What does DTK need?

[danbrotherston]

Is there some evidence of this pandemic of petty crime downtown, ignoring the consumption of illegal drugs? Because in the last seven years, I have neither been a victim of that, or been exposed to it -- apart from bicycle thefts, which are an issue in pretty much every city.

And, yes, the region is already spending money to provide housing for the homeless, and particularly for the people who have been staying at the various encampments this year. This has been in the news fairly regularly for the past six months, so am a bit surprised that you have not seen it.

dtkvictim illustrated some points that I'm poorly trying to make re: the perception of safety. You're correct that crime isn't super common downtown, yet people still feel like it's sketchy and don't want to visit. It's because their lived experiences or biases or prejudices make them feel unsafe. I'm trying to focus on the question: How to we fix that?

As it exists now - after 6pm or so - I'd estimate that the number of homeless people downtown represent 10-50% of the people that I walk past, with the greater share occurring later in the night. Compare this with a place like Toronto, which has many more homeless, but the share of them that you see in the overall sample of people is considerably less. Does this mean that Toronto is safer? No. But it certainly feels safer, especially when you stick to the high-traffic areas. 

I've personally lived downtown, and my job is downtown, so I know that 99.99% of these people are completely harmless and are quite pleasant to chat with. I'm also a 6'4 220lb guy, so I generally feel safe anywhere regardless.

My experiences have shaped my opinion - that the problem isn't that bad and downtown is mostly fine. But I also know that my opinion isn't shared by my suburbanite colleagues. I've also talked with women who don't feel safe walking out alone at night, for very valid reasons.

I've seen the news that there is an effort being made to provide more housing to the encampment residents. However, I drive past the camp on Victoria/Weber fairly often and I haven't noticed a drastic reduction in the number of residents. If anything, it looks like it's expanding further onto the opposite corner of the intersection. Solving our homeless crisis isn't my area of expertise, and this is obviously a complex problem, hence I'd like to provide more money to the people who are working to solve it. 

My overall point that I'm trying to make is that I would like to see more pedestrian activity downtown. There's a million ways to achieve this. I'm personally championing to build more downtown housing and to build the transit hub, but those are only two individual steps on a larger path. I don't want to look at the status quo and think that it's good enough.

Unfortunately, I don't think we solve this except by solving our major systemic problems of housing affordability and weak social safety net.

FWIW...I think you will find similar attitudes about DT Toronto despite the difference. The problem is the perception.