News   Apr 03, 2020
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LRT Safety

Not LRT related and in Calgary not Edmonton, but at the McDonald's on Memorial Dr and Edmonton Trail (our toddler didn't approve of the hipster sandwiches we got, but admittedly we got a couple of treats for ourselves while we were there), there was a very aggressive panhandler. As someone who is very comfortable walking through Boyle/Macauley after dark as well as the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, I was scared. Is Calgary's houseless population still very much there, just more hidden and maybe more desperate? I definitely saw the houseless population elsewhere. At least the C-Train is safe. We didn't take it this time, $4 per adult per trip plus $2/hour to charge our EV didn't make sense vs. parking at Telus Spark for $12 and charging our EV at no additional cost (not the one under the solar hail shelter which is $2/hour after 2 hours but the one in the open closer to the zoo).
 
Could be worse, last Summer on Seattle's Sound Transit, a mostly naked guy - only wearing a potato sack around his waist.....came on the train with 2 propane tanks in tow....needless to say we didn't feel like getting blown up on a train and got off at the next stop.....btw - he was also eyeballing me so bad at a point that I had to take off my watch and grasp it as a "make shift weapon" just in case he lunged at me or my wife....you see, it's not just YEG where we have bad apples....

These experiences tell wicked stories when we get older Ian, we have to think of these little encounters as "excellent story fodder" for the future....lol
 
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Two years ago a man tried to fight my dad on Calgary's LRT while he was visiting with his wife for a conference. No police, no security, and onlookers just watched it happen. He hopped off at the next stop hoping to find security or police there, but there was no one around so he snuck back on leaving the guy searching for him at the station as the train took off again. He's a retired police officer so he knew how to handle the situation, but it could have been very bad. He did let police know after the whole situation that this guy was cruising the LRT looking for problems.

It's definitely not just an Edmonton problem.
 
Walked through Downtown pedway yesterday twice through Churchill Station. Private security everywhere, EPS beats having coffee in Stantec. At least 6 peace officers at Churchilll, some checking tickets. Another duo of EPS officers moving someone along in pedway to ECC. I'd say there was some street people but it wasn't overwhelming and much improved from years past given the storm and temperatures outside.
 

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