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Came across this article this morning and figured it had some good points to make. I particularly liked the idea of accountability. My super leftie performatively woke friends (who, incidentally, don't live downtown) tend to go on and on about how we need to respect the addicts but somehow forget the flip side of respect, which, to me is accountability and consequences, and those are sadly lacking.

 
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Over the last decade or so we've made the general public become the group at risk because of stance on many things and it is simply not acceptable.

Provide options, treatment, supportive housing and for some jail, but it's far past the time to clean up our streets and communities.

Walking back from work yesterday I would say that >50% of the people I saw were doing drugs, selling drugs, impacted by drugs/mental health, homeless or those they prey on users/criminal in nature.

It's disheartening and unacceptable from a basic humanitarian stance, let alone for those of us trying to go about our daily lives without fear of having to second guess every second person you see walking down the street.

Didn't see one EPS member, no Peace Officers, no Sheriffs, no Transit Police officers in about 30min of walking to and fro.
 
IanO said:
Over the last decade or so we've made the general public become the group at risk because of stance on many things and it is simply not acceptable.

Provide options, treatment, supportive housing and for some jail, but it's far past the time to clean up our streets and communities.

Walking back from work yesterday I would say that >50% of the people I saw were doing drugs, selling drugs, impacted by drugs/mental health, homeless or those they prey on users/criminal in nature.

It's disheartening and unacceptable from a basic humanitarian stance, let alone for those of us trying to go about our daily lives without fear of having to second guess every second person you see walking down the street.

Didn't see one EPS member, no Peace Officers, no Sheriffs, no Transit Police officers in about 30min of walking to and fro.
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I like the idea the article makes, too, that harm reduction needs to also apply to the rest of us who also exist in the space occupied by the addicts.
 
In my recent trip to San Francisco I was pleasantly surprised to find drug use on the streets essentially non-existent in key parts of the City (exception being the Tenderloin district that we Uber-ed through from SFO to Nob Hill). I took a raft of photos on my stay there and made several public ventures via Cable Cars to various parts of the City, including Fishermans' Wharf, Chinatown and adjacent Little Italy. On these trips over 5 days I did not see a single case of drug use nor even pan-handling. I still plan on posting the evidence in a different thread and looking at San Francisco's effort to improve the Retail Experience -- all hopefully to the benefit of Edmonton in terms of overview experiences.
 
archited said:
In my recent trip to San Francisco I was pleasantly surprised to find drug use on the streets essentially non-existent in key parts of the City (exception being the Tenderloin district that we Uber-ed through from SFO to Nob Hill). I took a raft of photos on my stay there and made several public ventures via Cable Cars to various parts of the City, including Fishermans' Wharf, Chinatown and adjacent Little Italy. On these trips over 5 days I did not see a single case of drug use nor even pan-handling. I still plan on posting the evidence in a different thread and looking at San Francisco's effort to improve the Retail Experience -- all hopefully to the benefit of Edmonton in terms of overview experiences.
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SF's unsheltered homelessness rate (per capita) is much higher than Edmonton's too.

The problem (or flawed solution) is that San Fran does this by concentrating all of the criminal activity and homelessness to a few areas and away from tourist locations. They essentially just round up all of their homeless people and put them in Tenderloin and SOMA, which is more viable than it is in Edmonton because it's possible to survive outside year-round. In Edmonton, outdoor fenced "corrals" for this kind of activity is generally impossible because they would freeze to death most of the year.

So yes, as a regular person in SF it's likely a lot better than Edmonton. But the strategies used don't mesh.
 
^ You may be right. I had no specific reason to venture into the Tenderloin or SOMA as a pedestrian so I can't speak to those points. A friend of my client's also confirmed that the Castro District (no personal experience) had become "street-friendly". Our Uber driver did mention (anecdotally) that many drug-offenders were trucked across the Bay to Oakland but I had no way of verifying that either.
 
archited said:
In my recent trip to San Francisco I was pleasantly surprised to find drug use on the streets essentially non-existent in key parts of the City (exception being the Tenderloin district that we Uber-ed through from SFO to Nob Hill). I took a raft of photos on my stay there and made several public ventures via Cable Cars to various parts of the City, including Fishermans' Wharf, Chinatown and adjacent Little Italy. On these trips over 5 days I did not see a single case of drug use nor even pan-handling. I still plan on posting the evidence in a different thread and looking at San Francisco's effort to improve the Retail Experience -- all hopefully to the benefit of Edmonton in terms of overview experiences.
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I love been hearing bits and pieces that this was indeed occurring……..if true, Knack needs to send a delegation to SF including the Chief and getting some sort of blueprint on how to mirror their strategy in YEG…..
 
^ I think that SF could offer several points of interest to Edmonton vis a vis the unhoused, drug use, retail recovery, and tourism -- all in broad strokes of course since the two are very different cities.
 
Glenco said:
Over 700 people overdosed in Edmonton last year. That is two a day. It is a wonder to me there are any left. Clearly liberal attitudes towards drug use is more harmful.
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Excuse me, how are "liberal attitudes" to blame? We haven't had a liberal/leftist/progressive approach to homelessness in 7 years!

Even then, we never followed thorough on any of the liberal ideas that are so often villianized. We never decriminalized drugs.
We never defunded police. We never implemented housing first (plan yes, actual housing no.) No UBI or social supports that actually provide a livable amount. The tiniest amount of harm reduction but nothing at scale.

Then over the last 7 years we have had program and support cut after cut after cut! Access to welfare has been buried in a litany of paperwork projects to prevent "fraud" and eligibility has been drastically tightened. Basically all supports have been stripped away in favor of a profit oriented "recovery model", how's that actually going?

The current situation is in no way the blame of "liberal social justice warriors" because we haven't actually had any power to implement anything!

I am very sympathetic to the frustration and the vulnerability that folks feel being exposed to "social disorder" but at least place the blame on the side of the spectrum that's actually been in power.
 
Greenspace said:
Good thing the Alex isn’t Downtown then.
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Good point, everything that happens within a large radius is somehow attributed back to the downtown core by those who want to make it seem super scary there, but the Alex is actually some distance from there.

Actually there also seem to be more serious incidents recently at West Ed mall recently than downtown, but the stereotypes about downtown being dangerous and the suburbs safe persist.
 
SarcasticMarmot said:
Excuse me, how are "liberal attitudes" to blame? We haven't had a liberal/leftist/progressive approach to homelessness in 7 years!

Even then, we never followed thorough on any of the liberal ideas that are so often villianized. We never decriminalized drugs.
We never defunded police. We never implemented housing first (plan yes, actual housing no.) No UBI or social supports that actually provide a livable amount. The tiniest amount of harm reduction but nothing at scale.

Then over the last 7 years we have had program and support cut after cut after cut! Access to welfare has been buried in a litany of paperwork projects to prevent "fraud" and eligibility has been drastically tightened. Basically all supports have been stripped away in favor of a profit oriented "recovery model", how's that actually going?

The current situation is in no way the blame of "liberal social justice warriors" because we haven't actually had any power to implement anything!

I am very sympathetic to the frustration and the vulnerability that folks feel being exposed to "social disorder" but at least place the blame on the side of the spectrum that's actually been in power.
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Liberal as in open drug use and very little or no consequences for flagrantly flouting the law.
 
So it looks like both "dollar stores" at 101 St and 107 Ave, which were always surrounded by drug sellers, drug buyers, and other delightful personages, have now been shut down. The one south of 107 Ave has been boarded up for a few weeks now and the one north of 107 Ave has looked closed as of last week. I wonder where all the illegal commerce moved to for our boys on BMX bikes.
 
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