What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    74
I think the oil crash, and then the pandemic, really crushed a lot of downtown Edmonton development momentum. Add in unknown reasons to increased homeless and we got an exodus out of downtown. I know all this was not specific to only Edmonton, but the soup just seemed to mix really well here.

I think majority of people in Edmonton just really love their truck accessible wide roads and are generally car-dependent. When I lived downtown Edmonton in the mid 2010s one of my biggest observations was how dead the streets were during the day especially weekday, and I'm talking foot traffic on 104 street. To me that proved that even though we had all these new towers on 103/104, majority people living there always hopped in their car when they left the house.

I would also assume that with Edmonton's downtown workforce not being all that big, a lot of people living downtown don't actually work downtown (or at least a larger ratio than compared to other cities). But then add in all the negative impacts I had mentioned above, and a looooot of people probably said f*ck this I'm moving back out to the burbs where my truck can fit any road and I don't have to deal with bums. Causing a huge price drop in condos because simply, nobody wants to live there.
 
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No, it's not a matter of personal perception! Either the far left successfully pushed policy changes that reduced police presence downtown and increased disorder or they didn't. And if they did, you should be able to say what those policy changes were.

The reason I'm pushing on this is because for the last five years all across North America, people have breathlessly repeated the claim that crime or disorder has gone up because we defunded the police, a thing that literally did not happen. So forgive me for being skeptical!
 
crisp said:
Add in the far left movement throughout the same timeframe
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Can we not politicize everything? In particular in this case, other cities in Canada (and North America in general) as for more left leaning and it hasn't been a determining factor in the housing markets (if anything, the far right keeps bitching that the housing crisis and low affordability are issues created by the "far left").
 
Left wing Edmonton council votes to reduce police budget in 2022 despite several types of crime increasing - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-city-council-police-budget-1.6287629

  • Violent Crime: While the overall rate is down, the number of violent incidents has increased, with a slight rise in 2024 compared to 2023.

  • Violent Crime Incidents: In 2024, there were more violent crime incidents than in 2019, which has caused public concern, especially regarding safety in the downtown core and on public transit.

  • Specific Violent Crimes: Incidents involving knives have increased, while incidents involving firearms have decreased. Domestic violence incidents have decreased by 3.1%.

  • Crime Severity: The overall crime severity in Edmonton decreased by 3.5% in 2024.

  • Property Crime: There was a 14.6% decrease in property crime from 2022 to 2023.

  • Youth Crime: There was a 13% increase in youth crime from 2022 to 2023.
 
Whatup said:
Left wing Edmonton council votes to reduce police budget in 2022 despite several types of crime increasing - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-city-council-police-budget-1.6287629

  • Violent Crime: While the overall rate is down, the number of violent incidents has increased, with a slight rise in 2024 compared to 2023.

  • Violent Crime Incidents: In 2024, there were more violent crime incidents than in 2019, which has caused public concern, especially regarding safety in the downtown core and on public transit.

  • Specific Violent Crimes: Incidents involving knives have increased, while incidents involving firearms have decreased. Domestic violence incidents have decreased by 3.1%.

  • Crime Severity: The overall crime severity in Edmonton decreased by 3.5% in 2024.

  • Property Crime: There was a 14.6% decrease in property crime from 2022 to 2023.

  • Youth Crime: There was a 13% increase in youth crime from 2022 to 2023.
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I think you missed the downtown crime thread.
 
Oilguy said:
I think you missed the downtown crime thread.
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I was just adding to some points being made on this thread. Crisp made a good point - Constance Chlore then said "The reason I'm pushing on this is because for the last five years all across North America, people have breathlessly repeated the claim that crime or disorder has gone up because we defunded the police, a thing that literally did not happen. So forgive me for being skeptical!" So I provided some stats to support Crisp's point that left wing politicians have defunded the police and there could be argument made that it is linked to higher crime rates. It's interesting that "left wing" cities in N. America tend to have more issues with drugs, crime and general societal chaos in many areas of the city.
 
Whatup said:
I was just adding to some points being made on this thread. Crisp made a good point - Constance Chlore then said "The reason I'm pushing on this is because for the last five years all across North America, people have breathlessly repeated the claim that crime or disorder has gone up because we defunded the police, a thing that literally did not happen. So forgive me for being skeptical!" So I provided some stats to support Crisp's point that left wing politicians have defunded the police and there could be argument made that it is linked to higher crime rates. It's interesting that "left wing" cities in N. America tend to have more issues with drugs, crime and general societal chaos in many areas of the city.
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"During 2022 budget deliberations Wednesday, council opted to reallocate $10.9 million of the expected $11.9-million increase to address houselessness and community safety initiatives in an effort to reduce calls for service that police respond to. The police service will still see a $1-million increase from the 2021 allocation, to account for the cost of staff time on the new National Truth and Reconciliation Day, bringing their annual budget to $384.8 million. This total $11.9-million increase to the city’s overall budget equates to 0.7 per cent of the proposed 1.8 per cent property tax increase."
edmontonjournal.com

Edmonton Police Service to receive $10.9 million less than expected in 2022, funding to be redirected to community safety initiatives

Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee told council last week that the service has already taken many hits through $7.3 million in additional annual ongoing costs.
edmontonjournal.com edmontonjournal.com

And then a year later:
globalnews.ca

Edmonton city council votes to increase police funding - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca

Funding for the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) was the first item on the agenda at a city council meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
www.theprogressreport.ca

Funding the police: How the Edmonton police budget increased by $34.5 million in less than a year

The Edmonton police budget has increased by nearly 9% in the last year and it’s going to keep going up
www.theprogressreport.ca www.theprogressreport.ca
 
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Yeah we never actually cut the police budget, we just lowered the increase by a significant amount that one year and went back to funding increases.

Which had no visual effect on downtown until McFee left because he was the biggest roadblock to any sort of cooperation and relationship with council.
 
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