Juno News - Toronto is DETERIORATING under Chow

00:00:00.000 Well, welcome folks to Osma Malik's Mess, Councillor Osma Malik I'm talking about.

00:00:05.840 This is Clarence Square Park where an encampment full of violent people, drug addicts and assorted squatters

00:00:13.960 have taken over the park for the last two years. I'm talking two years.

00:00:21.240 This park is near the Soho Hotel and a number of other boutique hotels that of course house tourists

00:00:29.100 and tourists have noticed what's going on here. Not to mention the people who have to live right

00:00:34.820 across the street and around the park. They spoke today about the violence, about being assaulted,

00:00:43.500 about the feces, about the fact that the park you can see has absolutely no grass. The garbage

00:00:50.340 apparently was just picked up before we came down here to do some filming and people are afraid.

00:00:58.680 They're not only afraid, they're fed up.

00:01:01.400 I've been assaulted two times where a woman that was on drugs and she was actually going 1.00

00:01:06.440 after many people but managed to put her arms onto me. And then I phoned the police. They

00:01:12.400 came and when they came they told me she's already assaulted over a hundred people. I actually feel

00:01:19.520 sorry for the police. And we're trying to get rid of the people and that's why they're standing

00:01:24.400 there because what can they do? Really there is a system problem that they can't even move them.

00:01:29.680 They will rebuttal no problem because they're like nothing's going to happen to us. So they have

00:01:35.040 so much confidence to hurt you because there is no law in place to do something about it.

00:01:41.120 Are the criminals running the city you think?

00:01:43.120 Yes, absolutely.

00:01:44.400 We have to take back these parks. You've got tens of thousands of people who would like

00:01:49.440 to enjoy them. And I ask everybody seriously to consider this. I do have some compassion.

00:01:54.640 Things have to be done. But you know, would you allow your kids and elderly parents to walk in 1.00

00:02:00.560 this park and spend the nice Saturday afternoon? I think not.

00:02:03.520 So I've been personally impacted by this as a resident who lives right across the street.

00:02:09.440 Our building has been charted many, many times.

00:02:13.440 Great violence vendors who we have found roam in our hallways.

00:02:17.440 And I personally have had an incident where I had a woman here who was extremely angry

00:02:25.520 who came out of the camp and lunged at me and tried to steal my dog.

00:02:31.680 Women in particular are terrified to walk in this area in the afternoon. 1.00

00:02:38.960 People would go out to enjoy a night out on a patio or a restaurant. That's all

00:02:46.560 changed in our community here. It's not safe. It's just not safe.

00:02:52.880 If you look at the fountain over here, this fountain is all boarded up. That was because they were using

00:02:57.440 it as a public bathroom and for other weird shenanigans that have went on there.

00:03:04.480 All of it chronicled many residents who were living these condos nearby.

00:03:08.960 Parks are supposed to be for everyone. And park bylaws, the city's own bylaws are being broken.

00:03:15.440 So if Mayor Olivia Chow, if Deputy Mayor and City Councillor Oswald Malik wants to make squatting

00:03:24.000 and illegally occupying a park legal, change the bylaws. Make that your city policy.

00:03:31.840 But in the absence of you doing that, you have a responsibility and a duty to act.

00:03:38.160 You have a responsibility to ensure that all the people that call this neighbourhood home are safe.

00:03:44.560 The homeless encampment strategy that was passed in May, has that made things worse?

00:03:49.360 So I think it's important to point out that the absence of action as we've seen here up and until,

00:03:56.320 you know, surprise, surprise, the morning before a photo op is a choice, right? To choose to do nothing

00:04:04.080 and allow this to continue is an active choice that has been made by Oswald Malik. That's why

00:04:11.360 this sign, I think, is so apt and why so many constituents, people who call this neighbourhood home,

00:04:19.920 find her to be missing in action. This place is a fire hazard. There have been fires, explosions. I mean,

00:04:26.800 what more does one have to do to convince her to clean up this encampment? But under Mayor Olivia Chow's 1.00

00:04:34.720 homeless encampment strategy, which was passed six months ago, she has told them that the squatters,

00:04:42.080 the drug addicts, have every right to be here. And they send down a bunch of homeless workers to hug 0.95

00:04:47.920 and stroke them and security people to sort of hang around in a nice shed that has been built for them,

00:04:54.080 which the residents say is costing a million dollars a year, a hundred thousand dollars a month. Is that

00:05:01.600 not insane? I mean, get rid of these people, put them in shelter, find them appropriate drug rehabilitation

00:05:09.280 services. This city is just gone into a cycle that is not pretty. And I feel sorry for the residents,

00:05:18.480 I feel sorry for tourists who come here. And let's hope this time Olivia Chow and Osma Malik hear the

00:05:25.760 pleas of these people. Maybe some pressure in the media will do it. For True North, I'm Sue Ann Levy.

Juno News - October 23, 2024

Toronto is DETERIORATING under Chow

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript