by the same group as “Two Beavers has a right to safety”. However if “Charlie” shoots “Two Beavers” in the head then “Charlie was a racist and “Two Beavers Cracked”.
This is the next stage of normalizing the violence “Its just Addicts trying to survive” because they have a disease and that takes precedence over everyone’s safety including yours.
Most of us sit quitely in our homes and get a good nights sleep wake up and look around and say, its not as bad as Bremner says. He exaggerates, he is attempting to “stir the pot”
This is very much like doing a complicated job, if it is overwhelmly complicated you break the job down into Tasks that lead to a specific Milestone. The total of all completed Milestones sees the completed job.
With Addiction and a complicit city you can do the same thing. You itemize all the things that if a city was complicit and complacent, would lead to a milestone of semi destruction. Then you sit back and watch as Lethbridge just allows it to happen. Small things at first start to occur. Finally building up to the crescendo which is a lawless downtown and bleeding hearts like Chris, MSTH, LOPS, etc etc defending every inch of the way.
The nonprofits thrive on Chaos. The more that occurs, the more the City Managers and Council have to rely on them. There is a point where the Chaos becomes a level of delirium that results in common sense going out the window.
Here is one example “Homeless” is defined as anyone without a home, ANYONE! So that includes Addicts. At SACPA the pronouncement…. ” All the homeless should be homed”. When I typed that I am sure I heard Angels in the background singing? Trumpets blared as I got the “ALL” in that statement. The eyerollers in SACPA all smiled, clapped from the wrist down as most Royals do, and some developed a tear in the corner of the eye.
The Chart indicating on average 70% of the Addicts die in a Single Resident Occupancy was not even considered a valid point. The Chart, which was AHS data, was not given any credibility because it interferes with “Rent and Gov Subsidies”. When produced, the wave of the eyeroll almost knocked me off my chair.
So Evidence and Proofs are only valid if it supports the eyerolling wrist clappers position.
So you know how unwittingly complacency works this is what escaped you thus far;
1) The suddenly and rather amazingly quick and free flow of all drugs in this city
2) The numbers of addicts doubling every 2.5-3 years
3) The poorly published figures which you never question which is how many stay sober after spending the money of developing this amazing amount of failed infrastructure that kills your downtown. This is where you get the “if one life is saved its enough” I am here to say, ah-h-h no its not! Because citizens will die while the nonprofits who profit “save that one life” but you don’t count!
4) Rights- as time progresses, Addicts have a right to defecate anywhere they want because you won’t provide them the Spearman Special ($200,000 washroom) that they destroy because that is also their right. Its okay for an addict to act out, because he/she is just venting. If you do, you are a racist uncaring pig.
5) Property- Whats yours is theirs, whats theirs is taken from you and they need it more than you do.
6) Security- If you do not lock up everything you own, then its your fault it was stolen. So the problem is not the Addict stealing your stuff, it is you whom is negligent and should know better.
7) Not sure why this is an issue “Everyone knows they all carry a knife”? Notice how what is abnormal somehow becomes the standard? Do you carry a knife? Perhaps one should ask the Police Chief, should we be carrying a knife?
8) Guns and Gangs- Well so much for carrying a knife because you never bring a knife to a gun fight. So now what?

The point of all 8 points above is the normalization is now setting in. Soon you almost expect to hear someone say, well of course she carries a gun, she has to protect herself!! And, suddenly you feel like a fool asking the question.

So as YQLDude normalizes every stage as this progresses so does the other 39 and of course the School of Higher Learning. The eyerollers, well, they are just their to fawn over everything holy, righteous, or profitable.

SophieR

Eye roll.

Dennis Bremner

Thank You Sophie

YQLDude

Wow, you do like the sound of your own voice. What are you even talking about Dennis? Your Charlie & Two Beavers story is incomprehensible nonsense, and ““Homeless” is defined as anyone without a home”… yes, that is how words work. If you don’t have a home, you’re homeless. Even if you really really hate that person, they’re still homeless.

While you sit here clutching your pearls, the people dying in our city are exclusively vulnerable people dying from a toxic drug supply. The rampant death and destruction of “everyday taxpaying citizens” you’re crying about hasn’t materialized. Like a child having a tantrum, you’re unable to imagine that many people have problems far greater than the ones you’ve made up so that you can play the victim.

Is this really what you want to do with your retirement? Spread hate and fear? Pretend the rest of the world hasn’t moved beyond your narrow worldview? Perhaps everyone you talk to rolls their eyes for a reason, maybe it’s time to look inwards – is this really making your life better? It’s certainly not helping anyone else.

Dennis Bremner

1) Wordisms- Homeless, there is no differentiation between those who were kicked out of a home or more than one home vs. Those who through no fault of their own have lost a home.
2) Toxic Drug Supply- I am fully aware you and Ms Hatfield believe that we should have a clean supply for everyone that needs it. I on the otherhand totally disagree and will disagree till the day I die.
3) We are in the early stages of this disaster Chris. You are two young to know it and like to think you are worldly but you are not. We are about 5 years from “The rampant death and destruction of “everyday taxpaying citizens” you’re crying about hasn’t materialized.”
4) I am not a victim, never claimed to be, never will “market myself as a victim either”.
5) Not spreading hate or fear, spreading facts, something you should try. You were at SACPA, did you comprehend the chart showing up to 80% are dying in an SRO. the only thing that came out of your standup comedy act is I should have painted indigenous Art on the “Barrick” alternative
6) I have seen what this has done too cities all around the world. Being designated a “Marshall Smith Pilot Project” with a downtown of 12 square blocks is well worth warning people that if they do not speak up, then people such as yourself win.
Have a nice day Chris.

YQLDude

1) You are welcome to use different words to define the people you deem worthy of help and those you hate, but your feelings don’t determine what the word homeless means. Perhaps if you actually knew what you were talking about you’d be able to express yourself.
2) Sadly your disagreement with clean supply isn’t hurting you, it’s hurting the dozens of people who die every month in our city. I pray you or your loved ones never have to experience the consequences of your heartless view.
3) I guess we will see 5 years from now – sadly I suspect you’ll still be quivering in your basement while the rest of us are out living our lives. Your past 5 years of ravings have seen things get far worse for the homeless, while the crime index has fallen.
4) You don’t have to claim to be a victim to think you are one. Constantly whining about how dangerous our city is and how you can’t go out anymore without all those scary homeless people bringing you down. You obviously have a hard time with definitions, but that the way you act is the definition of false victimhood. I’m sorry if that offends you, but well, with a victimhood complex like yours I don’t think it would be possible to do otherwise.
Finally I don’t have the faintest clue who Chris is – but on your list of delusions that is pretty far down, feel free to project whatever villain you want on to me if it helps you feel like you’re standing up to your imagined victimizers.

Dennis Bremner

I would guess you just don’t bother to read anything but your own thoughts? At no time have I ever proposed some people are not worthy of help. Unlike yourself, I believe some need “different help”. You prefer to enable I prefer to make it difficult to continue a drug habit. So developed and got approval from some Blood Elders promoting my Indigenous Plan https://lethccc.com . Aligned my assistance with Alvin Mills rather then those that honestly believe that an Addict will rehab while surrounded by addicts in Lethbridge.
If you make it difficult for an addict to get drugs by adding the need to get on a bus, you increase the odds of a life change if what is surrounding him are people who want him/her to rehab.
A barrick like facility allows each addict to keep an eye on the others. So you do not get the 70-80% deaths that you and your ilk promote as being “the answer”.
So if you really are interested in saving lives, then promote a barrick type concept, immediately you will get a return on your logical investment and you won’t have to go around pretending you care or are “Savin Lives” anymore.
I am done with you Chris, by all means have the last word!

SophieR

I thought I was Chris! Now you bestow the title on YQLDude?? Without considering my feelings?
Well, in the spirit of forgiveness, I offer you the Panopticon in place of your ‘barricks’. I promise it will impress your friends clustered around you in the darkness.

YQLDude

I’m sorry other Chris, as of course Dennis is a brilliant man of the people there can’t be more than one or two people who oppose his “round up the unclean ones” plan. Unfortunately that means we’re the same person.

Montreal13

Funny when Alvin Mills says the same thing as Dennis that out of town is best- you say nothing? Is it because Alvin Mills is Indigenous?

YQLDude

Your website is broken buddy. Assuming you’re just talking about a recovery center, yes those are part of the solution – not “barracks”, but leaving aside your obsession of treating addicts like prisoners, we do need more recovery beds available, no doubt.
We also need a safe drug supply and housing for people who aren’t at that point yet. But you keep claiming you have approval from Elders from the Blood Tribe – interesting that we never hear from them. Makes me wonder if they approve of rounding people up in barracks as much as you claim.

Montreal13

Oh if an Indigenous person wants to round people up and take them to an isolated recovery camp it’s ok? Halrmast Manor is barricaded. The drug court clients are very controlled and supervised or so they say. Their freedom of movement is very restricted. If it was Dennis’s or Ewing’s idea I suppose you would be against it? But of course they are not IDed as Indigenous, so I guess their opinion if it is different than yours doesn’t matter?

lumpy

C’mon Dennis, start naming names. Who is this Chris you’re going on about. Get your facts out there.

Dennis Bremner

people hide behind an alias because they do not want to held responsible for what they say. Hiding is not how you solve a problem.

lumpy

I get that, but you seem to know names.
What’s holding you and others here (pursuit diver, etc.) back from filling the rest of us in?

Montreal13

I think you confused people with your Leper comment.