Church-Wellesley Village Community Safety Updates 2017

Updated: January 5, 2018

UPDATES:

November 20, 2017 - Today, Councillor Wong-Tam moved a motion at Community Development and Recreation Committee calling on the Mayor to declare an emergency in the shelter system to immediately fund the creation of 1,000 additional shelter spaces.

November 24, 2017 – Thank you to everyone who participated in the Healthy Neighbourhoods Summit on November 15. It is clear from all who attended that the downtown needs more resources in housing, shelters, mental health supports, addictions counselling, as well as better response times to imminent safety concerns. Stay tuned over the coming weeks, as many of these issues will require integration into the City's 2018 Budget cycle and specific actions will be coordinated to raise their profile.

• For more information on the summit, click here.

November 28, 2017 - Today, Councillor Wong-Tam held a press conference with faith leaders and front-line workers calling on Mayor Tory to solve the shelter crisis. See video here.

Overview

In January, 2017, Councillor Wong-Tam hosted a public meeting on safety in the Village at the 519. Over 100 residents and business owners attended and highlighted their concerns and priorities for the neighbourhood. A range of priorities were assigned to City agencies, including Streets to Homes, Public Health, Community Crisis Response, Parks Forestry and Recreation, as well as local police.

To ensure staff understood the issues in the community, Councillor Wong-Tam led four safety walks of the Village where participants shared their concerns directly with the agency leads responsible for various public safety and health programs. This has resulted in new training and partnerships between agencies, the local BIA, and staff. Additionally, a lighting audit of the Village was conducted to create a work plan for the replacement of missing or burnt-out lights at under-lit public locations.

In addition to the many support services providers, Councillor Wong-Tam also met with the Chief of Police, the 51 Division Superintendent, and gave the Mayor a tour of several spots of concern. With BIA support, Police responded to the Councillor's request for a change in policing in the neighbourhood. A pilot program to have additional community response officers working on-foot and building local relationships was piloted starting in August and restarted again in October

Additional action items that have come out of the community meetings and walks include: Community Crisis Response training for area businesses, needle awareness education materials for children through Public Health, increased cooperation between the 519, Parks and Streets to Homes staff, increased patrols and programming of Barbara Hall Park and the linear parks system, a review of Barbara Hall Park's state of good repair and functional design issues, a how-to-report tool being developed for issues ranging from property standards to individuals in crisis, and the Healthy Neighbourhoods Summit held on November 15. Meetings have also facilitated new connections between community agencies, like St. Michael's Hospital, Turning Point Youth Services, Progress Place, and the Gerstein Crisis Centre.

In December, 2017, Councillor Wong-Tam had Community Crisis Reponse hold a public meeting with residents and community members at the YMCA Grosvenor to discuss recent missing persons cases, community safety protocols, and to share information on the Community Officer program for the Village.

2017 Community Safety Meetings Timeline