April has arrived and that means any garbage cast about over the winter is in plain sight. If you walk along any main street or the highway and look below the banks you will see it.
Along my road, there are remnants of bear action. Despite being asked not to, residents put their garbage out a night and bears come and haul away garbage bags, ransack them and leave everything in the forest to rot.
With warmer weather also comes evidence some of our community’s unhoused people are choosing to spend the nights outside.
Across the street from the Tribune, in a space between two buildings, there is evidence someone was camping there and it needs to be cleaned.
Last Friday, Coun. Scott Nelson made a video about a mess at Spirit Square. He posted it on his personal Facebook page and the debate began with people weighing in, mostly alarmed by the mess. Within a couple of hours, it had been cleaned up by the city's public works.
The day before that, Tribune reporter Ruth Lloyd wrote about the Clean Team being back in action. Under the umbrella of the Downtown BIA, the project is funded by a $40,000 grant from the Prince George Community Foundation and $5,000 from the City of Williams Lake. The team will be active Monday to Thursday, for three hours a day, picking up garbage and waste, including human feces.
So when it’s after hours, and there’s an unsightly mess, who are you going to call?
Our city’s chief bylaw enforcement officer Derrick Walters had the answers. If it is on city property please call: Bylaw Services: 250-398-2479, Public Works: 250-392-1784 or City Hall: 250-392-2311.
If it is on private property, Walters said "unfortunately" it is the property owner’s responsibility to maintain and clean with help via RCMP if there are trespass issues. City bylaw can enforce property owners to clean up though.
When asked if there might be more public washroom facilities installed to hopefully give people without a home a place to go, especially after hours, Walters said due to the cost and vandalism of the city's existing public washrooms, it is not in the budget to install or create any new facilities.
Walters encouraged citizens to regularly check their properties to ensure there is no unwanted traffic, ensure that outdoor plugins are locked or turned off, and make sure that they are regularly walking about their own areas to ensure that no unwanted activity is present.
This problem is not going away.
What can we do as citizens to help the city, the unhoused and ourselves to make our town cleaner and healthier?
I look forward to hearing any ideas or suggestions.
