An Osborne Village arts centre is redesigning its entrance and ripping up its courtyard in an attempt to address violence and homelessness plaguing the neighbourhood.
The concrete gathering circles outside the Gas Station Arts Centre have become overrun with drug use, acts of violence and homeless people using the space as living quarters, the theatre’s executive director said.
“What we’re looking at is establishing our courtyard for our patrons,” Nick Kowalchuk said Thursday. “What I want is a patron to feel comfortable.”
The River Avenue theatre, which is celebrating its 40th year, plans to move its entrance to within a secure vestibule and construct permanent fencing around the courtyard.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
‘What I want is a patron to feel comfortable,’ says Gas Station Arts Centre executive director Nick Kowalchuk.
The centre introduced a fenced-in, licensed patio complete with a stage to increase business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve had encampments in the courtyard, we’ve had fires in the courtyard, and so it’s just wanting to stop that,” Kowalchuk said. “It’s just nice to not have to take a mattress to the dump.”
The accumulation of incidents and security issues throughout the neighbourhood in recent years, as well as a desire to revitalize the theatre, prompted the demolition, Kowalchuk said.
The Subway next door, which is a tenant of the Gas Station building, has closed its dining room in response to people from coming in and causing trouble.
Manager Ravish Patel has been subject to assaults and threats during the five years he’s worked at the Osborne Village location.
“Sometimes we don’t feel safe,” he said Thursday, as a city community safety officer was tending to an individual Patel found passed out near the store’s back entrance.
“Sometimes we don’t feel safe.”–Ravish Patel
Patel said most issues arise after midnight, a time when police generally cease their patrols of the area.
Nearby, Burrito Del Rio owner Ray Ferchuk is no stranger to violence.
“Drunk people walking in, throwing chairs on the patio,” he said. After 15 years in business on River Avenue, Ferchuk called police for the first time last year. He adds he’s skeptical if the Gas Station’s courtyard redesign will help to improve the area.
“It is probably safer for them, but otherwise nothing’s ever gonna change.”
In its 2023 statistical report, the Winnipeg Police Service reported a 33 per cent increase in crime in the River-Osborne neighbourhood from the previous year, including a 51 per cent increase in violent crime and a 30 per cent increase in property crime.
Last month, the Starbucks coffee shop in the Village permanently closed its doors, citing a changing market and safety concerns.
There have been several violent incidents in the neighbourhood, including an assault on River Avenue May 25 and a stabbing at the adjacent Shoppers Drug Mart last fall.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
The concrete gathering circles outside the Gas Station Arts Centre have become overrun with drug use, acts of violence and homeless people using the space as living quarters, the theatre’s executive director said.
Osborne Village BIZ executive director Zohreh Gervais said the theatre’s redesign is a way to reclaim the space for the community, and not exclusively a symptom of social issues affecting the neighbourhood.
“It’s part of an overall long-term vision … redesigning that corner of River and Osborne to feel more community-centric and to make it more of a usable space,” she said.
Gervais admitted addiction and homelessness influence the level of safety in the Village, and said increased police foot patrols and more funding for the SABE Peace Walkers has helped over the past few months.
“People really care about this community. They care about safety, and they want to feel safe in the community here so it’s been a lot of voices coming together to say, ‘we need a little bit of extra help,’” she said.
Winnipeg police deployed more foot patrols to the Village in May as part of its retail theft and violent incident initiative. Results from the first few months of the patrol will be released in the coming days, a WPS spokesperson said in an email.
While the greater presence is welcomed, Kowalchuk said the issue is far from resolved without proper resources close and readily available.
“Those are the steps that we just need to have that’ll help the area,” he said.
Demolition of the Gas Station courtyard is expected to begin next summer. If the plans take longer than expected, Kowalchuk is committed to revamping the space with safety and community in mind.
“We don’t want to move. We don’t want to do that. We’re an anchor in the Village and people rely on us for being their space,” he said.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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