Thu, October 28, 2004
We can end the homeless mess
By SUE-ANN LEVY
For the Toronto Sun
Yesterday, after three months of foot-dragging, the city's
six-figure bureaucrats finally produced their "plan" to get the
homeless off Toronto's downtown streets this winter.
It was anything but a plan. What council got was a predictable
piece of pap that proposed more of the same stopgap measures -- more
outreach vans delivering warm soup, cigarettes and words of cheer,
extended hours at drop-in centres and more temporary shelter beds
similar to those offered at the Fort York Armoury last winter (which
cost $156 apiece, per night).
The city's shelter officials even had the chutzpah to suggest the
$190 million that will be spent on the homeless industry this year
wouldn't be enough to handle the few hundred people now parked in
spots like the financial district, under the Spadina Ave. bridge and
Nathan Phillips Square.
But this time several councillors weren't buying the same old
bleeding-heart, blind-eye party line. They'd clearly had enough.
Coun. David Shiner moved a motion asking that the police and the
city's bylaw officers "more strenuously" enforce bylaws against
people causing obstructions on public sidewalks and that these
people be asked to move.
He told his colleagues he was "embarassed" to see a young man
camped on a sidewalk that morning near City Hall, where people had
to walk out into traffic to avoid stepping over him. This happened,
he said, as a police officer ticketed a nearby car.
Shiner said he was also "really embarassed" that in the seven
years since amalgamation the problem has become so much worse --
even as the budget has increased. "I don't want to spend any more
money," he said, adding that is up to the mayor to "champion" this
cause.
(Mayor David Miller, who was nowhere to be seen during much of
the morning debate, turned up just before noon.)
Coun. Case Ootes had a similar motion. He proposed that the mayor
ask the Police Services Board to "demand" that the police, in a
humane and civil manner, do everything legally possible to
discourage people from panhandling, squeegeeing and sleeping on the
streets.
"All I hear is excuses (from staff)," Ootes said. "The mayor has
to take a leadership role and I haven't seen it."
Coun. Mike Del Grande suggested if safety is an issue in
shelters, that staff regularly conduct surprise inspections and
build enclosed cubicles in shelters to ensure a safer environment.
"There are so many (homeless) fighting for corners downtown that
they've set up great franchise locations where they park themselves
in Scarborough," he said.
Coun. Bill Saundercook held up his motion (passed at council in
April after hours of debate) which asked city staff to keep public
spaces clear for pedestrian traffic by removing homeless
paraphernalia from the square and downtown street corners. That
request has been ignored. "Where's the compassion in stepping over
these people on walkways?" he asked.
So it went -- interrupted only by some badgering from the usual
council handwringers like Olivia Chow -- until council broke for
lunch, leaving the debate to be finished today.
After countless columns suggesting it is inhumane to leave
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