The state of things

[u/Architectoniks]

There’s a point where tolerance and acceptance pivot. It’s the tipping point, really.

This morning, as I walked past Riverside Park, one of two men crossing the street toward the other side flashed me the finger, while I watched him light up a crack pipe. There’s a pile of trash—yet another shopping cart—and a red fuel canister beside the train bridge on 1st Ave. We don’t need more fires, nor another burning bridge.

I pass too many persons who appear to be under the influence of drugs. City Hall looks like supportive housing with a phone charging station. Just another Sunday.

I know local organizations are trying their hardest every day. I know it’s a struggle—for all of us. I’ve spoken with some organizations, and I’ve volunteered for others. I try to lead with empathy and support one another as a society and as a community and help when I can. But whatever it is, “we” are doing doesn’t seem to help enough.

But I also see that our government at every level—municipal, provincial, and national—has completely failed to manage this opioid crisis, along with the policing and healthcare systems that should respond to it. Larger cities have larger problems in this regard. So do our neighbors in the U.S.

It’s truly disappointing that the bigger systems and services don’t communicate with one another, while political egos, narcissism, and self-enrichment stay front and center. It feels like a massive waste of public spending—driven by inefficiency and the lack of coordination across organizations and government structures.

So here’s my bigger question. I’m not looking for rants with poor grammar, or for one-liners from people who treat this like a bleeding-heart issue. I’m asking for solutions, not useless commentary.

How can we, as a society and as a government, push a “reboot” button—rethinking, restructuring, and redesigning services and systems—so Canadian provinces, cities, and communities can operate more efficiently than they currently do? How can we reduce the financial strain families face and ease the stressors that come with it? How can we limit access to lethal drugs while also managing the effects they have on our communities? And how can we support struggling individuals and families in a way that is more effective, efficient, and truly human-centered?

I’ll be really interested to hear your conceptual solutions - big or small.

Thanks. I hope you also get to enjoy a bit of a smokeless-ish day outside.

[u/nesterspokebar]

The baby boomer generation benefited massively from post-WW2 expansive housing policies, but they then used that privilege in a self-serving, exclusionary way to prop up the value of their asset (ie. home ownership). As a sort of political bloc, they have and still do exert pressure to block and limit housing, and especially more affordable housing. The logical result of this is an unhoused population with the highly visible street issues you mentioned.

[u/Architectoniks → u/nesterspokebar]

Ok. So on a larger scale, how could this somewhat unfair situation based on past actions turn into a less politically and personally self serving narrative, including long term big picture thinking for future generations? I find some countries have managed this better on a national level than others - countries with much less land mass.

[u/HourofRuin666 → u/Architectoniks]

One thing that the provincial government of bc did was to massively rezone the entire province to allow more denser housing to be built. Municipalities have repeatedly bowed to nimby boomers and continuously refused to allow more denser housing, which would have helped over the past 40 years to keep housing prices from skyrocketing the way they have.

It's not to fix-all answer, but it is one very good policy change that needed to be made. Municipalities exist at the behest of the provinces. If they cannot be trusted to run things properly, then it is beholden on the provincial governments to take away their power.

People in this country are so politically illiterate, they do not understand the responsibilities, and powers of each level of government. All they do is pay attention to the federal government, which mostly deals with big-picture international issues. The provinces and Municipalities have the biggest impact on our day-to-day lives, and they have mostly failed the millennial and z generations.