Nanaimo community groups say they’re worried about the placement of a new downtown transit exchange after a decision was made to close two bus shelters in Duncan.
A vote to close two shelters in the Cowichan Valley was made last week, and Victoria Crescent Association founder Kevan Shaw says the decision to build a new transit centre in downtown Nanaimo could make the social disorder worse.
“Duncan is seeing the mess created at its main transit hub and soon the nightmare will be happening smack-dab in the very centre of our downtown,” Shaw says. “The new Nanaimo exchange is about to be built in the most hard-hit area in our city for open drug use, shoplifting, fires and overdoses.”
The new exchange is expected to be built in the 500-block of Terminal Avenue, and cost over $15 million and Shaw says closures of shelters in other cities are just going to escalate the problem in Nanaimo.
“The public washrooms and shelters will be taken over making them unsafe for bus riders and the general public,” Shaw adds. “As well as drawing even more social disorder to the area.”
President of the Nanaimo Area Public Safety Association Collen Middleton says making these types of decisions about transit will cost more, driving taxes up for residents in both Duncan and Nanaimo.
“We can’t be naive about this,” he says. “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles (CPTED) are clearly insufficient to mitigate street disorder that is running rampant in our downtowns.
“Security would have to be stationed at the new exchange, 24 hours a day and I don’t think officials are going to do that.”
In an earlier interview, city manager of engineering and public works Bill Simms said he knows there is some pushback on the exchange and what residents think it means, but putting the transit station on hold or relocating it is not in the cards.
“I’m not saying the social disorder isn’t a problem, and I know they have been hit hard,” Sims said. “To imply we have to not do any work, and stop investments, until we fix the problem doesn’t jive with what the community wants.”
According to the Victoria Crescent Association, Nanaimo Fire has responded to 65 fires set beside buildings, in business alcoves and on sidewalks.
