There are high hopes for the East Village Safety Hub as the pilot project enters its second year, as concerns over public safety remain in the downtown adjacent neighbourhood.
Tucked in the basement of the St. Louis Hotel building, the Hub opened its doors in August 2022 as part of a three year pilot project in partnership with Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), the City of Calgary, Calgary Police Service (CPS), and the Alpha House HELP Team.
“It was intended, when it first opened, to be an opportunity to help provide a convenient space in the city for uniformed and outreach providers to reconvene in the community,” Emma Stevens with CMLC told Global News. “It’s been a collaborative space with a number of partners.”
According to Stevens, the East Village Safety Hub gets about 200 visits per month from uniformed officers and outreach teams, and is used primarily to rest, and meet to coordinate an appropriate response to community concerns.
The space is used by police, transit and bylaw officers, as well as outreach teams deployed in the area.
“The benefit has been in the coordination and collaboration with those groups,” Stevens said. “They’re working together to identify issues in a proactive manner, troubleshooting issues that arise, and really streamlining that communication between those groups.”
Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said the goal is to provide support for the city’s vulnerable population dealing with mental health, addictions and homelessness, while also providing safety and security.
“What we’re hearing is the East Village Safety Hub is working well, but what we’re also concerned about is the relenting sort of social disorder,” Wong said. “Social crimes are still an issue with Calgarians, particularly those in the East Village area.”
Global News asked several residents in the East Village if they’ve noticed any improvements since the Hub opened in August 2022.
Bryanna Wagg, who’s lived in the community for three years, said the situation has remained the same over the last year.
“I don’t think anything has changed since a year ago,” she told Global News. “As long as we can keep offering those resources, that’s all we can do at this moment.”
Marc Portelance told Global News he’s noticed an increased police presence in the neighbourhood, but he still doesn’t go out after dark.
“I see a lot of police around, cruising in their cars and everything,” he said. “I think the cops are doing pretty good around here.”
It’s the second of its kind in the city, following the opening of the Stephen Avenue Safety Hub in Sept. 2021.
Calgary Police Chief Mark Neufeld said he’s pleased with the partnerships with officers since the opening of both hubs, in an effort to increase police presence following safety issues that developed during the pandemic.
“Both of these hubs have given us the opportunity to have folks deployed and integrated to be discussing some of these challenges,” he told Global News. “The reality of it is, some of these agencies are dealing with the same people.”
Mark Garner, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, and one of the chairs of the newly established Downtown Safety Leadership Table, said the hubs are added value to the core as the city’s downtown remains without a police station.
However, he said the hubs will provide key information that will be used to help the advisory group to develop recommendations to improve safety in the downtown.
The Downtown Safety Leadership Table has been tasked with a 120 day deadline to build those recommendations.
“The data that’s gathered is going to help inform the decisions that need to be made to provide better quality service to those most vulnerable in our community, and support the overall economics of downtown,” Garner said.
The hub’s aren’t places where people can report crimes, Garner said he hopes that might change has the pilot project evolves.
“The evolution of the hubs should look at the deployment of service and potentially reporting stations,” he said.
Neufeld said CPS has heard similar requests from the community, and its being considered as the Stephen Avenue Safety Hub is set to move to a new location.