Mount Edwards Court Neighbourhood Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 3, 2016 The Chapter Room Christ Church Cathedral Don McTavish, Cool Aid introduced himself as chair. There were no formal introductions. Organizational representatives present were: Chris Coleman, City Councilor Heidi Hartman, BC Housing Dan O Connor, VicPD Wayne Hollohan, Fairfield Gonzales Community Association, Land Use Committee Kathy Stinson, Cool Aid agreed to take Notes: to capture general themes and any action or follow-up items. A sign-up sheet was circulated minutes will be emailed and posted on the Cool Aid website: www.coolaid.org/mtedwards An agenda was circulated and accepted with a couple of additions: Information sharing An alternate agreement It was noted that the April 19 th meeting minutes were waiting for some clarification from VicPD. A neighbour noted that the Minutes from the March 8 th, 15 th and 22nd, though discussed at the April 5th meeting were not formally accepted at that time. Now they are. Action Items from the previous meeting: 3.1 Update from the working group drafting a Neighbour Relations Framework A neighbour from the working group advised that the Framework document circulated included the changes requested. A neighbour advised that there was still anger over the process of Mount Edwards becoming operational; that it was up to Mount Edwards to proactively engage by going door to door The group was advised that working group members would be sharing the Framework with businesses It was asked if feedback from businesses would be shared with the larger group yes Reference was made to an alternative agreement that is being drafted by members of SpeakUp Fairfield Action item: Share feedback from businesses Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 1
Updates and Concerns: Mount Edwards Court Cool Aid: Decision was made to replace the Community Liaison with outsourced security personnel from Source Security; neighbourhood feedback indicated that this would be a preferred solution; timing was right as Cool Aid had to repost our staffing positions for Mount Edwards. In the last 2 weeks Police attended once as did Fire. The Police incident was in respect to a resident whom staff had concerns about possible selfharm; he was in his room and had a knife; Police did have to taser him; he was taken away to the hospital without further incident. Fire alarm was set off by a resident doing some soldering in his room; there will be an in service for residents on fire safety. There was concern raised by neighbours regarding the tasering incident; they would like to be better informed when incidents happen. Cool Aid noted that an enquiry had been received regarding an overdose on the lawn and drinking on the school steps; to date there have been no OD s at Mount Edwards; the drinking incident was unrelated to Mount Edwards. Question was raised again about the number of residents who came from the camp 28 of the 38 directly; some of the remaining 10 had spent some time at the camp; all were previously homeless. A neighbour raised a concern of too much concentration of issues in one area; suggested taking the year to find another location. A neighbour asked about the plan for after the transitional housing; have steps been taken towards the rezoning no. Cathedral School (last 4 weeks): Four incidents of aggression not Mount Edwards residents Two pieces of drug paraphernalia found Four instances of open booze and drugs around the school grounds none related to Mount Edwards residents Witnessed one instance of emergency response One instance of the school being tagged with a satanic symbol Tent City appears to be attracting people to the area; one person on a bike was rattling the playground cage he then rode off to Tent City Question: do ME residents go to Tent City sometimes Question: was the spray painting captured on camera no Question: how is enrollment there is some loss; working hard to bring it back; will you quantify no A neighbour suggested that there should be some limitations on where services can be located likened to rules around pot stores, requiring so much distance away from schools Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 2
VicPD: There has been an increase in calls in the area in the last two weeks A quantitative analysis with some historical comparisons will be released within a week The on-line crime mapping software should be up and running again within 30 days Dan provided detail of service calls for all of the ATOMs surrounding Mount Edwards; the following was provided by VicPD for the minutes: Police provided and discussed calls for service in the area around Mt Edwards and Tent City for the 2 week period of April 20 th to May 3 rd, 2016. Police explained the different call types which occurred in the surrounding area and calls of concern were discussed. There were 7 calls for service within the block of Mt. Edwards in this 2 week period. Statistics in relation to tent city and the neighbouring areas will be released on a 28 day cycle by the VicPD media department. A neighbour noted that he called police about a person camping in Pioneer square and was referred instead to by-law rudely; group was advised by Dan to let him know of these types of incidents and he will follow-up. A neighbour sought clarification on what an unwanted person is - i.e., if a business calls in a shoplifter but can t hold what is that classified as? That would be theft. A neighbour noted that it takes up a lot of time to share the statistics could these be included or reported separately? Also, can more serious incidents be reflected in any press releases? A neighbour asked if the map Dan was using could be made available; a template could be provided A neighbour asked for clarification on an April 28th baseball bat incident (at the camp); the victim did not want to cooperate with Police A neighbour asked if Police knew why violence has increased at/around Tent City; leadership has changed; more street entrenched individuals are staying there versus supporters / protesters; Portland Hotel Society is now involved; Dan participates in a weekly health and safety committee meeting on-site which PHS is helping with There was a question regarding the size of the population on-site: the guess is more than February, less than December; it is hoped that PHS can do some site analysis. There was a question about the role of PHS are they there to manage? Things seem to be getting worse, not better: PHS is not there 24/7 but are actively engaging with campers Observation from a neighbour across the street from Tent City as soon as people moved out, others moved in Action item: Police to clarify on whether / how statistics might be reported on differently; and on whether a map template can be provided. City of Victoria: Lighting has been installed 4 different types Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 3
With respect to Tent City the City is working on getting the Province to host a meeting; the City is committed to assisting Continuing to work on a process for aggregating narratives from adjacent neighbours; the city may seek Intervenor status in order to protect those who want to give statements anonymously A neighbour suggests that the City itself could seek an injunction asks the city to please check with your lawyers Parents of the school are concerned; school will be participating A neighbour asked if the City had a framework yet The City would take statements and aggregate them; would act as a buffer A neighbour asked what happens if people from Tent City are turned down for housing options Heidi mentioned the Coalition task force that is looking into what is needed for individuals who have experienced the most challenge with staying housed Neighbourhood Association: Wayne advised that not official rezoning had ben requested yet; the FGCA is open to suggestions on how they can help A neighbour advised that they had talked with FGCA who did not realize that Tent City was part of their catchment area; suggested a point person is needed given that there are 3 co-executive directors sharing a position A neighbour reflected that the community association does not take a positon on rezoning what is their role? Wayne will bring information to the next meeting. A neighbour advised that he had written to FGCA requesting that they split planning and zoning from the rest of the association no response received; Wayne noted that the letter had been received and will be responded to. There was a question asking if FGCA is responsible for managing the rezoning; will they take a position? Wayne will bring information on the process to the next meeting. Acton item: FGCA to bring information outlining the rezoning process to the next meeting Neighbours / Information Sharing: The question of the long term process was raised; what will the process be; how will neighbours be engaged Some people are of the opinion that the process will be quite lengthy Cool Aid advised that before we can start the rezoning process we need to have a plan: how many units; what variances are required; what will the use be; we have to work with the Province / BC Housing on what the long term plan will be; at present they are immersed in dealing with Tent City; Cool Aid is very aware of what many of the neighbours don t want and that information will factor into decision making; a vision will be shared with the community and input sought before a formal rezoning is requested. Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 4
A neighbour asked that the contract for Mount Edwards be shared; BC Housing will take that request forward. A neighbour reiterated that it is important that information regarding incidents within Mount Edwards be shared in a timely / transparent manner; they want to hear about incidents that involve Police and Fire (like the tasering incident) from Cool Aid directly. A neighbour spoke again about the alternative framework document it is an interactive process Action item: Cool Aid and BC Housing will work on a timeline for rezoning Acton item: BC Housing to take forward the request that the operational contract for Mount Edwards be shared Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 7:00 pm, Chapter Room An amendment document was supplied by Christopher Schmidt to append to these minutes. It was circulated to the mailing list and has been included except for one change relating to the framework document. A neighbour raised the concern that Cool Aid had presumed acceptance of three meetings minutes documents since there was no vote and no statement of acceptance; rather, after Cool Aid requested acceptance of the minutes, the conversation moved to a VicPD topic. Cool Aid responded that it thought that the majority of the people of the meeting felt that the minutes had been accepted and that it asked for changes and no one raised any. A working group member stated that she thought that these meetings were not going to have voting. The neighbour asked how can minutes be accepted without a vote? The neighbour stated that Cool Aid cannot presume majority acceptance of its minutes documents by attendees and that he would like to see proper process. A neighbour asked Cool Aid to identify where within the Neighbourhood Transition Framework Cool Aid be required to report serious things at Mount Edwards to the neighbourhood; Cool Aid responded that the document says to have neighbourhood meetings. The neighbour stated that the document contains nothing about sharing proactive information and about his coming to a meeting that infringes on his time to support Cool Aid s facility. The neighbour stated that Mount Edwards staff has not talked to him despite his being directly adjacent to the facility and he demonstrated that key individuals do not know his name. Also, he wants thorough explanations of things that affect him as an adjacent neighbour. A neighbour stated that the format of the Neighbourhood Relations Framework document implies that those listed within its vision statement be interested parties despite a majority fraction being against any document that suggests cooperation or agreement or acceptance of the Mount Edwards facility by the neighbourhood. He stated that the use of the future tense within the document is odd since the facility is already in operation. Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 5
The Neighbour Relations Framework document s working group acknowledged that businesses are not represented within the working group. The working group intends to show the document to business but not ask them to sign it. Cool Aid reported that things have been quiet. After Cool Aid s report, a neighbour asked a recent incident in which a man with a knife had been tazered at Mount Edwards. Cool Aid acknowledged the incident. The neighbour stated that such an incident is significant and he observed that, if he hadn t asked the specific question, he would not have heard about it from Cool Aid. Cool Aid excused their omission stating that people need privacy; however, another neighbour pointed out that Cool Aid could have reported the incident without infringing on privacy since the name was not needed. VicPD reported the tazering incident at Mount Edwards as a check well-being. VicPD reported that it could also probably be marked as an assist, a suicidal person, or an emotional assist. It is marked as a check well-being since it probably came in as a check well-being first. Two neighbours reported that, even though VicPD s link to their crime stats page is down, they found a service to which VicPD sends its crime report data. For that reason, they know about three assaults that happened at Tent City over the last three weeks that never made it into the media and that were not reported by the police. The assault on the man walking with his wife was not reported as an assault in the atom south-east of Mount Edwards, where the man was assaulted on the north-east corner of Burdett and Vancouver; rather, mischief and assist other agency were reported in this atom. A neighbour raised the concern that if a report is directed to bylaw, it will not be marked as a call within the police stats; VicPD confirmed that it will not be marked as a call to police within the crime statistics. A neighbour asked VicPD whether their press release will contain the detail of the assault with the bat at Tent City. VicPD reported that an assault with a weapon will be grouped within the category of assault. Neighbours requested that the more serious assaults be acknowledged within VicPD s press release. VicPD agreed to ask the person in charge to do it. VicPD reported that the population of Tent City has grown since February and that the residents and the management of the camp has changed from outside groups to a more street population. VicPD promised to provide an atom map to Chris of Speak Up Fairfield by email. The City stated that, though its name has been changed, this process is called Good Neighbour Agreement stuff. That is how we got this process, which has been used in other areas, and that is why we have these meetings. The City stated that it is trying to get the Province to host a meeting for the Tent City neighbourhood residents. It would be unusual for the Province to do it, so the City is working to find a way to assist Tent City to do it since it has to be their meeting since if the City that runs the meeting then the City assumes the Tent City issue. The City stated that it is working on a way to aggregate all the narratives of adjacent neighbours since a more permanent injunction might be sought in September. The City Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 6
might have to facilitate this process for the protection of people who want to give statements; particularly, for parents of the cathedral school who are worried about swearing an affidavit publicly and then there being retribution on their kids. To facilitate the process, the city might start to seek intervener status but there might be another way of dealing with that. The City reported that it is unlikely that Minister Coleman will go back for an interim injunction. End of Amendments Mount Edwards Neighbour Meeting minutes, May 3/16 Page 7