SEE Magazine
Copyright © 2001. All Rights Reserved

News BY ANDREW HANON At certain times of the week, she no longer feels welcome in her own neighbourhood. During the day and most week nights, the streets around her home and the small shop she owns are the same as they have been for years: eclectic, esoteric, accepting. Most of the time, her sexual orientation isn’t an issue for public consumption. But things change on Friday and Saturday nights. Nowadays, if she and her partner want to go out to their favourite spot, they walk several blocks out of their way in order to avoid the catcalls and choruses of "dyke!" by the people who flock from other parts of the city to her neighbourhood. "It can be really intimidating at night," the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told SEE Magazine. "And not just for gay people. It can be scary for women who are alone, or anyone who just looks different in some way." These people, whom she affectionately referred to as freaks, are what give Old Strathcona its unique, Bohemian character. They’re the people who began moving here in the late 1970s and opened the curio shops, the coffee houses and the used bookstores. But now she fears Old Strathcona, the city’s most popular shopping and entertainment district, is becoming less friendly to the very people who give it character. Stephen Liley feels it, too. The street youth he works with in Old Strathcona tell him they’re intimidated by the so-called chachis, the young suburban types who fill the area’s 10,000 licensed seats each weekend. Every few months the city’s media turn their steely gaze upon Old Strathcona and the pundits raise the same questions: is Whyte Avenue becoming a victim of its own success? Has it become such a popular place to party that the revelry is out of hand? Tim Fuhr has heard it all before. The president of the Old Strathcona Business Association and owner of the Urban Lounge, one of the area’s most popular nightspots, bristles at suggestions that the area is coming apart at the seams. "All we really need is better management from City Hall," he said. "We need more beat cops on the street and better enforcement of liquor regulations from the liquor board and the city’s bylaw department." Fuhr has little time for media and politicians who "scapegoat" all the bars in the area and for blowing the entire issue out of proportion, depicting Old Strathcona as some sort of gin-soaked no-man’s-land. "On an average weekend night, we have 30,000 to 40,000 people through here. You get that many people anywhere and a handful are going to be troublemakers. The vast, vast majority of people don’t do anything wrong." He’s particularly upset with City Hall, which last year collected $4.5 million in taxes in Old Strathcona’s Business Revitalization Zone, but seems little interested in reinvesting in one of its most lucrative districts. "We’re supposed to be the jewel of Edmonton. Next to the West Edmonton Mall, we’re the city’s largest tourist draw. It’s about time we got the respect we deserved from City Hall." Fuhr said the OSBA plans to become a much more aggressive advocate at City Hall in the coming year. The problems on Whyte Avenue, he said, are growing pains, but the association must ensure that the city does what’s necessary to manage that growth. Presently, there are only two beat cops in Old Strathcona at any given time. Fuhr noted that at certain times, such as the Fringe Festival, more police are present and even though there are more crowds than ever, everything remains relatively orderly and peaceful. Fuhr is positive a more prominent police presence would ensure everyone would feel at home in the neighbourhood. One major complaint by business owners is the availability of cheap alcohol. Some bars sell highballs for as little as 75 cents, allowing some people to knock them back like there’s no tomorrow. Fuhr said the business association plans to lobby the liquor and gaming commission to reinstate the regulation forbidding drinks to be sold below the bar’s cost.

| Back To This Issue Table of Contents | Back To Main Index |