Skip to content

Burnaby resident calls neighbourhood a 'garbage dump’ filled with used needles

Burnaby resident says he's tried cleaning up the area, but gets confronted by 'agitated' drug users.
needle
A Burnaby resident says he's fed up with used needles on the ground. Glacier Media file photo

A Burnaby resident is demanding the city take action to clean up the area where he is because it’s filled with “drug paraphernalia such as used needles.”

Patrick Rodrigues has written a blistering letter to city found about the conditions in the Lougheed area straddling North Road.

“It is a daily occurrence to find drug paraphernalia such as used needles and people using drugs in the bushes, graffiti, appliances and all sorts of other trash along the pathways,” Rodrigues says in his letter to council. “I tried contacting the city once months ago about picking up the drug paraphernalia and was bounced around between parks and some other department about whose responsibility it was, then stopped receiving responses and no one ever came. Is it the citizen’s responsibility to keep these public areas clean? Is it the cities?”

Rodrigues said he has worked to clean up the trash in the area, but lacks the resources to make a dent in the problem, including speciality training or tools to remove used needles and safely dispose them.

“Or deal with agitated drug users who don't like being interrupted,” he writes. “Please advise because I'm sick of paying through the nose to live in a garbage dump where there are no consequences for blatant disregard for public space.”

Rodrigues has asked for a council response the letter is set to be brought up at Monday’s regular meeting.