Encampment community members react to new sheltering in park rules

After a massive cleanup effort, some tents still remain at Vancouver’s Crown Park. Now a newly passed Park Board bylaw sets tougher restrictions to sheltering in parks, and the homeless aren’t happy about it. That they can ask our advice and have us fill out things and suggestions that they would like to make us be more accommodating to their needs as well. And then they don’t. They disregard all of them. It’s diminishing your bike to be a living young. That’s just happened to me out there. This is my neighbor. Who said he’s going to stand with me? No, let’s push this out. Bans include no tenting under trees near bodies of water or cliffs and no plywood, drywall, insulation or other semi permanent structures. Park Rangers would also have more power when it comes to the removal and inspection of tents. And there is no camping permitted at Queen Elizabeth Park and Van Dusen Botanical Garden. You know, there’s nothing civil about this situation. That was there, there were rats, there were needles, there were feces, I mean trenches with feces open. And there came a point, you know, we are very sensitive to the community. There at the, you know, our encampments. Are aware that they’re extremely vulnerable and that they need a great deal of support. Commissioners have also asked staff to reach out to the province to create a working group focused on park encampments. We need to approve locations and that’s always a challenge. Communities know we need to get people indoors, but nobody wants this housing near them. That’s the biggest challenge we face now with the City of Vancouver. We do have sites identified 90 tons of debris have been cleared at Crab Park. The ground also needed work with a toxic topsoil a few yards away in a designated area. Some of the newly set up tents still sit empty. I didn’t like that they’re they’re so close together. They’re like, you get 10 by 10, and I understand that, but it’s it’s a glorified Harry Potter closet. In the coming days, work will continue to allow community daytime use of the park. Grace Key global news.