It is not uncommon to go to an intersection of Ontario and see someone asking for help, and a city takes measures in order to put an end to practice.
“It is a dangerous situation and it is an illegal situation,” said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim DiodatiWhile quoting the SAFE cities law. “You cannot walk in the soldier in the intersections.”
There was a successful legal challenge To the parts of the law on the drier streets last year, but the ruling judge confirmed a ban on walking on a street to ask the drivers for money.
Niagara Falls has erected panels at the intersection of Morrison Street and Dorchester Road a few months ago that ask people not to give money to beggars, while including the logos of a local food bank and a local popular soup in the hope that people will contribute instead.
“”If you want to help these people, there is a way to help them, “said the mayor.” You do it with the food bank, the popular soup or one of the other social services we provide.
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“We do not try to deny anyone what he needs, we try to get them to stop the law and stop putting themselves in danger and all the others who enter this intersection.”
The signs do not seem to have put an end to the practice of people who help people for the moment, according to the mayor.
“It did not stop, but if people stop giving money and giving them food there, they will stop coming there,” said Diodati.
Publications are not necessarily permanent because they are a pilot project that Diodati expects to last during the summer months.
“We would like to have it throughout the summer when he is busy and more people have come out,” he said, noting “it could last in the fall”.
“And then we hope to return to the municipal council with a relationship with recommendations from our staff, our traffic engineers, on how it works or does not work, what we would change and any other suggestion that we would have.”
If it is uncertain what are the measurement sticks for success, Diodati said that other municipalities wanted to see how effective signs are in Niagara falls.
“I know that a number of other municipalities are looking at us. They have asked questions about it, and they want to know the results because we are the only community to have this kind of problem. It seems that begging has really started from the pandemic,” he said.
– with files Aaron d’Andrea And the Canadian press
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