To the editor:

It appears that many Thompson Road residents are not aware of serious safety issues that are apparent on our street. Although our street appears to be a beautiful place to live, as far as some residents are concerned, but are these residents actually seeing all the issues that are desecrating our neighbourhood?

A small group of us have been closely watching the neighbourhood for a long time, and see issues that are not being dealt with, and are quite concerning.

Speed and volume of traffic are of great concern, so much that one retired gentleman has petitioned the neighbourhood for neighbourhood calming measures as well as concerns of an over abundance of "company vehicles" relating to specific businesses which really shouldn't be operating out of a residential neighbourhood. Many of these "business" related vehicles are not being operated safely and some others are very noisy.

Drug dealers have made Thompson, Mitchell, Irma and Quigley roads their usual places to do business, with multiple drug deals taking place on a regular basis. The drug dealing has been taking place for at least 10 years now, and although most residents don't look for it, it's taking place day and night, and is being captured on video surveillance camera's right in front of our homes.

As of late, many questionable people have been seen and captured on camera scoping out the neighbourhood, going into people's yards, and hauling stolen property between 2 and 5 a.m. Many questionable males have been seen on their bicycles carrying backpacks and surveying our neighbourhood after dark, while most are asleep. Males on foot are lurking between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. many appear to be high and are checking vehicles.

While some residents see what they want, there are a few of us that see issue's of great concern that appear to be getting worse. Before someone gets seriously hurt or killed on our street, we want to address these issue's and make our street a better place to live.

We want residents to be able to safely use our street without having to always look over their shoulder, we want kids to feel safe when walking or playing near our homes, we want safety for the many seniors who go out for their daily walks, and with the number of high speed aggressive drivers travelling down Thompson road, this is not possible.

As far as drug houses, there are quite a few in the neighbourhood, mainly rental properties housing drug users and dealers.  These locations stand out to those who look for them, and blend in to those who only look for the good in the neighbourhood.

I didn't buy my house in this neighbourhood to watch the on-going circus of drug deals, aggressive drivers, or noisy diesel pickups. This neighbourhood needs some serious attention, as problems can't continue to make this a frustrating, unsafe, unpleasant neighbourhood to live in.

Bruce Orydzuk, Kelowna