Reading the tea leaves — and coffee grounds

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/05/2024 (486 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a neighbourhood desperately trying to reclaim some of its long-lost lustre, the news could hardly have been less welcome: the Starbucks coffee shop in Osborne Village announced last week it was closing, at least temporarily, owing to ongoing concerns regarding customer and staff safety.

According to Winnipeg Police Service data, the River-Osborne area experienced a 99 per cent increase in overall crime during the year ending November 2023; violent crime rose 161 per cent during the same period, with property crime increasing by nearly 83 per cent.

Similar unsettling trend lines have been observed in other parts of the city, but for the village — which in 2022 unveiled an ambitious revitalization plan aimed at reclaiming its past glory as “Canada’s greatest neighbourhood” — the Starbucks closure feels like a significant backward step.

The final straw, according to local observers, seems to have been a violent assault outside a neighbouring business on May 1; in the aftermath, following what a Starbucks Coffee Canada executive described as “careful consideration,” it was announced that the location at the corner of Osborne Street and River Avenue would close “temporarily” on May 5.

“Starbucks routinely evaluates our store portfolio to determine how and where we can best meet the needs of our partners (and) customers,” communications manager Leanna Rizzi said in a statement. (In Starbucks parlance, employees are referred to as “partners”).

She added such reviews help to ensure staff are “supported in serving customers in a warm and welcoming environment.” The Seattle-based company closed 16 of its U.S. locations in 2022 in response to safety concerns.

When — or, indeed, if — the location will reopen remains to be seen.

The high-profile nature of the Starbucks brand and the fact the now-shuttered location has been a popular destination (patrons frequently line up waiting for a spot inside to sip their bespoke beverages) surely garnered more attention for this closure than for similar crime-catalyzed fates suffered by lesser-known local enterprises.

But it’s important for those who hold elected power to receive this unwelcome news not as a result to be lamented but as yet another symptom of deeply entrenched issues — poverty, addiction, homelessness and the crime that inevitably follows — whose solutions remain elusive despite continual public pronouncements they’re being studied and addressed.

To that end, Premier Wab Kinew and Mayor Scott Gillingham were among roughly 200 politicians, community leaders and advocates at a summit in Winnipeg last month to discuss ways to address crime and enhance safety, with a focus on breaking the cycle of youth involvement in crime. A public safety strategy document is expected this fall.

What also became apparent last week is that some might seek to exploit the Starbucks shutdown for personal and/or political gain. Former city councillor and recently defeated MLA Kevin Klein, who earlier this year said he is “strongly considering” a run at the Progressive Conservative leadership, penned an op-ed in a local tabloid outlining a “tough on crime” approach that seems well tailored to the party’s base.

Citing statistics regarding diminished police presence, observing that “a society without robust law enforcement is a society on the brink of chaos” and bemoaning the harms inflicted by “left-wing groups,” Klein seems inclined to use the Starbucks closure as an early opportunity to position himself as a prospective leader more aligned with the divisive rhetoric of federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre than with the views of local Tory insiders who admitted last fall’s disastrous right-lurching campaign strayed from the party’s values.

All in all, quite a bit to ponder over a cup of joe … somewhere other than at Starbucks in Osborne Village.