It is every person’s right to live in a community where they can participate in work, recreation and cultural activities without fear of exposure to crime, harassment or harm to themselves, their families, their neighbours or their property.

The West Broadway Development Corporation (WBDC) is actively working to improve safety conditions and perceptions of safety in this community, in partnership with residents, businesses, community organizations, Police and government.

•Safety Pilot Program Overview
•West Broadway Neighbourhood Safety Plan
•Community safety
•Safety Tips

Safety Pilot Program Overview

This two year pilot program will document local conditions, strategize ways of making things safer, and work with community members to put these strategies into action. The program began in the Summer of 2009 thanks to the generous support of the Province of Manitoba through Neighbourhoods Alive! and the West Broadway BIZ.

A Safety Coordinator has been hired to facilitate this program and is actively working on the following objectives:

A.) Develop a Neighbourhood Safety Plan for West Broadway
B.) Work with the West Broadway BIZ to identify their priorities and work towards addressing them.
C.) Improve access to crime prevention information for residents and business owners
D.) Improve understanding of the root causes of crime in the neighbourhood.
E.) Support resident groups by providing resources and support for their safety related activities.
F.) Educate rooming house tenants on their rights and responsibilities and holding public events on priority issues
G.) Work to improve communications between tenants and landlords.
H.) Improve safety of rooming houses by piloting home safety audits with tenants and making small improvements to the units, with the housing provider’s permission.

West Broadway Neighbourhood Safety Plan

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Safety Planning process and who participated in the May 18th forum where the draft was presented.

Please review the draft Safety Plan and give us your feedback! We would like to know:

1. What do you like about the Plan?
2. What would you like to see improved?
3. Is there anything missing from the Plan?
4. Are there any particular goals or strategies you see as especially important to making West Broadway safer?

Please give us your feedback by June 15th by emailing safety@westbroadway.mb.ca or calling 774-7201×7 or by stopping by our offices at 608 Broadway. After we receive comments from the community the document will be redrafted for review by the Advisory Committee and the WBDC Board of Directors. The Final Plan will be released in the Fall.

West Broadway Safety Plan Draft

Background on the Safety Plan:

In the first year of WBDC’s safety pilot program, a Neighbourhood Safety Plan for West Broadway is being developed. Through surveys, focus groups, consultation events and interviews, WBDC will document neighbourhood safety conditions and produce a planning document that will act as an indicator of what is working well, where improvement is needed, and what next steps should be taken as relates to safety in this community.

The main goals of WBDC’s Neighbourhood Safety Plan are as follows:

• Identify the safety concerns and priorities of residents and stakeholders in West Broadway
• Explore options for programming that will address local safety concerns
• Identify opportunities to partner with local service providers, augment existing neighbourhood safety strategies, and create new programming to bridge gaps
• Create a community endorsed document that will serve as a guide for future safety programming in West Broadway

Community safety is everyone’s responsibility!

How you can get involved
West Broadway Development Corporation needs your help. We want to hear your ideas and answer questions you may have about neighbourhood safety but more than that we need your active participation in moving forward. We invite you as our neighbours and friends to work with us, to share your energy and time, to make a firm commitment and get involved in the many positive things that are happening in our community.

Fortunately, there are successful strategies available to you that promise to put your energies and concerns to good use:

• WBDC has begun organizing BLOCK MEETINGS for neighbours who have safety concerns, these meetings offer folks an opportunity to meet one another, share stories, and strategize ways of solving safety problems collectively.

• We are also organizing SAFETY AUDITS where community members walk together through our streets and buildings documenting unsafe conditions and areas of common concern. With the audited information neighbours work together to call police, to call city inspectors, to call the residential tenancies branch, to call 311 and get our street lights fixed, our garbage removed, our back lanes cleaned up and our ‘drug houses’ shut down.

If you would like to get involved in these initiatives and help us make West Broadway safer, please contact the Safety Coordinator at 774 7201 extension 7 or email safety@westbroadway.mb.ca

Safety Tips

GENERAL SAFETY
• Get to know your neighbours
• Do not confront problems alone – work with neighbours and contact authorities
• Do not hesitate to call for help
• For criminal issues phone POLICE – 911 (Emergency) 986 6222 (non-emergency)
• If children are being neglected or abused call CFS – 944-4050
• If neighbours are trafficking drugs, alcohol, or sex phone MB Justice – 945 3475
• If you are not comfortable calling authorities or have questions about personal safety call the WBDC Safety Coordinator at 774-7201 x7

HOME/RENTAL SAFETY
• Make all requests to landlords IN WRITING
• Make sure your windows have working locks
• Make sure your exterior doors have deadbolt locks
• Report burned out light bulbs to your landlord, change lights you’re responsible for
• Leave a light on after dark
• Make sure there is working smoke detector in your suite and ask your landlord how to test it to make sure it’s working
• Fire extinguishers should be installed and visible
• If electrical outlets are loose or have black around the edge, notify your landlord
• Leaking faucets, running toilets & broken showers should be fixed immediately
• Keep expensive belongings like stereos, TVs, CDs etc out of view of windows.
• During parties, hide your valuables in a safe place

STREET SAFETY
• Be alert and prepared when walking at night, plan a safe route
• Avoid walking alone after dark and travel on well lit streets
• Consider carrying personal alarms but not weapons as they can be used against you
• If faced with a robbery, choose personal safety over the safety of belongings.

OTHER NUMBERS TO HAVE ON HAND
Kids Help Phone (24 hrs) 1-800-668-6868
KLINIC Crisis Intervention (24 hrs) 786-8686
Domestic Abuse Crisis Line (24 hrs) 942-3052
Legal Aid 958-8500
Mobile Crisis Service (24 hrs) 946-9109
Osborne House Women’s Shelter 942-7373
Residential Tenancies Branch 945-2476
Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY) 783-5617
Welfare (EIA) 948-4000
Winnipeg Police Service (non-emergency) 986-6222