snowhugs

just a quick opinion please.....

My OH and I came to Calgary almost 6 years ago on honeymoon we loved it and ever since have been planning our move.

We have planned alot already and have have many reasons for going, we have not booked a flight for recce yet but aim for spring next year.

So here it is............A friend of ours just came back from a visit and warned me how much Calgary had changed since our last visit and for us not to be shocked, she claims it was full of homeless people and those with mental health issues. She said they were on every street corner and doorway making her feel unsafe as she walked back to hotel (the Delta or something not sure where that is) She was offered a variety of drugs day and night!!!
It amazes me, when we were there, I remember thinking how safe I felt and how quiet it was!

Has it really changed that much?

Not really planning to reconsider but just want to know what it will be like next spring.

Rich_007

Were they any good

R.

AndyBCbound

LOL

Jingsamichty

The Delta Hotel in downtown is loacted right beside an area with the highest visible concentration of Calgary's unfortunates. Without doubt, your friend got a Bad Picture. Problems do exist, but for most 'ordinary people' it is nothing whatsoever to worry about.

Incidentally, Calgary is also the most public-spirited and charitable city I've ever seen in my life.

Look at this forum, see how many people on here live in Calgary, including many with young families, and love it.

Don't worry about it.

ann m

We did our (belated) honeymoon in 1995 - and Calgary has changed hugely in that time - it has sprawled good and proper. And yes, the homeless are a very visible presence in the downtown core.

I have to say though, that wandering around the downtown area, I have never been approached or hassled by anyone - they pretty much keep themselves to themselves; there is plenty of in-fighting and squabbling and swapping 'goods' to keep themselves busy.

Calgary has a considerable amount of hostels and homes for overnight stays. Apparently, if you time it right, you can get 18 free hot meals in a day! This, I think, encourages more out-of-town homeless to give Calgary a try. They are not all locals, by a long shot. It's not for the faint-hearted though. The winter weather alone is a killer - literally. The visible mental-health issues are surely the saddest sight. I agree that the charitable donations in this city are quite phenominal. Many, many good people spend their lives helping these unfortunate folk.

But many, many people go about their daily lives and are untouched by the homeless. Do not overly worry, but on the other hand don't wander around a few of these streets at 2am !

I have recently worked with some security officers for some of the large office blocks and malls here. Now they do have a lot of interaction, with people sleeping in doorways and corridors, and constantly being asked for food, drink, cash, use of the loos, etc. But Joe Average, I suspect, is barely concerned with them.

Butch Cassidy

The ones are the Delta are VERY low grade

LotteW

While there are a lot of homeless in Downtown Calgary, unless you are planning on living downtown and wandering around late at night in the more dodgy of the downtown areas I doubt it would ever affect you.

Out in the suburbs you never see anyone who is obviously homeless - they all stay downtown where the hostels are.

I have never felt threatened by any of them myself, but obviously there are some areas downtown that I would avoid at night. But this is true of any major city including many in the UK - there are certain areas you avoid.

I think Calgary is a great city to raise a family in.

Getting There

Ditto what everyone said. Don't worry.

Eamonn & Janet.

scousemartin

I have been in Calgary for the past two weeks on a recce/job hunting trip.
One day I did see two incidents, one police were arresting a 'strange' woman in the centre of town and another were they were moving on a couple who were begging on the edge of town. All seemed harmless and unthreatening.

I wouldn't say Calgary was unsafe, I feel very comfortable in down town, but I haven't been down town at night. I'm still willing to bring my family here so that's my vote for Calgary

SM

Alberta_Rose

Not to add much really ... just agreeing with what the others have said.

We used to have our regular chorus practices at the Friendship centre .. 8th Ave SE .... and I was once rather anxious returning alone to my car after ten at night, when there were a group of guys I decided were dealing at the side of the parking lot.... but in reality I don't think they even noticed me.

During winter time there are oftentimes homeless people sleeping in the hallways when I go in to work on the plus 15's around 8am. Who can blame them when it's -25 below, and the hostels are full!?

A couple of times people have asked me for "change", but the city advises us against giving to "pan-handlers". I have never been harrassed by anyone personally, and I think those folks who at least say "Hi, how're you doin'?" are appreciated, even if you don't open your wallet. One actually made me laugh rather, when I had just scraped together enough cash for me and my son to share a hot-dog from a street vendor ... I nearly offered the guy a bite!

I think I do feel somewhat nervous about travelling alone through downtown, eg on the C-train, at night, but there are often more transit "peace officers" around then, and really, trouble is rare.

The media makes much of gang/drug-related shootings, which seem to be on the increase, but it mainly seems to be the bad guys bumping eachother off!!! I still feel safe, living in Calgary.

Getting There

In an odd way, it is perhaps comforting that such events are still fairly big news...we'd be more worried if they were so regular that they were not making the headlines.

Eamonn & Janet.

BristolUK

Sounds a little like Bristol.

Sounds a lot like Bristol.

Rich_007

There's simply no excuse, is there.

So if anyone thinks Calgary is rough arse, get down to downtown San Fran or LA.

Them's ghetto rough, yo honkies. get yo selfs a dose of reality.

R.

Butch Cassidy

Too true Rich, I feel a damn site safer walking through the rougher areas of Calgary (including FL, Victoria Park, the area around the Delta etc) at night then I did South of Market in SF in the middle of the day. In fact I feel safer anywhere in Calgary than I did in the milltowns of Lancashire on a weekend.

dbd33

I like San Francisco and don't feel intimidated there at all. That said though it's the only place I've been where there were more beggars than in Toronto. I think people moving from the UK (ok, specifically London, I've no cause to visit the North) need to be prepared for the large numbers of homeless and mentally ill on the streets in North American cities. Visiting London now is refreshing because there's much less visible poverty and personal harassment there than here.

I think the mass homelessness, and specifically the homelessness of the mentally ill, is the result of deliberate actions on the part of past governments. Those of Klein, Reagan and Harris but that's neither here nor there now, it's now a feature of life that each traffic light has beggars and on the major streets where traffic flows slowly there are beggars between the lights. I literally step over the homeless most days and each winter people freeze to death, some of them ones I've stepped over. In the GTA it is increasingly the case that there are people living on the streets even in the suburbs. One particularly reprehensible character leans against my glass on Cawthra Road in Mississauga. I have a convertible car and like to drive with the top down, I carry a riding crop in order to keep the grubby fingers of the dispossessed outside the car.

Comment on this in Toronto and the inevitable response is "you should see Vancouver". I'd rather not.