104th Street on its way to be first area in North America Purple Flag accredited

Local business owners say this will be “groundbreaking” for the perception that downtown is safe.

Community members are seeking the accreditation for the area so that Edmontonians can feel more at ease when visiting the core—day or night— by knowing measures like quick reporting of positive and negative things happening in the area are already being done.

“It’s essentially to shine a spotlight on a defined area, see what’s occurring and work on improving those areas,” said Ian O’Donnell, vice president of the Downtown Edmonton Community League. “It’s more or less about being proactive with positives and negatives happening in an area.”

According to the Purple Flag website, the project sets guidelines that “indicates an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out,” which would be applied when evaluating 104 Street.

Having much success in the UK and with development happening downtown at a rapid pace, city officials felt the 104 Street area was a good place to start the Purple Flag initiative in Edmonton because it is already a “defined neighbourhood in the downtown core,” say business officials.

“There’s a lot of myths about downtown in the evening that need to be dispelled […] and if we get certified, we can change that around,” said Ed Fong, chair of the 104 Street committee.

“Downtown Edmonton needs feel-good, positive stories and if we’re successful, this will certainly be one of those.”