GuelphToday received the following letter in response to a letter to the editor regarding possible encampments within Preservation Park.
In response to the previous letter about the possibility of encampments in Preservation Park, let me say this.
NIMBY
abbreviation; "not in my backyard": used to express opposition by local citizens to the locating in their neighborhood of a civic project, as a jail, garbage dump, or drug rehabilitation centre, that, though needed by the larger community, is considered unsightly, dangerous or likely to lead to decreased property values.
It's almost winter again. The homeless need somewhere to go. The larger community needs them to have somewhere to go. With all due respect, the writer acknowledged the need for an immediate solution while bemoaning the lack of public consultation. When has public consultation ever produced an immediate solution? In Guelph? The writer wants Hanlon Creek Residents to feel safe. Homeless people want to feel safe too. More importantly they want to be safe. Just go somewhere else, isn't a solution.
Can we just take it as written that for every proposed location there is a coalition of people who object to that location. Almost another year of inaction and opportunity for consultation and suggestions has gone by. The only way this will happen is for council to put on their big boy pants, pick a spot and ignore the latest batch of NIMBYs.
Don Rusk
Guelph
