Meeting held over safety concerns around café that serves Hamilton homeless

A heated meeting over crime and safety in the streets has left some business owners disappointed along Hamilton’s James Street North.

The businesses say they’re not confident there’s going to be any improvement despite a public gathering last night.

The dispute centres around the Cathedral Café that provides breakfast and lunch to about 150 people a day as a way of helping the homeless.

Businesses say it brings drugs, graffiti and street crime to their neighbourhood, scaring off customers.

One suggestion is that the behaviour of people leaving the café should be supervised.

“They’re at liberty to consume drugs or engage in lewd behaviour … once they’re off the premises, and they have limited leeway to actually deal with that,” says Pat Antila of Faema Coffee Solutions.

READ MORE: Hamilton businesses share safety concerns amid homelessness crisis

Another suggestion was that St. Matthew’s House that runs the café should have to meet the same standard as the businesses.

“Businesses owners are mad because they have to be held to certain standard and if they don’t they get punished,” says Jay Dworsky of The Local Skate Shop.

But business owners wonder if their concerns are being heard.

“We don’t need this on our street. Quite honestly, we went there, we spoke, but my feeling is the alderman is not really paying any attention to us,” says local business owner Morty Morgenstern.

The city councillor for the area, Cameron Kroetsch, organized the meeting. He declined an interview today but spoke to CHCH after the meeting last night.

“What I’ve heard from tonight from people was they they’ve tried to find solutions, they’ve tried to work with police to find solutions here, they’re not always finding that they’re hearing back right away… they’re not always seeing that they get the services they’re asking for,” Kroetsch said.

He says police should be part of the solution.

But Hamilton police say they’ve increased patrols in the area for several months in response to complaints, releasing a heat map — dark red spots show police spending an increased amount of time in that area.

Police say they’ll work with the businesses, but that they weren’t even told the meeting was taking place.

“Police were not invited. We didn’t know about it unfortunately, and I think it would have been really important to have us at the table … having this discussion when it comes to public safety in the area,” said superintendent Robin Abbott.

“We heard loudly and clearly the amount of dissatisfaction and pain they feel about what’s happening on James North,” Renée Wetselaar of St. Matthew’s House said.

The café says say drug use is not allowed inside, but bad behaviour and mental breakdown can come with poverty.

Wetselaar says their workers will start monitoring people as they leave the premises.

“We can help follow people along a little more in a way that encourages them not to just stay on the street and conduct unhealthy behaviour, but help them find their next stop or their next place to go,” she said.

St. Matthew’s House says the café is here to stay, despite calls for it to be moved to some other neighbourhood.

Business leaders say there could be more meetings about this until they come to some kind of solution.