A Victoria municipal councillor is calling on the city to step in and help shoulder some of the mounting security costs faced by businesses, amid mounting crime and vandalism.
Stephen Hammond brought a motion to council Thursday seeking to have staff look into costs and funding mechanisms to beef up security in neighbourhoods affected by crime and spillover effects from homeless encampments and supportive housing sites.
The motion was defeated, but Hammond says he still believes the city needs to do something for businesses who are shelling out extra for security, repairs or the cost of theft.
“It’s a great burden, a great expense, and my motion was just to spread that out, so that where you’ve got problems, the whole city as a whole will come and help with that security a little bit,” he said.
“Whether it’s businesses or residents, it’s for anyone to feel safer, to feel they can go out at night, to feel they can come down for an evening concert, for example, where some people have said, ‘I will come down in the day but I won’t come down at night.'”
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Josh Goyert owns Victoria eatery The Ruby, and said the climate in downtown Victoria is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses.
Smashed windows, shoplifting, harassment and violence have conspired to eat away at businesses bottom lines, while chasing away customers as well as staff — some of whom don’t feel safe being out late.
“It takes a lot of eggs to make up the cost of fixing a broken window, or somebody that hits one of your patrons that’s waiting in line, you lose that patron,” he said.
“It’s substantial, and it creates a kind of uneasiness and sense of fear in the downtown core.”
Goyert said it’s up to government to help businesses create an environment that feels safe for customers.
He said he believes downtown Victoria will see business closures if things continue the way they’ve been going.
“The fact that we are experiencing such an increase in random violence and vandalism, it makes sense that there is some give and take and it’s not all just sat on the businesses to figure out,” he said.
“You can only have so many pairs of sneakers stolen before you can’t afford to have that extra person on shift.”
According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, 61 per cent businesses in the province have experienced vandalism.
Forty-three per cent feel they’ve been affected by homeless encampments or vagrancy, while 35 per cent report their staff or customers have been harassed.
B.C.’s NDP government has been reluctant to fund specific crime-related benefit programs.
It has instead focused trying to tackle the root causes of crime such as pressing the federal government on bail reform, a provincial team targeting repeat offenders and initiatives to boosting mental health and addiction support for inmates leaving jail.
But the BC United opposition says the province isn’t doing enough for hard-hit businesses.
“When you add that extra security wage to the mix, it adds to your cost structure. When you see more theft out of your store, of course your costs are going to impact you,” BC United finance critic Peter Milobar told Global News.
Back at the Ruby, Goyert said whether it’s the city, the province or the feds, something needs to change.
“There is frustration in the downtown business community because we want help and it’s not always coming,” he said.
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