$15,000 park cleanup

By Kate Bouey - CASTANET Aug 22, 2017 / 12:48 pm
It is turning into another costly cleanup for the City of Vernon as crews worked a second day to remove the detritus of a homeless camp at the back of Polson Park. Two squad cars sat near a bulldozer working at the site on Tuesday morning, although the RCMP said no particular incident led to the officers' presence there. Bylaw officers were also at the scene for some time. The boardwalk at the back of the park also remained closed for a second day and will likely be closed Wednesday as well. "We estimate that the cost of the cleanup is approximately $15,000," said Tanya Laing Gahr, the city's spokesperson. “We expect the cleanup efforts to take two to three days." Although campers are allowed to put up their tents in the park during the evening hours if there are no beds available elsewhere, a recently-passed bylaw states their tents and belongings must be gone by 9 a.m. Laing Gahr has stated all of the campers in Polson had been complying with the new bylaw. Castanet spotted mounds of garbage in one shaded corner near the stream, as well as a small table, cushions and a mattress that had yet to be removed. Last year, $30,000 of taxpayers' money was spent cleaning up three major homeless camps. At a camp near Kal Tire Place, it took days to remove garbage, feces and needles.In December, Vernon city council directed staff to set aside $90,000 to cope with homelessness problems this year, including $60,000 for abandoned camp cleanups. The cash was allotted from unspent money from previous years and was not added to the tax base.