**Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly referred to Kirk Shaw as Kirk Davis**
The recent introduction of a supervised consumption site at a medical centre in the Beltline has had a devastating impact on the bottom line of a neighbouring business.
The supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre (SMCHC), accessed through a dedicated entrance off 13 Avenue S.W., opened to the public in January 15, 2018. The permanent site replaced a temporary site that had opened on October 30, 2017 in a trailer in the parking lot of the medical centre.
The co-owner of Provision, a restaurant situated across the street from the SMCHC in Central Memorial Park, says his business has seen a steady decline in customers following the influx of visitors to the supervised consumption site.
“This is my last week of lunches here,” said Kirk Shaw on Wednesday. “Last summer I would have three waitresses and myself running flat out, doing 70 to 80 covers a lunch. I’m down now to one waitress doing maybe 20. We did nine last Wednesday.”
Provision has been in business since December 2016 and Shaw says there is a plausible explanation for the restaurant’s slump this summer.
“The weather’s been fantastic. I can’t blame it on the weather. Food’s the same, ownership’s the same, everything is the same. The only thing that changed in this equation is the presence of the safe injection site and its attendees.”
Provision’s doors are located approximately 100 metres east of the doors to the consumption site.
The supervised consumption site is open seven days a week between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. and a number of its users congregate along 13 Avenue or in Central Memorial Park on a regular basis.
“I’m not against harm reduction as a policy, I think it makes sense,” said Shaw. “It’s just the implementation of the way it was put in here has been really foolhardy and reckless.”
Shaw says he’s disappointed that Alberta Health Services did not properly consult partners in the neighbourhood ahead of the decision to make the consumption site a permanent addition to the area.
“I’m in the downtown core and I expect a certain level of this behaviour but the difference between this year and last year is like night and day. It’s been in effect for about eight months and we’re seeing absolutely, catastrophic effects of their public health policy.”
According to Shaw, the members of the Downtown Outreach Addictions Partnership (DOAP) team continue to do outstanding work addressing issues in the neighbourhood and he has had encouraging conversations with the City of Calgary Parks. “Parks has a bigger investment in this than I do. They spent $13 million on this park as a lynchpin of redeveloping the Beltline.”
“The harm reduction strategy shouldn’t go away, it just has to be revamped. It really needs a hard, hard shakeup. It might be working for the junkies but it’s not working for anyone else in the neighbourhood.”
Jody Turner and Natalie Power elected to have their lunch in Central Memorial Park on Wednesday. They say they haven’t noticed drug paraphernalia in the green space but there is evidence of drug use.
“What I’m noticing, it’s not actual needles (that) I see, it’s the people on the ground who have used the needles,” said Turner. “People passed out close or near the fountain, in stairwells or under the trees.”
“We have a responsibility as a society to help people through these things but, first and foremost, these people (have to) want to be able to help themselves. If they don’t help themselves, then it’s just going to be a cyclonic down spiral.”
“Having a safe space for people who are struggling with addiction and struggling with these issues that they can’t break is a good idea,” added Power. “Is it advocating the consumption of these drugs? Maybe, but it has done a lot of good.”
Dr. David Strong, Alberta Health Services’ medical health officer for the Calgary zone, says all concerns from the community regarding the site are taken seriously.
“We’re trying to be a good neighbour,” said Dr. Strong. “As issues are identified by any of the surrounding community, by community members or industry, we’re working with them and police services and the City of Calgary trying to respond to them as best we can.”
According to Alberta Health Services, there have been approximately 23,000 total visits to the temporary and permanent supervised consumption sites over the last nine months and staff members have responded to 379 on-site overdoses. There have not been any deaths at the site.
Dr. Strong says substance abuse in the area was prevalent prior to the introduction of the consumption site. “The reality is that this is an area of high drug use and the data that we have was showing a high number of overdoses within a kilometre of Sheldon Chumir going back over several years. We knew that this was an area where we needed to respond.”
Ward 8 Councillor Evan Woolley confirms that there have been isolated complaints and select incidents in the vicinity of the SMCHC but says there has been a sizable decrease in calls to 311 regarding the area outside of the supervised consumption site.
“There have been concerns raised by a couple of adjacent neighbours and we’re addressing those concerns but remember that we have seen unsafe consumption in back alleys and in park spaces across the Beltline and across the city.”
Woolley says Central Memorial Park has outgrown its tarnished reputation of decades past and points to the successes of food trucks and this Friday’s planned movie in the park as evidence that the area is becoming family friendly.
The Ward 8 Councillor says the supervised consumption site at the SMCHC has proven successful and the City is considering locations for additional consumptions sites and is entertaining the possibility of a mobile consumption site.
The co-owner of Provision says the drop in 311 calls likely speaks to disenfranchised residents and business owners who feel their complaints aren’t being heard. “People just get fatigued if they don’t see any real change. They just stop reporting it,” said Kirk Shaw. “I’ll call and that guy will be right back in half-an-hour.”
Shaw adds the private security and Calgary Police Service foot and bike patrols do keep the area generally safe but issues remain, which are likely off-putting to potential customers, that need to be addressed and he’ll continue to call for the removal of the permanent consumption site.
“It’s not an easy fix, there’s no easy band-aid, but something has to be done because this is not working. The permanence of this thing is not working.”
With files from CTV’s Kathy Le
