Business in jeopardy due to drug users

‘I feel like the City has abandoned me, and all the businesses down in this area’

Alocal business owner says he may be out of business in a year if issues involving loitering and public drug use aren’t addressed in the area around the supervised consumption site.

“I have to voice my opinion,” said Doug Hamilton, owner of Hamilton’s Carpet One, on Monday. “If this lasts for a year, and I don’t move, I’ll be out of business.”

Hamilton said his walk-in traffic is down by 50 per cent and vehicle traffic is being chased out of the area. There have also been added costs for security and concerns for the safety of customers, his staff and the store’s management.

When Hamilton’s new building was constructed 10 years ago, he said the company was encouraged to add grass and trees to beautify the area. Those landscape improvements will have to be removed to deal with drug use, and he has spent thousands on security.

Last week, Hamilton sent a letter to city council regarding his issues with loitering and public drug use around the supervised consumption site. The letter was also shared with local media and shared widely after it was posted on social media.

“Every morning I walk my property, clean up discarded clothes, condoms, food, drugs and drug paraphernalia,” he wrote.

Mayor Chris Spearman responded to the letter personally.

“I walked around the facility with him, looked at the issues he was facing, and yes, those are difficult issues,” Spearman said.

He noted many using the facility have nowhere to go, and as a result may be loitering or seeking out basic needs such as water on a hot day.

“Sometimes, it‘s easier to access drugs and alcohol than it is to access food and water,” he said.

“So you find these people meandering in groups, and other citizens find that threatening.

“It’s not easy to look at poverty. It’s not easy to look at drug addiction. We understand that has a negative impact on businesses.”

Hamilton said the biggest issue is the City is not able to move fast enough on the issue to help small businesses suffering now.

Instead, he believes the City is focusing on longer-term initiatives that are two or three years down the road.

These initiatives are simply taking too long to be of use to small business, according to Hamilton.

“I understand (Lethbridge) has a really bad problem and he’s tackling it, but you have to be able to change quickly to the environment that is going on. In a small business, you’re sunk. You can’t just wait for two years to build housing and rehabilitation for these people.”

“The mayor doesn’t seem willing to talk about impact now,” he added. “He keeps saying down the road something will come along that will make it better.”

Spearman said care needs to be taken to avoid “easy outs” to the issue.

“We need to make sure we don’t take the easy way out, and make sure we support those who are having collateral negative effects from the consumption site and the users,” he said.

Spearman said there were 13,000 uses at the SCS in June. The number of needles dispensed (By ARCHES) has dropped by 20,000 per month over last year.

He also said there may be other options in dealing with the issues being faced by businesses in the area.

“Can you imagine if (people who shared the letter on social media) went down to Mr. Hamilton’s business, and were customers?” Spearman asked. “That would solve his problem.”

There are also options for those afraid to shop in the area alone, according to Spearman.

“Maybe they can go in groups, if that’s an issue,” he said. “Let’s figure out a way.”

Hamilton said he is supportive of the work being done, but the area has been overwhelmed. Wait times at the SCS are causing much of the public drug use around it.

“They’re not like kindergartners, sitting there holding hands and waiting for rooms to open,” he said. “They are drug users. They are using now. They can’t wait for a room to the open.

“We invited them to the area and they have no place to safely inject — so they inject everywhere.”

“I feel like the City has abandoned me, and all the businesses down in this area.”

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