THE IRVING SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE POOR YESTERDAY AND THE POLICE SOON FOLLOWED!!!!

IRVING2, originally uploaded by Oldmaison.

I just been told that six police officers have ordered the poor off the streets!!!! Are these Police Officers or Irving's soldiers????

Darn shame that the public are not allowed to speak out against their editorial????





Daily Gleaner | Editorials
As published on page C7 on May 16, 2006

Social issues and business challenges
In our view: Examining deep-rooted social issues is the only real fix for downtown ills

Downtown Fredericton is a beautiful setting, with an eclectic mix of shopping and tourism opportunities. It is vibrant in cultural and historical heritage.

And new Downtown Fredericton president Linda Pond wants to grow the downtown's appeal.

It's a role of responsibility when that individual is engaged in leading the view of the merchants in a downtown area. It's a role of even greater importance when the downtown remains as vibrant and as much a focal point of the community as Fredericton's downtown.

Too many downtowns in this country have given way to their own age, lack of visual appeal or to the siren's call from suburban malls.

You are hard-pressed to find a small-city downtown setting as beautiful as Fredericton's.

Pond has identified two strong agendas for the downtown area. The group is in favour of creating a permanent late-night bus service from the bar district, and combating overly aggressive panhandling.

The view has been that there's less late night destruction and other problems if patrons - usually young people - are removed from the bar district quickly and safely. A shuttle service was experimented with in 2005 and, while desired, funding remains unsure.

And aggressive panhandlers can cause disinterest in the downtown for shoppers who do not want to be badgered by those who choose to panhandle.

These are tough but worthy goals for the downtown community to pursue.

The difficulty is, neither goal can be accomplished by the work of Downtown Fredericton alone.

Both "solutions" are a reaction to a domino chain of social issues which creates the problem in the first place. While both ideas improve the problem, they border on simply masking the problem.

Some panhandlers are young people looking to feed addictions or supplement social assistance. The solution for these panhandlers is much different from what needs to be done for the destitute.

And problems such as drunkenness, excessive noise experienced when downtown bars close and graffiti call for a whole other sort of fix-the-issue-before-it-becomes-a-problem-in-the-first-place solution.

We think Downtown Fredericton can continue to grow, blossom and be enhanced to create tourist and shopper traffic. And we think the goals of the group are on the right track.

We'd like to see Downtown Fredericton - and the community as a whole - maintain a very visible and progressive public focus on the social issues that create our panhandlers and the need for shuttle bus service in the first place.