In the wake of the draft report from Dr. Tarah Hodgkinson about community safety perceptions in North Battleford, city officials plan a communications campaign to present the findings to the public.
Ryan Mackrell, city planner, has indicated they plan to follow up on the report right away. But he acknowledged they will need to adjust their plans to address one item that came up in the report: perceptions of safety downtown.
Downtown received low marks from survey respondents as a place where they felt safe. In her presentation to council Monday, Hodgkinson remarked “no one is taking ownership of that space in a way that makes folks feel safe.”
Councillor Kelli Hawtin said the survey validates the feelings expressed by people about safety downtown.
“Are we going to be looking at something specific downtown?” she asked Mackrell.
Mackrell responded they will need to tweak their plan a little bit. He indicated downtown would be a priority, because that was what the data was telling them.
“The report tells us where to focus,” Mackrell said. “Downtown is the number one place people don’t feel safe, that is what they’ve told us as a community. What we’re saying is we need to listen to that, it’s been identified, and we need to do something about it.”
