Residents give Windsor police tour of downtown's dirty underbelly

Downtown residents and police walked several Windsor streets and alleys Wednesday night, pointing out some of the problem areas when it comes to drug use, vandalism and other unsightly behaviour. 

Some people touring the area demanded more police presence, while others regularly referenced the soup kitchen on Victoria Avenue as the source of their problems. 

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But for Barry Horrobin, director of planning and physical resources for Windsor police, solutions to the urban nuisances have to come from everyone in the neighbourhood: business owners, residents, police and the social service providers. 

"The idea here is strength in numbers," he told the group. "It's not just a police issue, it's not just a resident issue, it's not just a commercial property issue, not just a city council issue — it's everybody."

Finding simple solutions

Some deterrents to nuisances can be as simple as installing lights in poorly lit areas or adding proper fencing in parts of town where people are sneaking onto the property of others. 

Roy Baker, who lives near Church Street and Karl Place, knows exactly what Horrobin means. Two years ago, he was finding discarded needles and used condoms in his back alley almost every day.

During a similar walkabout, Horrobin looked at the alley and suggested Baker ask the city to install a street light. Two weeks later — thanks to some additional nudging from Horrobin — Baker came home to find the alley brightly illuminated. The unwanted traffic disappeared almost overnight.

"Maybe you hear someone walking through the odd time, but nothing compared to what it used to be," Baker said. 

Horrobin urged residents to work together to encourage their neighbours to improve their properties as well. Any property feature that is welcoming to criminals makes the overall area weaker as a result, he explained. 

"There are certain that criminals look for that make a property appear weak," he said. "If you're property appears weak, it's more of a target." 

Downtown Mission defends its services

During the walk, residents highlighted many areas where people were getting onto private property to do drugs or to damage the premises.

Several residents who did not want to give their names, were quick to blame the Downtown Mission, which operates a soup kitchen for homeless people, on Victoria Avenue as the source of their ongoing frustrations.

Baker defended the soup kitchen, though, and disagreed with the accusations. 

"I think they were real harsh, going on the way they were about the people from the mission," he told CBC News after the tour.

Officials from the mission, which also used to house an overnight shelter before moving that service to another property, have heard the complaints from residents. Executive director Ron Dunn met with his neighbours to discuss the problems and has already implemented some solutions.

Dunn wants to work with people in the neighbourhood, but says residents are not willing to work with him and his staff. He also hopes people understand that not all crime committed in the downtown is because of the services his organization provides.

"Everything that ever happens in the neighbourhood, it has to be somebody from the mission," he said of the attacks. "And that's just irresponsible and it's not a fact."

Dunn has added staff to be on site after the soup kitchen closes in order to keep people from loitering, which was a common complaint from residents. The executive director has also stuck around for a few of those shifts himself in order to get the patrols of the property going as soon as possible.