Last week’s shooting at the Hospitality Inn has a Kamloops city councillor voicing his concerns about ongoing problems in the Columbia Street West corridor.
Mike O’Reilly says he lives about two blocks away from the motel where the shooting occurred and he is reminded of the area’s troubles on a daily basis.
Speaking on the NL Morning News, he says the demographic of strip’s motels has changed because of COVID-19.
“What we saw in previous years is you saw a mix of lower income people or people that are struggling and TRU students. And now, without TRU students in the city, those motels are trying to seek revenue for those lost students staying there,” he said.
“And so the mix of people staying in those motels is changing and it’s making it tougher for that area.”
Asked what the city can do, O’Reilly says it will be a lot of education, but also enforcement whenever needed.
“Whether that’s with our bylaw officers or the RCMP working with the groups,” he said, noting there is one thing in particular that worries him about the neighbourhood.
“My biggest concern in that area is specifically Beattie Elementary that’s located directly to the east. I think it’s going to be working more with the school district and hearing the issues and concerns and how we can go about making the students and the parents and the teachers and the residents in the neighbourhood feel more comfortable and safe.”
Kamloops RCMP say there is nothing to directly say that there have been a high number of recent call outs to motels in the Columbia Street West corridor.
Sgt. Darren Michels says he didn’t have the statistics handy when asked by NL News after a domestic violence incident at nearby Panorama Inn this morning.
“But I understand that there has been scrutiny of that recently by local residents, yes,” he said.
Also concerned are many parents at Beattie Elementary saying its not the first time that a police incident has occurred near the school. In March, police responded to a stabbing at the nearby Husky gas station where a man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
O’Reilly adds these problem areas don’t really go away, they just seem to change locations.
“We heard the exact same thing from the people down in Valleyview, from the people that live in the motels there and live near them. Then it goes from the North Shore. I think about a year ago it was at the corner of sixth and Victoria street and then is was West Victoria street now it’s Columbia Street,” he said, comparing the issue to a popular but frustrating carnival game.
“So, sort of like playing whack-a-mole to a certain extent and you know going to the problem areas and working on them and then is seems to shift and that’s sort of the nature of these issues.”
– with files from Victor Kaisar
