Business owner says dialogue needed on downtown problems

By Steffanie Costigan - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 8, 2023.

Although a motion to look into the feasibility of a fence around Galt Gardens was defeated in a vote by city council last month, opinions on the proposed fencing are still passionately being voiced.
When the official business motion was first put on the agenda of a Standing Policy Committee meeting before being delayed so council as an entirety could discuss it, many individuals expressed the reasons for their opposition to the idea. But others have come forth voicing the pros of the idea.
Hunter Heggie, owner of King of Trade, is one individual who sees positives in the fencing idea.
He shared the frustration business owners are experiencing in the downtown area and the misinterpretation people have with the idea fencing.
“We’re frustrated downtown, we’re really frustrated. There’s a lot of people protesting, ‘we need housing, not fencing,’ you know, and there’s so many people that are misinformed out there,” said Heggie.
“What they’re not understanding is we have two issues going on.”
Heggie expressed there are two groups of individuals on the streets; a group which is experiencing homelessness and a group struggling with drug addiction. He voiced his own personal experience, having lost a family member to drug addiction.
“I say this speaking as a man who lost his brother-in-law to drug addiction. My family has lived through it. It’s not without a heart that I say that. It’s not because I don’t care about the drug addicts. It’s actually the opposite.”
Heggie said he and his wife volunteer once a month at the soup kitchen and they see many new faces while there. He expressed his disappointment about the outcome of the council vote which defeated the proposal to have City administration look into the feasibility of fencing and the importance to discuss the issue further.
“I was disappointed with the vote and disappointed with people just instantly going, ‘what a terrible idea.’ The vote, the motion was to investigate this further and see if this was worthwhile to do, and what the costs would be, and a feasibility study and discussion.
“I don’t know why anybody downtown would want no more discussion about what’s going on. Maybe that idea ends up being a terrible idea. But my experience tells me when we discuss ideas, other ideas come out. Let’s discuss the issues. If we don’t discuss the issues, they’re not going to get solved.”
Heggie shared his faith and the lesson of teaching individuals ‘how to fish’ rather than continuing to give fish.
“I believe that the Savior taught people how to fish. He didn’t just give them a fish. You know, that’s the whole point of this…We got to try to get them off the streets.”
Heggie expressed the endangerment of enabling addiction rather than helping.
“We can’t enable like we’re enabling.”
He questions how this approach is helping the situation.
“Does anybody bring you a sandwich every day? Does anybody come clean up for you? Like nobody does that. Why are we doing this? Why are we treating people as if they’re three years old?… At a certain point you’re an adult now, and you can make your own sandwich.”
Heggie said he is not trying to be harsh but rather help in the battle against addiction.
He referenced Marshall Smith, former assistant to Premier Danielle Smith who also dealt with addictions issues.
“When he talks about it, he says in his experience of being a drug addict, and helping others come out of addiction, no one comes out unless they’re pushed one way or another. Maybe they find God, maybe they have a health scare.
“Maybe it’s family that they decide they need to clean up for their kids. But there’s some sort of push that needs to happen. No one just gets up in the morning and goes, ‘yep, today we’re done.’ None, they don’t do that.”
Heggie said he wants to help, however he believes in a different approach of helping than some others.
“I just believe in a different way of helping people, helping people to help themselves, and the first thing you’ve got to deal with that addiction and make it difficult to be an addict.”
He related back to the misinterpretation individuals had with the fencing proposal.
“That’s the whole thing. They just heard fence. We need housing. Why would you spend that money on fencing when you could have housing, and they’re not understanding the bigger picture of the issue.”
Heggie said he frequently hears businesses being labelled as selfish and heartless for talking about the ongoing issues they are faced with on a daily basis.
“I hear this ‘You know, the businesses you guys just complaining about that, like have a heart.’ Actually, it’s the opposite. You know, my employees have found dead bodies in the alley. Do you think that we’re tired of that? That person has a family.”
Heggie mentioned an incident which was caught on a security camera in which a woman taking a substance defecated herself and fell unconscious. Once unconscious, a man could be seen putting his hands down her pants before doing a sex act on himself. The police were notified.
“If that was my daughter ‘Oh, my hell, like she was sexually assaulted’. . . That’s just one incident that was caught on camera that is happening every night in our downtown, multiple, multiple times.
“It’s sickening. And we’re dealing with that every day. And then someone would say, ‘wow, you evil businessmen are all about making money.’ What? No. If you were seeing that in your neighborhood, you’d be like ‘we can’t tolerate that.'”
Heggie said the idea of the fencing was to shed light on the issues being faced downtown.
“The discussion of that idea brings out several other ideas that have merit. Would you say that that discussion on the fence was a waste of time? No, it wasn’t because it got us talking about the problem and how we would solve that problem.”
Heggie expressed the importance of hearing all ideas about overcoming downtown problems, and it is unreasonable to not discuss options.
“We have serious problems in our city that are getting worse. And we’re at a turning point here. Either we’re gonna go one way or the other. And in my opinion, all ideas should be on the table.
“All ideas. To just take an idea away without even considering it. Just a on a whim is silly. That doesn’t make any sense to me. I want to listen to all people’s ideas, everyone’s ideas.”

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