Last month I cycled along the dike to a celebration of life for someone dear to our Beach Grove community who had succumbed to cancer. I never imagined getting on my bike would lead to an interesting perspective on our changing community.
As I was searching for a secure place to lock my bike, a friendly face appeared: “Worried you’ll have it stolen?” asked the burly, bald-headed man as I struggled with my lock. “Yes, definitely, I’m not taking any chances,” I replied.
“I guess you’re worried about the SFP people.” I was puzzled. “SFP people, what does that stand for?”
His answer was emotional. He had grown up in Tsawwassen and Ladner and now in his late 60s he was sentimental for the “old days.” He felt Highway 17 had brought undesirables who were not a good influence on our neighbourhoods. He complained about thieves, drug dealers and drug users who had easy access to our beaches and neighbourhoods since the highway was put in.
“I used to walk Centennial Beach without a care in the world, now people are overdosing in the bathrooms in front of kids.”
He told me a women had overdosed in the change rooms recently with children passing by her as she was unconscious on a bench. He said a week later a man overdosed in a locked bathroom at the beach and only after the fire department broke down the door was he revived with the help of narcan.
“Now the door is broken and no one can use the bathroom until it gets fixed, and who knows when that will be,” he said, shaking his head in dismay.
I gently extracted myself from this stranger’s lament feeling a little shell shocked. While I know there are big city issues in South Delta, it was suddenly in my view and I was waking up to the new normal. We can no longer consider ourselves immune from criminal activity and drug use in public spaces.
I shouldn’t be surprised by these stories since I opened my Facebook page last spring and viewed black and white security camera footage of a young man breaking into my neighbours’ cars. At 3 a.m. while I was sleeping, this hooded punk was rummaging through cars on my street. The rash of vehicle break-ins continues today.
One desperate couple started a Facebook page recently called Tsawwassen Community Stops Crime after someone stole $4,000 worth of their business equipment, their ID and credit cards. The community response was incredible with people sharing video and information. There was outrage too as one woman posted, “We aren’t safe in our little town anymore so lock your houses and your cars.”
We will have to bend to change as our popularity and our population grows. We won’t be able to control who comes here, but collectively we can be smart, vigilant and proactive, working to keep our beautiful little piece of paradise safe and secure.
Ingrid Abbott is a freelance writer and broadcaster who makes sure her valuables are locked up, despite always believing in the best of people.
