Photo: Contributed
Downtown Kelowna Association’s new president will do what he can to curb the homelessness, addiction and crime that is prevalent in the city’s core.
Yarden Gershony, a lawyer at Rush Ihas Hardwick LLP, recently kicked off his two-year term as the association’s president, and he said those issues are the biggest problem facing downtown businesses.
“It’s easily the overriding issue for downtown right now,” Gershony said.
Gershony has lived in Kelowna and worked downtown since 2013, when he moved his family to the Okanagan from Vancouver. He joined DKA’s board of directors a few years ago, and now he’s the point man.
“I really do love the downtown, and I want to see it succeed,” he said. “I do think it’s the heart of Kelowna, so to the extent that I can have some kind of influence on the trajectory of downtown and to help it grow, that’s a very cool opportunity to have.”
Some businesses have moved out of downtown, no doubt in part because of the homeless and drug problems that are plaguing certain areas. Others are thinking about doing the same.
Gershony admitted there’s only so much he can do as the DKA head, so his goal to fight homelessness, addiction and crime in the downtown core is to get the key players together as often as possible. Those groups include the City of Kelowna, RCMP, B.C. Housing and Interior Health.
“I see those are the big four entities that need to take action in order to help alleviate the problems,” Gershony said. “I see my role as being an advocate for the downtown businesses to be at the table with those entities and attempt to steer them toward a solution that is in line with the businesses’ interests.”
Gershony, who grew up in Vernon, is proud of the work the “clean team” and the “downtown on-call team” do without much fanfare. They are DKA-sponsored entities that do the work on the front lines.
“They do an amazing job,” Gershony said. “The downtown on-call team, the guys in the red shirts, they know the homeless and the addicted population by name and developed good relationships with them over time. And they alleviate a lot of stress and difficulty from the RCMP and the bylaw officers, because usually the downtown on-call team can reason with these people who are sleeping in alcoves when these businesses open in the mornings, and they move on without a fight or a struggle.
“That adds a lot of value to the downtown businesses and also the clean team. When homeless people leave a mess, they will come along and clean it up. A lot of times, business owners and property owners don’t even know that those folks, the red shirts and the blue folks, are part of the DKA.”
Gershony won’t focus on only the negative during his term. Just as important to him is to grow the downtown’s vibrancy, attract new businesses and make it a destination for visitors.
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