Moncton bar owner feels St. George Street security cameras are a ‘band-aid solution’ – New Brunswick | 24CA News
Moncton metropolis council unanimously voted to put in 33 safety cameras on St. George Street in a bid to handle crime within the space.
“The bottom line is, the more eyes on our community, on our city and in our downtown, the more positive it is, so it’s a welcome addition,” Ward 2 Coun. Charles Légèr advised Global News on Tuesday.
The cameras will value $90,000 to put in on visitors lights and avenue lamps alongside the road that runs parallel to Main Street.
The footage will solely be accessed by the RCMP or public security “if there is a need for it” based on Légèr, and can solely be saved for 30 days.
Marc Légèr, who has owned Laundromat Espresso Bar on St. George Street since 2007, calls the cameras a “band-aid solution.”
“St. George Street hasn’t had a real revitalization like we all hoped for,” he stated on Tuesday.
“It’s been downhill ever since I opened here 16 years ago.”
Légèr additionally owns Notre-dame-de-Parkton, a lunch restaurant subsequent to the bar.
“We’ve had issues of violence in my restaurant where one of my employees got assaulted,” he stated.
He stated he has problem recruiting employees to each his bar and his restaurant due to considerations for his or her private security.
Daycare proprietor Elki Imbeault is blissful in regards to the addition of safety cameras.
“I think those are important elements to keep people safe. It’s a deterrent by all means,” he stated.
He’s so assured that St. George Street is popping a nook that he will likely be opening a 120-spot daycare within the former UNI financial institution constructing.
“It’s more and more vibrant,” he stated of Moncton’s downtown.
“The young families need (a new daycare). There’s immigrant workers as well and new people coming to the downtown core.”
He stated safety hasn’t been a difficulty on the daycare he operates on close by Bonaccord Street.
Marc Légèr stays skeptical, and stated the one actual resolution is for the province to do extra to handle the housing disaster.
“We’re just calling the same services after (they install security cameras) and what are they going to do? The homeless person sleeping in back of the dumpster is still going to be there in two weeks. Nothing is being done for it. It’s not the RCMP or security that’s going to change the poverty issue and drug addiction,” he stated.
Charles Légèr acknowledges there’s no “simple solution” to addressing downtown safety considerations.
“It’s a step toward creating a more safety-minded approach, but with respect to homelessness, it’s a much larger issue,” he stated.
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