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  #61  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2015, 7:39 PM
MoreTrains MoreTrains is offline
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Originally Posted by 1overcosc View Post
Looks like classism is alive and well in River Ward

You can't just kick out and evict street people, they need a place to go. Homeless is a social issue that requires social spending to fix, not police officers.

I just looked at old Google Street View images from 2009 ish from Rideau Street, and holy jeez, it's so much better now (I've only been familiar with the street since 2012). The old street had five lanes of traffic and little thin sidewalks... now there's four lanes and big wide sidewalks.
Well, they could go the Vancouver route...
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  #62  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2015, 11:24 PM
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I'm surprised they focus on the homeless and panhandlers. Whenever I'm on Rideau it's the loitering drug dealers of visible minority persuasion who put me off, not the down-and-outers.
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  #63  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 12:23 AM
jchamoun79 jchamoun79 is offline
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Originally Posted by kwoldtimer View Post
I'm surprised they focus on the homeless and panhandlers. Whenever I'm on Rideau it's the loitering drug dealers of visible minority persuasion who put me off, not the down-and-outers.
Living on Rideau, another problem I see are the hordes of drunk people who trash the street after the bars in the Market let out. Sorry to get gruesome, but I often have to dodge of puddles of vomit on my walk to the bus stop in the morning.

You can redesign and beautify the street all you want, but it won't matter if people - especially young people - treat it as their toilet.
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  #64  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 1:04 AM
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Originally Posted by 1overcosc View Post
Looks like classism is alive and well in River Ward

You can't just kick out and evict street people, they need a place to go. Homeless is a social issue that requires social spending to fix, not police officers.
True, but there is a significant concentration of people with mental health and addiction issues concentrated in a very small area, in large part because there are 3 large homeless shelters plus numerous social agencies, plus a lot of public housing concentrated within a few blocks of Rideau. If social services were spread out more there probably wouldn't be that kind of concentration.
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  #65  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 3:53 AM
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Concentration of homeless services in a smaller area makes it easier for agencies to provide services, but yes, I do get your point.
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  #66  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 6:12 AM
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Whenever I'm on Rideau it's the loitering drug dealers of visible minority persuasion who put me off
So I gather you prefer getting your drugs from discrete white people?
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  #67  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 7:56 AM
danishh danishh is offline
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Originally Posted by acottawa View Post
True, but there is a significant concentration of people with mental health and addiction issues concentrated in a very small area, in large part because there are 3 large homeless shelters plus numerous social agencies, plus a lot of public housing concentrated within a few blocks of Rideau. If social services were spread out more there probably wouldn't be that kind of concentration.
spreading out social services means higher taxes to pay for those new locations. You try running for office on that platform.
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  #68  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 1:20 PM
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So I gather you prefer getting your drugs from discrete white people?
You mean in the Glebe?
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  #69  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 2:54 PM
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You mean in the Glebe?
BURN
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  #70  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 6:21 PM
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Originally Posted by acottawa View Post
True, but there is a significant concentration of people with mental health and addiction issues concentrated in a very small area, in large part because there are 3 large homeless shelters plus numerous social agencies, plus a lot of public housing concentrated within a few blocks of Rideau. If social services were spread out more there probably wouldn't be that kind of concentration.
And where, in NIMBY-ridden Ottawa, can you move or establish anew a shelter or other social agency?

And if not in the downtown area, where? The reason these agencies are mostly downtown, is because that's where their clientele are.
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  #71  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 6:22 PM
Uhuniau Uhuniau is offline
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You mean in the Glebe?
Nothing but the finest organic, non-GMO, fair-trade, gluten-free, artisanal MJ for this boy.
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  #72  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 6:37 PM
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Nothing but the finest organic, non-GMO, fair-trade, gluten-free, artisanal MJ for this boy.
I posted in jest but in fact the only two heroin users I've ever known were both Glebites. One a high-level federal civil servant and the other a doctor. Both used for decades and both died of natural causes, one in his mid-70s and one in his early 80s.

The Glebe has its secrets.....
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  #73  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 8:21 PM
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Originally Posted by jchamoun79 View Post
Living on Rideau, another problem I see are the hordes of drunk people who trash the street after the bars in the Market let out. Sorry to get gruesome, but I often have to dodge of puddles of vomit on my walk to the bus stop in the morning.

You can redesign and beautify the street all you want, but it won't matter if people - especially young people - treat it as their toilet.
Well if there were convenient street trees to throw up on, you wouldn't have this problem! Honestly, if you have been drinking and feel the need to vomit, there usually isn't a lot of good options like garbage cans or back alleys.
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  #74  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2015, 8:32 PM
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Originally Posted by jchamoun79 View Post

You can redesign and beautify the street all you want, but it won't matter if people - especially young people - treat it as their toilet.
Young people today.

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I've always struggled with reality. And I'm pleased to say that I won.
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  #75  
Old Posted Feb 28, 2015, 3:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Uhuniau View Post
And where, in NIMBY-ridden Ottawa, can you move or establish anew a shelter or other social agency?

And if not in the downtown area, where? The reason these agencies are mostly downtown, is because that's where their clientele are.
I didn't say downtown I said rideau street. These agencies are all within 4 blocks of rideau street. At the very least they could be spread out more in the downtown area, although I think there may be merit in casting the net a little wider in considering locations.
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  #76  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2015, 5:53 PM
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Rideau Street needs more than a facelift

Jonathan McLeod, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 3, 2015, Last Updated: March 3, 2015 11:46 AM EST




It was an unfortunate comment, speaking about Rideau Street and lamenting its ”chronic issues.” Those were the words of River Ward Councillor Riley Brockington, referring to “panhandlers and street people”. Brockington wants to see something done about Rideau Street, but aside from the implementation of Street Ambassadors, he is scant on the details, though he argues that the issues can’t merely be addressed with a new street design.

Brockington is right to be concerned with Rideau Street. It is such a prominent street in our city that it should be improved, and there are a number of concerns that are keeping it from being the beautiful main street it rightfully should. Unfortunately, to simply dismiss street design as the key element in turning the street around is to be blind to some of the most basic lessons of urban planning of the last half century.

It is easy to turn to increased policing and anti-panhandling laws try to create a safer street, safer neighbourhood or safer city, but broken-windows policing is a deeply flawed basis for city building. Not only is it not effective, but sets the police (and the city) against the community, when, in fact, what we need is to fully engage the community with the life of the street.

That is not possible with the current street design. Rideau Street doesn’t need a facelift; it needs a complete reconstruction. We need to continue with mix-use development. We need people to live, work and play on Rideau. This will keep a steady flow of residents on the street — people who are personally invested in the street. Their eyes constantly watching.

Further, we need to build a street that fosters pedestrian traffic. One of the biggest issues on Rideau Street is how very dangerous it is. Just last week, a pedestrian was hit by a truck at Rideau and King Edward. That intersection, along with Rideau and Cumberland, is one of the city’s most dangerous intersections for pedestrians and bicyclists. You can’t have a community engaged with the life of the street if the street tends to take the lives of the community.

Rideau Street needs a diet. It needs to be narrowed. It needs wider sidewalks and tree cover. It needs fewer parking lots facing the street. And it needs to be rid of transport trucks. If we do these things, we will get more eyes on the street, and we will all be a little safer.

That being said, Brockington is correct that street design isn’t a magical solution. There’s no urban planning pixie dust to spread along this corridor to magically ameliorate it. And he is correct that Rideau Street wears the city’s poverty, crime and addiction like few other main streets in Ottawa. No one wants panhandlers on the street. No one wants that level of poverty to exist.

However, if city council is serious about addressing the panhandling issue, they have to attack the real social ill: poverty. This past month, we have learned that the Odawa Centre is being forced to close due to lack of funding. Centre 507 is feeling the squeeze and scaling back its operations. If the city wants to help those struggling with poverty or addiction, they should provide more funding to the organizations that are actually fighting poverty and addiction.

These men and women panhandling on our streets are not “chronic issues”; they are not impediments to our enjoyment of the city; they are people in need of assistance. It behooves city council to work to improve the lives of all residents who wish to enjoy Rideau Street.

Jonathan McLeod is a general fellow with the Canadian Council for Democracy. He writes about local matters at stepsfromthecanal.wordpress.com.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-than-facelift
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  #77  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2015, 1:55 AM
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Rideau Street attack highlights strip with 'bad reputation'

Alicia K. Gosselin, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: April 2, 2015, Last Updated: April 2, 2015 4:33 PM EDT


It’s the most crowded strip of sidewalk on Rideau Street most nights: the blocks between Dalhousie and Sussex streets.

It’s the only section of the road with a restaurant open for business round the clock — and it’s seemingly a place where fast food, drunken chatter and illegal activity come together in the evening.

In the past few months, several assaults have been reported to the police in front of the MacDonald’s on Rideau. Most recently, an Ottawa man was sent to the hospital with serious injuries after being attacked by a group of people there Tuesday night. Last November, a young man also ended up in hospital after being attacked outside the restaurant.

“It has a bad reputation, but it’s because it’s one of the only places in that area open 24/7,” said Ottawa police Const. Marc Soucy of the Ottawa Police Services. “The late-night crowd congregates there. Chances are you’re going to get more calls there — people go where there’s light.”

Since March 18, there have been 26 illegal incidents reported around the Rideau Street block, according to the Ottawa Crime Mapping tool.

“There’s a lot of concentration of people there every day, so it’s obvious it will get more attention than other places,” said Soucy. “We get the same kind of thing at other Tim Hortons in the city because people go there when everything else is closed and they have longer hours.”

One of the day managers at MacDonald’s (who asked to remain anonymous) said he doesn’t experience much in the way of problems during the day, but it’s always after 4 p.m the area becomes a hub for mischief.

“In one week there have been two times my supervisor called me to tell me about some people fighting in front of my store,” he said. “If you come for one week during evening shifts, you can see what goes on here.”

Over the past couple of years, the management at the MacDonald’s has taken measures to increase safety in that location, such as ensuring full-time night security and stricter management of the crowds that come into the location.

For Mathieu Fleury, councillor for the Rideau-Vanier ward, the extra safety measures at the MacDonald’s seem to have made a difference, but he says there’s still more work to do.

“I think it’s gotten better, but it’s the type of thing that if you don’t keep on top of, it catches up,” said Fleury. “Walking on that strip at night, I’ve seen how that little section can be very intimidating . . . sometimes you do see some problematic exchanges, so it is on our radar.”

Still, Fleury said it makes sense to encourage more businesses in that area to stay open later.

“We really favour the businesses that are open late — when there’s vibrancy and people are active in that area, the less crime will happen because the drug exchanges or gang members would rather go to more of a hideout,” he said. “The more night use we have that’s not just driven towards going to bars and clubs, like Nuit Blanche or the Art Gallery, just complements the area.”

A recent project approved by City council called the Rideau/Arts Precinct Public Realm Plan aims to improve the streetscape mostly around the Rideau Centre and Arts Court. The vision is to thrive as the arts, entertainment, and shopping district of Ottawa’s downtown and be the hub of the city, effectively linking the central business district, the Canal precinct, the ByWard Market, Sandy Hill and the University of Ottawa, according to the official plan.

Peggy Ducharme, executive director of the Downtown Rideau BIA, said that as long as that strip on Rideau is perceived as problematic, the harder it will be to reach their goal.

“This address has been a recurring one from what we know,” said Ducharme. “If we are putting all this investment back in the street, then each one of these incidences is not helping us to that effect . . . so the community needs to have a conversation about this.”

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...bad-reputation
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  #78  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2015, 10:08 AM
william91 william91 is offline
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Um, MacDonald's? Has this person been living her entire life under a rock? And where is her editor?

Anyway, everyone knows to stay away from that area unless you're looking to fight drug addicts. I don't see that changing any time soon.
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  #79  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2015, 4:11 PM
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Originally Posted by william91 View Post
Um, MacDonald's? Has this person been living her entire life under a rock? And where is her editor?

Anyway, everyone knows to stay away from that area unless you're looking to fight drug addicts. I don't see that changing any time soon.
I've walked there late at night many times. It's really not that bad.
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  #80  
Old Posted Apr 3, 2015, 6:33 PM
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Originally Posted by silvergate View Post
I've walked there late at night many times. It's really not that bad.
If you want to catch a bus after midnight, it's really the only place to go. Also, McDonald's has that back door that acts as a short-cut to get to Rideau from George. I use it every time and never stop to buy food. I'm certainly not the only one who does this.
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