My wife and I moved to Sidney from downtown Victoria eight months ago.

We had spent 30-plus years living there and saw a very pleasant, peaceful area slowly turned into a dangerous slum by the unchecked proliferation of the homeless.

True, there are some homeless that are there by no fault of their own but we have found that the vast majority are not. Wherever they congregate, crime and destruction follow. We have seen and experienced it first hand. It is real.

Over the past couple weeks we’ve noticed an increase in the obviously strung-out street people on Beacon. We’ve also noticed an increase in tagging (not to be confused with semi-respectable graffiti). If this is left unchecked you are guaranteed to experience a growth in the problem. Hopefully, we have not spent a large amount of time and money relocating to Sidney only to have the problem follow us.

For all of our sakes, please stop the proliferation of the street people in Sidney before it gets out of control. Otherwise, we will all regret your inaction.

Denis and Yolanda Corbett

Sidney