NSBIA considers foot patrols, asks The Loop to keep it clean

Some business owners are blaming The Loop for the social disorder, a center that provides food, shelter and other resources to those in need in the area.

“The perception of the business owners is that when The Loop is running drop in services, there is an escalation of issues in the 400-block [of Tranquille],” said Heighton.

The NSBIA and property owners met last Thursday to come up with a plan for these issues. They want boots on the ground to break up groups of people outside The Loop. Heighton said when more people congregate outside, crime is more likely to occur. The BIA is asking the people running The Loop to handle their clients more strictly.

“We take care of the property that we’re on. We also look after a couple properties that have been vacant for a couple of years, and try to keep that clean, free of people congregating, encourage them to come [inside], bring their carts inside and park their things inside,” siad Glenn Hilke, director of The Loop.

Hilke wanted to attend the meeting on Thursday but was not invited. Heighton said the meeting was kept to business owners only so they could air their concerns freely.

Hilke says the actions of a few problematic clients makes all others look bad.

“Here with our operation, we’ve probably seen, over the course of the two years we’ve been open, over 200 unique individuals come through the doors here,” said Hilke. “Maybe one per cent or two per cent of them are people that cause trouble.”

“Keeping the surrounding areas clean, many of the people that come in here now, participate in that. They come in, they ask for a broom, or if we see there needs to be some cleaning up around our properties or other properties, we do that,” he said.

Nevertheless, property owners in the area want The Loop to look at the agreement they made before the center opened.

“When we met with the LEC [Lived Experiences Committee] board in 2019 they gave us assurances on how that site would be managed, including the surrounding area of the site. So we wrote a letter to their board on Monday, and that letter basically asked them to go back to that original agreement, and to honour the terms of that agreement,” said Heighton.

The Loop’s board is meeting Wednesday (March 30) to discuss the letter from the BIA and to come up with their own solutions to the ongoing problem.

by Stephanie Swensrude

NSBIA considers foot patrols, asks The Loop to keep it clean

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