'Our town has turned into a hellhole': Emotions run high at Vernon town hall on downtown issues

Vernon residents and business owners yelled, cried and offered solutions as they took to the microphone at a town hall meeting Tuesday evening to address persistent issues plaguing the city's downtown core.

More than 40 people spoke at the two-and-a-half hour meeting held by the city to hear concerns relating to a range of issues confronting the downtown core and surrounding neighbourhoods, namely crime, vagrancy, overdose prevention sites and open drug use.

The meeting was emotional from the beginning as some of the first speakers were business owners who complained of worsening conditions downtown affecting their businesses. City councillors sat at a table at the front of the room listening to concerns.

'A hellhole'

"I came to work [today]. I had to pick up feces on the ground, I had Wes, a street person, screaming and yelling at my customers all day." yelled Diana Vona, a shop owner, as she took the mic.

"This is what we deal with every day. What is it going to take? All of us going out of business before you guys start realizing that this is a mess? Our town has turned into a hellhole."

Some speakers pleaded for the city to hire more bylaw officers and put more garbage cans on the streets.

Others suggested the city provide showers and washrooms downtown or adopt a homelessness strategy similar to other communities in B.C.

At the end of the meeting, Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming told the audience city council would work on the issues raised, and strive to make Vernon 'a high quality place to live and work.'

Many shop owners spoke out against the proposed overdose prevention site the Interior Health Authority is planning to open in Vernon.

"No overdose prevention site in our beautiful downtown! We don't want it." shouted Maureen Sydney, a hair salon owner.

'We are not throw-away people.'

City council also heard from people who asked for compassion and treatment options for the drug addicted.

Candice Vey introduced herself as a former drug addict and asked council to see the humanity in people living on the streets.

"We are not throw-away people," Vey said as others in the audience applauded.

"This is somebody's daughter, this is somebody's son, this is somebody's grandmother. These are human beings. We need these safe injection sites."

Vernon resident Dawn Tucker also spoke about the importance of harm reduction services when she shared a story about a friend who died last week taking a fatal dose of street drugs when she relapsed after a period of sobriety.

"We need to save people now so that they can be sober and have a productive life and be in our community," Tucker said.