The front page story in the April 30 Chilliwack Progress about the burned out homeless camp says that the cleanup job is too big for the volunteers who clean up the riverbank and nobody knows who is going to clean it up.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Volunteers looking for ways to cleanup aftermath of fire at Chilliwack homeless camp
My solution is probably too simple to work, but here it is: How about getting the homeless people who made the mess clean up the mess, much like when a child messes up their room, they have to clean it up before supper?
These people are obviously able-bodied and mentally capable of acquiring and transporting all this stuff into the remote camp, so they should be able to clean up the mess and pack it out.
We (the taxpayers) could generously provide bins, trucking and disposal fees to haul it away and properly dispose of it. They could sort the good metal into a separate bin to be sold as scrap metal to recoup a small portion of the expenses.
This plan would probably be cheaper than hiring a helicopter and ground crew. Since we’re always trying to help the homeless, this would be an opportunity to teach them about responsibility.
Just a thought, thank you for listening.
Bill Jackson,
Chilliwack
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