New safety measures are coming to Queen's Park in downtown Barrie where drug use has become an ongoing health issue for both people using the washrooms there and city staff tasked with keeping the park facilities clean.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall and members of council will be at the Ross Street park Tuesday morning for a news conference to discuss what action is being taken to improve the area. What those measures could be, however, has yet to be seen.
This announcement comes after two local baseball organizations announced they were no longer playing at the downtown field. Last month, both the Barrie Minor Baseball Association (BMBA) and the Barrie and District Girls Softball Association (BDGSA) said they were no longer using the diamond because of safety concerns.
On Friday, Dawn McAlpine, the city’s general manager of community and corporate services, told BarrieToday the area has become a concern for staff and for people who use the facilities.
“Staff found numerous needles in the Queen's Park washrooms as well as debris virtually every day during its cleaning of the washrooms," she said, "which presents a concern for the safety of users of the washrooms between the cleanings as well as the staff while cleaning them given the potential toxicity of some of the drugs that may have been used, even though our staff are equipped with gloves, etc., for protection when cleaning."
McAlpine also said city staff required security to precede or accompany them as they cleaned the washrooms, “given the presence of individuals who were under the influence, which led to aggressive behaviours against the staff.”
In a media advisory issued by the city on Thursday, ahead of next week's news conference, it says the public washrooms recently had to be closed due to public safety concerns.
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon said the force's community safety and well-being unit are regularly at Queen's Park to engage with people who may be loitering. He said they have been "very successful at moving them along" without any issues or concerns.
Dating back to May 27, Leon said there are two occurrences on file related to Queen's Park.
“One was for people consuming alcohol near the skate park shortly after the noon hour and these persons were moved along after being cautioned under the Liquor Licence Act," he said.
Tuesday's news conference is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., near the Queen’s Park baseball diamond.
