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Afraid to speak out

The committee’s report highlights fears from residents to speak out against the sites as well as notify problems to police due to a perceived lack of response.

“Several residents indicated that they did not feel safe and would not speak at the town halls or any other public forum,” the report said. “This claim appeared valid, since Edmonton was the only location where the open intimidation of one group by another at the town hall meetings was observed.”

Having attended two of the community town halls, Pon said she didn’t feel comfortable voicing her concerns in front of the site supporters, but she did fill out the online survey. Many businesses and residents in the area have given up reaching out to police because they haven’t seen any results, she said, and several shops were forced to close within the last year due to lack of consumers visiting the area.

Small businesses are vital to building strong communities and city spokeswoman Adrienne Cloutier said the city takes these concerns very seriously.

“The city has taken a number of steps to continually support and educate businesses on assistance available and processes to follow when encountering needles and related materials,” Cloutier said in an email to Postmedia Friday. “We will continue to work closely with business owners, stakeholders and partners on additional solutions to these challenges.”

Residents are encouraged to continue contacting police when criminal activity occurs, Edmonton police spokeswoman Cheryl Sheppard said in an email.

“The EPS will continue to work in partnership with the supervised consumption site agencies to ensure that the needs of the facility users are balanced with the actions necessary to keep the surrounding areas safe from harm,” she said.

duscook@postmedia.com

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