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Letter: ‘Told you so’ for Coquitlam homeless shelter

The Editor, Re. “Community concerns re. needles lead to new hire at shelter” (The Tri-City News, April 4) and “77,000 needles are the symptom of a drug problem in Tri-Cities & PoCo wants it fixed” (April 20).
homeless
3030 Gordon Ave., Coquitlam

The Editor,

Re. “Community concerns re. needles lead to new hire at shelter” (The Tri-City News, April 4) and “77,000 needles are the symptom of a drug problem in Tri-Cities & PoCo wants it fixed” (April 20).

I’m disappointed, though not surprised, to learn of the ongoing problems associated with the homeless shelter located at 3030 Gordon Ave. in Coquitlam.

My son and I used to live about 200 metres from there, near Fox Park’s children’s playground.

At Easter when he was young, I used to hide treats inside colourful plastic eggs in Fox Park for my son. It was safe to do that, and there were never used needles there.

Is it safe to do that now?

When the shelter was proposed, hundreds of my neighbours and I signed a petition to Coquitlam council, urging it to locate what we knew would be a low-barrier magnet for those homeless people struggling with drug and alcohol addictions. We knew the damage to our community this facility would bring.

Our petition urged council to locate housing and treatment facilities on the Riverview Hospital grounds but council dismissed our petition. It’s distressing to realize many of our fears have been realized.

It’s not too late to do the right thing.

My son and I both left the Tri-Cities, in part due to proximity to 3030 Gordon Ave. It was a lovely community, but no longer.

Judy Donaghey, Enderby