Kelowna’s Rutland residents take action as city steps up safety efforts - BERITAJA

It’s an area of Kelowna, B.C., that is considered by galore the epicentre of crime and societal disorder.

The issues plaguing Rutland are ones that person agelong been overlooked, according to galore who unrecorded and activity successful the area.

“I consciousness for illustration the strategy has grounded us,” said concerned Rutland resident Kitana Toland.

Toland and Sharlene Drohomereski and different area residents opportunity they are fed up and taking matters into their ain hands.

“I personally don’t want to raise my kids successful a organization wherever we person to beryllium frightened to moreover fto our kids play retired successful our yards,” Toland told BERITAJA.

The pair, who lives adjacent Ben Lee Park, is mobilizing concerned residents and creating a neighbourhood watch group to behaviour ft patrol and found a web of safe locations.

“It would beryllium a spot wherever group could spell to if they are emotion frightened aliases unsafe,” Drohomereski said.

Called the Ben Lee Community Watch Group, it would besides heighten information by encouraging neighbours to watch and study immoderate suspicious activity successful the area — 1 that has go unsafe, according to organizers.

“We person children seeing group passed retired successful the park, we person group passing retired successful people’s yards, we’ve had group utilizing narcotics successful nationalist spaces, connected backstage property,” said Drohomereski, describing immoderate of the problems area residents are experiencing.

The issues successful Rutland are drafting renewed attraction from the city.

It is providing immoderate backing to the Uptown Rutland Business Association (URBA) to thief reboot a programme aimed astatine helping businesses negociate societal disorder.

“It’s benignant of a operation of security, fundamentally helping our business owners,” said URBA president Jason Bullock.

Similar to the Downtown Kelowna Association’s reddish garment program, URBA ambassadors will again beryllium responding to business complaints, specified arsenic loitering and mischief, aft a six-month hiatus.

“It’s going to commencement successful the mornings and past from there, we’ll spot what we could do arsenic we hunt for much funding,” said Bullock. “I judge this task is conscionable making everyone cognize that we’re trying our champion to get business up and moving each day.”

URBA is officially re-launching the programme adjacent week.

In summation to the URBA on-call program, Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas is besides proposing expanding a clean-up programme successful Rutland called ‘Community Care’ from 3 days to 5 days.

The programme employs susceptible group to clear streets of garbage and different debris.

Dyas could not remark connected the matter Thursday up of assembly debating it astatine its upcoming meeting.

While immoderate residents opportunity the steps being taken are agelong overdue, others are conscionable pleased to spot them happening.

“It’s about clip that we get the attraction that we need, truthful we could go a vibrant location successful Kelowna, conscionable for illustration downtown aliases Pandosy aliases different areas,” said Bullock, who is simply a business proprietor himself and operates OK Tire Rutland.

“It really is simply a hidden gem and you cognize these small steps, I believe, are going to thief get america to the adjacent measurement of what what a awesome Rutland is going to look like.”

Anyone wanting to beryllium portion of the recently formed ‘Ben Lee Community Watch Group’ is asked to nonstop an email to Droski4@hotmail.com.