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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham<\/p>\n
With this community comes all the attendant issues \u2014 from petty vandalism to violence, drug dealing, break-ins and more. Public intoxication, people passed out or sleeping on sidewalks and in doorways. The use of toxic street drugs leads to overdoses or unpredictable behaviour, including aggression and physical violence.<\/p>\n
At the broadest level, these issues and circumstances won\u2019t be resolved in a year, or two, or even a decade. In the here and now, various support agencies, community initiatives and all levels of government \u2014 balancing innumerable and often competing obligations and responsibilities \u2014 try to manage the situation.<\/p>\n
Some of the resultant initiatives are \u201cbig picture\u201d schemes aimed at achieving measurable results, such as the provincial government\u2019s Your Way Home program, which aims to rehouse 350 people living in encampments by October 2027. (Homeless Minister Bernadette Smith reported this week that 249 people have so far been housed).<\/p>\n
Some are short-term directives meant to reassure the public.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, the Winnipeg Police Service conducted a 10-day, zero-tolerance drug crackdown in the downtown core, Point Douglas and along a portion of Portage Avenue, prompted by frequent and open use of illegal drugs in the area. It was applauded because something had to done \u2014 but criticized by others because of the way it was done. (The resultant report has yet to be revealed to the public.)<\/p>\n
More recently, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham announced a downtown safety initiative called the Performing Arts Wayfinder Program.<\/p>\n
Gillingham\u2019s office is providing $100,000 to fund two additional staff members of the Downtown Safety Partnership. Beginning in September and running through June 2027, they will patrol the area around arts venues in the East Exchange and offer safe walks to performers and patrons attending performances or rehearsals of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Manitoba Opera and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n
Gillingham said the move is a response to concerns raised by WSO musicians, staff and patrons, among others, who say they have had to deal with a litany of safety concerns in recent years while simply going about the business of their jobs or the pleasure of going to an evening show.<\/p>\n
Realistically, adding two new members to a safety patrol will hardly solve the problems of Winnipeg\u2019s core area. At first blush, the move felt, as Coun. Sherri Rollins said, like a Band-Aid solution to a complex situation.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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However, if the mayor\u2019s wayfinder program will convince concerned arts patrons to keep coming downtown, then it\u2019s worth the relatively small investment.<\/p>\n
As shop owners and restaurateurs around the Exchange District have said this week, the fact the Fringe Festival has brought thousands of people downtown and created a hive of activity in the area has made everyone in the neighbourhood feel just that little bit safer.<\/p>\n
And therein lies the rub \u2014 people are reluctant to come downtown until it feels safer and downtown won\u2019t feel safer until more people come downtown to work, live and play.<\/p>\n
The wayfinder program is a welcome, if small, addition to the many steps being taken in this direction.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the heavy work of lifting people out of poverty, addiction and homelessness must continue \u2014 or the city\u2019s slide will continue as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no getting around the fact \u2014 to many people, downtown Winnipeg is unsafe. Period. Despite its many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-829395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}