By Matthew Harrison
As part of a safety audit conducted nearly three years ago, the city is finally ready to release recommendations to reverse the decline of Gladstone Avenue.
The Gladstone Improvement Study, to be released some time this spring, will propose safety and aesthetic changes for Gladstone Avenue which has seen an increase in crime and prostitution in the last few years.
“Have you been down Gladstone Avenue lately?” asks Geoff Hall, assistant to Councilor Elisabeth Arnold.
“The study wouldn’t have been initiated in the first place if there wasn’t a definite need for the recommendations which will be contained in the report.”
“It’s taken two years to respond to the 85 or so items originally listed by the safety audit conducted in 1995 and this is because resources and funds are such that, until both are made available to us, only hazardous safety concerns get priority,” says Arlene Gregoire, who processes all of the City’s safety audits.
Madeleine Marier, program director for the Women’s Action Against Violence Centre, echoes Hall’s concerns, “We need to address these safety issues because our neighbourhood is a high crime area and people are becoming afraid of walking along our neighbourhood streets.”
The Gladstone Improvement Study will be the final step in a three-part project originally initiated by the McNabb Neighbourhood Improvement Bunch.
The group began the project by conducting a safety audit in 1995 which was submitted a year later to the city. It was not acted on for another two years.
The report will contain recommendations as to how certain safety concerns, such as poor lighting on Gladstone Avenue, and improvements to the area’s aesthetics, can be addressed by both the community and the city.
However, Hall says these recommendations will be implemented immediately only if they are within the city’s budget.
Recommendations, which fall outside the city’s resources, will have to wait until funding is available.
A safety audit identifies places which need improving, such as vacant or rundown buildings, overgrown bushes, poor lighting on streets, and safety in and around ABM bank machines at night.