Victoria plans to pursue a pilot project that would see residents and frequent users of the 900-block of Pandora Avenue provide some neighbourhood upkeep.
City council agreed to embark on the trial run during its morning committee meeting May 1.
The pile up of trash and abandoned items in that particular neighbourhood is a problem for Pandora and a broader problem for visitors to downtown, said Coun. Dave Thompson, who made the motion.
“It just can’t stay the way it is,” he said. “We get a cleaner Pandora and we also get opportunities for people living there to contribute to that.”
Under the plan pitched to council members by Our Place Society staff, community members would do garbage pickup and clean up, with two, two-hour shifts open each day for the three-month pilot. A $15 per hour stipend would be offered. The collected trash would be held in a locked dumpster, facilitated by Our Place staff or delegates. Providing more regular garbage cans is problematic because they cannot contain the larger items, and they are sometimes upended, making the situation worse.
It would develop a culture of a cleaner neighbourhood, Thompson said, a sentiment echoed by the Our Place director of services.
“Having the street community involved in the clean-up on the 900 block has many benefits. When the street community is actively participating in the clean-up of the space, it changes the dynamic. Other members of the street community on Pandora are more likely to support the cleanliness of the space when they see their peers doing the clean-up. When the cleanliness of the block is maintained within the community living on Pandora, there is less need for outside resources to attend to clean-up,” Jordan Cooper said.
It would augment existing public works and Downtown Victoria Business Association street cleaning programs.
The stipends totalling $5,400 would come from contingency funds. Staff will report back to council after the pilot, and if deemed successful, attempt to have the province continue the program through the BC Housing Homeless Encampment Action Response Team (HEART) and the Homeless Encampment Action Response Temporary Housing (HEARTH) programs.
