Calgary group calls on Alberta government to release revised consumption site review

Avenue Magazine Calgary has issued a clarification regarding how a recent Beltline neighbourhood ranking drop was used in Alberta’s supervised consumption site review.

With its pedestrian and bike-friendly streets and loads of shops and restaurants, the Beltline was ranked by Avenue Magazine as the No. 1 neighbourhood in Calgary in 2018 — but in 2019, it plunged to 32nd place.

On Thursday, Alberta’s supervised consumption site review included the ranking in a section that lists residents’ concerns near the Sheldon Chumir site.

“Overall, perceptions of the neighbourhood, known as the Beltline, have shown a steep decline recently. According to Avenue Calgary Magazine, liveability in ‘the Beltline was ranked number one in 2018 and number two in 2017. This year it ranked 32nd,'” the review stated.

But the magazine’s editor now says that was taken out of context. The magazine has issued a clarification, saying the ranking change was unrelated to activity at the Sheldon Chumir supervised consumption site.

“That wasn’t a factor in our study. The reason the Beltline dropped in our rankings from 1st to 32nd had to do with the way we looked at restaurant data,” said Avenue Magazine editor Käthe Lemon.

“The March 2020 report from the panel reviewing Alberta’s supervised consumption services implied that changes to Avenue’s ranking of the Beltline neighbourhood between 2018 and 2019 related to a decline in livability in the area caused by the Sheldon Chumir supervised consumption site. The change in ranking was unrelated to the Sheldon Chumir or to an overall decline in livability,” read the statement on the magazine’s website.

The president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association said the magazine’s clarification calls into question the credibility of the report.

“I think that was clearly a glaring error that they used information that had nothing to do with the livability of the neighbourhood,” Peter Oliver said on Sunday.

Oliver is now calling for the province to release an updated version of the review, including the magazine clarification.

“I think the report reads a lot more like a political document than any sort of scientific, objective piece of research,” Oliver said.

A UCP-ordered review of Alberta’s supervised consumption sites found “serious problems” with sites such as increased needle debris and deteriorating public safety.

Oliver said he was disappointed to see that there are no plans for another supervised consumption site to be opened in Calgary at this time. He said that just focuses the drug activity into the Beltline.

A provincial government spokesperson responded to Global News in an emailed statement on Sunday.

“The government of Alberta did not author this report. We thank the expert-led committee who worked tirelessly to comb through a significant amount of data and provide a comprehensive and thorough review of supervised consumption sites,” said Kassandra Kitz, press secretary for the Associate Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction.