Keith Hobbs says the Victoriaville Mall area looks “like hell”.
The mayor defended what Westfort Coun. Joe Virdiramo said last week on the expansion of the Shelter House’s alcohol management program.
Virdiramo was worried that if the program operated out of the Donald Street Superior North EMS station it could create a ghetto in the area.
Hobbs said he knew what the councillor was getting at and agreed the area near the Shelter House needed to be cleaned up.
“(Virdiramo) shares the same concerns as myself and that’s crime in that area,” Hobbs said Monday. “It is starting to look like a ghetto. We have to look at it in our official plan. We have to look at Victoria Avenue and Simpson Street. We’re putting an alcohol management program right across from where there’s a bar. I see Victoriaville Mall, there’s a bar and there’s people hanging around steadily. It looks like hell and we have to clean it up.”
The issue was raised when council was discussing the fate of the Royal Edward Arms apartment building.
The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board has decided not to renew its lease for the building.
Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds asked administration to look at the condition of the building and report back by the end of the year. The report would also look at housing for seniors.
Foulds is concerned about the availability of affordable housing in the city and feels the Royal Edward Arms could address those needs.
But Foulds believes the building could provide economic development opportunities.
Although DSSAB will use the building for another year and a half, Foulds said future uses need to be examined now.
The majority of council voted in favour of the assessment.
Red River Coun. Brian McKinnon, who voted against the motion, argued that the additional assessment was redundant as DSSAB is already doing similar assessments.
Council also received an update on the city’s Eye on the Street program.
The report showed that the 13 cameras spread out across the city captured 274 criminal activities in 2012 compared to 255 incidents in 2011 and 310 in 2010.
Those incidents were broken up into five categories:
| Category | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
| Assaults | 102 | 79 | 83 |
| Theft | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| Property damage | 13 | 6 | 12 |
| Suspicious Activity | 17 | 49 | 44 |
| Drug/Alcohol | 142 | 120 | 154 |
The city’s central support division manager Charles Campbell said despite the data they’re still not able to find a clear pattern.
“As the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention Council observed, and what we certainly concur in the program, there’s no single or simple diagnostic to indicate if crime is going up or down,” he said. “There’s a number of factors that obviously play in. Although we believe the eye program provides a level of deterrents, it is certainly not going to guarantee the direction of criminal or other activities in the cores.”
In other business, council approved the licensing agreement with the Thunder Bay Border Cats. The agreement allows the team to operate at the Port Arthur Stadium.
In return, the city receives a percentage of the food and beverage sales on top of rent.
The agreement also waves the the corporate credit and collection policy since the Cats owe the city more than $38,000. The team’s management and city administration are expected to come up with a strategy to deal with that debt.
