Dear Bruce Wark,
Thank you for your revealing article, "Where the sidewalk ends" (June 22). There are three statements in the article that have confused me, but none of them have anything to do with your writing.
The first is chief Beazley's explanation of what drives victimization numbers up. The idea that "first time away from home...university students a pocketful of money...get into the downtown area and they get into fights" seems to be quite a stretch considering that Mr. Oland is none of those things. Also, it is never mentioned by Mr. Oland that he perceived his attackers to be university students. The chief gets off-topic and has no response to his officer driving away. It seems he is placing the blame on the newly arrived students rather than the problem being the seed of our own community.
Secondly, I have a problem with Sarah MacLaren's statement, "We're not going to do a lot by taking punitive measures." If that were true then judge Joseph Kennedy's words are falling on our community's deaf ears. Judge Kennedy describes the violence as "uncontrolled" and "mindless." If an uncontrolled and mindless animal were roaming Spring Garden Road, would it not be dealt with for the safety of the public?
Lastly is Dawn Sloane's statement in reference to security cameras going up at Pizza Corner, "I would rather have everybody safe and pissed off. It's as simple as that." Oh, do you think? There is a history of violence in and around Pizza Corner—you cannot get those cameras up fast enough!
This is not a joke. If the powers that be do not do something soon, we will have similar situations to Yonge Street on Boxing Day 2005. We will have to "take back the night" like the women in Montreal do every year. That is too late. It's time for someone to serve and protect our community before the candlelight vigils begin.
By Joseph Wynne
