The mayor of Kingston, Ont., says efforts are underway to address issues raised by neighbours of the Integrated Care Hub on Montreal Street.
There is a sign in front of Blake McGinness’s house that reads “Please stop dealing drugs on my front porch.”
The sign has been up since Tuesday following an incident on Monday, according to McGinness.
“There were three strange men sitting on our porch dealing and doing drugs,” he said.
Tuesday night wasn’t any better for McGinness either, he said. Kingston Police and Kingston Fire & Rescue responded to multiple incidents all within a one-block radius of the outreach facility.
“There were fires across the street, all night the sirens, the lights, nobody in my house — nobody around here — got any sleep because the firefighters were desperately battling four different fires. They couldn’t even find some of them,” said McGinness.
“I think it’s clear the status quo is just not acceptable,” said Mayor Bryan Paterson in an interview with Global Kingston.
Patterson said after discussions with municipal and Integrated Care Hub (ICH) staff several steps are being taken to curb the issues residents have been raising.
Integrated Care Hub clients will be engaged in garbage clean-up and an outdoor curfew will be implemented on ICH property, according to Paterson.
“They have hired a team of safety engagement workers. They’re going to be very involved with security around the ICH working directly with the neighbours trying to address and prevent some of behaviours and incidents that we’ve seen.”
McGinness says he would also like to see an increased police presence and greater bylaw enforcement in the neighbourhood.