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After a massive investment in the Rideau Centre ($340 million) — and, in truth, it has never looked better — the merchant presentation was a cry for help, an appeal to police to put more boots on the ground to deter crime, loitering and vagrancy — in effect, for the public sector to do its share by dedicating proportional resources.

How bad have we let things get?

Consider that even the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association is worried about the safety of visitors staying in the heart of the city. Imagine what a first impression that makes at the concierge desk.

“Many hotels are clearly concerned and some have stopped recommending Downtown Rideau and ByWard Market as tourism destinations after dark due to safety concerns,” wrote president Steve Ball, who has 50-some hoteliers in his group.

“I do think there has been an increase in gun use, from back in the day,” he said, referring to his longtime experience with Downtown Rideau. (Only Friday, a man was found with a gunshot wound in the 200 block of Rideau.)

Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia Network

“(Hotels) continually get asked by guests, ‘Where should I go and what should I do?’ They have a responsibility to send them to safe places and know what the policing situation is.”

Donna Holtom owns Holtz Spa — which has been operating on Rideau, near the corner of Sussex Drive, for 32 years — and is the current chair of the Downtown Rideau Board of Management. In other words, she’s seen and heard it all.

“We have this discussion over and over and over again,” she said Tuesday, expressing no confidence in the latest police plans for greater Rideau. It needs a co-ordinated approach, from all stakeholders, she said, to address the issues of homelessness, addictions and the mental health of the disadvantaged — not just more badges and blue uniforms.