‘People are fed up:’ Officials acknowledge plight of Kelowna businesses during tour of downtown area | 24CA News
Following a tour of the realm, officers are calling on the provincial authorities to supply extra funds to wash up downtown Kelowna and supply neighborhood security.
BC United Party Leader Kevin Falcon and Westside-Kelowna MLA Ben Stewart walked by means of downtown Kelowna on Friday to get a first-hand have a look at the plight of companies working there. This tour got here after a current survey launched by the Downtown Kelowna Association revealed that crime is up in that space and security is a significant concern amongst companies.
“This is something we didn’t see, even a decade ago and now we’re seeing it in every community and unfortunately we’re seeing a lot of social disorder, violent attacks, chaos, random attacks, assaults, thefts,” stated Falcon. “It seems to me at minimum the government should take some of the dollars available and help the small businesses to survive in a very challenging time.”
According to Falcon, the considerations surrounding security, primarily in municipalities’ downtown areas are province-wide points which can be solely getting worse.
The survey additionally revealed that Kelowna companies are feeling the brunt of those issues. Falcon urges the federal government to place funds towards cleansing up the downtown space to take the monetary burden off small companies that may in any other case be coping with the issue themselves.
“To be able to pay for the broken glass, to deal with the vandalism, the graffiti and a lot of the cleaning up of human waste, needles and all the other things they’re having to deal with that shouldn’t be part of a small business person’s everyday existence, but it is and these additional costs are layered on top of an already challenging business environment,” stated Falcon.
MLA Ben Stewart echoed these factors, including that this downside can not go on with no resolution.
“Frankly, Interior Health is not doing its job. The government needs to find better solutions to deal with mental health and addictions they need to make sure that we can really truly make some progress,” stated Stewart. “People are fed up, business people in the community are just tired.”
Earlier this week Interior Health instructed Global News that it’s working with the town, bylaw providers, and the RCMP, including that they’re listening to companies downtown relating to their considerations.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
