‘It’s been 22 years of neighbourhood patrol’: Central Edmonton resident fed up with declining state of area

WATCH ABOVE: A Parkdale-Cromdale resident wants to move out of the area, saying she’s had enough. Vinesh Pratap has the details on why.

EDMONTON — Residents in the Parkdale-Cromdale area have become so frustrated with what they call the declining state of the neighbourhood, that one resident says after 22 years it’s time to move out.

Tracy Patience grew up in St. Albert and lived in the Parkallen neighbourhood when she first moved to Edmonton. She settled into Parkdale-Cromdale, initially attracted to the affordability of the area, but grew to discover a real sense of community.

“It was beautiful. My house has a 100-year-old elm tree out front on my lawn and we had amazing neighbours. So I just thought this is the place I could really make home,” Patience recalls of the day she decided to move to the area.

But there have been challenges over the past two decades. Patience and other area residents say they’ve faced an ongoing battle to clean things up.

“Pretty dangerous situations. We’ve witnessed a, for want of a better word, gang fight in our alley involving weapons where we had to call 911. I mean, we’ve had to call 911 more times than I can count,” she said Tuesday.

Several properties in the area owned by a notorious Edmonton landlord with a criminal history are of a particular concern to residents. Last week’s approval of a basement suite in a home attached to Carmen Pervez, a man convicted in a $30-million mortgage fraud scheme, put things over the edge.

READ MORE: Central Edmonton residents lose fight against landlord with criminal history

“It’s been 22 years of neighbourhood patrol, of community league, of committees, of doing whatever it is they said we needed to do to make this safer,” said Patience.

“We are giving the time, we’re working as a community, we are stepping up as a community and it doesn’t feel like we’re being supported in that.”

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Fellow area resident Amal Nypiuk really likes his neighbourhood and thinks things are improving, but more could be done.

“It’s getting better and better,” he said, “but it still needs a lot more cleanup, especially one street over. It’s really bad.”

Feeling at a loss for what to do next, Patience feels the only thing that will keep her family safe is to move out of the area.

“We’re not moving next week by any means, but we are preparing, we’re setting the stage. It’s time.”