Skip to Content
listen live
Home

City of Cranbrook addressing issues around “youth congregating” at WFP

Cranbrook, BC, Canada / 102.9 Rewind Radio
Sheldon Spackman
Apr 8, 2025 | 2:15 PM
City of Cranbrook addressing issues around "youth congregating" at WFP

(City of Cranbrook)



The City of Cranbrook is mobilizing a number of different intiatives to deal with issues around groups of youth at Western Financial Place, making the space unsafe for visitors and staff.
At their Monday night council meeting, staff highlighted, ” Incidents like drugs and alcohol with intoxicated youth passing out or entering the facility under the influence, vandalizing tables, murals and washrooms and creating unnecessary disturbances in the building with horseplay, vaping and smoking, yelling and swearing.”

(City of Cranbrook)

According to council, this has been an ongoing issue since at least last summer, as staff “removed tables under the gazebo beside the children’s playground.”

In March, staff also removed the tables and chairs in the concourse area of Western Financial Place, “to help deter this unwanted congregation of people creating issues;” Free public Wi-Fi is also no longer offered.

The City has now contracted out security at a cost of $70,000 per year, and will be working with RCMP and School District 5 to “help get youth back in class.”

(City of Cranbrook)

In a release, Director of Recreation Trevor Thors said, “we need to get back to a place where parents with small children, patrons, and our staff can all have access to our facility without feeling intimidated.”

Comments

Leave a Reply