After the shooting over the weekend, businesses hope safety will get better
Businesses in the ByWard Market say they hope a new center for police and other social services in the popular tourist area will make people feel safer.
The Ottawa police said they back a city-led plan to set up a Neighborhood Operations Center (NOC) that would bring together a number of social services in the area.
In a written statement to CBC, police said that the office would work with other groups to address different problems in the ByWard Market area.It’s not clear when or where the new operations center will open for business.
During the last election, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe ran on a promise to increase the number of police officers in the market. On Wednesday, he said that the centre won’t be a police station, but rather a place where officers will be available.
The move has been given the OK by Ary Deboer. She is in charge of the Clarence Street restaurant El Camino.
“I don’t think anyone here is really safe, especially in the evening. “There’s a saying that goes, ‘Nothing good happens in the market after 9 p.m.,'” Deboer said.
She said she doesn’t think anyone in the restaurant would be the target, but she’s worried that people could get caught in the crossfire.
“I think about the people who work here at night and all of our friends in the neighborhood, and it makes me feel very scared,” she said.
“I just wonder … Is this Michigan? What’s happening?”
Her restaurant is less than a block from where a shooting at a club early Saturday morning hurt four people, including bystanders.
Deboer said that she has had to call 911 when people in front of the restaurant have overdosed on drugs. She also said that the police took 90 minutes to respond to a call about a rude customer.
She said that she knows that police resources are limited, but she thinks that safety needs to be the most important thing.
Night and da
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante said that businesses have told her that it’s hard to keep employees because of safety concerns.
“It’s a great place to be if you’re there at 1 p.m. on a Saturday and eating lunch with your family on a patio,” she said.”Now, if you’re there at 3 a.m. on a Saturday, that might be a different story.”
She said that most people who have been to the ByWard Market have good things to say about it, but she can’t ignore the growing worry.
The manager of the Chateau Lafayette, Deek Labelle, said that restaurant and retail workers are “not social workers,” but they often meet people who need help.
“We have to deal with people who are on the outside and live in terrible conditions on the streets. It’s difficult,” said Labelle.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how this center will make the neighborhood a better place.”