(Image credit: Mel Rothenburger)

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: North Shore continues to struggle with weak-sister image

Feb 1, 2020 | 7:01 AM

TWO EVENTS THIS WEEK highlight the seemingly rigid dichotomy between the South Shore and the North Shore.

A major new commercial development called The Kamloops Hive was announced, to be located on the land adjacent to the Delta Hotel downtown. At full build-out it will include three buildings of commercial and retail space. While no dollar amount was given, it will obviously be in the millions.

Meanwhile, the North Shore had an announcement of its own. The Customer Care and Patrol Team, known as the CAP Team, won’t be on the streets of North Kamloops this summer. The rationale provided by the North Shore Business Improvement Association is that street outreach can more appropriately be handled by police, bylaws officers and street workers.

When the CAP program was extended from downtown to the Tranquille Road corridor a couple of years ago, it was a big enough deal that it called for a news conference with the mayor present. The City subsidized it as a pilot program with $20,000 of the $30,000 cost the first year, upping it to $25,000 last year.

At the time, Mayor Ken Christian extolled the move as good for business and tourism. BIA manager Jerry Heighton said there were no concerns about the safety of CAP team members, adding that the reputation of the North Shore with respect to crime was exaggerated.

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That was then. Now he says experience has shown the Cappies are a better fit for downtown than for the North Shore. Better that the north side direct support toward policing and street nurses and so on. That the Cappies have been an invaluable part of the downtown scene for 16 years but aren’t “a fit” for the North Shore is telling.

CAP Team members go through a very thorough and effective training program that includes everything from public speaking to first aid to dealing with street people. They help tourists find their way around, engage in retail promotions in the downtown core, and look out for the needs of the street folks.

With respect to the latter, they get to know who’s who, where they hang out, where they sleep, and how to approach them. They’re taught when to step back and call police or bylaws.

Some of what they do — like retrieving condoms and needles — is nasty work but the Cappies do a great job in the downtown core. On at least one occasion, they’ve saved the life of an overdose victim.

The fact the program doesn’t work on the North Shore points to two things: the North Shore doesn’t have enough visitors to justify an ambassador program, and the social problems in the North Shore shopping district are much more acute than on the other side of the river.

Put another way, the North Shore isn’t ready for an eyes-and-ears ambassadorial approach.

It’s contrary to promotional campaigns that attempt to paint the Tranquille Road corridor as a vibrant, developing district. At the same time, Heighton has been candid about challenges there, and has worked hard to find answers.

Clearly, those answers are illusive. Media have never gotten the hang of reporting on North Shore crime without identifying the North Shore. Body found on the North Shore. Bar fight on the North Shore. Home invasion on the North Shore. Vandalism on the North Shore. Drug bust on the North Shore.

It seems impossible to escape the label of a crime-challenged community. Other parts of Kamloops have their share of crime but don’t carry the stigma. The CAP Team decision, though, suggests street issues on the North Shore continue to be more acute than elsewhere.

What to do about it?

The North Shore, loosely defined as the area between the Overlanders Bridge and the Halston, and west to Brocklehurst, used to be a city on its own, with its own mayor and council, before it amalgamated with Kamloops.

Kamloops inherited a community with crumbling infrastructure that it has struggled to bring up to par. All the really big development stuff seems focused on the South Shore, while the North is viewed as a weak sister.

But some really positive stuff is happening on the development front, especially in the Tranquille Road shopping corridor. The BIA energetically pursues opportunities, and developers see potential.

The Station condo-and-retail building on Tranquille Road is a great addition, as was the Manshadi Pharmacy building close by. New residential-commercial towers at Spirit Square should make a big difference to a location that has seen a lot of crime.

The library-hotel up the street is now several years old but it really raised the attractiveness of the corridor. Across the street is a good shopping centre and the North Shore Sports and Events Centre is a short distance away.

The revitalization of the McDonald Park neighbourhood and the park itself almost 20 years ago set an example for the revitalization of mature neighbourhoods.

For every broken-down drug house on the North Shore there are many more homes that have been rehabbed. You can see the pride of ownership that goes with them just by looking at the tidy gardens in their front yards.

A performing arts centre would have done wonders for the North Shore but the City has chosen instead the downtown core — the most congested parking and traffic area in the city. That, however, is spilled milk.

Despite all the investment in new buildings, the shopping corridor is looking tired again, and needs another re-do of the road surface, planters and crosswalks.

Infrastructure is half the issue; social programs are the other half. Much has been done to turn things around. Social agencies and programs abound (some say too many). The City, RCMP and NSBIA meet often to develop strategies. Low-income housing is a key ingredient.

And yet, as evidenced by the retreat of the Cappies, ‘The Shore’ struggles. The first place I lived when I moved to Kamloops was on Park Street a block from McDonald Park. It was a tiny one-bedroom house that had seen better days but I could afford the rent, and it was a good neighbourhood.

Maybe that’s why the North Shore will always be one of my favourite parts of Kamloops. I root for it.

On paper, the North Shore has everything it needs to be a great place to live, work and visit. May the force be with those who continue the good fight.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.