Business owners near Kitchener encampment call on region to provide more security

Audrey Spieker says she watched on her security camera's footage as a woman set fire to her coat in front of Wonderland Tattoo last week.

The woman appeared to use some kind of an accelerant and torch, Spieker says.

"What happens if she were to light the building on fire?" Spieker said. "Like, maybe not on purpose, but what if her bottle of accelerant dumps over and she's high on drugs? We're watching her smoke crack. She's not making good choices."

For Spieker, the fire was the latest in many instances of vandalism and harassment since people began living in tents in regionally owned property beside the plaza where Wonderland Tattoo is located.

"We've been having safety concerns here since the spring. We've had people with knives outside. We get death threats at the building for asking somebody smoking crack at our door to leave," she said. 

"I don't think that's acceptable. I don't think I need to tolerate that."

A few doors down, Jessica Harrison at The Cake Box says they've had weekly occurrences of damage to property, harassment and garbage.

She says she's made calls to the region, the city, the security company hired to be at the site 16 hours a day and police.

She said the region has said they can change the hours of security, but can't commit yet to 24 hours a day.

"We're not getting the security that we need," she said. 

"Money has come out of our pockets to install our own security cameras to put in new measures. I had to replace the lock on my door because it was vandalized with somebody trying to break in, so there are monetary losses of our sales, not just for me, but the other businesses as well in this plaza here."

One person moved onto the vacant lot at Victoria and Weber streets in January. The encampment began to grow in March and now more than 60 people live at the site.

The region posted an eviction notice and said people living at the encampment needed to be off the site by June 30, but most people remained and they were not forcibly removed. The region is now going to court over evicting people at the site. The eviction application is scheduled to be heard Nov. 7 and 8 in a Kitchener courtroom.

Peter Sweeney is the commissioner of community services at the Region of Waterloo and he says he has heard concerns from local businesses.