Response to Tom B- AirCan barring pilots from Winnipeg's cesspool
As submitted to the Winnipeg Sun - October 3rd. 2012
Tom Brodbeck would have us believe downtown Winnipeg is a "bloody cesspool" when it comes to crime. Regardless of Air Canada's recent decision, the reality is, downtown is the second lowest area of the city with respect to crimes against persons, according to 2009 police stats. Tom Brodbeck says violent crime downtown has jumped 25% from 2007 to 2009, but in 2009 additional criminal offences were added to the "crimes against persons" stat, thus naturally inflating the numbers. The police stated, "caution should be exercised in interpreting the comparison data for 2009 with other years." Clearly, Mr. Brodbeck did not exercise caution.
Notwithstanding this, the Downtown BIZ knows there are real and perceived safety issues downtown--as there are citywide. Many of these are perhaps better classified as social issues: panhandling, homelessness, intoxication. Half our budget goes toward safety programs: the Downtown Watch's 23 foot patrols and about 200 volunteers. Ten Outreach patrols who move intoxicated people into safer places. Funding for homeless employment programs to help move people permanently off the streets. The Downtown Security Network, connecting nearly 300 downtown businesses to share incidents, leads and ideas. And the arrival of the City Cadets is already proving positive.
The BIZ, along with many other partners, continues to advocate for the need for a Homelessness Strategy to address the social issues through a supportive housing approach. But it is also important for the Sun to recognize that downtown is truly undergoing a re-birth, with more residents, students and office workers now downtown than ever before, with a record amount of investment.
Crime is a citywide issue and no one is arguing it needs to be addressed – it's been one of the top issues of the provincial election. But to slam the downtown alone is irresponsible and simply faulty reporting. And what makes it worse for the image of our city is sensationalized coverage.
Tom may have "gotten the story" first, but the rest of the media truly showed how to report properly. Stefano Grande, Downtown BIZ Executive Director
REALLY?
And what do all the ther stats say related to the downtown?
What are the actual numbers say? An increase from 2 to 4 crimes?
How does this compare to other neighboroods in Winnipeg?
Where does our downtown rank to others?
Where does the downtown rank today? Not 3-4 years ago.
Someone please send Tom back to Reporting 101 school
Clearly his agenda to make the NDP look bad has overridden his good common sense, maybe?
Giving your post a few reads over, its clear that the BIZ get its.
Don't waste your time with the Toms's of the world. They go around looking at things in shades of black, and to hell with people that see color.
News at the core is neutral, and they’re to report the relevant and important news of their community.
Did the Sun intentionally present information in a way that to excite or shock people?
Yes. The Sun went down the road of sensationalism. And they did more. The Sun intentionally omitted facts and information related to downtown safety statistics.
What can you do about it? Nothing.
By calling Tom out, all you will do is incite another bad article. And the Sun is not one to balance fairness and reporting.
What can your hundreds of business members do.
Stop advertising in the Sun.
The Sun has hurt our City. Morally, emotionally and economically.
A complete ban by all would send a message.
Will this happen? Nope. Because our City has yet to learn how to work together, stand up and force out those that want to tear down our community.
Sun wins.
And there are many business owners like me doing the same thing. I alone spent over $10,000 a year. But no longer. Its slow coming. But its coming. When they go broke, we will look back to moments like this. And ask hmmmmm why?
Check out the downtown crime rates on the Winnipeg Police Service's http://map2.winnipeg.ca/iMaps/Main.aspx
Drill down on crimestat Once on this site, you can zero in on certain areas based on the police district, electoral ward, or neighbourhood.
Downtown falls within what the police have designated as District 1. Of course, this district covers a much larger area than what most people think of as downtown. That's why it's important to narrow your search further if you want to get an accurate picture for what's happening in the downtown itself.
Luckily, CrimeStat allows you to do that. Downtown is separated into 11 neighbourhoods:
1. Chinatown
2. Civic Centre
3. Exchange District
4. Central Park
5. Portage & Main
6. Portage - Ellice
7. South Portage
8. Colony
9. The Forks
10. Broadway-Assiniboine
11. Legislature
After you choose your area, at the top of the map click "view report". The report then shows the statistics for the last 7 - 14 days or 30 days and compares the year-to-date stats.
On a monthly basis the BIZ creates a running totalwhich we then post on our own WEB site called the Downtown Security Network. We have been doing this for a few years in hopes of making downtown crime information more easy to understand for the public. By doing this we can also track safety trends much sooner, so we can re-deploy our own Watch and Outreach much quicker.
http://dsnwinnipeg.com/downtown.cfm
What I found most interesting is hearing the BIZ talk about how our City needs to properly address social issues and raised awareness with their sleep-out the day before this story broke on the Saturday, and when the fire was on in the kitchen it showed how quickly it could defend the Downtown with a slew of stats and facts.
Judging by your website and blog, its clear to me that the BIZ has a clear downtown vision and knows what has to happen, and does a lot itself.
So Kudos.
But I do have questions -
Why can’t the City though deploy more police downtown?
Why is everyone concerned about downtown safety in the wee hours of the morning, and what is the BIZ advocating on this front?
More people downtown is the solution to safety, why is development so slow? And what are you people doIng about that?
Here is how it works. The Planets, pawnshops, seedy restaurant and Dildo stores of the downtown are being forced out by redevelopment efforts & landlords asking for higher rents because they have tenants in the wings willing to pay more. Store are closing because of all the revitalization efforts.
Just look at what is replacing these stores. A tower comprised of offices, a hotel, and a parkade, and more.
Did THE media speak to the owner of the Property of the Dildo store? Nope.
I suspect when something better goes into that space the Sun nor the Free Press will not report it.
Can we expect more shops to close like the Money Marts, Dollar Stores and other low end shops of the Downtown. Probally.
And good riddance I say. From their slow death a new downtown will emerge.
I agree, time to send them a message.