Council says no booze in public parks, homelessness to be discussed in Sept.

Two highly anticipated motions were handed setbacks at Regina city council on Wednesday.

One was the proposal to allow alcohol consumption in designated public parks throughout the city. The other was to call upon the city to declare an emergency on homelessness.

The motion to allow booze in parks was voted down 7-4. A move to have the motion on homelessness read Wednesday instead of in September required unanimous support, but it was defeated 7-3 with one councillor absent.

Drinking in parks

People in Regina won’t be able to crack open a cold one in city parks.

In May, the province passed a bill giving municipalities the ability to decide whether or not they would allow drinking in public parks. Regina city council addressed the matter Wednesday.

Many delegates appeared through the afternoon voicing their opposition to the idea. They cited issues of safety, sanitization, crime and the lowering of property values.

Coun. Dan LeBlanc said he was planning to vote yes on the booze motion, but was swayed by the passionate speech of delegate Krista Stevens.

“As the daughter of an alcoholic, I have seen the dark side of alcohol abuse,” Stevens told councillors. “Having spent part of my childhood in Regina Transition House — a shelter for battered women and children — I can attest that my experience was not an isolated event.

“I agree with many councillors that most of the public does use alcohol responsibly, however a minority does not. The consumption for alcohol in public spaces has potential for several negative impacts.”

In the end, the majority of the councillors agreed and the motion was defeated.

Mayor Sandra Masters had said last year that she wanted to learn more about what has happened in other cities before making a move toward alcohol in public parks here.

The biggest public park in the city, Wascana Park, could be a more complicated issue because the city and the Provincial Capital Commission – the park’s governing body – would have to work together on any bylaw changes.

Homelessness

Coun. Shanon Zachidniak asked for the motion on homelessness to be waived so that it could be read Wednesday instead of at a September meeting.

LeBlanc was absent for the vote, but his presence wouldn’t have mattered; seven members of council said no.

Prior to the meeting, Zachidniak, LeBlanc, Coun. Cheryl Stadnichuk and Coun. Andrew Stevens filed a motion to declare a “houselessness emergency” and seek further collaboration with the federal and provincial governments.

There was also a motion filed to amend the procedure bylaw so that when a special meeting is called the city clerk (or deputy city clerk) shall provide 24 hours advanced written notice to all members “of the time, date and place of the meeting” and using multiple means of contact to do so.”

That amendment would also prevent the cancellation of a special meeting due to lack of quorum, hopefully preventing a repeat of incidents like that which occurred at the end of July in regards to the homelessness encampment in front of City Hall.

Shortly after that meeting was cancelled, police officers evicted the inhabitants of the camp and took down their tents.

“Regina saw an increase in the point in time houselessness count (between) 2015 (and) 2021 of 110 per cent and since then, it’s become clear that the issue of houselessness in our city is just getting worse,” Zachidniak said prior to the meeting.

“I think that if we recognize that it has reached a crisis level and we make that declaration, it opens up additional pathways for collaboration of time, resources and money from the provincial and federal government.”

Zachidniak also referenced the pandemic response by the three levels of government as a model for how to move forward with homelessness.

“We addressed COVID as an emergency,” she said. “All levels of government did collaborate, and it also reduced the amount of red tape needed to take action because it was seen as a time-sensitive issue.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Nicholas Iatropoulos