05/24/2026
I feel genuinely heartbroken for our downtown.
There was a time when downtown felt like a place families could wander, shop, eat, listen to buskers, visit local businesses, and feel proud of the heart of our city. It had charm, character, and so much potential.
But lately, it feels like that balance has been completely lost.
The concentration of needle exchanges, shelters, and crisis services downtown has changed the entire atmosphere. These services are needed, but when they are all clustered in one area without enough accountability, safety, mental health support, treatment options, housing solutions, or protection for surrounding businesses, the result is devastating.
Downtown businesses are dealing with break-ins, vandalism, theft, arson, weapons, public drug use, public nudity, needles, property destruction, and customers who no longer feel safe coming in. Staff and owners are left cleaning up the aftermath, absorbing the financial loss, and trying to stay compassionate while also feeling completely exhausted.
This isn’t about lacking empathy. It’s about asking why the burden keeps falling on the same few blocks, the same small businesses, the same property owners, and the same community members trying to keep downtown alive.
People struggling with addiction, homelessness, and mental illness deserve real help — not just to be concentrated downtown and left in crisis. And families, workers, customers, seniors, children, and business owners deserve to feel safe in their own city.
We can care about vulnerable people and still say this isn’t working.
Downtown should not be written off. It should not be allowed to become a place people avoid. It should be a vibrant, welcoming, safe hub for local business, food, art, shopping, events, music, and community again.
I love PG, and I believe downtown is worth fighting for. But pretending everything is fine is not compassion — it’s abandonment.
We need better planning, better safety, better treatment options, better accountability, and a real commitment to restoring downtown for everyone.
End of rant.
