Let's get on with Newcastle Town Square cleanup
It’s no secret that the Miramichi area has a problem with drugs.
“I say that it’s everywhere. I say that every community is challenged with these problems,” Const. Todd Chadwick of the Miramichi police told me in an interview recently about the Newcastle town square when we discussed how the square has become a haven for drug users and criminals in recent years.
Chadwick also said it would be relatively easy to begin fixing the problem with the park and offered some examples.
As an example, he cited how in the fall, the area behind the Northumberland Square mall – a maze of trails littered with dirty needles and broken liquor bottles – was cleaned up. A dark, secluded spot for drug users to party disappeared in the blink of an eye. And so did a lot of the crime in that area.
It worked so well, Chadwick looked for other areas of the city to clean up. One of the most obvious is the old Newcastle town square, which has become a haven for drug users and dealers. A lot of people don’t feel safe in the square in the daytime – let alone at night – because of the obvious criminal element. And unless the police catch these criminals in the act, there’s almost nothing they can do.
Chadwick recommended that the trees in the park be trimmed to make the area more visible, which would reduce the drug use and drug dealing. He also recommended the park benches be turned around so that they face into the park instead of facing out, so drug dealers can’t use them to watch out for police.
Though these recommendations wouldn’t totally rid the park of the drugs or the criminal element, it would make the place less attractive to them.
My take on the whole thing is that it is a beautiful park and shouldn’t have to be avoided by the decent people in the community because it’s being overrun by drug users. I say it’s time to take it back.
The recommendations are there, the cost is next to nothing and the whole thing could be done in a matter of hours.
“There’s a saying that the youth are our future,” Chadwick said. “The future is now. We need to act now.”
Are the people who make these decisions going to help make this city safe for decent folk again?
It’s springtime now. The park is once again beginning to fill up as the days get warmer and longer. And the sort of work suggested to fix up the park could start soon. The work would be minimal, the cost, once again, next to nothing.
Do you went to see this city continue to become the kind of place where it’s not even safe to walk the streets because of the growing criminal element? It’s definitely past time to nip this problem in the bud.
Come on folks. Call your city councillors and call your mayor. Are you trying to tell me out of a dozen city councillors not one of them is going to raise this issue? Lets get this thing moving before it’s too late.
“I say that it’s everywhere. I say that every community is challenged with these problems,” Const. Todd Chadwick of the Miramichi police told me in an interview recently about the Newcastle town square when we discussed how the square has become a haven for drug users and criminals in recent years.
Chadwick also said it would be relatively easy to begin fixing the problem with the park and offered some examples.
As an example, he cited how in the fall, the area behind the Northumberland Square mall – a maze of trails littered with dirty needles and broken liquor bottles – was cleaned up. A dark, secluded spot for drug users to party disappeared in the blink of an eye. And so did a lot of the crime in that area.
It worked so well, Chadwick looked for other areas of the city to clean up. One of the most obvious is the old Newcastle town square, which has become a haven for drug users and dealers. A lot of people don’t feel safe in the square in the daytime – let alone at night – because of the obvious criminal element. And unless the police catch these criminals in the act, there’s almost nothing they can do.
Chadwick recommended that the trees in the park be trimmed to make the area more visible, which would reduce the drug use and drug dealing. He also recommended the park benches be turned around so that they face into the park instead of facing out, so drug dealers can’t use them to watch out for police.
Though these recommendations wouldn’t totally rid the park of the drugs or the criminal element, it would make the place less attractive to them.
My take on the whole thing is that it is a beautiful park and shouldn’t have to be avoided by the decent people in the community because it’s being overrun by drug users. I say it’s time to take it back.
The recommendations are there, the cost is next to nothing and the whole thing could be done in a matter of hours.
“There’s a saying that the youth are our future,” Chadwick said. “The future is now. We need to act now.”
Are the people who make these decisions going to help make this city safe for decent folk again?
It’s springtime now. The park is once again beginning to fill up as the days get warmer and longer. And the sort of work suggested to fix up the park could start soon. The work would be minimal, the cost, once again, next to nothing.
Do you went to see this city continue to become the kind of place where it’s not even safe to walk the streets because of the growing criminal element? It’s definitely past time to nip this problem in the bud.
Come on folks. Call your city councillors and call your mayor. Are you trying to tell me out of a dozen city councillors not one of them is going to raise this issue? Lets get this thing moving before it’s too late.
posted by Street Wise Guy | 2:52 PM
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