Crime has reached ‘crisis point’: business owners

Article content

Shawna Foster is fed up with crime in downtown Fredericton that threatens to scare away her customers and ruin her business.

Article content

Recently, the owner of Moco restaurant caught on security camera a homeless man defecating in the open just outside her business on King Street, using his pants as toilet paper before throwing them on the ground.

Early Sunday morning, she said a thief tried to break into a side window used for pickup food service, and failing at that, helped themself to a loose piece of lumber in the parking lot and smashed out one of the restaurant’s back windows.

“It’s just senseless crime,” said Foster.

Foster was one of about 200 frustrated business owners and representatives who met with Fredericton city council and the police chief on Tuesday morning to raise the alarm about spiraling crime they say has reached a crisis point.

They’re blaming a spate of vandalism, harassment, theft and arson on people with addictions and mental health issues who are living on the streets.

Mayor Kate Rogers promised to set up a task force to tackle the issue, but argued many of the problems raised fall under the responsibility of the provincial and federal governments.

“Most of the complaints that we heard, there’s nothing the city can do about it,” she told reporters at City Hall, following the meeting with business owners at the Crowne Plaza hotel.

“We cannot change federal legislation. We cannot open facilities to provide care for people. We cannot treat mental health and addictions. None of these are within our legislative authority. It’s impossible for us to deliver that. All we can do is try to keep people safe through public safety measures.”

Article content

Article content

However, she said she sympathized with the business leaders who expressed frustration with the criminal activity and neglected social issues in the city’s core.

“We’ve created a space, through this task force, where we will bring community stakeholders together, a small group, to put together a list of action items that we want movement on from other orders of government. We’re committed to having that work done and recommendations by the spring.”

The private meeting that lasted two and a half hours at the hotel was a follow-up to a similar one held last year between businesses and city officials.

Downtown business owners feel like they’ve reached a crisis point and we’re looking for urgent action.

Adam Peabody

It came on the heels of letter sent on the weekend by the city’s three major business organizations – Downtown Fredericton Inc., Business Fredericton North Inc., and the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce – to the three levels of government asking for action on public safety concerns.

“The meeting was tense at points,” Adam Peabody, the executive director of Downtown Fredericton Inc., told Brunswick News. “The business community voiced very directly how this has impacted them. There was a real sense of urgency in the room to have concrete actions and solutions from each level of government immediately.

“Downtown business owners feel like they’ve reached a crisis point and we’re looking for urgent action.”

Patti Hollenberg, owner of Chess Piece Pâtisserie Café, told Brunswick News that the vibe of the meeting was strained.

Article content

It could have destroyed my building.

Patti Hollenberg

The deteriorating situation downtown is causing many business owners mental, physical and financial anguish, she said.

“I’ve noticed a dramatic increase in theft in my building, vandalism, even having to clean up human waste,” she said, an uptick that started with the pandemic.

A week ago, MacTavish’s Source for Sports, an institution in the downtown for 56 years, was lost in a fire that police are blaming on an arsonist. Hollenberg said someone tried to set a fire in a back alcove in her own building nearby on Queen Street less than 24 hours earlier.

“It could have destroyed my building,” she said in frustration. “It is not the onus of the business owners to fix these issues. It is the responsibility of our governments to come together and find a solution to increase the safety of our downtown area.”

Peabody said since Sunday alone, he’s heard downtown businesses complain of four acts of vandalism and two of arson.

“There’s a repetitive level of criminal activity by a relatively small group of 20 to 30 people who are known to police and known to the justice system but are in and out of it, sometimes within hours, who are wreaking havoc and destruction amongst businesses and residences, not just downtown but all areas of the city,” he said. “But the downtown businesses in particular feel they’re at a crisis point.”

A measure the city could take immediately, he said, would be to expand the hours of the community safety services unit. The foot patrols by uniformed security guards end at 1 a.m. and don’t resume till later in the morning, missing the period when a lot of crime takes place, the businesses argue.

Article content

The mayor said this latest budget proposal would see the unit’s funding increase from $600,000 to closer to $936,000 next year, but she wouldn’t commit to having 24-hour foot patrol service.

“That’s something we’ll need to investigate further.”

The business groups also want services offered to people with addictions or living rough centralized in one secure location, such as the Victoria Health Centre, which is on the edge of downtown near a soup kitchen and homeless shelter and farther away from downtown businesses.

It’s a relocation of services city council has already asked for. The mayor said the provincial government has told her the Victoria Health Centre is already full and has little space to offer.

The executive council office in charge since the Liberal government took over on Saturday did not reply for comment.

The businesses also expressed frustration with what they perceive as a catch-and-release cycle of judges allowing criminals to go free for many of the crimes without holding them in custody.

However, Police Chief Gary Forward, who’s only been in his job for two months, told them that federal law guarantees charter rights. Judges have been instructed to carefully consider whether an accused belongs to a group that’s over-represented in the criminal justice system, including people with mental illnesses.

“The sheer number of business owners and employees who came out was indicative of some of the frustration that some of the business community and residents are experiencing,” the chief told reporters.

The hope is we’ll be able to have the people we need in place by this time next year to look after some of the proactive programs we have.

Chief Gary Forward

He said his department has funding to fill 19 out of 125 police officer positions that remain vacant but hasn’t been successful finding the right candidates. That’s why the Atlantic Police Academy and the city have teamed up to train 10 to 12 officers in Fredericton, a pilot.

“The hope is we’ll be able to have the people we need in place by this time next year to look after some of the proactive programs we have,” he said. “That includes increased visibility through foot patrols or bike patrols.”

Article content