The Homeless Are Not The Problem… It’s The Politicians

The Homeless Are Not The Problem... It’s The Politicians B.A. Psychology Editor/Publisher Central Newspapers ACCOMPLISHED WRITER/AUTHOR OF OVER 800,000 Published Columns in Canada and The United States I do not know about you, but it sickens me to drive downtown Oshawa and see so many people shooting up drugs right in the public’s view. People walking around like zombies while the drug dealers shake down the poor beggars soliciting passing cars for dollars to feed their habit. They blame it on the homeless. They blame it on mental health. What ‘They’, the politicians fail to acknowledge is the real problem. The lack of opportunity. The lack of good paying jobs. The lack of affordable housing.... All, roots of the problem we deem ‘drug addiction’. Yes, it is obvious that social, economic pressure would drive anyone crazy. How do these lost souls cope? They turn to drugs. Drugs lead to crime and the vicious cycle never ends. Elected officials have no understanding of this cycle. And if they do. They are professionals at turning the other cheek. I love to hear the Mayor of Oshawa openly lie to people. ‘WE DON’T HAVE MONEY TO ASSIST ALL THOSE ON OUR STREETS’, or my all time favorite. ‘OTHER MUNICIPALITIES HAVE IT WORST’, and employ the attitude that if they pay it no mind that the problem will some how disappear. Well, it has not. It will not. If anything it is getting worst. Just this past week two people got shot at Memorial Park. Stabbings are as common as the un-reported over dosing. The politicians cry... we have no money... Meanwhile our Mayor invested 50 million in a facility that cost the city on the average 500,000 a year to operate. My understanding is that the GM center has not turned a profit since it opened... It cost tax payers indirectly 40 million. Now we are going to throw away another 50 million? Oh yes, don’t forget the money we don’t have for the people living on our streets. Let’s not forget 30 million we wasted on the infamous white elephant of a park next to Lakeview Park. As it is best politicized known the ‘Ed Broadbent Park’. Or how can we forget the new park that the city approved to the tune of almost 10 million next to the Holiday Inn. Great idea council. A park so that the homeless have a shaded area for the hot days of June and July. But wait, one very concerned councillor made the ridiculous suggestion that this new park will host public bathrooms.... Yike, have they not learned their lesson from what happened at the band shell bathrooms at Memorial Park, or subsequently what happened in the mobile potty along the OPUC? A total disaster. But wait. Let’s not forget not to have money for the homeless but yet fund an outdoor pool in Canada to the tune of 30 million. The problem is not the poor. The problem is the elected officials. We elect incompetents and we do not hold them accountable. Instead we give them power. I say we should denounce all council members and demand they resign. They like to blame the problem on lack of funding from the Province. Yet, out of the aforementioned projects you almost have 100 million. Parks that no one goes to visit. Parks next to other parks. An out door pool in Canada where it may only be used 3 months of the year. We burn money to keep a hockey team that on any given day has problems filling the arena. I feel for all those living in the street. This is Canada. They should not be on the streets. It is not that we don’t have the money. We don’t have the people that have the sense to prioritize.