A Prince George business owner is the latest to be speaking out against the location of the downtown needle exchange.
Chris Blackier owns the Black Donkey Cafe on the corner of 3rd and George – the same corner police were called to more than 1,700 times last year. The needle exchange is situated kitty corner from his business.
“You can ask anybody in any city anywhere, obviously we need these kinds of facilities to help control whatever, but putting it beside the courthouse, putting it in an already struggling downtown environment is not benefiting anybody.”
Blackier has been hosting a series of unique and outdoor events all summer, including a night market planned for Saturday night. But he says the cluster of social services is making things more difficult than they need to be, “everyone is talking about a downtown degeneration and it’s 90% due to City Council deciding to put these well needed facilities in the most inappropriate place.”
“There’s ambulances flying around every hour… I’m there every night, I’m at the cafe 20 hours a day and all I see is needle wrappers and these people out roaming the streets lost, it’s sad.” Blackier added saying he has relied his feelings to City Hall.
In the past other business owners have publicly called for changes to the zoning of the area. Current zoning allows just about anything to open up next door to retail and restaurants on 3rd and 4th Ave.
Councillor Murry Krause, also the Executive Director of the Central Interior Native Health, says it’s about finding a balance between providing social services to the people who need them, and the neighbourhood as a whole.
“It’s always interesting where people would like to see it moved elsewhere and the question would be where?”
“We’ve certainly learned over the years of social service delivery that just because you think it should be located someplace else doesn’t mean the people who it would be located to next think it’s a good idea.”
Although this has become a bit of a perennial issue in Prince George, Krause says City Hall hasn’t forgotten about it. He says conversations are ongoing with stakeholders and Northern Health on the topic and they are looking at solutions, adding that the location of the needle exchange isn’t up to solely the City of Prince George.
“I know there’s been conversations about moving social service agencies off of a retail strip, I don’t think that’s a bad idea, but again we would have to figure out where that would be.”