'It was disgusting': Downtown Vancouver building smeared with human feces twice this month
'It was disgusting': Downtown Vancouver building smeared with human feces twice this month
Security cameras have captured a woman smearing and throwing human feces at a downtown Vancouver building more than once this month.
The first incident happened on March 9. In surveillance video, a woman can be seeing carrying a bag and smudging something on the door handles. She enters the building and leaves shortly after.
The latest incident happened earlier this week, when a woman threw feces onto the front door.
The building houses office space, the strip club Brandi’s and the massage parlour Swedish Touch.
"It was disgusting to see somebody walk up with a bag of poop in their hands and smear it all over the wall," said Nick Cardarelli, building manager and Brandi’s bar manger.
“It's baffling that this is what is happening in Vancouver.”
Cardarelli believes the perpetrator is the same woman who’s been harassing his customers on the street for money.
Vancouer police confirmed a person of interest has been identified, but said no arrests have been made.
They’re investigating this as mischief, which Cardarelli doesn’t believe will be enough to deter her.
He’d like to see a no trespass order against her and for police to investigate this as more than mischief.
“We're talking about human feces: human feces being smeared on door handles and walls in places that people touch," Cardarelli said.
He believes the latest incident is just the tip of the iceberg of public disorder and violence that’s been happening in the downtown core.
“Vancouver is dying a slow death. People don't want to do business here because it's so hard to get anything done,” he said. “My staff don't want to walk home at night because they're afraid of what's going to happen to them. I've had reports of people being followed or, you know, people get hit with hammers and stabbings.”
City Councillor Lisa Doiminato said the city is working to address these concerns.
“We hear the concerns of small businesses. They are the backbone of our local economy. We hear them. We’re working with different (business improvement associations) to address some of the concerns,” she said. “We want a revitalized downtown, we want a downtown that is safe, clean and vibrant for people, both for people to come and enjoy entertainment but also to come and shop and enjoy the retail, the nightlife as well as to come and work every day.”
She said the city plans to hire 100 new police officers by the end of the year and to add more mental health nurses.
City council has also increased sanitation service in its budget.
Dominato said the city is also working with the province to address larger issues such as housing, poverty, mental illness and addiction.
“I think it is really a complex issue and I think we need to recognize that and we are working collaboratively with the provincial government around a number of these issues,” she said.
She said there is also a pilot program underway to address concerns about feces, specifically, as people are defecating on sidewalks and in hallways.
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