The City of Victoria is considering a wider ban on sheltering overnight in city parks as a result of a recent staff report and neighbour complaints.
Victoria councillors considering banning camping in four small city parks are already being pressured to add more to the list. Coun. Ben Isitt, who proposed banning overnight sheltering in Haegert, Cridge, Kings and Arbutus parks, said the four parks are too small and too close to residents. Particularly hard hit, Isitt said, is Haegert Park, where up to six or seven tents are pitched every night. “It’s a de facto tent city. I understand why. It’s because the people who live in those tents have no other shelter. Then every morning at 7 a.m., they are woken up by bylaw officers or the police. And it’s just not sustainable for anyone,” Isitt said.
Read the article: Widen ban on camping in Victoria’s parks, critics urge
Source: Times Colonist
