City plan looks to build dynamic, thriving nighttime economy in Edmonton

A new proposed strategy aims to build a"dynamic and thriving" nighttime economy in Edmonton and some stakeholders believe it could transform the city's art and tourism sectors, and its overall nightlife.

Authored by city staff, Explore Edmonton and U.K.-based Night Time Economy Solutions, Edmonton's Nighttime Economy Strategy seeks to play a pivotal role in helping businesses flourish after the sun goes down.

The report, published Thursday, examines trends in the economy and tourism that would help Edmonton create a "dynamic and thriving nighttime economy" that prioritizes unity, connectivity, protection, progressiveness and uniqueness.

Two of the report's main priorities are improving transportation and safety. 

According to the report, many stakeholders, particularly female participants, shared feeling uncomfortable taking transit or the LRT, as they were highlighted as "hotspot areas" for drug use, gravitating toward driving or ride-share services like Uber should they want to go out.

Those surveyed said they have noticed an increase in crime and disorder as the night progresses and wanted to see a more active and visible presence of police and peace officers.

Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, told CBC News the strategy doesn't contain a lot of new information, especially when it comes to the importance of safety.

She said business owners have called for measures to improve safety for a long time.

"People need to feel safe if we want them to go places," McBryan said.

"It's really affirming that this thing we've been saying for a long time has been validated … There's a lot in here that's validating for us, but not a lot that's new."

McBryan said she's curious to see what Edmonton city council does with the information in the report, which includes what she calls some "really helpful data" to quantify the importance of a nighttime economy plan.

When it comes to safety, she said the landscape has changed significantly in downtown areas.

"Our downtown beat officers are there during the day, but what that presence looks like at night has really changed since COVID," she said.

"I'd be really curious to find out, even compared to 2018, how many officers we have out on a typical Friday or Saturday night."

Tyson Boyd, co-owner of the Starlite Room, said businesses are itching to rebuild and strengthen the downtown core, and improving safety is going to be a major factor in helping to grow foot traffic.

Some of his own staff have told him they feel nervous taking transit because of their safety concerns. It's a hot topic for customers too, he said. 

"When you have larger events and people are coming down, it's a power in numbers type thing," Boyd said.

"When people are all coming down at a specific time, you have the comfort of being with a number of people riding the train, versus when it's a little bit more of a slower time and there are fewer people."

Boyd said more measures in place, such as better-lit streets and beat officers, would make people comfortable and create a generally safe environment downtown.

Rob Browatzke, co-owner of Evolution Wonderlounge, said the strategy looks great at first glance, but its success will depend on how the city implements it. Much of the plan focuses on transportation and crime, two major issues impacting nightlife, he said.

"Downtown is a lot less safe than it was four years ago," Browatzke said.

"People are really quick to scapegoat that onto Edmonton's unhoused population. I get that, but that's not where we're seeing most of the safety issues. I think people forgot how to be people during COVID."

Improving transportation options and safety would change things for the better, especially since Browatzke's venue closes at 2:30 a.m. But doesn't feel like a nightlife-focused committee should be tasked with fixing Edmonton's bigger issues.

Instead, he'll be curious to see if city staff can come up with promotional vehicles that businesses can use to spread the word about upcoming events.

"It's all going to come down to who's on this committee and how much power the committee actually has, and what this committee can actually do," Browatzke said.

The proposed strategy is slated for discussion at council's Executive Committee on April 10.