How can Winnipeg make its river path safer? Minneapolis may offer solutions

Our neighbours to the south in Minneapolis may have found a solution to safety issues along Winnipeg's river path.

Concerns about safety onriver trailshavebeen in the spotlight over the last week, after an 18-year-old woman was robbed and seriously sexually assaulted in daylight onthe pathway.

The assault happened just before 6 p.m. Tuesday near the bridge at Main Street and AssiniboineAvenue east of Bonnycastle Park.

Serious crime was a problem on the Midtown Greenway, a nine-kilometre urban bike trail in Minneapolis, before the city and other groups committed to making it safer.

It wasn't a simple solution, said Soren Jensen, the executive director of the Midtown Greenway Coalition, a friends group for the trail and one of the organizations responsible for the changes.

One of the biggest changes:29 blue safety phones were installed along the trail. Theyhave a red button that allows users to instantly call 911.

Jensen thinks the phones have been a key part of making the trail safer. Someone whose phone is taken in a mugging could still access 911 quickly, for example.

The trail used to experience two or three serious incidents a year, but Jensen can only remember one such incident in the last three years.

But the larger holistic approach to preventing crime has also included things like public art, gardens, brighter lighting and volunteer bike patrols.

Overall, Jensen said he thinks getting people to use the trail as much as possible has been the greatest deterrent to crime.

"The more different ways you program a space, the more you can get people down there, that's really the overall way to keep crime level," he said.

"I don't think just installing the phones is enough. It's sort of a comprehensive approach tohow do you activate a space, and how do you get a lot of people using it 24/7? That's how you keep crime really low."

'Great idea'

David Pensato, the executive director of the Exchange District BIZ, said he's a fan of the Midtown Greenway Coalition's approach.

He used the trail a few years ago when he was in Minneapolis for a conference.

"There was a section where I started to feel uncomfortable, and right at the moment I started to feel uncomfortable, that's where I noticed where those panic buttons were," he said.

"And I thought, 'Wow, that's a great idea.'"

Installing the phones in Winnipeg could be a powerful deterrent to crime, Pensato said.

"Once you have people feeling safer, you have more people using these routes, which boosts the safety," he said.

Pensato hasn't formally approached city officials about installing the phones, butit's on his list of things to discuss with them, he said.

With files fromDanelleCloutier