GOLD: Five bodies later, neighbours sound alarm over Elmwood flophouse

Article content

According to residents of the Elmwood neighbourhood, a converted corner store on Watt Street has been making their lives hell for the last five years. It’s become a magnet for crime and drugs and at least five bodies have been removed from the building.

Article content

Running north from the foot of the Nairn Overpass, Watt Street bisects the Elmwood district in East Kildonan. It’s a neighbourhood inclining to the gritty side, with a handful of wartime homes, local manufacturing plants, working-class families and seniors on a tight budget.

A neighbour we will call Al has lived across the street for 17 years. “It’s the worst it has ever been. The house is a constant issue 24/7,” he said.

He’s witnessed bodies being rolled out on gurneys.

“There was for sure one this winter around December. That was No. 3. Then there was the one on Aug. 22, No. 4. Then the one this week on Oct. 13 was No. 5.”

I spoke with a few other residents who didn’t want to be identified. One family whose son overdosed multiple times in the place has moved away. They declined to be interviewed as “they have had issues with drug dealers threatening the family in the past.”

Article content

Article content

Al recently contacted the city’s bylaw and enforcement department after noticing an increase in mice and a putrid odour. The yard and back lane are full of garbage, both doors have “heavy activity”, there’s handoffs out the window, and he’s seen “30 to 40 bikes in the bike yard.” This summer he saw police recover a stolen motorcycle near the building.

Around 11 p.m., Al says, “groups of 15 to 20 guys show up there. They all have empty backpacks and they go out prowling all the back lanes and streets.” They return around 4 o’clock in the morning “loaded to the gills with … property.”

Since COVID has eased, “any given week (police are) there five times a week, sometimes more than once a day. Ambulances and fire trucks are there constantly,” Al said. “During all these times I’ve never seen anybody get arrested.”

Article content

There was a blaze in June after the fence and garage caught fire. Around the same time, an arson at a manufacturing operation a few blocks down caused a million dollars in damage. Locals, including Al, can’t help but suspect the cause and effect.

The entire neighbourhood is under siege, Al said, and “you’ll see needles and empty baggies and paraphernalia … there are kids all over here and two schools down the street.”

What concerned him most was witnessing a young mom and daughter at the nearby bus stop being harassed by an erratic addict.

Al had his own experience after one of the “regulars” broke into his garage and locked herself in. Police arrived, but it was far from over. “So they took her away. At least they got one of them off the street, around midnight. The next morning I’m getting ready for work at 8 a.m. — guess who I see walking back into the corner house?”

Article content

Al and the other neighbours expressed frustration that despite placing calls and emails to the WPS, Crime Stoppers, and the city councillor, it was only after a couple of them sought help under the Safer Communities program with Manitoba Justice that the cavalry arrived — sort of.

When some of the tenants were kicked out, “you try to have some hope … it might get quiet for a day or so but then it’s just right back to normal.”

Al sees the same people hanging around and the efforts of the owner seem limited to going in the day before Safer Communities conducts an inspection and cleaning up the garbage.

Al also works downtown and said crime and disorder is “the worst I’ve ever seen.” He believes Mayor Scott Gillingham “isn’t handling it too well” and said the police “treat the addicts like victims more than the actual victims.”

Article content

Al and the other residents were also critical of Elmwood-East Kildonan Councillor Jason Schreyer, insisting that their calls to his office about the crime den received no response.

When I filled him in, Schreyer looked into it and said, “There is no record at my nor the MLA’s office (Jim Maloway) of any phone calls or emails for this address, but I think what can happen is that people may have tried to message me on Facebook,” which he’s never listed as an official channel to reach him.

Nonetheless, he’s committed to getting to the bottom of the situation, noting that with Maloway, they used the Safe Communities Act “to close down a drug house on Munroe”, about five blocks north of the Watt Street eyesore.

“People are rightly concerned about their neighbourhood. It would be unsettling to me if they weren’t. This is serious,” Schreyer said. “It kinda hurts to see what’s happening in a neighbourhood that has been part of my life since the 70s. Fifty years later, I’m picking up needles and garbage here. People deserve to let their City know what their concerns are and to know how the system works to deal with their concerns.”

Article content

As a result, Schreyer said he’s planning “a public safety meeting to discuss these issues right in the neighbourhood, this season.” He wants it to include the WPS and other departments.

“I look forward to talking with neighbours here in the process of creating the format.”

While 311 calls and online complaints are registered and form proof of community concerns, “I am due for a general briefing by both Winnipeg Police Services and Winnipeg Fire and Paramedics. However, councillors are not given specifics of their investigations.”

How do five bodies get carted off without a report from police, bureaucrats, or anyone else? I’ll be reporting more about this communication blackout before year-end.

— Marty Gold is a Winnipeg journalist. You can find more of his work at The Great Canadian Talk Show.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

Article content