I am a member of the 200 Besserer condo board that S-man is keen to accuse of being snobs. We're not snobs of course - just normal people trying to stop an unnecessary reloction of a drop-in centre. For readers who don't know about this dispute - see the latest article -
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Ke...570/story.html - but there have been a string of them.
I reply party because, despite being busy vomiting at our comments, S-man brings up a useful point - about the risk of streets becoming gated, which of course would be very regrettable. With so many condos being built in this area - the ideal situation would be for their hundreds of residents to interact and be part of their community, rather than scuttling into their apartment blocks and staying there after getting home from work.
But sadly - that kind of isolation is exactly what is likely if this relocation goes ahead. Homeless people (many addicts and many with emotional and mental health problems) and regular working people usually don't get along that well. And given there are already three social services for destitute people close to our condo already - adding another is going to increase markedly the number of homeless people in our block. That is going to force people inside and deter them from wholehearted involvement with community services ...possible creating just the kind of gated mentality referred to by S-man.
Communities need balance and that is - we say - going to be upset by the planned move of Centre 454.