May 25 Council Meeting: Lock Out Auto Crime, Public Hearings, and Eliminating Homelessness

This week, I’ve been posting about the afternoon Langley City council meeting that was held on Monday. I covered Langley City’s 2019 financial audit as well as what the City is doing to support BC’s Restart Plan due to COVID-19. Today, I will be covering the remaining topics from that meeting.

One of the goals of Langley City’s Crime Prevention Task Group is to reduce the theft of items from vehicles. This is the single largest segment of criminal activity in our community. One of the hot spots for theft from vehicles is around Linwood Park.

Earlier in the year, ICBC provided eight “Lock Out Auto Crime” signs which were placed around Linwood Park at the request of the Crime Prevention Task Group. These signs were made of low-cost plastic, and were vandalize and/or stolen. The task group requested that these signs be replaced with metal signs for a total cost of $500. These signs would be the same quality as all other street signs in our community.

Council approved the Crime Prevention Task Group’s request. Once the new signs are installed, the City and RCMP will monitor if there is a reduction in theft from vehicles around Linwood Park.

As I posted about a few weeks ago, council gave first and second reading for a rezoning bylaw to allow a 4-Storey, 92-Unit Rental Apartment between 200 and 200A Street. Council gave third reading of that bylaw on Monday.

Currently, council meetings are held by Zoom and posted to YouTube. This has made it impossible to hold public hearings or allow people to view council meetings in real-time. The provincial government now allows public hearing to be conduction via solutions like Zoom as long as the provincial state of emergency due to COVID-19 is in place. Previously, public hearing had to occur in-person.

Council approved allowing public hearings to be held via Zoom Webinar and Video Conferencing. This will allow people in our community to once again participate in council meetings if they choose.

Council received a letter from the City of Port Moody regarding homelessness and passed the following motion in response:

WHEREAS our society has been plagued by homelessness and a lack of support systems for those affected by addictions and mental illness for generations;

AND WHEREAS the state of homelessness in our region has only worsened over the course of decades and throughout multiple Provincial Governments;

AND WHEREAS an eventual economic rebuild is a good opportunity to make positive upgrades to our society;

BE IT RESOLVED:

THAT the City of Langley considers a return to the “normal” state of homelessness in our region, province, and nation after the COVID emergency fundamentally unacceptable;

AND THAT the City of Langley call on the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the Government of BC, and the Government of Canada to use the post-COVID recovery as an opportunity to “upgrade” our society by eliminating homelessness;

AND THAT the City of Langley supports a return to large-scale supportive housing arrangements for those afflicted by mental illness, such as a revived facility at Riverview.

As a note, Ellen Hall was appointed to the City’s Environmental Task Group.