“I’ve never been afraid, I’ve lived here my whole life. But this last year, I was afraid,” says Teresa Spinelli, president of Edmonton’s Italian Centre. Spinelli has lived and worked in the McCauley neighbourhood for 65 years, running the Italian Centre Shop on 109A Avenue & 95 Street, in McCauley’s Little Italy area. “Sometimes it gets really good, and sometimes it gets really bad,” says Spinelli. “I think the mental illness is really, really bad now. I think it’s over the top. I think the drugs that they’re using are a hundred times worse than they’ve ever been. I’ve lived here my whole life. So I’m used to street people, drug people, addicts and all that kind of stuff.” She says the situation right now is unlike anything she’s experienced before. “Lots of groups that are gathering together… kind of intimidating, you know, walking. Walking by them makes me feel very uncomfortable. You can see they’re doing something illegal. But you don’t know what, and they’re not really directed at you. You can’t call the police and say, hey…. You can’t say I’m feeling uncomfortable walking by this group of people because the police aren’t going to come for that." Spinelli says many customers won’t visit the Little Italy location anymore because of social disorder in the area. “They just feel very uncomfortable,” she says. “They will not come here. That’s a big issue.” Police tell CTV News Edmonton the McCauley area has been without a dedicated beat team since 2023, when Healthy Streets Operation Centre resources were introduced. Members of the McCauley beat were moved to the Oliver and Cromdale neighbourhoods. On Thursday, EPS Deputy Chief Derek McIntyre told Edmonton’s Police Commission that a case for the McCauley beat is currently before the superintendent. “The data analysis in relation to the McCauley community does support all of the factors that we do include whenever we consider an area,” said EPS Deputy Chief Derek McIntyre on Thursday. “The business case has been written in relation to supporting the McCauley community by reestablishing deep members directly into that community. And it’s sitting with the superintendent who supports it. And I too, in turn, will support that when… it does come to me.” “... In short, we’re on it,” he says. “Just having their presence makes things a little bit better,” says Spinelli. “Even sometimes when they just come in for coffee at the coffee shop, it just feels… a little bit calmer. So that we know that if something does happen, we have some support there.” Spinelli was outside of Thursday’s Police Commission meeting, where she says she spoke with constables. “I’m just hoping to see more of a presence,” says Spinelli. “... I think it’ll make a really, really huge difference. It’ll help the people that live here feel safer, for sure, and it’ll make people just look twice before they do something illegal.” Spinelli says different areas all over the city are experiencing similar issues, but that the situation in the inner city is more serious. “The connotation that it’s a really bad neighbourhood is really sad,” she says. “Because it’s a very, long-term, great neighbourhood. And it’s still a great neighbourhood.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson and Darcy Seaton.
