So we have these first hand comments from people who have seen the problems at or near Westbrook recently, on the first page of the thread, excluding my own:
One:
Is there something wrong with the Westbrook underground C-Train station? I keep hearing from other people that the amount of homeless people sleeping / not leaving the station is resulting in some interesting encounters for riders.
Two:
Drunks, druggies, petty criminals, homeless, etc have increased in the area since the LRT station went in. Westbrook Mall itself is sketchy.
The library at the LRT station doubles as a homeless drop-in.
Three:
My kids got to experience a guy on drugs screaming and flailing his arms get taken down by police at Little Lebanon there. That was a good life lesson.
Four:
Was at the BPs there not to long ago and a guy OD'd in the washroom, fortunately he lived but talking to the staff it's not a uncommon occurance. Unfortunately, the ctrain has turned that area into a pretty sketchy one.
Five:
That place wasn't always like that; I will concur that Westbrook Station has made the area more sketchy too.
Six:
You definitely see some sketchy characters in the area...
Seven:
Westbrook is pretty ugly, but not much different than downtown stations during non-peak hours.
Eight:
Going to the McDonalds just south of the Westbrook station recently, one crackhead out of a group was holding out a box full of Iphone chargers. Certainly some auxiliary sales after their five finger discount at parked cars in the station.
It's a total hellhole, to be avoided if you can and don't mind having to fix your windows in the middle of winter as you left a charger visible in your car.
Those are just random readers on a message board seeing what is going on in the area.
Chemgear shows up on page two with actual statistics from CPS which shows how much crime has increased in that area over the last few years. Its pretty bad.
Here is an article about the city needing to add to security in the area entitled "Drunk, abusive customers prompt security to increase at Calgary's Nicholls Family library":
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...fety-1.4281531
So if you feel safe there, good on you, its simply an area I no longer take my 4 year old to. There are better places to go.