A community group is concerned about the increase in crime and homelessness in downtown Moose Jaw and wants elected officials to do more to protect businesses.
Carolyn Ross, representing the Good Neighbours Group (GNG), spoke to city council during its Dec. 18 regular meeting, with more than a dozen supporters in the gallery.
Presentation
The group is so concerned about what’s happening that it started a Christmas Goodwill Ambassadors’ program to walk the downtown to spread festive cheer and hand out candy canes, she said. More importantly, the program was created to support higher foot traffic; the results have been positive and many businessowners are thankful.
There are over 200 downtown businesses and the ambassadors have visited every one with a storefront, Ross continued. Almost all businessowners said they were concerned about their livelihoods, safety and increased costs due to vandalism.
The ambassadors also discovered that street people have chased after teenage workers; that a businessowner who was eight months’ pregnant chased off habitual shoplifters; and that another owner couldn’t leave her vehicle because street people had surrounded it.
“This businessowner has been in business for 7.5 years. The last two years have been extremely challenging. They no longer feel safe in their own business,” said Ross.
The “traumatic events” have also affected people psychologically since many no longer want to visit the area, she continued. Meanwhile, many businessowners are female, while many incidents have gone unreported. Also, concerns are growing about the increasing biohazards — humane feces — near the library.
“Without downtown Moose Jaw, the community — known for tourism and the downtown culture — will suffer. What is Moose Jaw without a downtown (or) without tourism?” Ross said, noting her family started a business here in 1945, so her roots run deep.
The GNG is concerned about the community’s safety, especially on Main Street, in Crescent Park and at the library, and wants to know what council’s plan is to change the negative culture and how the group can support that, she added.
People helping people
Coun. Heather Eby said she was familiar with many of these concerns, while she agreed that change was needed. She thought this could occur after attending a community “changemakers” gathering on Dec. 15, where people discussed solutions.
“I think so often … that some level of government should come in and fix it. And I don’t know it falls squarely in the lap of any level of government,” she said, noting people should be helping people, like Gus Carrasco, who is feeding low-income people in Crescent Park.
While many residents want council specifically to do something, council has instead increased the police service’s 2024 budget so it can have a full complement of 64 officers, Eby continued.
However, she said having more officers would still not create the change people want since the problem is deeper than surface level. Meanwhile, she didn’t have a solution and didn’t think committing money would help since that would lead to a higher municipal tax increase.
“It’s not that we’re not listening … but what we can do is fairly limited,” she added.
Attend a meeting
Mayor Clive Tolley also attended the changemakers’ event and said attendees created a community care strategy group to help determine what the city could do. However, the provincial government is responsible for health, social services, justice and addictions, so council will wait for a provincial plan before taking helping however it can.
One way to address downtown disturbances is to keep that area busy, which means encouraging more people to visit and businesses to stay open to deter criminals, the mayor continued.
Tolley said he would attend a GNG meeting if asked. He encouraged Ross to contact the city manager for a meeting, since it was important to pool resources and ensure community groups were pulling in the same direction.
Ross told Tolley that the GNG had not been invited to the community changemakers’ meeting and was never aware of it.
More police presence
Coun. Doug Blanc sits on the police board and said, during a recent meeting, the issue of more police downtown was raised and how the agency has worked to increase officers’ visibility. While that presence may not be enough, throwing more money at the problem may not be the solution, either.
Blanc has accompanied police on foot patrols and ridealongs, and during visits to the library, police told staff to call them to report problems. Otherwise, they won’t know about it and can’t intervene.
“I wish … we could have a patrol officer on every corner 24 hours a day,” he said. “But we just financially can’t do it.”
Police Chief Rick Bourassa has said that if a specific person is causing problems regularly, police can charge that person and the courts can creates orders prohibiting a return to that location, Blanc continued. Bourassa has also confirmed that the police will have more foot and bike patrols downtown next year and into 2025.
Blanc also pointed out that this isn’t necessarily a housing problem since many people need counselling or addiction treatment. However, it’s the province’s responsibility to create those services.
He added that businessowners should call police for all unsafe or negative situations.
A culture change
Coun. Crystal Froese sympathized with the GNG, saying her great-grandparents helped build the community, including the “gem” of a downtown. She acknowledged that that area has changed dramatically in the last five years due to social issues outside of council’s control.
What she appreciated was how community groups are working together and creating an action plan with measurable results. Meanwhile, she was recently re-appointed to the police board and plans to propose a downtown community safety action plan.
While it’s unrealistic that an increased police presence would automatically lead to change, it could help businesses know whether calling for help is appropriate, Froese said. Yet, if people don’t work together to change things, nothing will improve.
“I don’t want to see any of our businesses downtown … afraid to go from their businesses to their cars or being alone in their own business … so there has to be a culture change,” she remarked. “But everybody has a right to feel safe.”
Other ideas
Coun. Kim Robinson said he didn’t think Ross or the GNG wanted council to “give you a bunch of fluff” about what it could or could not do. Instead, he believed the group wanted leadership and thought council could provide that.
Council should speak to the federal government and encourage it to change the bail program since this catch-and-release system is “like a fishing hole,” said Coun. Jamey Logan.
Coun. Dawn Luhning said she understood these problems since she had an office downtown. She agreed that having a busier downtown would be better and was disheartened that many don’t want to visit anymore.
“So far I have not felt unsafe and have not had clients say they have felt unsafe, but I’m sure it’s coming,” she said. “We need to be proactive about this and not run away scared.”
Council then approved a motion to receive and file the presentation.
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