Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry housing and community safety forum draws crowd

About 115 people gathered to discuss housing and community safety in a salon-style town hall at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Saturday.

The forum was organized by Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry Coun. Sherri Rollins as a ward engagement event.

Attendees included concerned citizens like Jean Altemeyer, who lives in Rollins’ ward.

Altemeyer wants to see the city do more to battle abandoned or neglected properties and absentee landlords — particularly the long-neglected Rubin Block on the corner of Osborne Street and Morley Avenue — by increasing fees and otherwise giving landlords incentive to either sell or demolish derelict buildings.

Altemeyer also hopes to see the city better protect its embattled tree canopy in general and in the wake of an emerald ash borer infestation first detected in 2017. The emerald ash borer will kill about 350,000 green ash in the long-term.

She also came to listen.

“If you have likeminded people, the more folks that are together rather than having a scattershot — sometimes it helps to hear from different people,” Altemeyer said.

The community’s response was overwhelming, and heartening, Rollins said.

“(We) literally had to change venues a couple of weeks ago,” Rollins said.

Her goal was to hear diverse opinions from her constituents and the city at large — and allow a space for people to discuss solutions for community issues.

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