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I am a concerned resident in the Calgary Buffalo riding and a member of Ward 8. After reading an article about a Toronto mother recently killed by a stray bullet near a supervised injection site, I feel compelled to voice my worries about Calgary.
Lately, our neighbourhood has witnessed an extreme rise in unlawful activities, making us feel unsafe. Almost daily, we encounter overdosed individuals being tended to by EMS outside of local daycares. People openly inject and use drugs in parks and on sidewalks. We are often unable to access our home and parking due to individuals unwilling, or unable, to move from the road to allow vehicles to pass. The security guard in my building was stabbed with a used needle by a drug user causing her great grief before her blood tests came back negative.
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Often, we have been verbally assaulted or have been forced to walk into the street to avoid aggressive situations. There are clear and open exchanges of buying, selling and sharing drugs. It seems that a small percentage are actually using the supervised injection site.
In my perspective, the main cause for this sharp deterioration of the neighbourhood is the presence of the Sheldon Chumir Supervised Injection Site. As a doctor, I truly understand the need and benefit of such facilities for those with severe addiction. However, the site’s high-risk proximity to schools, daycares and family parks, along with the disruptions to inner-city business and residential life, is perilous. The area’s safety is compromised.
I urge local authorities to act to protect our families. I ask that they strongly consider alternate and/or additional locations for the supervised injection site so that it would lessen the concentrated and unsafe impact on our city’s youth and our residents.
Dr. Roxanne Goldade, Calgary
Not seeing the forest for the trees
I read with interest the opinion about the Real Estate Council of Alberta needing to step up its enforcement of real estate fraudsters because I am a broker responsible for bringing on new members and managing existing realtors.
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My recent dealings with RECA have suggested that it seems to be focused on trivial matters. For example, I know of numerous attempts by a potential realtor to get approved to write the licensing exams, all because their birth certificate has a first and middle name, while other government-issued ID, federal and provincial, has their middle name. This person was told that they would need to make a legal name change to be approved.
In this person’s career path, they have maintained top-level clearance from a federal agency and have worked in several regulated industries, all under their middle name. It has never been an issue before.
RECA was very difficult and unreasonable over this. Perhaps it needs to focus its attention on protecting consumers from fraudsters rather than on whether this person uses their first or middle name.
Shirley Williams, Calgary