The City of Prince Albert says it does not have a blanket approach to removing benches or public seating, but does review locations when safety, vandalism or antisocial behaviour become ongoing concerns.
Community Safety and Well-Being Manager Anna Dinsdale said Tuesday that public seating is something the City continues to evaluate, especially when benches are connected to repeated concerns at specific locations.
“We absolutely do regularly review benches, for instance, and the locations of those benches to see if they need to be removed,” Dinsdale said.
The issue came up after Saskatoon looked at removing downtown benches because of concerns around safety, sanitation, smoking and public disorder. Dinsdale said she would not comment on another city’s decision, but said Prince Albert handles bench concerns on a case-by-case basis.
“We don’t have a blanket approach to benches,” she said. “We absolutely have and will continue to remove benches where we need to, if that’s part of a solution.”
Dinsdale said the City is trying to balance two issues. Some benches are important for people with mobility or accessibility needs, seniors, transit users, youth, students and families. At the same time, some seating areas can become places where people gather in ways that make others feel unsafe or lead to vandalism.
She said the City has already removed benches in some locations, including bus shelters, after concerns from transit riders and seniors who said they did not feel safe using those stops.
“We found that by removing the benches, there was a significant improvement in the way that those bus shelters were used, and a reduction in antisocial behavior in those areas,” Dinsdale said.
The same concern came up during an accessibility meeting last week, when a participant asked whether benches would be added at bus stops so people could sit while waiting for transit. At that meeting, Dinsdale said the City faces a constant challenge between providing places to sit and dealing with people congregating on benches or vandalizing them.
She said at the time that one bench had been removed near the top of Second Avenue West, where issues were reduced significantly afterward. She also said a bench near Superstore was removed after a request from businesses, with some improvement seen there as well.
However, residents at the meeting also raised concerns about the impact of removing seating. One participant said they could not sit on the grass because they could not get back up. Another said it was frustrating to see public infrastructure removed when some residents need it.
Dinsdale said Tuesday that removing a bench may sometimes improve a problem area, but it does not solve the larger issue.
“Simply removing benches is not the solution on its own,” she said.
She said bench removal is a downstream response that can disrupt a problem, but it is not a long-term answer to the social issues behind the behaviour.
“Our long term goal should be to have benches and seating area across our community,” Dinsdale said.
The City works with police, community safety officers, bylaw, the mobile complex needs team, Prince Albert Metis Women’s Association outreach workers and other partners on public safety concerns, Dinsdale said. She said those groups work to connect people to services while also discouraging behaviour that negatively affects other community members.
Dinsdale said larger public space projects also consider Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, including lighting, seating and how spaces are arranged to improve the feeling of safety. She said the City also has to remain flexible because problem areas can move from year to year.
“It isn’t a kind of blanket solution,” she said. “I think we try to evaluate each location on an individual basis, make the decision that’s right for that area.”
Dinsdale encouraged residents to report concerns through the City’s online bylaw form, and to report concerns about public drug use or intoxication to police online, saying those reports help agencies understand where problem areas are developing.
She said the City is open to ideas from residents about how to make public spaces safer without removing basic amenities people rely on.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
