Our "Up and Coming" Neighbourhood
Despite the new Starbucks, I see we still have a way to go:
Do you find shit like this on your yard in Rosedale?
The best part? After a few phone calls, I have learned there is no one who picks this shit up. One puts on gloves, puts it in a glass jar and walks it to the nearest disposal site (which of course, isn't open until Monday). Nice.
Labels: the homestead
posted by metro mama @ 2:40 PM
13 Comments:
And suddenly I have lost all of my desire to move out of The Sticks. Yikes.
Did you call Greenwood Community Centre, where the needle distribution centre is? I was told that they pick up needles and condoms. It's important that they know this is a problem, because they keep track of where it's occuring. It comes up often in the community safety meetings and safety walk-abouts, and their defense is that they don't hear of any problems. If you leave a brightly coloured note and circle where it is/was in chalk, even if it disappears (sometims someone else picks it up before Greenwood gets there), they know where it was, according to the person I spoke with. I can double check with the person in the group who knows most about this next time I see her.
If you aren't getting the flyers for the meetings and walk-abouts (flyers aren't allowed now until after the election), then ask Paula Fletcher's office to put you on the email list for them. The Leslieville Yahoo group(leslieville@yahoogroups.com) will also keep you up to date on the meetings and neighbourhood progress. I've promised to flyer my street and another, and some of Queen -- I can always leave you one too (as much as I'd love to do a few more streets, I promised to do what I CAN do, not what I'd LIKE to do). You can contact Philippa through the Yahoo group if you'd like to volunteer to distribute flyers about the meetings too.
It sucks, but we have to remember - we're all helping to gentrify the neighbourhood, and that's lovely; but the users were here first. They won't ever really go away, and many of them are victims themselves. One of the nice things about the Leslieville group is that it's not about just pushing the crime away - it's also working with the TPA, 55 Division, and other community support centres to make it better for everyone who lives here. Patti makes sure that all sides are represented, and that everyone maintains a balanced view. I admire her work - she's done a lot of organizing, and she really cares.
Josie's wagon, and a neighbour's, were stolen out of our front yards three weeks ago - yes, people are low enough to steal broken-down kids wagons around here. But, I'd rather live here than anywhere, really. I love the community that's growing stronger.
And don't forget - when you see people using (or creating more graffitti), to call the non-emerge dispatch number for 55 Division, and they will send someone. It's important that it gets reported, so that it shows up in the records. We have 12 new officers in this division thanks in part to the Leslieville group and Fletcher's work with it.
Scary!!!! But we have this here in Vancouverwood too...
Yuck, hope that's the last one.
Ick. That's a bit frightening. Double up on those rubber gloves if you plan on being the one to pick it up.
Yikes! Just when I was getting all jealous of your neighbours with the martinis...
My dad dug one up in our backyard when he was gardening.
The previous owners (x3) rented the house to (apparently) drug users.
We live in the 'burbs, baby. WAY in the 'burbs.
The house we used to live in was just north of a wee parkette. we used to find condoms, needles, bottles, feces. Oh, and pee at the bottom of the slide (you could smell it).
We called the police station and finally got the officers on bikes patrolling our former hood. It cleaned up quite a bit.
Please be very very careful, and just do a patrol of the park or grassy area before Cakes gets down and plays.
yuck. poor you.
did that belong to the guy with the cane?
that sucks, but like maria said, the down n' outers were there first, and probably could give a rats ass about the starbucks.
i lived in a similar neighbourhood with a similar story before we bought our house, and it's a tricky one isn't it? 'not in my neighbourhood' might clean up a place well enough for a bourgie chain to move in (and makes it desirable for youngsters like us), but doesn't solve the actual problem.
I just hope for you that if this kind of thing happens again, it is not little cakes who finds the nastiness.
omg omg omg
but nice you had the presence of mind to photograph it for us too!
ooh, that's scary when you have a little one! I'm sure the park near the community centre is worth scanning before you play too, as are most school palygrounds anywhere. (We went to check out the playground up at Frankland and found bottles and condoms all over the place. Gross.)
Whoa. I am with Lisa ... you had the presence of mind to take a photo for us!?! Well done - I'd have been freaking out!
that is pretty nasty.
regardless of what park we are playing in
(even some of the uptown ones) I scan for stuff like this.
Those rich little shits love to smash beer bottles too.
bunch of dumb asses.
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