Originally Posted by HVA7mm
I moved to Edmonton from NE BC in 1990 to go to school until 1993, it kind of had more of a big small town feel to it with a population of around 600,000. Things were happening up and down Jasper Ave and to a lesser extent at the time Whyte Ave, but there were also the skid row pockets between 101 St and 95 St, and Jasper Ave to 107 Ave and of course along 118 Ave/Stony Plain Rd. I moved back up NE BC as there were very few jobs to be found in AB at the time, but found myself back here looking for work and finding work 1997 when the NDP were still trying to starve out NE BC. So I guess that I've been here for the last 27 years and have noticed dramatic changes.
In the late 90's early 2000's countless tax payer dollars were pumped into (and still are) failed attempts at gentrifying 118 Ave, 107 Ave, Stony Plain Rd, etc. However around 2003 or so the downtown core started making a comeback, and the pocket from 100 Ave to 104 Ave from about 100 St to 124 st, as students and young professionals started moving downtown. By 2013 or so it was really getting some vibrancy back and the ICE District seemed to offer some promise of that continuing. Sure you still had a few junkies/homeless wandering around, especially after the work day, but it wasn't any different than any other large cities.
Then COVID hit, everyone was going to die from just looking at each other, so downtown closed and everyone moved back to the suburbs to avoid the plague. Work stopped for anyone that wasn't deemed essential and the Trudeau threw handfuls of money to everyone, and I mean everyone. That's when the zombies moved in, and were encouraged to do so by Edmonton city council. They opened up the Expo Center, transit centers(actually provided transit), Commonwealth, the Convention Center etc. etc. You know who really likes concentrations of unemployed people and people with mental illness that have money thrown at them, drug dealers, and oh boy did they ever have a field day. When word got out that you can get free money for drugs from the government, an abundance of drugs available to buy, and a city that will help facilitate said drug use, people took notice. It was pretty much an "If you build it, they will come" scenario. Pretty soon the public facilities weren't working for everyone because some of them had a few rules, so the next step was encampments in which the city did absolutely nothing to curtail. Remember the Rossdale Encampment, or should I say Camp Pekiwewin. What a joke that was. Nothing but a haven for addicts, dealers, predators and criminals, but the city wouldn't do anything because some of the "residents" said that "Rossdale has been an important gathering place for Indigenous people for thousands of years and is the site of traditional burial grounds and no governing body wanted to do anything. Then after it was finally cleared up, encampments began to spring up everywhere because there was and still are no deterrents.
Fast forward a few of years, the plague wasn't that bad and everyone wants to get the ball rolling and get back to work downtown, however there are now many many unwanted guests that public policy has allowed to proliferate for nearly half a decade. Soft handed left-wing politicians and zero enforcement of existing laws have helped this crap show become the norm, much like most other cities. People have gotten so used to it, that most just ignore it, just like the government has been doing for years. That's been the biggest change that I recall ever happening in Edmonton in my 27 years here.
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