Belleville’s mayor is seeking to address concerns and ‘false narratives’ surrounding the city’s downtown core following multiple overdose emergencies on Wednesday.
Neil Ellis stated in a message to the community that it was never anybody’s intention to make people afraid to come downtown and in all the times he has worked, walked and played downtown, he has ‘never felt unsafe.
“We have a beautiful downtown core with so many incredible businesses and it is unfortunate that recent news has painted such a negative picture. This was never the intention,” Ellis emphasized in his statement.
The mayor went on to say addiction, mental health and homelessness is something that impacts the entire city, not just the downtown.
“We are facing this crisis as a community and we are not alone,” he stated.
“Municipalities across the province and country are facing these same issues and that is why we have called on senior levels of government for support.”
Ellis finished by saying Belleville is a strong-knit community that remains a great place to live, work and visit and encouraged residents to help out businesses in the downtown core whenever possible.
“Now more than ever, we need to come together to support the many locally owned businesses operating in our downtown core.”
No fewer than 13 overdoses were reported to have occurred in the downtown on Tuesday, while five more were reported on Thursday.
This led to a state of emergency being called in the city, with Ellis saying that emergency services, the health care system and local resources are stretched to the limit and getting close to a breaking point.
