I’m writing to you as one of the residents living along the Lourens River, specifically the area between Main Road bridge and Island Park.
On a daily basis we breathe in toxic fumes from burnt plastic, rubber, and metal. We are disturbed by sounds of chopping and clanging during the day and often at night. We can’t enjoy sitting in our gardens because of the stench of human faeces and urine, and because we know our gardens aren’t private.
It’s not unusual to come across the unfortunate sight of prostitutes plying their trade right outside our fences and walls. Even worse, we’ve all heard the terrifying sounds of women screaming. Many have seen women being beaten. We’ve seen men being beaten.
We hear angry shouting and swearing. We contact the police and, most often, there are no sirens, no police officers entering the green belt to help these people.
Drunken shouting and chanting aren’t uncommon either. Nor is the smell or sight of people smoking tik and marijuana. We look out of our gardens or windows and see the rubbish in the river and along the paths and embankments. Clothes and blankets are left to dry on the bushes, obscuring nature. We see the structures and fires, and at times, trees being burnt, whether by accident or on purpose. Some of us have been threatened at gunpoint and knifepoint.
And although people are finally taking notice it has taken a lot of work from residents to get a response. Residents have raised awareness and logged calls for years now as these are known problem areas.
Many of us have had ward councillors insinuate that we’re making it up or that we’re mistaken, despite the many calls logged and photographic evidence to the contrary. All the while areas on the more affluent side of Main Road are tended to and fenced off. Things are moving really slowly here.
Like you, we want a safe and healthy place to stay, a good place to raise our children. We want to enjoy our homes and our town. We don’t want to worry about what we’re breathing in, what our children are breathing in. Many of us experience respiratory irritation, as do our children and pets. This is especially problematic for those with existing health conditions. We also want to sleep peacefully without all the shouting and noise.
I am not unsympathetic to how hard the jobs of our politicians and police are. I understand some of the red tape involved and that there are people lobbying for the rights of the homeless. I want to make it clear these vagrants are not homeless. There have been organisations and social workers who have approached them and offered them help.
There have been family members who have tried to convince them to come home. The sad fact is that these people would rather live through the indignity of homelessness, prostitution and physical threats of rapes and beatings to take tik. Drugs do seem to be at the core of the issue when it comes to people who choose to remain homeless.
I don’t know how to help people who don’t want to be helped. But at the moment these vagrants who don’t pay their rates and taxes, who don’t pay rent or a mortgage like the rest of us, have far more rights than those of us who do what is legally required of us.
I don’t know the answers. But I don’t believe that it’s right that our health and safety be put at risk on a daily basis. This is not opportunistic crime. This is a case of people not wanting to abide by the laws and who care nothing about those around them. They make as much noise as they want and pollute the river, fields and air. And if you try to stop them, or confront them, they aren’t scared to pull a weapon out.
Something needs to change. If people are constantly committing crimes (and yes, we have had thieves and drug dealers hiding in the green belt) and infringing bylaws should they not be prosecuted? If they are violating our rights shouldn’t they be taken to task?
We are tired of living in these conditions. What people choose to do with their lives is their decision. But these people are negatively affecting our lives every day. And to sell our places isn’t an option. Our properties have lost a lot of their value because of these issues.
We need people in power to take notice and do something. At the very least, the grass and bushes could be cut down so vagrants have no place to hide. And while we would rather be free to enjoy the beauty of the river path no-one can do that any more. Not with the threat to our safety and vagrants bathing totally naked in the river and using those same river banks as toilets. Fencing the areas off needs to be put back on the table. There has been a big improvement in the areas along the river that have been fenced off.
We can’t keep letting meeting after meeting result in zero action. This matter needs awareness and for the local government to know that we are serious.
