Private Security

Once again local residents are left little recourse but to take matters into their own hands in this recent letter to anybody at the city that might care. 

We are a group of residents living in the blocks between Gerrard and Carlton, Sherbourne and Parliament Streets. 

We have become concerned with the increasing amount of crime and illegal activity happening in our neighbourhood.  We are fully aware that choosing to live in the downtown east side of Toronto provides a neighbourhood in constant change.  We like the dynamic and are willing to take reasonable amounts of the good with the not so great.  We have however noticed in the past few years that the levels of crime have increased significantly and while these are regularly reported to the police, they are unable to provide adequate protection, due to unfair allocations of resources city-wide that ignore the greater needs in our neighbourhood (we can provide statistics on the massive skewing of social housing, homeless shelters, etc in this ward relative to all other wards in the City but suspect you already have those). 

We have been subject over the last few years to a far greater amount of break-ins, unauthorized entry into homes asking for money and food, stolen bikes, graffiti, vandalism, porch thefts, garage thefts, car windows broken and cars keyed, people having sex in our back alley, drugs being sold, people being passed out or drinking and doing drugs in our front yards and alleys, public urination, etc, etc.

We do not feel that we can continue to allow this rapid increase in crime to directly impact us and therefore have felt it necessary to retain the services of a private security company which will be doing weekly patrols through our streets and alleys. We understand that you have had discussions with another part of SW Cabbagetown (to the south of our block) so we would welcome an expansion of those efforts, although we have heard that those have been limited.

The private security company is the same as used by our neighbours – Primary Defence Corp. (905) 744-9997.  They will begin their patrols this Friday and Saturday night and will do so every Friday and Saturday.  They have indicated that they will have no direct interaction with anyone that they observe on their patrols.  They will call 911 if they observe any suspicious activity and will wait for police to arrive. We felt that it was necessary to inform you of this in the hopes that the security company can work with police and social services to address these issues.

Thank you and if you would like to reach any of us, please feel free to contact us by the emails listed above or you can telephone me at 647-966-6259.  We would be pleased to speak with you about this.

TwitterGoogle+FacebookLinkedInDiggStumbleUponBlogger PostDeliciousShare

Other News

broken-christmas-tree

Hello Holiday Readers

How many holiday editions is this now?? Twelve to be precise. The last two, amid pandemics, have been interesting. We did the giving guide last year, and this year did not get the content or … [Read More...]

cabbagetown-business-survival

Will Our Small Businesses Survive?

Contributed by Anita Bostok. As Cabbagetown residents, we know full well the advantages of downtown living. We walk down the street, and everything we need is at our fingertips. But we can’t take it … [Read More...]

don-valey-art-show

DVAC Holiday Show and Sale:

The show remains open at the Papermill Gallery until Sunday, November 20th at 4pm We are excited to be back in our favourite haunt, the Papermill Gallery at Todmorden Mills for this year’s Holiday … [Read More...]

caroline-murphy-web

Thanks a billion for your support

Thank you to my fellow candidates and you , as residents, for your commitment to the election process and being engaged. It is people like you who give me hope for all we can accomplish together and … [Read More...]

getting-to-know-you-

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

Cabbagetown is a neighbourhood of beauty, heritage, cultural diversity and inclusion. We are Anita Bostok and Norman Hathaway and we’re proud to contribute this regular feature where you get to know … [Read More...]

CarolineMurphy-Advert

CAROLINE MURPHY

“We can do better” - Candidate for City Councillor Ward 13 - Toronto - Center Caroline Murphy In September, I wrote about why I was running to be your City Councillor for Ward 13 and since then, I … [Read More...]

Photo credits Marion Voysey

My Betty White

My Betty White Photo credits Marion Voysey Betty White– is a visual artist, living and working in downtown Toronto. Born in the US, Betty studied painting and, for a period, paper making, in a … [Read More...]

lavenue-restaurant-cabbagetown

Elora L’Avenue

Contributed by Anita Bostok - After a soft opening last summer, L’Avenue restaurant at 583 Parliament Street is now creating quite a buzz. Taking inspiration from the chic cafes and brasseries she … [Read More...]