Better safe than sorry: Downtown Van launches election pressure campaign – BC [Video]

An organization representing downtown Vancouver businesses has launched a campaign to highlight public safety issues ahead of B.C.’s provincial election.

The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, now known as Downtown Van, says the Better Safe / Than Sorry campaign is meant to highlight “what’s at stake if political parties don’t prioritize community safety in their platforms.”

The group is urging the public to press candidates on how they’ll make downtown Vancouver safer.

“Over the past few years our members have been wrestling with significant challenges related to community safety and it is taking a toll,” said Downtown Van president and CEO Jane Talbot.

“Dealing with the realities of theft, damage, employee wellbeing and customers feeling unsafe is preventing businesses in Vancouver’s downtown core from thriving.”

Talbot said this is the first time Downtown Van has launched a campaign directed at the provincial government in this way, but that it was responding to concerns from members.

They’re concerns like …