[edm13]

As someone with multiple friends and family in EPS, I somewhat empathize that it could feel scary to arrest someone on stony plain road one day, and then later that week they walk past your house in grovenor as you play out front with your kids. That’s spooky.

At the same time, windemere, where the taxes still support Edmonton, exists. As does chapelle, summerside, etc. or you can work southeast and still live in grovenor/glenora. Or work southside and live downtown, etc.

The St Albert stuff is literally just “white flight” vibes when you actually talk to them. The city is gross, filled with “poors”, the schools are “better” in St. Albert (I.e. less kids with high needs or from more complex homes…), the city is “dangerous” (funny, how about you fix it??), etc etc.

I get that cops working and living/shopping/hanging in the exact same community can be hard. But there’s a hundred options before St. Albert. And if you do live there, stop acting so condescending towards the city you’re doing a bad job of improving/protecting who pays your bills.

I grew up on the north side and I chose to buy my place on the north side. But man sometimes it’s tough to not just want to give up and move out of here. I don’t think it’s a white thing, at least not for me anyways. I just want to be around other people who value family and just being decent normal people… I see a lot of degenerate behaviors, both by white and non white people. It’s just sad because all my friends grew up on the north side and all turned into successful people. It makes me sad that I have to wonder if sending my kid to the same schools I went to would result in a worse experience or outcome for them.

 

[thommyjo]

I grew up on the north side and I chose to buy my place on the north side. But man sometimes it’s tough to not just want to give up and move out of here. I don’t think it’s a white thing, at least not for me anyways. I just want to be around other people who value family and just being decent normal people… I see a lot of degenerate behaviors, both by white and non white people. It’s just sad because all my friends grew up on the north side and all turned into successful people. It makes me sad that I have to wonder if sending my kid to the same schools I went to would result in a worse experience or outcome for them.

Yeah, not really a “white” thing as exclusively these days. That’s more just a callback to the early days of suburbanization and the reasoning behind it that was often blanketed racism.

But yeah, it is true that if your kids go to Ross Shep vs Scona, there’s definitely higher risks for involvement in shady stuff and lower academic excellence. Hard to not want to further the problem, while also balancing what’s best for your kids.

It’s why private schools can start a dangerous spiral too.

 

[Coprolite]

I get a laugh out of statements like this.

There's a reason a lot of police live outside of where they are stationed. Some of you are smart enough to know why without taking shots at them from time to time.

Well that's a bit dramatic. Much of Edmonton used to be a lot worse. Peak violent crime in the core was in the 1990s. It's a pretty tame city in the grand scheme of things, despite the quivering of our various local professional hysterics.

 

[Coprolite]

Safety for their family.

I have a few friends who are EPS and that's the reason both of them don't live anywhere in the city. And a lot of their colleagues say the same.

Sooo, given that your typical EPS officer is an absolute Charlie Foxtrot when it comes to handling firearms and they can bring their sidearms home with them and (per your explanation) they're also a bit jumpy about their environments, I'm thinking their families have other things to worry about.

 

[bodsbods9090]

I'm just telling you what I've been told everyone so calm down with the snarky comments on here. Christ. Sorry for sharing what I've been told by EPS members I know.

Also, if you are on Facebook, the page Historic Edmonton, has good shots of the demolition the Remand currently.

 

[Coprolite]

I'm just telling you what I've been told everyone so calm down with the snarky comments on here. Christ. Sorry for sharing what I've been told by EPS members I know.

And I'm just providing corrections as someone who has matter-of-factly lived in places that they're so afraid of and actually paid attention to things like long-term trends in violent crime statistics, so calm down with your pearl clutching.

 

[AJo]

And I'm just providing corrections as someone who has matter-of-factly lived in places that they're so afraid of and actually paid attention to things like long-term trends in violent crime statistics, so calm down with your pearl clutching.

As someone who has spent most of my adult life living in the sketchier portions of Edmonton if find that things are worse in some areas and better in others.

Number of homeless seems to be much higher and they seem much more desperate/disadvantaged and more likely to be using drugs. On 118th they seem to be up a lot from even just 10 years ago.

And while i feel that random gunfire is still a slightly high possibility, I don't feel like a mass gangwar is about to break out and end up with me getting shot just because i was walking along the main drag. Which was a concern on 107 Ave in my early twenties.

 

[Coprolite]

As someone who has spent most of my adult life living in the sketchier portions of Edmonton if find that things are worse in some areas and better in others.

Number of homeless seems to be much higher and they seem much more desperate/disadvantaged and more likely to be using drugs. On 118th they seem to be up a lot from even just 10 years ago.

And while i feel that random gunfire is still a slightly high possibility, I don't feel like a mass gangwar is about to break out and end up with me getting shot just because i was walking along the main drag. Which was a concern on 107 Ave in my early twenties.

118 Ave is, for all of its issues (some of which have indeed gotten better in the last 10 years), one of the neighbourhoods that's arguably better now in a lot of ways than it was 30 years ago. It was, however, a place you could live cheaply even if the living arrangements were bound to be "interesting".

Just to bring the subject back around to the topic at hand, what absolutely would absolutely not fix anything is turning the old Remand Centre into a homeless shelter, because even if it weren't a leaky, mold infested jail, homeless shelters don't actually make homeless folks not homeless.

 

[kcantor]

118 Ave is, for all of its issues (some of which have indeed gotten better in the last 10 years), one of the neighbourhoods that's arguably better now in a lot of ways than it was 30 years ago. It was, however, a place you could live cheaply even if the living arrangements were bound to be "interesting".

Just to bring the subject back around to the topic at hand, what absolutely would absolutely not fix anything is turning the old Remand Centre into a homeless shelter, because even if it weren't a leaky, mold infested jail, homeless shelters don't actually make homeless folks not homeless.

Emphasis added because that pretty much sums it up.

 

[Offworld]

And I'm just providing corrections as someone who has matter-of-factly lived in places that they're so afraid of and actually paid attention to things like long-term trends in REPORTED violent crime statistics, so calm down with your pearl clutching.

Fixed that for you? How many people have given up reporting because it feels hopeless to even care any more?

Stats can almost always be twisted to fit a desired narrative.

And here, I feel like the frog in the pot of water. It gets hotter and I don't say anything because it doesn't seem like there's an issue, until it's too late. Just because I'm not complaining doesn't mean the situation is somehow better.

 

[Coprolite]

Fixed that for you? How many people have given up reporting because it feels hopeless to even care any more?

Stats can almost always be twisted to fit a desired narrative.

And here, I feel like the frog in the pot of water. It gets hotter and I don't say anything because it doesn't seem like there's an issue, until it's too late. Just because I'm not complaining doesn't mean the situation is somehow better.

I agree that reported violent crime statistics in the past were also understated, especially given that we had active gang wars going on over the drug trade and that you're skewing things to fit a narrative which is a digression from the demolition of the old Remand Centre.

 

[David A]

I realize people who make a decent income often want to live in nicer or more prestigious areas, but I would prefer those people paid from city tax funds actually live in our city.

Of course, people on more limited budgets, don't have the same choice or freedom and have to make the best of it in less desirable areas, but those areas are not always as bad as made to seem.

I do feel with housing prices increasing, some people who would have otherwise moved to suburban areas will start to look at some of those other areas more and that may lead to improvement.

 

[constance_chlore]

Fixed that for you? How many people have given up reporting because it feels hopeless to even care any more?

Stats can almost always be twisted to fit a desired narrative.

And here, I feel like the frog in the pot of water. It gets hotter and I don't say anything because it doesn't seem like there's an issue, until it's too late. Just because I'm not complaining doesn't mean the situation is somehow better.

I don't trust stats, I only trust pure vibes

 

[AJo]

118 Ave is, for all of its issues (some of which have indeed gotten better in the last 10 years), one of the neighbourhoods that's arguably better now in a lot of ways than it was 30 years ago. It was, however, a place you could live cheaply even if the living arrangements were bound to be "interesting".

Just to bring the subject back around to the topic at hand, what absolutely would absolutely not fix anything is turning the old Remand Centre into a homeless shelter, because even if it weren't a leaky, mold infested jail, homeless shelters don't actually make homeless folks not homeless.

118th still is a place to live cheaply but the perception of safety is worse in the last while.
As to the Remand, I whole heartedly agree with its removal. The old building is "cursed" at this point and the amount of renovation needed to make it stop looking like what it was both inside and outside isn't feasible.
And while overnight shelters do nothing to "cure" homelessness, what i really think we need to do is expand and fund both more overnight spaces and more day spaces that include addictions programming/mental health services.
Follow that with several levels of government run and subsided social housing to transition people out of the shelters and back into more normal living conditions.

 

[buildings]

why are people still arguing about whether the remand centre should or should not be saved... IT'S ALREADY DOWN! Instead, lets try to save the Tegler Building.