Mayor Mandel met on Friday with Edmonton’s police chief Mike Boyd as well as city manager Simon Farbrother and Edmonton Public Library CEO Linda Cook to come up with a plan to make the area in front of the library safer.
According to Cook, seven newspaper boxes will be removed immediately from 102nd avenue in front of the library, and the bus shelter will either be removed or made smaller. The hope is that removing obstacles along the strip will help keep pedestrian traffic moving.
Chief Mike Boyd says more police officers will now be patrolling the area around Churchill Square. The officers will make a point of stopping to talk to people in the area.
“The police service is going to be addressing conduct and behaviour (of those) who are inappropriately using that space, and that’s a point I want to make very, very clear here. There are certain activities and drunken and disorderly behaviour is certainly not going to be tolerated by our police officers.” Boyd said.
Earlier this week the Mayor had floated the idea of moving the main entrance of the library to help reduce crime. That will not happen for the moment, but Mandel says he still likes the idea.
The discussion comes after two stabbings involving teenaged victims happened within 5 hours of each other outside the library and the City Centre Mall last week.
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