Moncton council talks downtown security after release of task force report

Downtown safety concerns and plans to address the issueoccupied much of Moncton'scity council meeting Monday.

The meeting heard a presentation about theCommunity Task Force on Homelessness and Downtown Security report released late last month. Councillors also hit pause on approving the downtown business association's budget in order to deal with security concerns from several shops.

John Wishart, CEO of theChamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, outlined the 27 action items in the report prepared bythe task force the chamber launched in June. The proposals arefor various levels of government, shelters, law enforcement and others.

"We want to use it as a roadmap to dramatically reduce homelessness and improve downtown security," Wishart said, telling councillors there won't be any quick or easy fixes to the issues.

Among the items are pushing the province to offer a mental health court, similar to one in Saint John;providingmental health and addictions supports in homeless shelters; andstudying safe drug injection sites.

Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said it will be important to call on the province to do more on mental health and addictions.

Wishart said the federal government has approved paying $50,000 for one action item: hiring a managing director who will oversee implementation of the remaining 26 action items. He said YMCA's ReConnect street outreach service applied for the funding and they hope to start the hiring process later this week.

"You're probably looking for a miracle worker for sure, but we just can't miss on that hire," said Coun. Dave Steeves.

The task force included Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold, Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe Liberal MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Moncton South PC MLAGreg Turnerand Codiac Regional RCMPcommanding officer Supt.Ron DeSilva.

DeSilva, who spoke before Wishart during the meeting, faced questions about downtown safety.

"What are we doing in downtown Moncton to make sure those businesses, people know that it's safe to come downtown, start their Christmas shopping, come down to the restaurants, support the local businesses?" Coun. Shawn Crossman asked.

DeSilva said RCMP increased patrols with marked vehicles in the core and assigned two officers to conduct regular foot patrols. He said a review of calls for police service shows many were categorized as mischief, though they were about people sleeping in doorways or other situations that aren't necessarily crimes.

He said the force has increased its community policing unit to respond to concerns in the city and is looking to open a satellite office in the core. The office was among the actionitems in the task force report.

"Obviously, the location where our office sits today, we don't see a lot of incidents such as the ones we see in the other parts of town," DeSilva said of the detachment,located toward the eastern end of downtown on Main Street.

Meanwhile, the city is testing having one of its community bylaw enforcement officers patrol the area between St. George Street and Main Street to deal with parking issues,business concerns and homeless people. The officer will patrol 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

The city created the community officer roles earlier this year, but councillors raised concerns this fall the officers, who work as a pair,aren't spending enough time downtown because they're dealing withwith homeless tent sites elsewhere in the city.

Crossman's question led into another agenda item later in the meeting about Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc.'s budget,which the city must approve yearly because it imposes a 16 cent tax levy on businesses in the core.

The typically routine public hearing for the budget was delayed after several businesses signed a letter objecting to it.

"Immediate action and fund allocation must be put in place to ensure the security and safety of our downtown for our customers, our staff and ourselves," says the letter, signed by My Home Mercantile,Caf Cest la Vie, GTD Management, Keating's Tobacco, The Shoe Tree, and Workspace.

Councillors pushed discussion and approval of the budget to Dec. 20 to give the association time to discuss the concerns with the businesses.