Dear Editor;
The state of affairs in the parks in Langley City is deplorable. Encampments of homeless now abound, making even day time trips to the park dangerous and unwelcoming.
In the last two weeks alone I have had frightening encounters and experiences in both Douglas Park and Nicomekl Park.
I walk my dogs daily usually at Douglas Park or through the trails and into Nicomekl Park. During the last year I have seen a frightening change in both of these parks.
At Douglas Park, which is directly behind an elementary school, I have come across multiple used needles on the ground and in the planters. Open drug use at all times of the day goes on. The bushes along the west fence is being used as a toilet and reeks of urine. People pass out all over the park from drug use and drinking all the while a City-paid security guard wanders around ignoring it.
At Nicomekl Park there is a large encampment of homeless people who hang out beside the bridge huffing paint (the odor is sometimes thick enough to almost get a contact high), and drug use and dealing goes on openly. Recently my dogs and I were chased over the bridge by a male who was either high or crazy muttering threats at me because I had no money to give him. This happened at 2 in the afternoon.
There is garbage littering both parks now, some of which is likely biological waste. The river is full of garbage and is used as a toilet as well. The ecological damage being done to the Nicomekl flood plain by people trampling down vegetation to make camps is being ignored completely.
Complaints to the City, the police and politicians have gone unanswered.
What a shame that Langley has become such a cesspool. All you have to do is go to the 7-Eleven on Douglas Crescent at night where you can find hookers, panhandlers, drug dealers and drug users (they openly shoot up behind the 7-Eleven) and watch as the police drive right by.
Dana Bowman, Langley