City staff may have a cure for London’s downtown core.
It’s called the Core Area Action Plan and it presents 69 actions aimed at revitalizing London’s core, which includes downtown London, Richmond Row and parts of Old East Village.
In preparing the plan, city staff say they spent several weeks interviewing business owners, residents, police and any other Londoner that frequents the core.
Answers included in a report attached to the plan noted concern over an increase in homelessness, a lack of police presence and the perception that violence — or the threat of violence — is on the rise.
Other Londoners noted, according to the report, that theft and vandalism occur regularly, panhandlers are often aggressive and intimidating, public infrastructure is often damaged and that needles, feces, urine and garbage often left present in storefronts.
However, the report does not provide data attached to the observations provided by those interviewed by city staff.
‘I think we need to do something, and we need to do it now’
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Given the feedback they’ve received, city manager Martin Hayward said there’s a sense of urgency with the plan.
“I think we need to do something, and we need to do it now,” he said.
“Part of that is having a compassionate hand on the folk that are causing some of those issues.”
The plan’s 69 actions are guided by four needs for the city’s core, which aim to reduce homelessness, increase safety, help businesses thrive and attract more visitors.
“All of those are playing off one another,” said city planner John Fleming.
“To address just one of those really won’t do the job. It won’t lead to something that is sustainable by way of downtown or core-area improvement.”
The 69 actions for the plan are split up into three timelines: short-term, medium-term and long-term.
The short-term actions are expected to be completed within six months, medium-term actions have a schedule of six to 12 months and long-term actions will be done within one to two years.
Short-term actions include a Housing Stability Week. Slated to begin next week, city staff will work to connect people who are homeless to the housing and health services they need.
Other actions in the near future include recruiting food trucks to Dundas Place, doubling the amount of foot patrol officers in the core and establishing a program that allows the city or a partner agency to sign a headlease for anyone seeking housing who is unable to sign a lease themselves.
Further down the line, other actions aim to increase cleanliness, provide temporary free parking, prioritize the core-area for public art and regenerate affordable housing stock in the city.
As for the cost, many of the actions can be funded within existing budgets while the ones that require additional funding will receive their own business cases, according to Hayward.
Hayward pegged the operating costs of actions that require additional funding as somewhere between $3-million and $3.5-million.
“That doesn’t necessarily include all the capital pieces, which would be one-time sources,” Hayward said.
Specific numbers will likely be shared when separate business cases are presented to council.
The plan will seek an endorsement from the Strategic Priorities and Policies Committee next week.
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