Robertson floats trial balloon for new remand centre
Reports say North Fraser Pretrial Centre is overcrowded
Today, CKNW's crack City Hall reporter Janet Brown interviewed Mayor Gregor Robertson and asked him about his pick for the location for a new remand centre. Now Robertson could have said, "staff are drawing up a list of locations, which we'll release to the public for their thoughts. Given the controversy generated by the location of the facility in Burnaby, we have to make sure Vancouver's neighbourhoods have a say about this."
But that's not what Mayor Robertson said, and he may indeed have put his foot in it again.
Remember the musing that Gregor had to pull back from in the past, such as increasing taxes on owners of empty condos? Well this trial balloon (no pun intended) for a remand centre includes a new expanded Vancouver Police station in the Downtown Eastside. Says Robertson:
"We're looking at somewhere close to the core where we can minimize the travel, the cost, the environmental impact of transporting criminals all over the Lower Mainland to get to the courthouse here in Vancouver. So close to the courthouse, a high density site is where we're trying to nail down the location for."
Now of course, the old remand centre did exist in the Downtown Eastside. And shortening travel times is a worthy goal. But to suggest that we put it in the DTES today feels a bit like kicking a man when he's down. Aren't we trying to provide positive incentives for this neighbourhood to revive itself? Does a big security complex feel like an inviting addition to this struggling part of the city?
Predictably, the reaction to this idea is mixed. CBC News talked to people in the Downtown Eastside who think that their community is the City's "dumping ground" for projects other parts of the City don't want.
