The Pro Stop Auto Centre in the north end of Kelowna’s downtown core has again been targeted by vandals.
“It’s really defeating,” said Jenna Odorizzi, the company’s office manager.
It was early Tuesday morning when Odorizzi discovered one of the shop’s front windows was smashed.
It’s the latest act of vandalism at the shop since a homeless encampment opened down the street about five years ago.
“Vandalism, thefts, break-ins,” Odorizzi said as she described the kinds of problems the business has to deal with regularly.
The increase in criminal activity has prompted the business to beef up security including the installation of loud alarms and security gates.
However, Odorizzi fears that those problems will get worse because of changes the City of Kelowna is implementing at the homeless encampment, namely the new hours of operation.
In the coming days, tent city will transition from operating 24 hours a day to overnight only between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m.
The change will force dozens of people to vacate the premises every morning and onto local streets.
“We see a lot of loitering across the street here in the grass as it is already, so I can only assume it’s going to increase more,” said Odorizzi.
Tom Looijschelder opened his butcher shop in the area only eight months ago and has seen repeated vandalism, including holes cut in the fence around the property.
This is the third time,” Looijschelder said.
He, too, worries about what the daily closure of the tent city will mean for the surrounding area.
“Way more petty crime,” he said of his biggest concern. “One hundred per cent I think the streets will be more flooded.”
But with stricter rules at tent city, Kelowna RCMP stated, “With a more controlled environment and security in place the RCMP will be able to divert officers to calls for service in the surrounding area if/when needed.”
The city, including bylaw services, said it will be watching the potential impact on the neighbourhood closely.
“Staff from the community safety branch will also be engaging with businesses directly starting next week to ensure that we are monitoring that as well not only just from a statistical perspective but from a feeling perspective of how it is around the neighbourhood,” said Kevin Mead, acting community safety director for the City of Kelowna.
At the Pro Stop Auto Centre, the operators aren’t waiting. They are already planning to better protect themselves just in case.
“It looks like we are going to have to take more preventative measures,” Odorizzi said.