There is another election, municipal, in my city. I really did try to find someone to vote for this time. I haven't voted for a few rounds now. I just can't find someone worth voting for. They all say the same stuff, they all care about something that doesn't make sense or make any difference. Overall, I think they are all about lining their pockets. It is discouraging. After reading here and there and leaving some replies (see below) I just do not see any point in voting for anyone. It take very little time to actually vote now with it online too. But, why bother?... I really do not believe any of them really care or understand about the people in the city or the issues with living here.

Complaining about past Mayors does not make you sound better in any way.

Are you in Ward 1? This seems to be where the most problems are with the druggies and homeless people. I would like to vote for someone who has actually lived with encounters and more with these druggies and does feel at least some of the anger and paid some of the repair bills we have been stuck with.

Sadly the people with businesses and homes in those areas can not up and move. The people who pay the bills for Barrie do not have all the options and choices and support which are freely given to the homeless druggies. I feel no sympathy at all for them. I just feel very unsafe living in Barrie. My neighbour cleans up shit, literally, from the doorstep of his business in downtown Barrie every day. He doesn't have much of a choice about that. The people who are the problem should have just as few choices, if not less.

The Police are already demoralized enough. The problem is not the Police but the courts which leave them with no power to help anyone but the criminals etc. If you want less taxes take a look at education. That's where your tax money goes. What is it now? 75% of the tax bill. For students who sit in class with their cell phone. They could be out there with a job and figure out that life is not all waiting for parents to do everything for them. A good dose of real life would help a lot of them, I hope.

Tenants are destructive and get away with not paying rent for over a year before a landlord has any hope of getting rid of them. Government and courts are 100% supporting tenants and screw over landlords every time. We rent an apartment in our home. We are far from slum landlords but get screwed over all the time, by tenants. This is a government of Ontario issue, not municipal.

For me the bus route which used to go by my house was taken out. Now the only routes, 3 of them, all go down the same main street. No use to me. I moved here in part due to transit access. We had it for over 10 years. I don't understand why it was removed about 6 years ago. Now I take taxis. More expensive but I don't really have another option. Having groceries delivered has been a great help, it costs less than taking a taxi to the store and back and they are left at my doorstep rather than hauling everything myself. That helps when there is no useful transit service.

One of the candidates wants to remove traffic from downtown Dunlop completely. I think that will leave it a ghost street, no traffic but homeless druggies once all the businesses move to places where people can find parking and actually get to them. Not everyone is mobile enough to get to the downtown as it is. No bus service on Dunlop for years. Parking all but gone now. With only foot traffic it's not going to be enough to keep those businesses alive. Not only for customers to come and go but I think all those businesses also need deliveries and other services which need street access. Some of the candidates seem to have rose coloured glasses and do not see things clearly or logically at all.

Doesn't look like anything is actually getting a reply here. I was trying to decide who to vote for... I think I will just not bother with it at all. Each candidate sounds a lot like the others.

We still live on a street which used to be nice, know our neighbours, all of that. Now we have druggies prowling around trying to break into cars even in the day time. We had to pay to fix the garage where a druggie homeless person lit it on fire. No city help with that. Insurance would not cover it either.

I look after my Mother 24/7, when she dies and this house is sold I will not remain in Barrie. I took a two day trip to Woodstock, Ontario. It was like a vacation - no druggies or homeless people at every intersection, etc. It was wonderful. I didn't realize exactly how stressed I have been feeling until I got away from Barrie a couple of days. I live on a street in Ward One, near the RVH. Downtown is far worse but here is no picnic either. I feel no sympathy at all for the druggies who make life here feel very unsafe.

I am not willing to pay taxes in order to "support" these people. Sucking the life out of the people who have jobs, pay taxes, show up etc is not helping the problem with druggies and homeless. Anyway, no one in government really cares at all. When I write about what has happened to us no one replies. So much easier to ignore it all or decide I'm some crazy old woman. Good luck with the election I'm just going to not bother voting for the people who can't bother with me.

I'd been looking after my aging parents for years. Along the way I became an old woman myself. My parents became unwell and died and I thought I would have some time to find my life and get it back again after all these years. My siblings had come for the funerals. I was glad to see them, and some of their families again.

It had been a long time since I really had time to myself. So, I went out for a coffee, walked there alone, read a book for awhile and then came back home again.

My siblings had a dumpster in the driveway and were tossing everything into it. Everything, my parents belongings and my own. "What do you need all that stuff for?" "You just have too much stuff!" "Won't you feel so much better without all this useless, old stuff?"

They had also planned what would be done with the house, forgetting that I was included in the will and would have half of the value of it as payment, or thanks, for looking after our parents for so many years.

They planned what I would do, what I was allowed to keep... even all my decorations for Halloween and Christmas were disposed of. My books, all but the one I had been reading that day. My kitchen appliances, the French press coffee maker and the coffee beans, my furniture, even my bed and all the sheets and blankets. They had decided to throw it all away.

I was devastated. Years of looking after our parents had made me quiet, almost dormant. In shock, I was silent and stunned. I didn't say anything.

Then... they pulled out a large box with the local discount department store logo on it.

"Look what we found... its so comfortable looking and takes up so little space. It could fit in someone's garage, though we haven't decided who will take it."

It was a coffin.

"It's big enough for you to live in. Isn't that something?!"

They had taken away everything and expected me to live in a coffin, until I died.

Some days this is how I feel. Family keep making decisions for me, deciding they know better. They throw out or give away things that matter to me. With no family of my own, no children, husband, not even a cat... what I have is literally all I have. I do feel it would be just so convenient for them all if I just lived in a coffin until I died.

Activity - Joined in September 2008, last active this month

Interests - ASCII art, built heritage, Ontario history and unexplained.

Favorite Books - Ideas about the future, utopia/ dystopia and survival of people and culture. I've been reading science fiction written 100+ years ago, predictions from the past. Horror, but not bloody, gruesome stuff with killers etc.

About Me - Writing non-fiction for my own site thatgrrl.com Some fiction but I mostly start ideas that I don't find an ending for.

Photographing old rural places, buildings, and built heritage, around Ontario. Not as much as I used to.

Quietly and unapologetically, Canadian, a Witch (no worshipping anything, certainly not devils), and an ASCII artist - asciiartist.com

Volunteering with Ontario Barn Preservation, a non-profit. Also, Curlie.org which used to be well known as the Open Directory Project. I have written about almost anything for a lot of sites online, and one zine in print.

I do not use a mobile/cell phone. I am pretty much anti-phone. My Father was phone obsessed to the point of madness. Growing up with that obsession/ anger... I don't have words for it. Also, its almost never good news. I would rather write an email, or a an actual letter or card to mail (snail mail, imagine that!).

Season's Greetings! Its always one season or another. Why save it for just one?

It's amazing how many women and our potential, pride, safety, happiness, have been sacrificed for the male penis. We can't even imagine how different our society would be if women were treated as people and not sex toys all along. For every one thing that could have been different there are several more affected by it. Like a wall of dominos, not just a chain.

It is an ongoing process, mostly because men, and some women, don't want to change. Men see the role of women and do not want it for themselves. Not the reality, just the cosmetics, clothes, and sex which are traps, not things that make the woman.

What is a woman? People can't even answer that now. Things have become such a complicated mess. Women are getting worn down and rubbed out of existence. That will show them, right boys?

Not all men... they say. People, none of us, can really see the full picture. I think a computer devoted to the task could eventually figure out what the world, our society and culture, would be like if men were not dominating women, if sex were not such a huge part of our culture, if sex was about making babies instead of playtime, if women had been valued and appreciated as people (as a partner) all along.

How many other cities in Canada and other places in the world are falling this way? This makes me feel more like we are watching the end of the world, as far as people living in it, than anything else. I hope the planet, plants and animals can recover once we are gone. I don't think the planet will miss us.

Sent to one of the candidates for ward one in the coming municipal election:

I'm trying to decide who to vote for in ward one. For me a big issue is NOT traffic. Although it is the first issue several of the candidates seem to post about. We live on S----- Street which gets a lot of traffic but the speed bumps are a bigger problem than traffic, for us. Those ebike escooter riders who do not care to follow the rules of the road are an issue but not causing me to want to leave Barrie entirely.

The real issue for us are the drug addicts, homeless and criminals. There is a facility at the end of S----- street for who ever they have living there next. It has been empty for a couple of years. Money well spent I'm sure, NOT!

We have had a drug addict/ homeless person (Corey, known by first name when I called local Police) cause damage (fires), stealing, and trespassing at our home on several occasions. Just my Mother and myself living here, I am 61 and she is 82. I feel VERY unsafe living here, but I do not feel I can move because my Mother would likely be put into a senior's place (if I were not here) and this would be a big upset for her, she LOVES her garden which she has kept for about 15+ years here now.

Anyway, I see these homeless drug people as a big problem and I do not think throwing more money at them is any kind of solution. First, how much more money can be squeezed out of tax payers, especially when it only brings in more druggies (shorter than typing out all the rest). As I see it, every time I am in downtown Barrie, our businesses are moving/ leaving and this means less money to keep supporting the druggies who do not give back anything to the community, they only take. I do not see this working out well at all. Eventually there just won't be enough people with an income in Barrie to keep supporting the druggies. I feel awful for home owners in the worst areas. They would have to abandon their property to leave - who would ever buy something surrounded by human filth? I guess it won't be too many years before no one will want to buy a home in Barrie.

When I drive around Barrie downtown most of it looks abandoned. I have seen druggies half dressed wobbling around with their dink out trying to pee on people walking buy. I have seen druggies who have taken over some of the old (once beautiful) downtown homes in Barrie. I've seen them sitting in a chair slumped all the way over like a wet noodle with another one beside them looking like he didn't know where he was. There is a definite line where the tide turns from business and community to shithole (to be blunt). That line keeps moving along, getting bigger taking more of what could have been good down with it.

My neighbour has a business in downtown Barrie and he is VERY angry about having to clean up (literally) shit and garbage from his front door every day. I do not think a lot of people are over joyed to see their money support the very problem people who are dragging Barrie down. Whatever the solution is I do not see supporting them and bringing in more of them as being at all helpful.

Anyway, for Mayor I think there is no one to vote for really. Alex Nuttall by default at most. I have not decided for Ward One. Like Alex Nuttall, I'm leaning towards you by default, or just not bothering to vote at all. All the candidates seem to think they can take our money and use it for druggies as if there is a bottomless supply and we all just love living here with Barrie turning into a toilet, pretty literal unless someone puts in a Johnny on the spot. Real attractive for possible tourists, business or home owners.

When my Mother does move on, one way or another, I will NOT be staying in Barrie. No safety, no bus service, no chance I want to spend another 15 or so years here. I do not see Barrie as a city that will thrive at all. I don't want to die with it. You could think I am over dramatic but we spent more than $600 repairing damage to our home after that druggie was here and he can come back when ever he wants. Police do not help, not us anyway. They help the druggies and criminals because that's how our legal/ courts are set up now.

Rant over. I sent a note to Alex Nuttall when this was happening. Someone from his office wrote back and just said I should call the police again if something happens. I don't think the politicians have any clue at all about what life in Barrie is really like now. I think I will just not bother to vote. I really do not think anyone in power really cares at all.

General stuff, along the same lines, posted to social media today.

*What if you live in Barrie and want to leave, to sell your house? This homeless drug addict situation affects everyone working, living, or having a property in Barrie.

Local business owners in downtown Barrie clean shit (literally) from their front steps every day. If their business fails there will be fewer tax payers to support the homeless and drug addicts. Why is this allowed at all? Some of these people are trying to help themselves, others do not want help and prefer to have their free drugs and live on public land they do not maintain. One group of people (business owners, tax payers, etc) are good for Barrie, bring money, etc to Barrie. The other... do not. Whatever their story, they are just a drain on Barrie. I don't think that is ok. Those who want help should have it, consider what used to be known as poor houses. If they do not want help then just go away and stop dragging everyone else down.

Adding more facilities just means more cost for Barrie residents AND more homeless and drug addicts being sent/ coming here. I would rather NOT have them coming to Barrie. I drove around Woodstock, Cambridge, and some other towns along the way. It felt like a vacation from beggars and homeless druggies. I still locked the car door but I didn't feel unsafe or worried as I do here in Barrie.

What sidelines? We have had a homeless druggie invade our property and set fires causing property damage we had to pay for. I called Police. We were told not to interfere and wait inside the house. Police stood and watched this person steal even more from our garage, then watched him leave. He came back within the hour, as soon as my brother left and my Mother and I were alone again. Called police again but they are not allowed to really do anything. So... no sidelines here.

Bring back the old poor houses. People could live there and have facilities for water, etc. In return they had to support themselves in some way. At one time it would have been making license plates, something useful and resourceful. This gives them food, shelter basic needs while not allowing them to roam around being a nuisance and problem for local people and businesses. It also gives them a chance to be useful, cared for, members of society again. I know it won't happen, these days it is all about hanging over more and more without asking anything of them, like actually being responsible for themselves again. I think they could have pride in themselves again if they were given care and expected to support themselves again. Isn't that far better than having them wander around using Barrie like a toilet and/or a money pit?

The Rights of Homeless People and Drug Addicts versus Involuntary, enforced care

I don't feel especially concerned about "their" rights. When they pay taxes, contribute to the community, etc. I will care about their rights. Why respect their rights over everyone else living and working in this city? I should have the right to feel safe living here. I don't at all feel safe living here. Its not so easy to just pack up and leave when you are not homeless and have real responsibilities.

Modern Food Banks

They want people to bring in money donations not food. They even say that when the news people talk to them. We prefer money, not food. What kind of a FOOD bank is that? I can't afford to donate money. I don't know where food can be donated, other than the odd event in downtown Barrie where you can bring canned goods. Is the Food Bank doing good or just making money? I don't know.*