Warning bell rings for Calgary downtown safety and crime (Photos)

Crime and safety in downtown city cores across Canada, like Calgary, has become a major issue where it’s hurting businesses and retailers of all stripes.

It has also become a major issue beyond the downtowns in many major centres.

At the recent Calgary Real Estate Forum, Damon Formos, Executive Vice President, Western Region, Canada for Brookfield Properties, sounded the alarm of what’s happening in the city’s core, reflecting the view of many different property owners and business operators.

He said some areas of Calgary downtown are “inexcusably dangerous.”

Formos said when he looks at the company’s office portfolio in downtown Calgary, the amount of criminal activity in the portfolio recorded in the Fall was 3.5 times higher than in 2019.

“Said another way, our tenants are 350 per cent less safe and that’s a huge problem. We’re going to need to fix it. We’re going to need to fund it . . . We really need to address it.”

In a recent opinion piece in the Calgary Herald, well-known and well-respected entrepreneur and community leader, George Brookman, the chair and company ambassador of West Canadian Digital, wrote “politicians must deal with the fact our society is starting to break down when someone like me is worried about walking down their street.”

“Our downtown must remain the heart of the city, and the opportunity to go to a restaurant or the theatre on Stephen Avenue must be viewed with pleasure, not something to make us tense,” he wrote.

“Winter is coming fast and the bitter cold will drive people to shelter, but that is not a real solution. The real solution is accommodation that is warm, dry and safe, accompanied by a willingness to ensure that people use those spaces. There is no argument that the streets are for everyone; but they are not for sleeping, drinking, abusing drugs or simply offending pedestrians by yelling out your frustrations with your life.

“Walking or riding a bike along one of our river pathways should be a pleasure, not an experience of fear or nervousness. Camps and tents have no place along the pathways and police and security forces should be used to make sure that they are cleared and safe.”

“If that coveted female shopper working in Calgary’s the office towers or visiting our downtown shopping district, sometimes with her family in tow does not feel safe and secure parking and shopping at a downtown Calgary retail property, she will find a suburban shopping venue that offers the perception of safety, and her spending will follow,” said Michael Kehoe, Broker of Record for Fairfield Commercial Real Estate Inc.

“There has been a wakeup call for commercial retail real estate professionals in charge of security / public safety, management, and the ownership of shopping venues and mixed-use commercial properties in downtown Calgary. The problems with addicted and unhoused persons are complex and costly. A facility manager of a major complex shared with me recently that their security team removes an average of 60 people per day who are deemed to be potentially or are problematic. These interactions require two building security members and frequently involve the Calgary Police Service, bylaw personnel or Alpha house addiction specialists. 

“The management has increased its security budget for 2025 at the property by an additional $225,000  and this cost gets passed on to the tenants of the building that include stores and restaurants.”

The security challenges are affecting downtown shopping patterns and retail sales.  The retail and food service scene in the Calgary central business district in the fall of 2024 is very fluid. The future of some downtown department store anchors is uncertain. Downtown restaurant sales are robust and office tower daytime populations are increasing, added Kehoe.

“Exciting redevelopment projects at the Glenbow Museum / JR Shaw Centre for Arts & Culture, Arts Commons / Werklund Centre and the new arena / event centre, Scotia Place are well underway. Many office to residential conversion projects are under construction or in the planning stages and we have a new downtown art gallery, Contemporary Calgary. This is sure to generate future traffic and sales to downtown retail venues over time but the social issues must be addressed to ensure complete success,” he explained.

“There are many high profile groundbreaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies for politicians and other influential people to attend. Commercial success will go hand in hand with social success in the perfect Blue Sky City, Calgary’s new marketing slogan, and will require committed leadership from all stakeholders that include political leadership.”       

Kehoe wondered: Have we normalized the many street people and unhoused humans in Blue Sky City central business district? 

“You don’t have to look very far in downtown Calgary to find any number of groups of people with addiction or mental health issues on the streets and alleyways. The ravages of addiction and living rough are evident in the faces of these folks. Many are not the typical unhoused folks, they look more ‘hard core’ and we see them every day downtown and walk by thinking that it’s someone else’s problem. These are our fellow citizens. I think of the many business visitors to our new BMO Convention Centre along with tourists heading for the mountains and ask how they view our city as they stay, play, walk and drive by? The city block and back alleyway between the Fairmont Palliser Hotel and Bankers Hall this is happening everyday. The alcove entrance of the historic Grand Theatre regularly has people camped out and I am sure that Sir James Alexander Lougheed (1854 – 1925) the builder of the Grand is rolling in his grave. We need to do better. In such a wealthy city, province and country we need to tackle these challenges. Elected officials hear our voices, but we need to turn up the volume and make this a ballot box issue (among many others) in the 2025 municipal election.  

“The human misery and suffering is right before us on the streets and in the numerous overflowing emergency shelters in Calgary. It’s a complex problem and many business groups are working on solutions including the Calgary Downtown Association in concert with the city, BOMA Calgary and NAIOP that have created a detailed action plan. Bravo! I hope we see action with positive outcomes. Remember the ‘Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness’ back in 2007? Good work was done by many but the problems endure. Calgary is better than this and we need to act now. The ownership of major downtown shopping and office properties is changing. As major taxpayers in this city, these property owners have a voice with elected officials. I hope they amplify their voices to affect change not only for the sake of their property values but also for the social needs of our most vulnerable citizens. It will be good for business and for everyone.”  

A television report in the fall by Global in Calgary described a violent confrontation between the manager of a downtown Calgary restaurant and a homeless person which the report said is an example of the surge in the level of violence, drugs and vandalism that businesses say they are being forced to deal with on a daily basis.

“An individual had decided to urinate in the street in broad daylight,” described Danielle Wilkins, who manages The Wednesday Room on Stephen Avenue Mall of the confrontation that took place on Sept. 25, 2024, as she and staff were preparing to open the restaurant for lunch.

“I had asked her to move her stuff and not do that in public — you know, we were getting ready to open — and that kinda started the snowball effect of the interaction I had with her that day.

“She started throwing items at me from her shopping cart. She decided to follow me onto the patio so I turned around and she charged at me and attacked me. She closed fists and punched me on the side of the head and pulled my hair.”

Unfortunately, this is becoming all too common across the country. In the fall, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said the share of Canadian small businesses directly affected by crime and safety issues has almost doubled in the last year, jumping from nearly a quarter (24%) in 2023 to 45% in 2024.

“It’s been a nightmare on Main Street. Imagine working hard, providing jobs, contributing to the community, just to have your goods stolen, windows broken, and property vandalized. For small businesses, it’s devastating when they are hit by crime over and over again,” said Keyli Loeppky, CFIB’s director for Alberta and interprovincial affairs. 

Waste and litter (e.g. drug paraphernalia, garbage, excrement), vandalism, and theft were the most common types of crime small businesses experience. Crime and safety issues take an emotional toll on small businesses as well, with over two-thirds (68%) worrying about their personal safety and that of their staff and customers, explained the national organizations. 

Businesses have spent a median of $5,000 on crime-related expenses in the last three years, such as replacing stolen inventory or equipment and vandalism repairs. In addition, 68% of small firms do not consistently file crime-related insurance claims, with most saying they worry about driving their insurance premiums even higher, at a time when such costs are already skyrocketing, said the CFIB.

“Some security measures, while helpful and necessary, may come at a steep price, deter customer foot traffic and, as a result, lead to lower revenues,” said SeoRhin Yoo, CFIB’s senior policy analyst and report co-author. “Many businesses are already operating on thin profit margins, so just one crime incident could be make-or-break-for a small business owner.” 

In his regular blog Every Day Tourist, Richard White, who is a former Executive Director of the Calgary Downtown Association, wrote earlier this year: “If Calgary wants to become a major convention and events destination, it is going to have to clean up its downtown now, not in 5 or 10 years. Investing billions of dollars in mega projects will be for nought if we can’t create pedestrian-friendly streets and public spaces (including the +15). I am embarrassed to say, “Something is rotten in Calgary’s downtown these days!”

In March the City of Calgary announced the Downtown Safety Leader Table (DSLT), bringing together businesses, community partners, the social sector and government. 

The recommendations tabled work to ensure downtown is safe, vibrant and remains a place for Calgary’s business community to grow, said the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

“The economic impact of safety is far-reaching. Ensuring Calgary is safe is critical to our economic success, and affects large and small businesses alike,” said Deborah Yedlin, President and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. “It is our collective responsibility to address safety in Calgary, and today’s recommendations highlight the need for governments, community and business to work together to support the most vulnerable.”

The Chamber said it supports recommendations that enhance cleanliness and physical safety infrastructure, help businesses purchase and access safety measures, develop plans to work with building owners and businesses to enhance safety for employees, bolster police and uniform presence downtown including plans for a downtown District Office to reduce barriers to reporting, increase community activations that bring people downtown, and continue to advance initiatives related to mental health, addictions and housing affordability.

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