WATCH: Victoria’s mayor is apologizing tonight after the city’s plan to create a homeless camp in a popular city park backfired. The proposal to allow a tent city in Topaz Park was met with fierce opposition from the community – so for now, the city is shelving the idea. Jeremy Hunka reports.
The mayor of Victoria is backtracking on the city’s plan to create a homeless camp in a popular park and apologizing for how the process was handled.
The city is shelving the idea to allow a tent city in Topaz Park following fierce opposition from the community.
The idea was to give homeless people a temporary place to stay and keep them off the street.
But dozens of neighbours rallied against the idea on Saturday, saying they were concerned about crime and drugs.
They claim the community wasn’t properly consulted.
Mayor Lisa Helps says she can’t kill the proposal on her own.
“This is the challenge of being mayor,” says Helps. “I can’t take anything off the table. It is a council decision.”
With files from Jeremy Hunka
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