2023 DOWNTOWN SAFETY
Most days, I'm incredibly excited about what's happening downtown. I see an animated Churchill Square and a City Hall fountain filled with families, busy restaurants and vibrant patios, and incredible turnouts for festivals like Downtown Spark. Thinking back to where we were at the start of my term in October 2021, I realize we've come such a long way from where we were.
There are other days when I'm disheartened by conditions in the core. There's no denying that we continue to face challenges downtown, from broken windows and break-ins, to a drug poisoning crisis playing out on our streets, to the uncomfortable and sometimes unsafe interactions people are experiencing in the core.
For me, this mix of days is reflective of the reality of our downtown: we've made great progress but there is still work left to do.
In spring 2022, I shared this blog post outlining the initial steps my Council colleagues and I took to address safety and cleanliness in central neighbourhoods, and I wanted to provide an update on what we've done since. Over the past year, Council has continued to take a both/and approach, looking to balance short-term responses with long-term solutions.
Late last year, City Council approved a funding formula for the Edmonton Police Service that saw their budget increase by $7m in 2023 to an annual total of $414m. Council also approved $15m to support the Healthy Streets Operation Centre specifically targeted in downtown, Chinatown, and Kingsway that coordinates responses between City Peace Officers, EPS, Fire Rescue, and social agencies. Council further committed $13m over the next four years to REACH's Crisis Diversion 24/7 program to ensure that there are available resources to respond to non-criminal crisis events. We've also taken a targeted approach to transit, which I've outlined in this blog, and funded a municipal drug poisoning response.
The cleanliness and vibrancy in the downtown core is another area where Council has been investing resources. The Downtown Special Waste Collection team conducts daily patrols to address litter, debris, needles, and biohazardous waste. In 2023 so far, they've proactively collected 4,051 needles, 4,998 bags of litter, and addressed 369 shopping carts and 563 locations with biohazardous waste in the downtown core, including Chinatown. I've certainly noticed a change in the overall cleanliness of our core, in no small part thanks to that team!
The City introduced the Window Repair Grant in Downtown, North Edge and Chinatown as a way to support businesses facing vandalism. The grant helps ease the financial impact on businesses while also ensuring that windows are repaired promptly, restoring a welcoming face to downtown. The program complements the City's existing Professional Graffiti Cleaning program, available to businesses across Edmonton.
We continue to invest in downtown vibrancy with our Director of Downtown Vibrancy. We are awarding $5m per year in Downtown Vibrancy Grants (apply here!) and are seeing great returns on this investment. This summer, we have 150 festivals and events scheduled in the core, surpassing what we had pre-pandemic, a great indicator of the positive impact these resources are having.
Aside from these immediate responses, City Council has been investing in longer term solutions to underlying causes. Ensuring every Edmontonian has a place to call home is a big part of this. In 2022, Edmonton opened 500 new units of affordable and supportive housing, with plans for many more to come. Those plans include $18m a year for our ongoing housing and homelessness programs in the 2023-2026 budget. Those funds will be supplemented by $26m in capital dollars for 2023 for building affordable and supportive housing, with a plan to invest a total of $91million by 2026. We've also recently committed $4m to the Bissell Centre and Boyle Street Community Services to continue to provide spaces for people to be while connecting them to housing and services.
Council is also committed to the physical infrastructure of the core. The downtown will see about $100 million in capital funding in the 2023-2026 budget to improve infrastructure and create more amenities downtown. This fall, we will be talking about development incentives that can support further residential construction and the conversion of empty office space to residential in our downtown.
I know we have more work to do and we will continue investing City resources to support our downtown. We will also continue advocating with the Provincial government to take bold action on the housing and health crises that they are uniquely placed to help address.
I appreciate everyone who is working so hard for our downtown, from businesses and residents to City staff and office workers coming to the core. I'm confident with our collective efforts, we'll continue seeing more good days. Remember that you play an important part in the success of downtown and you can contribute by visiting the core, sharing your stories, and inviting friends and family to the heart of our city. I look forward to enjoying the best our city has to offer over the summer months and hope to Meet You Downtown soon!
