[Kosy123]

Guaranteed the person who provided these quotes A) never takes transit and B) is never downtown. The suburban and rural right-wing fear-mongers love to tell anyone who will listen how bad, scary and dangerous the city is. I see enough FB comments on my community page to know the type.

Reddit was like this too when the post came up there.

 

[Gus Haynes]

It's not a great video, but the sensationalism in that New York Post quote is off the charts. Edmonton is not Thunderdome.

 

[David A]

Guaranteed the person who provided these quotes A) never takes transit and B) is never downtown. The suburban and rural right-wing fear-mongers love to tell anyone who will listen how bad, scary and dangerous the city is. I see enough FB comments on my community page to know the type.

Yes, that quote is so clueless. Most residential buildings downtown and elsewhere have had buzzers since the 1960's or maybe earlier. The office building I work in has had a security person since at least the 1990's and I think probably since it was built.

It is true some problems are worse now, unfortunately in large part because of governments particularly the ones on the right that don't want to deal with them.

Maybe the NY Post should take a trip to the South Bronx right in their own city and see how great things are there. But I suppose it is often easier to find problems elsewhere and this is the type of thing probably appeals to the smug self satisfied in their audience..

 

[David A]

Did you see the video?

Well I had to search for it a bit, but yes I did find it before it was finally posted here. Surprisingly it is not disparaging of Edmonton in particular, not sure if it even mentions the city name.

However I still fail to see the relevance to New York other than it appeals to the excess sensationalism of that particular paper. I suppose it is the fast food version of news, little real value other than to shock or entertain.

 

[Coprolite]

One Edmonton resident knew the bus station, and noted that the city’s downtown is rife with this kind of urban blight, including homeless people and tent cities.

“Public transit is unsafe, this is where this video was recorded. You can’t get into the downtown high-rise businesses without being buzzed in,” the commenter said.

“Security guards and safe walking plans in place, but still people getting attacked and murdered by drug addicts and parolees out from our insanely lenient in-out justice system,” they continued. “Still, people live and work in these areas and have to deal with this on a daily basis.”

You know, for all of the times I hear this, I'm not sure I've ever seen a tent city in actual downtown, not even in the parking crater. I've seen an improvised shelter here or there tucked into an alley or taking advantage of a heat vent or a bit of shelter from the rain. There was a cluster in a vacant lot over in Boyle Street at one point just around the corner from me, and while it sucked to see them out there in the middle of winter, they were quiet and kept to themselves. They were easily less disruptive than hockey fans or the truck fetishists who get the jet engine sound package on their Ford F-16000.

Also, I can't emphasize enough that EVERYTHING used to be MUCH worse on the whole violent crime front from pretty much the first oil bust to the early 2000s. The core was full of stabby bars and sleazy by the hour hotels. We had an active gang war over the cocaine trade with mysterious (still unsolved in some cases) explosions and late night gun battles and knife fights at wedding receptions. And we had a huge issue with street prostitution (yeah, when Mordecai Richler wrote about streetwalkers plying their trade on Jasper, that was an actual thing) and all of the sorts of sexual predators that brought out. It sucks folks are sleeping rough, but boy oh boy do people forget a whole bunch of context.

 

[Coprolite]

It's not a great video, but the sensationalism in that New York Post quote is off the charts. Edmonton is not Thunderdome.

We did used to have a night club called the Thunderdome which was the kind of place where folks would get stabbed, but that was back in the 1990s when our violent crime rate was rather higher than nowadays.

 

[Coprolite]

Well I had to search for it a bit, but yes I did find it before it was finally posted here. Surprisingly it is not disparaging of Edmonton in particular, not sure if it even mentions the city name.

However I still fail to see the relevance to New York other than it appeals to the excess sensationalism of that particular paper. I suppose it is the fast food version of news, little real value other than to shock or entertain.

The Post has always been a sensationalist rag, prone to "if it bleeds, it leads" writing. But nowadays New York is a much safer place than it used to be back in the "oops everyone has lead poisoning" days and they might have to look further afield to cater to that audience.

 

[Coprolite]

Yes, that quote is so clueless. Most residential buildings downtown and elsewhere have had buzzers since the 1960's or maybe earlier. The office building I work in has had a security person since at least the 1990's and I think probably since it was built.

Ironically, you were less likely to have a buzzer if you lived in an actual rough neighbourhood. They popped up first in the swankier places as a means to do away with the doorman.

After the fact edit: Though, I wonder if they're referring to things like how you couldn't get into Edmonton Centre via most entrances after 1700 after COVID came along. That seems to have been eased up on though?

 

[northlands]

We had an active gang war over the cocaine trade with mysterious (still unsolved in some cases) explosions and late night gun battles and knife fights at wedding receptions.

Used to go to the Mirama during Chinese New Year during the early 00s growing up. There was a red-ish stain on the wall on the 3rd floor and a friend would say it was from that infamous wedding stabbing.

Damn shame the way that building was left to rot before being demo'd. I always wish I could have gone there during its heyday in the 90s.

 

[Coprolite]

Used to go to the Mirama during Chinese New Year during the early 00s growing up. There was a red-ish stain on the wall on the 3rd floor and a friend would say it was from that infamous wedding stabbing.

Damn shame the way that building was left to rot before being demo'd. I always wish I could have gone there during its heyday in the 90s.

I can't remember if I ever made it there. My dad would take me to all kinds of places in Chinatown for dim sum, but those blend together a bit. But it was definitely one of those optimistic attempts at "new Chinatown" east of downtown after old Chinatown got razed for redevelopment. There was a lot of looking to Hong Kong for ideas as to how to do things, but most implementations ended up smaller scale and maybe a bit more make do.

 

[Stevey_G]

You know, for all of the times I hear this, I'm not sure I've ever seen a tent city in actual downtown, not even in the parking crater. I've seen an improvised shelter here or there tucked into an alley or taking advantage of a heat vent or a bit of shelter from the rain. There was a cluster in a vacant lot over in Boyle Street at one point just around the corner from me, and while it sucked to see them out there in the middle of winter, they were quiet and kept to themselves. They were easily less disruptive than hockey fans or the truck fetishists who get the jet engine sound package on their Ford F-16000.

Also, I can't emphasize enough that EVERYTHING used to be MUCH worse on the whole violent crime front from pretty much the first oil bust to the early 2000s. The core was full of stabby bars and sleazy by the hour hotels. We had an active gang war over the cocaine trade with mysterious (still unsolved in some cases) explosions and late night gun battles and knife fights at wedding receptions. And we had a huge issue with street prostitution (yeah, when Mordecai Richler wrote about streetwalkers plying their trade on Jasper, that was an actual thing) and all of the sorts of sexual predators that brought out. It sucks folks are sleeping rough, but boy oh boy do people forget a whole bunch of context.

There was a show called "Under Arrest" on Netflix for awhile that followed EPS officers during the early-ish 2000s and late 90s. Well worth putting your pirate hat on and sailing the high seas for.

 

[Coprolite]

There was a show called "Under Arrest" on Netflix for awhile that followed EPS officers during the early-ish 2000s and late 90s. Well worth putting your pirate hat on and sailing the high seas for.

My dad had a lengthy career with Social Services, most of that either in Family Services (ie foster care, child abuse, child abandonment, etc) or the Crisis Unit, and spent a lot of time doing calls with the EPS in cases where kids were in danger, so I have no shortage of stories. But I'll look for it since that end of his career trails off in the 1990s as they transitioned him to headquarters. Could be interesting to compare/contrast.

 

[Gronk!]

Hey, how's the Warehouse Park construction coming along? That's the purpose of this thread, right?

 

[Coprolite]

Hey, how's the Warehouse Park construction coming along? That's the purpose of this thread, right?

Still afflicted with the deeply overwrought perceptions of suburbanites that the location will literally be an encampment, but increasingly park-shaped. I will definitely visit it when it becomes a park.

 

[Xtend]

FYI - My response (albeit 4 weeks later) from Sarah et al. regarding the quiet removal of the water feature:

So same old same old...
Nothing much to see here