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Blog: There are strangers in my hood, for better and for worse

My dog Rosie and I were taking a late night walk around Beach Grove a month ago when I came across something I have never seen before, a Delta police officer on street patrol in my neighbourhood.
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My dog Rosie and I were taking a late night walk around Beach Grove a month ago when I came across something I have never seen before, a Delta police officer on street patrol in my neighbourhood. I told him how shocked I was that on a weeknight it was deemed necessary to have a police officer on the beat. He told me it was in response to a rash of break-ins in the area and Delta police wanted to let the bad guys know they were present and watching.

 

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I don’t think it’s just coincidence that a well-known Vancouver Sun columnist, who is also my neighbour, had recently written a column about a mid-day break and enter at his Beach Grove home while his wife was walking their dog. That kind of high profile media coverage is a strong motivator for action. The officer told me to be on the look out for anything unusual, and if I noticed people sitting in cars watching houses to call the police. Rosie licked his face. I thanked him, and the next two nights I noticed him parked at the corner in an unmarked police vehicle watching for strangers in my hood. 

 

Signs of change in our community are everywhere and this is true in the new faces I see around me. There are newcomers in my fitness class, new faces lining up at Thrifty's check-out and strolling our beaches and dikes. South Delta is a beautiful safe place to live, work, to raise families, and to retire, it’s no wonder people want to move here. Real estate signs go up and in no time there is a sold sign slapped across it. One woman went to desperate measures to try to get into the South Delta market. Going door to door in Tsawwassen she handed out her contact details on the chance someone might want to sell their house privately after losing out on nine potential houses by higher bidders.

 

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Canada is about to accept 25,000 refugees and I hear a lot of nimby talk. There is a lot of fear around strangers coming from the Middle East, it’s the unknown that grips us. Will some of the families fleeing war torn countries want to move to Ladner or Tsawwassen, and will I be asked to open my home and heart to strangers? If I am I will do all I can to make them feel welcome and safe, despite the fact they will be unknown to me. 

 

I was a stranger when I moved here four years ago from Gibsons. I didn’t know anyone, hadn’t raised my children here, and it took time to feel a part of this community. Working in the media helped and the Delta Optimist was a valuable resource for understanding the issues and concerns of South Delta. There were also some very warm people who welcomed me along the way and their curiosity opened doors.  Inquiring, “Where have you come from,” was a powerful question that began conversations that have now turned into friendships.

 

The quality of a community can be measured by how we welcome and treat our newcomers and I believe there's some work to be done in our future. I trust the Delta police can weed out the good from the bad strangers. Meanwhile I’ll be working on making new neighbours and friends because after all a stranger is just someone you don’t know yet!