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ganjavih

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Pedestrians spooked by sex, drugs and defecation in Calgary pedways

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=51bf597f-fcf6-4153-9bcb-b46910367e22&k=94067

CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, August 15, 2007

CALGARY - Calgary's unique above-ground maze of covered walkways is becoming an obstacle course for downtown workers, who find themselves sidestepping people having sex, addicts doing drugs and vagrants urinating.

According to a recent survey, Calgarians are using the city's "Plus-15" pedways less often because of growing concern for their safety.

"Those numbers are increasing year over year," said Bill Partridge, executive vice-president of the Building Owners and Management Association. "It's getting worse."

Jody Liscum can attest to that. She works at a downtown store near a Plus-15 - so named because they connect buildings 15 feet above the ground. She said there are always two people tasked with opening and closing the store because of safety concerns.

"We've had people standing and spitting at people," said Liscum.

Partridge's association has been monitoring concerns about the Plus-15 system, and recently surveyed 3,000 users - 80 per cent of them downtown tenants.

Forty-three per cent of the respondents reported having problems with vagrants, 38 per cent encountered drug use and 32 per cent saw signs of gang activity. Fifteen per cent witnessed sexual activity.

Other problems encountered in the pedways include harassment, urination and defecation.
 
that is one messed up city. i think they point the finger at toronto to take away attention from themselves.

one question: why would people have sex in a walkway littered with feces?
 
no longer can they say toronto is a shitty place to live.
 
Yeah, I've been wondering how those Plus 15s are doing these days. (They weren't horrible in the mid-90s, when I was last there--but it isn't like I couldn't have foreseen this coming, particularly as Calgarians rediscover the street level...)
 
Another wonderful step in Calgary's growth where they are continuing to discover that when one becomes a big city, one starts having big city problems and that it's not just that there's something inherently rotten about those other big cities. File this one along with recent articles about congestion, smog, and cost of living articles.

And at the same time we're seeing the signs of a parallel political transformation, as the city become more cosmopolitan in nature it is becoming more cosmopolitan in political views. Oh, I'm sure some folks out there are blaming this walkway issue on "creeps and eastern bums", but I'm also sure that fewer and fewer people are listening and instead want solutions from within rather than blame placed on the outside.

It's just all so fascinating for a geographer or urbanist to observe. And thanks to the red-hot economy it's all happening at an accelerated pace. Should make for a number of interesting thesis topic possibilities in a few years.
 
You are right, CDL. While Edmonton has the whole Austin, Texas thing going (liberal capital in a conservative state), Calgary might start becoming territory contestable by the Alberta Liberals at least.

The new Conservatve premier, Ed Stelmach, is a very rural-centric guy, and Ralph Klien's Calgary seat went Liberal.
 
Another wonderful step in Calgary's growth where they are continuing to discover that when one becomes a big city, one starts having big city problems and that it's not just that there's something inherently rotten about those other big cities. File this one along with recent articles about congestion, smog, and cost of living articles.
Exactly, I can't help but think that 2007 is the year that Calgary became a "big city." Not that they grew more than previous years (although they may have), but simply because there's been a constant onslaught of crimes/events in the Calgary news that make it sound like any other big tier city.
 
If Calgary's as Preston Harper as we're led to believe, I guess the Plus 15 system is the sort of thing hailed as a tourist draw as long as it remains unblighted. Then, once blight sets in, it's seen and not heard, the tourists are redirected to places like the Kensington neighbourhood et al.

It's like a kid within a "happy" family who drops off-radar as soon as she gets her nostril pierced...
 
hmmm...news to me, sure there is the odd passed out person, or panhandler, but every building that has a +15 has security that goes through there, I agree thats its not perfect, but its not as bad as the article makes it out to be. the one thing thats gotta know is homelessness in Calgary has gone from about 350 in 1995 to 3,500 in 2006, so really its just they are more noticeable, but no one really wants to do any thing about the problem.
http://intraspec.ca/2006_calgary_homeless_count.pdf for anyone who want to read the city homeless count report..
 
I was just in Calgary last weekend. While there were a notable number of homeless people downtown I suspect there numbers are comparable to any other Canadian city. They may have been more notable due to the generally light pedestrian activity. The only larger concentrations were perhaps just south of 9th where there seems to be a cluster of shelter services. As homeless go they were actually kind of passive but I could almost extend that description to the whole city experience. I have almost never experienced driving conditions were the traffic was so passive which is actually good if you are from out of town and the traffic signs confound you. It's kind of an eerie feeling for a non-agressive driver like myself but you feel like an F1 driver blowing by local traffic if you actually drive at the speed limit and change lanes on occasion.
 

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