Calls for downtown Edmonton safety plan after woman randomly punched to the ground

A woman who works at an architecture firm in downtown Edmonton was randomly punched to the ground near her work earlier this month.

The employee of Synchro Architecture was walking near 105 Street and Jasper Avenue after getting off the bus on Sept. 11

“She was just hit hard, to the level that she fell down,” the woman’s boss, Dinesh Burad, told CityNews. “Her glasses broke. Her lips were swollen and bleeding. She didn’t know what was happening.”

Burad, the co-founder of Synchro Architecture, says he has been in business downtown for more than a decade, and this is the first time an incident happened to one of his employees.

The architect wants to know how downtown businesses are expected to operate when employees cannot feel safe walking to work. He’s calling on all levels of government to work together on safety perception in the core.

“All levels of government are doing the best in their own capacities and in their own silos, right?” said Burad. “But is there an integrated plan which is working for the streets? And if it is working for the streets, I’m asking, why did my employee get hit?”

The chair of the Downtown Revitalization Coalition agrees with the idea of involving the federal government, the province and the city to find a solution to make Edmonton an emblem of safety.

Cheryll Watson believes there should be more investment in safety, like downtown-dedicated officers, in the upcoming four-year budget.

“What this incident does is it really reinforces why safety needs to remain a priority,” Watson said.

“DRC is calling on city council to prioritize continued investment in downtown safety.”

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack says that’s exactly what the city has been working on over the last year. He says he’s invited representatives from the province and Ottawa to Chinatown to see the situation downtown first-hand.

Knack says he’s confident the downtown core is safer than last year, but agrees more needs to be done.

“Whether it’s the municipal, provincial, federal government. Whether it’s the police. Whether it’s the community groups and organizations that are supporting folks, I don’t think any one of those groups would say we’re at where we need to be yet for safety. There’s still more work to do. The stats are encouraging, but people need to feel that,” the mayor said.

Burad’s employee is still on leave due to the trauma still weighing heavily on her. The businessman hopes no other Edmontonian will experience the same situation, and he believes full government action will benefit the core.

“If the three levels of government come together and jointly form a safety plan for downtown Edmonton, I think that will go a long way,” Burad said.