City wants streets cleaned of squeegees

 

By Chris Miller-Staff writer

The city may ask the province before Christmas to enact a new law that would outlaw squeegee people.

NPA Coun. Sandy McCormick said city staff are preparing a report that, if approved, would petition the government for legislation like the Safe Streets Act in Ontario. Enacted in 1999, the act includes a section that reads: "No person shall, while on a roadway, solicit a person who is in or on a stopped, standing or parked vehicle."

On a first conviction, Ontario offenders can be fined up to $500. Subsequent convictions can bring fines up to $1,000 or six months' imprisonment.

McCormick said the push for new legislation is being driven by complaints from the CitiGate community near Main and Terminal, a popular location for squeegee people. Residents there are concerned about people sleeping and dealing drugs in the park nearby. Some drivers who were unable to stop the squeegee people from cleaning their windshields have had their cars scratched when they've refused to pay. Other locals say squeegee people have broken into their cars to steal change and intimidated local shopkeepers.

On Nov. 1, police met with representatives of the city's social planning and housing departments and other groups to discuss the problem. The agencies are trying to identify the squeegee people and point them to social services so they don't need to clean windshields. But many of them like what they're doing and don't want help, McCormick said. "It's an interesting dynamic. We're working with people who don't necessarily want to be helped and trying to help them."

While the city could enact a municipal bylaw, staff felt provincial legislation would give police more clout when dealing with the squeegee people, said McCormick. Right now, police sometimes move the squeegee kids along, but they often drift back to the same intersection. Under the Safe Streets Act in Ontario, police can arrest squeegee people if they ignore orders to cease and desist.

COPE Coun. Tim Louis, however, said the public is in more danger from the Liberals in Victoria than an unemployed person providing a "little entrepreneurial service." "Politicians are 100 times more dangerous to society than a squeegee kid ever was," Louis said. "They have their priorities A-backwards, and you can guess what the 'A' stands for."

If the government was really concerned about the problem, it would embark on initiatives to create new jobs, he said, noting the province has an eight per cent unemployment rate overall and a 25 per cent jobless rate for youth. "Nobody goes onto welfare out of choice. Let's see one of these politicians that proposed this legislation get by on $6 an hour [the new trainee wage]. Let's see how long they would last."

But McCormick said the intent of the legislation isn't to treat squeegee people like "hardened criminals," but to encourage them to change their ways, a solution beneficial to them and the neighbourhood.

"I don't know that Tim fully understands the scope of the frustration the residents in the neighbourhood are feeling."

The wide-ranging Safe Streets Act in Ontario also prohibits solicitation from people using or waiting to use ATMs, pay telephones, public toilets, taxis and public transit stops, as well as in parking lots and entering or exiting a vehicle.

The act also has a section outlawing the disposal of used condoms, hypodermic needles, syringes or broken glass in public places such as parks, swimming pools, beaches and schoolyards, though McCormick said an act here wouldn't necessarily be a carbon copy.

The city report is expected to be ready later this month or early in December.