Riversdale businesses frustrated with approach from City Hall

Riversdale businesses say the city is ignoring them as it buys properties for affordable housing and homeless supports. Keenan Sorokan has the story.

Daryl Brown is fearful the neighbourhood he’s spent 34 years growing a business in is taking a turn for the worse and city council is behind the wheel.

“Through their actions or inactions, they are choosing to do this willfully,” Brown said. “If you check council voting record, it will show that.”

The owner of Phoenix Starter Alternator Repair said city council or administration have not consulted or even given a heads up about a further concentration of homeless and social services being put in the area.

On Wednesday, city council finalized the lease terms of a new warming centre at 325 Avenue C South, while also approving the purchase of six properties in Riversdale and Pleasant Hill.

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A city report says a majority of the properties will be used for supportive housing, while one property located near Brown’s shop was described as “well situated” to become a navigation hub council previously supported creating.

“We aren’t at odds over the goals. What we’re at odds over are the methods and the lack of transparency (and) communication through administration, council and the mayor’s office,” Brown said.

Brown isn’t alone in his concerns. Ephithymia Kutsogiannis, who runs a dental office and is chair of the Riversdale Business Improvement District, lashed out at council’s lack of transparency during Wednesday’s meeting.

She called on the city to stop putting more services in Riversdale. She wants to see the warming centre move after its lease expires in March, and she wants to see Prairie Harm Reduction move as well.

“We feel we’ve been blindsided numerous times,” Kutsogiannis said.

“I just feel in a democracy where the true essence of democracy is that the people have the power — government should be including those people that are being the most affected.”

Robert Pearce, the councillor for Ward 3, said the city needs to do more to service homeless people on the east side of the river as residents continue to express frustrations of more social services being placed on the west side of the city.

“A level of frustration that is growing into severe anger,” Pearce said. “People are tired of seeing this situation occur.”

Major Gordon Taylor with The Salvation Army, which operates a shelter next door to the warming centre, has previously voiced opposition to concentrating services in one area after seeing other cities make the same mistake. He said placing two shelters so close to one another “is a bad idea.”

The city says renovations are nearly complete at the warming centre, which could open as soon as Tuesday. As of Wednesday, the city wasn’t prepared to unveil a safety plan for concerned businesses but said that would be available by opening day.

Pearce wondered why a plan wouldn’t be worked out ahead of time.

“I think we need to stop the insanity of doing the same thing over and over again,” Pearce said. “And we need to start looking at decentralizing these issues.”

The city plans to sell four portions of the vacant land — located along 20th Street West and Avenue O South — to Indigenous partners who will then build housing once the city prepares the sites for construction.

As Pearce called for more of these incentives or initiatives to be placed on the other side of the river, Ward 5 Coun. Randy Donauer pointed to a 120-unit affordable housing development being built along McKercher Drive.

The site preferred for a navigation hub, which displaced a community garden this summer, was previously owned by Imperial Oil Ltd. and may have environmental concerns as remediation is completed, council heard.

Block raised a motion looking to get more input from residents and businesses when the city considers future developments in Riversdale, but Kutsogiannis is waiting for more than words.

“I think I have to see the walk, not just listen to the talk,” she said.