City threatens to pull revitalization funds
Arts on the Avenue initiative started in 2005, but now officials want to move on
Staff and volunteers behind what’s likely Edmonton’s most successful revitalization effort in recent history have been left scrambling after city officials threatened to pull funding.
The Arts on the Avenue initiative used festivals, music and art to draw neighbours together and changed perceptions of a longterm hot spot for prostitution and drug-related crime. It started in 2005 and its success won praise at home and around the world, including from former governor general Michaelle Jean.
But now city officials want to move on.
They want to take the lessons learned from this partnership with residents and move city resources, including $200,000 in matching grants and an employee, to two new neighbourhoods: Balwin and Inglewood.
Alberta Avenue residents say they’re not ready.
“Those abandoned buildings are all still there,” said Clinton Carew, a local business owner who pleaded the neighbourhood’s case before city council’s executive committee last week.
The area could still slide backward so quickly, he said. Then they’ll be looking “back in 10 years at what Alberta Avenue might have been.”
The issue goes to city council on Tuesday.
In March, Amanda Nielsen and her fiance invested $1 million in a dental clinic on the avenue. She was taken by the buzz and wanted to support something that seemed to be benefiting the neighbourhood.
But it’s obvious the area struggles, she said. After a visit, several parents have told her they are switching dentists because they are not comfortable bringing their children there.
She regularly finds needles out the back door and her tires were slashed.
“The community has come a long way, but we’re not there yet,” she told councillors. “We really need your help.”
City officials said they want to reallocate the money to take the lessons learned in Alberta Avenue to other parts of the city.
They want to leverage the city’s investment in physical infrastructure like new sidewalks and roads, and add an investment in social infrastructure with new festivals and community gatherings that would build an overall more connected and economically prosperous area.
Balwin and Inglewood were picked because they ranked high for social vulnerability — singleparent households, low income, little English — and also have neighbourhood reconstruction or arterial road renewal work coming.
Coun. Tony Caterina questioned why Alberta Avenue had to be cut to make room.
The West Jasper Place revitalization effort is facing the same fate.
But he did not have a vote on that committee.
Mayor Don Iveson argued council should accept the city’s recommendation so public consultation can move forward in Balwin and Inglewood.
He asked for a funding package for Alberta Avenue to come forward this fall for consideration during the budget debate to see if they can fund a second phase of revitalization.
Arts on the Avenue executive director Christy Morin said she’s glad other neighbourhoods will have help, but they were blindsided by the decision to cut support for Alberta Avenue.
The matching grants make small community-building initiatives possible, including jazz in the alley, neighbourhood apple juice making, and board game nights to replace drug deals on street corners.
It gave startup funds for the nine local festivals that now call Alberta Avenue home.
But the effort does need to move to a phase two, she said, asking for city officials with decision-making power to work hand in hand with the community again.
They need to find a way to redevelop the 27 vacant lots and empty storefronts, perhaps with the food hub Edmonton is considering.
Edmonton might want a quick win, but this neighbourhood was left to decay for decades. “To turn that back around, it’s going to take 40 years,” Morin said.