It's trouble with a capital 'T' on Alberta Avenue, but seedy Cromdale still stands years after it was ordered closed
By ANDREW HANON
Richard Duquette won't walk past the Cromdale Hotel after dark.
"They wait for you in the shadows," the 65-year-old said yesterday while resting in a sheltered alcove at the back of the building. "Three or four will jump you, roll you and take your booze. It's OK around here in the daytime, but I won't come back here at night."
Duquette's been rolled three times there over the years, but compared to others he's gotten off relatively lightly.
On Sept. 20, 2005, 20-year-old Tanya Powder was passing by the Cromdale when she was swarmed, stabbed seven times and beaten with a cinder block. Miraculously, she survived the horrifying attack.
It's been nearly five years since Capital Health declared the Cromdale, 8115 118 Ave., unfit for human habitation and ordered it boarded up. At the time, neighbours applauded because they thought the notorious dive would finally be torn down.
But since then, nothing has changed.
The building itself is so tightly sealed that no one can break in, but the alley behind it is a magnet for drug users and thugs who prey on passersby.
Piles of garbage, mattresses and even human waste lie in filthy heaps all around the building. Gang tags cover the walls.
Since 2006, the Cromdale has been owned by a numbered company, whose only shareholder is Terry Nyquvest of Sherwood Park. He couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
The 55-year-old building has a storied history. Back in the 1950s, it was reputed to be a favourite after-hours hangout of Bob Hope whenever he was in town.
But now it's just a festering sore in a neighbourhood struggling to reinvent itself.
"It's really frustrating," said Anne Olson, manager of the Wee Book Inn, next door. "It's just been left empty. It's an eyesore and it's hindering development and progress at this end of the avenue."
Judy Allan, the city staffer who's co-ordinating the area's revitalization plan, said that during public meetings to develop a plan for the revitalization a few years ago, "people would tell us, if you could just get rid of the Cromdale."
Chris Hayduk couldn't agree more. The city police detective lives in the area and is among the dozens of law-abiding residents working to wrestle Alberta Avenue back from the drug dealers and pimps.
"The Cromdale is an icon of the problems this community has had," he said.
Apparently, the tight security that keeps scumbags out of the building is also what's preventing City Hall from forcing the Cromdale's owners to tear it down. Because it's so secure, the city can't make a case that it's a hazard, said Hayduk, who used to run the police department's derelict housing program.
Hayduk started Community Response to Urban Disorder, which organizes "takebacks" along the 118 Avenue strip, where people hang out on street corners, reading, playing cards, or whatever.
The goal is to turn the tables on the drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes by making them feel uncomfortable, exposed and out of place.
The campaign has had a remarkable effect at the west end of the strip, from 90 Street to 95 Street.
At first, the prostitutes and pimps were openly hostile, but as the takeback groups grew, they began to move on.
"There's still a lot of work to be done," he acknowledged, "but we're in for the long haul. The end result will be that we won't have to organize things for ordinary citizens to feel comfortable on the street. They'll just go there."
Now Hayduk's group plans to take aim at the area around the Cromdale, but Hayduk said the ultimate solution is for the site to be redeveloped.
"It's private property, but it's had a negative impact on the entire community. There's been plenty of time for the owners to do something with it. It's that next negative symbol in this area that has to go."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Hanon_Andrew/2009/02/11/8343721-sun.html
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