Take a survey, solve a problem

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/08/2024 (491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Those of you who follow me on social media know that I am an avid walker. For more than 30 years, I have had dogs that were walked for a couple of miles each day. After being diagnosed with cancer last year, I have increased my walking and running distance to more than eight miles every day. It’s one way of hopefully preventing the cancer from coming back.

On weekdays, I do most of my miles on the track at Brandon University’s Healthy Living Centre. On weekends, however, I walk and run outdoors, very early in the morning. The things I have seen, and continue to see, during those walks and runs has revealed a side of Brandon that few have experienced, or are even aware of.

Over the past year, I have come across at least a dozen people unconscious on streets, sidewalks or lanes. Others have been passed out in hedges or on picnic tables. Some of them were in the core area, but the majority were in the area around the Keystone Centre.

I have seen countless people, often walking in pairs, who were clearly impaired by drugs or alcohol, and the problem has been getting a lot worse lately. There are people that I have never seen before wandering in neighbourhoods — not just in the core area — at 5 in the morning. Many of them are scary-looking dudes, dressed in black and each carrying a huge backpack.

I regularly see men and women defecating and urinating on streets and sidewalks and, twice in the past two weeks, I have seen men and women having sex out in the open. Two weeks ago, it was a couple standing near the entrance to McMaster Hall at the university. When another woman’s dog started barking at them, the male participant started barking back.

Last weekend, another couple were “going at it” while another girl was talking to them. That was on the 600 block of 17th Street, in the front yard of somebody’s home.

Another thing I see almost every (early) morning while walking is people carrying stuff they have stolen overnight. Items such as big-screen TVs, lawn furniture, barbecues and bike parts, for example. I am always amazed that a person riding a small bicycle can carry so many large items and still control the bike.

Again, this isn’t happening in just the core area. I’m seeing it in the west end and the south end, and I seriously doubt I’m the only one who is a witness to it.

I say all of that to say this: There are those in the city who will claim that the things I see during my outdoor walks and runs are figments of my imagination. They accuse me, and anybody else who sees this stuff happening, of exaggerating the problem.

They complain that it hurts outsiders’ perceptions of the city when we talk about these things, even if it really is happening. And they say we need to accept these activities are just the consequences of being a growing city.

I’m not so sure about that. I don’t like the idea of passively accepting what is happening to our city, let alone allowing it to get even worse.

Judging by the many emails and phone calls I receive from readers, I know I’m not alone in feeling that way. The problem, however, is that many Brandonites regard the situation as being unfixable. They say that it’s too late to reverse what has happened over the past decade.

They may well be correct. Or, maybe what’s needed is a serious plan to address the problem.

Last Monday, the Sun reported that our city council is working with the Canadian Centre for Safer Communities toward the development of a “Brandon Community Safety and Well-Being Plan,” which they expect to unveil next year.

The development of that plan will involve multiple public consultation measures, including focus groups and other forms of engagement. According to the city, “This initiative seeks to identify safety concerns within the community and develop a systematic plan to implement long-term, preventative solutions that address the underlying causes of these safety and well-being challenges.”

That’s a lot of lofty language, but the process begins with a 103-question survey that can be found at this Internet link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BMVJYYZ. A paper copy can be obtained by sending an email to cswbplan@brandon.ca.

I completed the survey a couple of days ago and it took me about 30 minutes. That likely sounds like a lot of time, but I encourage you to also do the survey (which is confidential, by the way) and to not be shy in your answers.

In many cases, governments use the results of these types of polls in order to claim a mandate to implement policies that a majority of the population disagrees with. That happens when too many citizens don’t speak up and participate in the consultation process, of which the survey is an important part. They end up losing by default.

Don’t let that happen. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, go online and complete the survey. Then get your spouse, friends and family to do the same. If you don’t, you shouldn’t be surprised if city council chooses to go in a direction you disagree with.