Drizzt
Member
The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo)
January 30, 2003 Thursday Final Edition
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. A6
LENGTH: 257 words
HEADLINE: Try classical music downtown, not judo classes
BYLINE: Blair Langmuir
BODY:
In response to the Jan. 29 Record article, Improving Comfort Level, the suggestion that women take self-defence courses to help them feel safer in downtown Kitchener is so pathetic it should have been laughed off the ideas list the moment it was said.
This is reactive, Band-Aid thinking at its worst. If there is a lack of personal safety or even a perception that there is, the solution is to remove the perceived source of danger. Stricter policing of the downtown streets is a solution, advising women to take judo or carry mace, pepper spray or guns is inexcusable.
This suggestion is equivalent to identifying accident-prone intersections and posting signs to say "Accident zone ahead, wear your seat-belt."
The perception of an unsafe downtown is very real in Kitchener; ask any woman or man who travels there.
The businesses in the downtown need to be accessible or they might as well close up and relocate to some mall next week. Even if all the women who work downtown took self- defence training, the rest of K-W will still be reluctant to visit. It is unfair to label all the people one sees hanging out on King Street as dangerous riff-raff or potential muggers, but as long as this is the perception visitors get driving by or walking past (quickly), the downtown outlets will continue to lose business.
One tactic that has (surprisingly) succeeded in other cities with the same issues is playing classical music on the streets. Judo training for the downtown workers will not.
Blair Langmuir
Waterloo
January 30, 2003 Thursday Final Edition
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. A6
LENGTH: 257 words
HEADLINE: Try classical music downtown, not judo classes
BYLINE: Blair Langmuir
BODY:
In response to the Jan. 29 Record article, Improving Comfort Level, the suggestion that women take self-defence courses to help them feel safer in downtown Kitchener is so pathetic it should have been laughed off the ideas list the moment it was said.
This is reactive, Band-Aid thinking at its worst. If there is a lack of personal safety or even a perception that there is, the solution is to remove the perceived source of danger. Stricter policing of the downtown streets is a solution, advising women to take judo or carry mace, pepper spray or guns is inexcusable.
This suggestion is equivalent to identifying accident-prone intersections and posting signs to say "Accident zone ahead, wear your seat-belt."
The perception of an unsafe downtown is very real in Kitchener; ask any woman or man who travels there.
The businesses in the downtown need to be accessible or they might as well close up and relocate to some mall next week. Even if all the women who work downtown took self- defence training, the rest of K-W will still be reluctant to visit. It is unfair to label all the people one sees hanging out on King Street as dangerous riff-raff or potential muggers, but as long as this is the perception visitors get driving by or walking past (quickly), the downtown outlets will continue to lose business.
One tactic that has (surprisingly) succeeded in other cities with the same issues is playing classical music on the streets. Judo training for the downtown workers will not.
Blair Langmuir
Waterloo