occidentalcapital
Senior Member
Public service needs to get a backbone and tell the decision makers that they need to treat both cities fairly.
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Downtown Crime
- Thread starter Stevey_G
- Start date
Gronk!
Senior Member
I was walking through Commerce Place yesterday afternoon after 4 pm when I noticed a man verbally and physically assaulting a woman. A security guard wandered past them but did nothing. What the hell are they paying these security guards for???
IanO
Superstar
Manulife Place's solution to problematic alcoves.
IanO
Superstar
Posted by nunuangel99 on SSP - Bout time and amen
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Posting this on behalf of David Young and many other concerned citizens.
Subject: Downtown Recovery Coalition (DRC)
As many of you know, a group of concerned leaders from both the private and public sectors have been working with many stakeholders in the downtown core. We have all come together under the Downtown Recovery Coalition (DRC).
The condition of the core as a result of the impact of covid, homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges leave us in a very precarious situation. Quite frankly, over the 32 years working downtown, I have never seen the downtown is this state of disarray. T
The key messaging of the DRC is as follows:
1. Downtown Edmonton is in rough shape. We are currently dealing with:
• Violence.
• Untidiness and waste all over our streets, i.e., garbage tornados, used needles etc.
• High rates of commercial vacancy, a sign of people not wanting to invest in our city and downtown core.
• People suffering in the streets with addictions and/or mental health problems.
• For many people, including many women, downtown doesn’t feel like safe a lot of the time.
2. Downtown is a critical part of the success of any city
• We’ve had many important investments in downtown including the Library, Churchill Square, the Ice District and arena, and the future Station Lands.
• We need investment like this to continue, but the state of downtown is deterring this from happening
• The greatest and most successful cities in the world thrive because of their vibrant downtowns.
3. We, as a community, can pull together and solve this
• The DRC has identified some current actions to be taken
o Develop better patrolling and security enforcements at LRT station entrances
o Have more police foot patrol downtown
o Repair the crumbling infrastructure including sidewalks, roads, benches, trees and garbage cans
o Accelerate the removal of construction material so it is not sitting on our streets and sidewalks
o Create better crisis diversion response times
o Develop transitional spaces for those struggling with addictions on the street to bridge the gap between homelessness and permanent housing
o Beginning to develop long term recovery spaces
• The City of Edmonton must take this issue seriously, and dedicate the required resources to revitalizing downtown before it’s too late.
4. Vulnerable people are not to blame
• It is not the fault of people struggling on the streets that we are in this situation.
• As a community, we have a shared responsibility to provide the support required to uplift our most vulnerable.
• No one suffering in the streets does not have a vision of a better life for themselves, or a hope for a better future for themselves
The DRC is going to officially launch its platform on September 29th at a press conference starting at 10AM on the north east corner of 102Ave and 103 street (in front of the vacated Hudson’s Bay store). I would really like to see all of you there to hear what the DRC has been working on and what the plans are for future downtown advocacy.
Please share this email with your contacts and let’s see if we can have a great showing on the 29th
Looking forward to seeing all of you on Thursday morning. Call me if you wish to discuss in greater detail
David Young
Executive Vice President, Managing Director
CBRE | Capital Markets
1995, 10180 101 Street | Edmonton, AB T5J 3S4
T +1 780 917 4625 | C +1 780 908 4525
dave.young@cbre.com | LinkedIn
---
Posting this on behalf of David Young and many other concerned citizens.
Subject: Downtown Recovery Coalition (DRC)
As many of you know, a group of concerned leaders from both the private and public sectors have been working with many stakeholders in the downtown core. We have all come together under the Downtown Recovery Coalition (DRC).
The condition of the core as a result of the impact of covid, homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges leave us in a very precarious situation. Quite frankly, over the 32 years working downtown, I have never seen the downtown is this state of disarray. T
The key messaging of the DRC is as follows:
1. Downtown Edmonton is in rough shape. We are currently dealing with:
• Violence.
• Untidiness and waste all over our streets, i.e., garbage tornados, used needles etc.
• High rates of commercial vacancy, a sign of people not wanting to invest in our city and downtown core.
• People suffering in the streets with addictions and/or mental health problems.
• For many people, including many women, downtown doesn’t feel like safe a lot of the time.
2. Downtown is a critical part of the success of any city
• We’ve had many important investments in downtown including the Library, Churchill Square, the Ice District and arena, and the future Station Lands.
• We need investment like this to continue, but the state of downtown is deterring this from happening
• The greatest and most successful cities in the world thrive because of their vibrant downtowns.
3. We, as a community, can pull together and solve this
• The DRC has identified some current actions to be taken
o Develop better patrolling and security enforcements at LRT station entrances
o Have more police foot patrol downtown
o Repair the crumbling infrastructure including sidewalks, roads, benches, trees and garbage cans
o Accelerate the removal of construction material so it is not sitting on our streets and sidewalks
o Create better crisis diversion response times
o Develop transitional spaces for those struggling with addictions on the street to bridge the gap between homelessness and permanent housing
o Beginning to develop long term recovery spaces
• The City of Edmonton must take this issue seriously, and dedicate the required resources to revitalizing downtown before it’s too late.
4. Vulnerable people are not to blame
• It is not the fault of people struggling on the streets that we are in this situation.
• As a community, we have a shared responsibility to provide the support required to uplift our most vulnerable.
• No one suffering in the streets does not have a vision of a better life for themselves, or a hope for a better future for themselves
The DRC is going to officially launch its platform on September 29th at a press conference starting at 10AM on the north east corner of 102Ave and 103 street (in front of the vacated Hudson’s Bay store). I would really like to see all of you there to hear what the DRC has been working on and what the plans are for future downtown advocacy.
Please share this email with your contacts and let’s see if we can have a great showing on the 29th
Looking forward to seeing all of you on Thursday morning. Call me if you wish to discuss in greater detail
David Young
Executive Vice President, Managing Director
CBRE | Capital Markets
1995, 10180 101 Street | Edmonton, AB T5J 3S4
T +1 780 917 4625 | C +1 780 908 4525
dave.young@cbre.com | LinkedIn
JNO1
Active Member
^
Can I get a "hallelujah"!!!
We are currently in an "all hands on deck" situation and need all stakeholders to help resolve the current mess downtown. Maybe now we will finally see some improvement.
Can I get a "hallelujah"!!!
We are currently in an "all hands on deck" situation and need all stakeholders to help resolve the current mess downtown. Maybe now we will finally see some improvement.
Romanov
Active Member
There are a lot of people that have been working behind the scenes on this over the past year. The good news is that it is starting to gain traction. Key to the success is information sharing and statistic tracking between downtown stakeholders.
occidentalcapital
Senior Member
Good initiative.
IanO
Superstar
Posted on Skyscraper forum by someone who just went to Seattle about the same issues:
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'I find it interesting that we listen to special interest when it comes to police presence.
A trip to seattle last weekend (of course there are all the armed security officers at most of the stores in downtown) - but along 3rd ave which is mostly a transit street where the vast majority of the street disorder centered - king county sherriff and seattle police are now a visible permanent presence. Several officers on each corder, parked police vehicles etc and I would say 75% of the disorder was gone. A person here or there that was clearly severely addicted and a small-ish gathering of people grouped together.
I know the special interest would not like this but an approach like this to problem areas may be the solution. The poverty industry will hate it but it could at least put a dent in it.
Within Metro seattle they also give notice and services to disburse street encampments - again this just dispurses the situation but it also gives the opportunity to work with the people that want help. The city, province and federal government are enabling the situation here at this point.'
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'I find it interesting that we listen to special interest when it comes to police presence.
A trip to seattle last weekend (of course there are all the armed security officers at most of the stores in downtown) - but along 3rd ave which is mostly a transit street where the vast majority of the street disorder centered - king county sherriff and seattle police are now a visible permanent presence. Several officers on each corder, parked police vehicles etc and I would say 75% of the disorder was gone. A person here or there that was clearly severely addicted and a small-ish gathering of people grouped together.
I know the special interest would not like this but an approach like this to problem areas may be the solution. The poverty industry will hate it but it could at least put a dent in it.
Within Metro seattle they also give notice and services to disburse street encampments - again this just dispurses the situation but it also gives the opportunity to work with the people that want help. The city, province and federal government are enabling the situation here at this point.'
Gronk!
Senior Member
Working towards a safe and vibrant downtown Edmonton - Downtown Recovery Coalition
Community-led group of people and businesses who care deeply about downtown Edmonton and are excited by the possibilities of its re-emergence.
yegdowntown.ca
IanO
Superstar
PRESS RELEASE
Downtown Recovery Coalition sounds the alarm on our struggling downtown
September 29, 2022 (Edmonton, Alberta) - Today, the Downtown Recovery Coalition launched its website and released a list of specific actions that can be taken to improve the current state of our downtown.
Downtown Edmonton is the beating heart of our city. It is a centre for business, finance and professional services, an exciting entertainment district, and the seat of government for both the Alberta Legislature and Edmonton City Hall. It is home to 13,000 people and a workplace for 60,000. Less than 1% of the geographic area of Edmonton is downtown, but the land there comprises 10% of the municipal tax base.
Any downtown has an outsized role in shaping how a city is perceived by locals and visitors alike. It is critical that the issues facing the downtown Edmonton area are addressed in a holistic and comprehensive way so that all Edmontonians feel safe, secure and proud to be a part of the action when they visit downtown.
The Downtown Recovery Coalition is a group that has formed organically and independently to advocate for solutions for our downtown. Ideas that the Coalition is putting forward in an effort to identify solutions are:
“I haven’t seen this amount of leadership from the community in over a decade. I’m incredibly proud of the commitment the 25 members of the DRC have shown on advocating for collaborative solutions. We have developed a set of short-, medium- and long-term actions, and will work with decision makers to solve them. Downtown is too important to the success of our city. We’re asking both City Council and Administration, as well as other orders of government, to prioritize our core and ensure it’s safe and welcoming for everyone,” says Coalition Chair Alex Hryciw.
“I’ve lived and worked downtown for many years, and it brings me no satisfaction to be a critic,” says Coalition Vice-Chair Anand Pye. “But things have gotten to a point where we need to talk about this as a community and focus on solutions. Our Coalition developed because we all care about downtown and want it to be better. We need support from the community and those who share our passion to pull together. We will be communicating with the public through the mailing list you can sign up for on our website, and letting people know when we need them to step up, speak up, come to council meetings, and any other items that could help downtown thrive,” said Pye.
Members of the Downtown Recovery Coalition Steering Committee are:
To learn more about the Downtown Recovery Coalition and stay up to date on its work, please visit www.yegdowntown.ca.
For more information, contact:
Evhan Hinz, Communications Coordinator
Berlin Communications
ehinz@brln.ca
780-935-4022
Downtown Recovery Coalition sounds the alarm on our struggling downtown
September 29, 2022 (Edmonton, Alberta) - Today, the Downtown Recovery Coalition launched its website and released a list of specific actions that can be taken to improve the current state of our downtown.
Downtown Edmonton is the beating heart of our city. It is a centre for business, finance and professional services, an exciting entertainment district, and the seat of government for both the Alberta Legislature and Edmonton City Hall. It is home to 13,000 people and a workplace for 60,000. Less than 1% of the geographic area of Edmonton is downtown, but the land there comprises 10% of the municipal tax base.
Any downtown has an outsized role in shaping how a city is perceived by locals and visitors alike. It is critical that the issues facing the downtown Edmonton area are addressed in a holistic and comprehensive way so that all Edmontonians feel safe, secure and proud to be a part of the action when they visit downtown.
The Downtown Recovery Coalition is a group that has formed organically and independently to advocate for solutions for our downtown. Ideas that the Coalition is putting forward in an effort to identify solutions are:
- Creating better patrolling and security enforcements at LRT station entrances.
- Developing more community and solution-oriented policing.
- Repairing crumbling infrastructure including sidewalks, roads, benches, trees and garbage cans.
- Accelerating the removal of construction material so it is not sitting on our streets and sidewalks.
- Creating better crisis diversion response times so that those experiencing crises are attended to as soon as possible.
- Developing transitional spaces for those struggling with addictions on the street to bridge the gap between homelessness and permanent housing.
- Beginning to develop long-term recovery spaces.
“I haven’t seen this amount of leadership from the community in over a decade. I’m incredibly proud of the commitment the 25 members of the DRC have shown on advocating for collaborative solutions. We have developed a set of short-, medium- and long-term actions, and will work with decision makers to solve them. Downtown is too important to the success of our city. We’re asking both City Council and Administration, as well as other orders of government, to prioritize our core and ensure it’s safe and welcoming for everyone,” says Coalition Chair Alex Hryciw.
“I’ve lived and worked downtown for many years, and it brings me no satisfaction to be a critic,” says Coalition Vice-Chair Anand Pye. “But things have gotten to a point where we need to talk about this as a community and focus on solutions. Our Coalition developed because we all care about downtown and want it to be better. We need support from the community and those who share our passion to pull together. We will be communicating with the public through the mailing list you can sign up for on our website, and letting people know when we need them to step up, speak up, come to council meetings, and any other items that could help downtown thrive,” said Pye.
Members of the Downtown Recovery Coalition Steering Committee are:
- Alex Hryciw, Coalition Chair, Director of Strategy, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
- Anand Pye, Coalition Vice-Chair, Executive Director, NAIOP Edmonton
- Cheryll Watson, Coalition Secretary-Treasurer, Chief Connector, STEM Collegiate
- Chad Helm, Founder, The Helm
- Chris Buyze, President, Downtown Edmonton Community League
- Dave Young, Executive Vice President, CBRE
- Devin Pope, Partner, Gather Co.
- Henry Edgar, Partner, EDGAR
- Jan Fox, Executive Director, REACH Edmonton
- Jenny Adams, President, The Adams Agency
- Jim Brown, Partner, Sherrick Management
- Kalen Anderson, Executive Director, UDI Edmonton-Metro
- Kevin McKee, CEO, Pamgman Developments
- Lisa Baroldi, President and CEO, BOMA Edmonton
- Puneeta McBryan, Executive Director, Edmonton Downtown Business Association
- Robert Black, Partner, MLT Aikins
- Robert Seidel, National Managing Partner, DLA Piper (Canada) LLP
- Sean Kirk, General Manager, Edmonton City Centre
To learn more about the Downtown Recovery Coalition and stay up to date on its work, please visit www.yegdowntown.ca.
For more information, contact:
Evhan Hinz, Communications Coordinator
Berlin Communications
ehinz@brln.ca
780-935-4022
IanO
Superstar
Amarjeet Sohi(He/Him) • 1stMayor of Edmonton. Together, we’ll build an Edmonton for all of us.2h • 2 hours ago
Our downtown core is the heart of our city, and over the past few years, we have all seen trauma, pain and struggle in this area due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the downturn in the economy.
In collaboration with local businesses, artists, community leaders, social agencies and safety providers, my office and I are committed to breathing life back into downtown. Together, we can revitalize this area through investments, activations and initiatives that promote vibrancy, community safety and well-being, and economic growth, right here in our downtown core.
I love this city, and I know that we can help downtown Edmonton reach its full potential through collaborative efforts. Home is where the heart is, and together, we can build an Edmonton for all of us.
See you downtown! #YEG #YEGDT #downtownedmonton #downtownyeg #downtownvibrancy #downtownrevitalization #edmonton #edmontonliving #edmontonbusiness
Our downtown core is the heart of our city, and over the past few years, we have all seen trauma, pain and struggle in this area due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the downturn in the economy.
In collaboration with local businesses, artists, community leaders, social agencies and safety providers, my office and I are committed to breathing life back into downtown. Together, we can revitalize this area through investments, activations and initiatives that promote vibrancy, community safety and well-being, and economic growth, right here in our downtown core.
I love this city, and I know that we can help downtown Edmonton reach its full potential through collaborative efforts. Home is where the heart is, and together, we can build an Edmonton for all of us.
See you downtown! #YEG #YEGDT #downtownedmonton #downtownyeg #downtownvibrancy #downtownrevitalization #edmonton #edmontonliving #edmontonbusiness
IanO
Superstar
Gronk!
Senior Member
Edmonton business leaders call for safety, cleanliness Downtown but expert warns police aren't the solution
Edmonton businesses are calling for more safety and investment Downtown, but an expert warns policing won't solve these problems.
edmontonjournal.com
kcantor
Senior Member
^
Re the Journal’s article and quest for “balanced reporting”, I don’t know anyone who thinks that police are ”the” solution or that patrols alone will fix social disorder. But I do know an awful lot of people who rightfully think that a lack of policing and a lack of patrols simply contributes to an unending escalation of social disorder.
Re the Journal’s article and quest for “balanced reporting”, I don’t know anyone who thinks that police are ”the” solution or that patrols alone will fix social disorder. But I do know an awful lot of people who rightfully think that a lack of policing and a lack of patrols simply contributes to an unending escalation of social disorder.
occidentalcapital
Senior Member
Why do they always quote Temitope Oriola as a balanced source? I think that professor has a very open anti law perspective, which is fine, but at least acknowledge that and don't present as a neutral voice. Bigger picture, I think we've tried the no law enforcement approach over the past 3 years and it has failed miserably, including for the most vulnerable.Edmonton business leaders call for safety, cleanliness Downtown but expert warns police aren't the solution
Edmonton businesses are calling for more safety and investment Downtown, but an expert warns policing won't solve these problems.