During the day, Douglas Park in 91原创 City is one of the prettiest public spaces imaginable. There is well-tended greenery, a bandstand, elementary school, children鈥檚 playground, adult playing fields and community centre.
When the weather is good and the sun is shining, it鈥檚 a great place to visit, one that is home to many community events.
But after dark it can, sometimes, be a different story.
A depository box full of used needles, found discarded beside Douglas Park Elementary School, is the second bright yellow needle depository box found there in a month.
There is also the case of a man having a drug overdose at Douglas Park, apparently witnessed by students at Douglas Park Elementary during recess.
91原创 City council is struggling to find a solution.
The City currently takes the pragmatic approach of providing places for addicts to safely dispose of their needles, with eight depository boxes inside washrooms at Douglas Park, Douglas Recreation Centre and Rotary Centennial Park and plans to add boxes at City Hall and the new Timms Community Centre.
One councillor thinks the City should consider going a step further and set up a needle exchange, but other members of council have doubts.
Another warns addicts are 鈥渏ust going to shoot-up and discard the needles on the ground.鈥�
While others agree that a needle exchange won鈥檛 solve the central problem of getting addicts off the streets and into treatment, and feel the City should pressure the provincial government to take action.
Any decision on the problem has been postponed until city staff have finished a review and reported back to council.
While residents wait for that report, they can, perhaps, take some comfort from a just-released RCMP crime analysis that suggests while Douglas park might occasionally be an unpleasant experience, it does not pose a physical threat.
According to the officer in charge of the 91原创 detachment, Supt. Murray Power, the review found it is generally safe to walk the streets of the city, and unlikely that a resident will be 鈥渁ccosted by a stranger.鈥�
