Drunks force Winnipeg business to close: owner
Last Updated: Thursday, July 22, 2010 | 1:43 PM CST Comments72Recommend39
CBC News
Raven Thundersky is closing the Kraut King, located on the ground level of a parkade on Garry Street, because customers are scared away by area drunks. (Google Street View) The owner of a restaurant in downtown Winnipeg is calling it quits, claiming a growing number of drunks on the street are scaring off customers.
Raven Thundersky told CBC News she is closing the Kraut King, located on the ground level of a parkade on Garry Street, just south of Portage Avenue.
Often, by noon, intoxicated people are stumbling past the restaurant or passing out in front of it, Thundersky said.
"When people see that, they're not going to come in," she said.
"I've seen customers come toward the area and as soon as they see the people either drunk or urinating or standing around, hanging around outside the restaurant, they just keep walking.
"And you know what? I don't blame them."
There have been times that Thundersky and her business partner have had to fight off aggressive drunks.
"[We] had to actually stand by the door and hold the door shut because there was a drunken person just really flipping out because we had asked her to leave," Thundersky said.
"This was before four o'clock in the afternoon."
Friday is the final day the Kraut King will be open, she said.
Boozing hurts downtown revitalization
The City of Winnipeg's development agency, CentreVenture, has a plan to turn the northern section of Portage Avenue —which cuts through the heart of downtown — turned into four distinct zones.
The objective is to increase development and pedestrian traffic in the area, which sports a number of vacant buildings and empty streets after 5 p.m. when office workers leave the area.
But many business owners in the area say something must be done about public intoxication, vagrancy and panhandling in the area if the city truly wants it to improve.
"Our tenants experience it constantly — it's almost a daily occurrence," said Bob Brown, a property manager for a number of core-area buildings.
About 3,200 intoxicated people a year are detained after being picked up by security from the Downtown BIZ, an agency that represents businesses in the district and runs programs to bolster downtown image, cleanliness, safety, transportation and parking.
The red-shirted guards, which patrol the area on foot, have the power to hold drunks in custody under the provincial Intoxicated Persons Detention Act.
Thundersky said the Downtown BIZ is doing the best it can but aboriginal leaders need to step up and do more to address addiction problems among First Nations people.
Brown also points some of the blame at the government, particularly the publicly-owned Manitoba Liquor Control Commission.
He said the MLCC should be targeting and fining hotels in the downtown that sell beer to disadvantaged people who wind up drinking it illegally in public places.
But MLCC president Ken Hildahl said liquor inspectors have to catch scofflaw owners in the act in order to levy fines.
The MLCC has increased inspections in recent years, but needs hard evidence of wrongdoing to take action, he said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/07/22/mb-kraut-king-close-downtown-booze-winnipeg.html#socialcomments#ixzz0uT9xYlPS
