Kelowna , B.C., business owners say they are fed up with what they say is the daily reality of crime, fires and vandalism happening right outside their storefronts, problems they say are becoming impossible to ignore.
“We’re fed up, all of us are fed up,” said Kim Williams, owner of Wild Kingdom.
Several say they are now spending thousands of dollars on private security measures just to protect their livelihoods.
At Kelowna Hair Design, owner Colleen Woelden says thieves have smashed her front windows more than once.
“Thieves broke both of my front windows, which were extremely expensive to replace,” Woelden said. “There’s always a lot of times fires along the back here.”
Just days before Christmas, Lisa Burke, owner of Burke Hair Lounge, woke up to news no business owner wants to hear — a fire right outside her salon.
“It was actually a video and a picture of a neighbour who had called in a fire, and I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s my building,’” Burke said.
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She says the fire started shortly after bylaw officers asked an individual who had been sleeping outside her salon to leave.
“Upon them leaving, instead of taking their stuff, they set it on fire,” Burke said. “There was no bylaw or any support for my business.”
Following multiple fires inside the patio area, Burke says the salon was forced to install security gates at a cost of $18,000, an expense many other local businesses are also taking on.
“This is all at the expense of me to protect myself, my business, my staff,” said Williams, at Wild Kingdom.
Williams points to recent rule changes at the Rail Trail encampment, which require residents to leave the area by 9 a.m. They believe the changes are pushing people into nearby commercial areas.
“So many break-ins, so many windows being broken,” Williams said. “They are literally using the front of our business as a bathroom.”
Kristina Loewen, BC Conservative MLA for Kelowna Centre, says she plans to consult directly with business owners and is calling on both provincial and federal governments to act.
“I saw the B.C. Minister of Public Safety is starting a pilot project in Kelowna, but she’s only identified five of the 15 prolific offenders that Kelowna has identified, so again, too little,” Loewen said.
Business owners say whether the solution comes through increased patrols, stronger support for businesses, or tougher consequences for repeat offenders, change is urgently needed, and they say it can’t come soon enough.
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