The Citizen asked patrons of the two Farmers’ Markets on Third Avenue in downtown Prince George Saturday morning if they felt safe coming into the core of the city with so many issues around social issues and public safety.
Harriett and Rusty Watson
“We come down every Friday night to the Legion for the meat draw and it’s not as comfortable outside as it used to be,” Rusty Watson said. “The panhandlers seem a little more aggressive – not even the panhandlers, the street folks. We were just at Wendy’s for breakfast and there was a man trying the door handles on the classic cars.”
“During the day I’ll come downtown with Rusty and same for the Friday night at the Legion,” Harriett said. “But I don’t come unattended at night. I will come down with a friend or my husband and I would prefer to have my husband with me.”
Jru Hjelmeland, with son Isaac, three years old
“We’re fine coming downtown during the day in the more populated areas and even considering that we’re from Vancouver, like I grew up in East Van, and I’ve got two other little guys at home, I don’t feel comfortable bringing them out at night and I won’t go past a certain street with them not in the car,” Hjelmeland said. “But at the same time if we have extra food sometimes we will go in the car and we’ve brought it to St. Vincent to sort of let them know that those people on the street are not to be made fun of or be scared of – just we try to help them.”
Nicole Podmoroff
“I do feel safe,” Podmoroff said. “I’ve never been one to be scared – even at camp if we’re in the pitch black in the woods and my friends are terrified of walking without a flashlight I’m like ‘ah! I’m good' and I just cruise along. But yeah, I do feel comfortable coming downtown. There’s lots of wonderful restaurants and store owners here that just make your day when you go in and visit, even if you don’t buy anything they’re just happy to see you. It can be a little scary with the homeless people on the ground but I’ve never had a bad interaction with them. I’ve helped out at St. Vincent de Paul a couple of times and they just seem lonely and they're just looking for someone to listen to them and it’s hard because we’re always just go, go, go and all they want is for someone to listen.”
Tanner Ward
“I feel safe for myself, not so much for my girlfriend who works down at the end of Third right by the encampment so she quite often has people coming up to her when she’s leaving work at 11 o’clock at night,” Ward said. “So that’s very unsettling. I’m a big guy so I’m ok. People don’t approach me aggressively, they just ask for money so I’m not really worried about that. I’ve talked to a lot of homeless people before when I’ve brought meals down here a couple times and it’s never been an issue for me.”
