One of Ottawa's most historic and busy streets is also one of its seediest, with city council hoping upcoming construction will help change Rideau Street.
Residents said the street has been getting more dirty and dangerous in recent years, with tourists saying they're noticing the difference between it and nearby areas.
"We were just talking about this yesterday, how this downtown has such potential to be so beautiful and such an amazing tourist attraction but there's so much slum going on all over the place," said Chantal Lafontaine.
"I think it's just surprising that you go one street over and it's Parliament Hill. all clean and everything," said tourist Ryan Geris. "Then you go over here and all of a sudden it's basically the seedier side."
The street, which connects the Parliament Hill area to the Rideau Centre, transit hubs and the Byward Market, has been one of the areas targeted by police cracking down on rowdiness.
An 86-year-old man was also stabbed in broad daylight while crossing a parking lot on Friday.
"It's usually bad at nighttime, usually when most of the people are out on Rideau Street but honestly it's not as gross as Toronto," said one Ottawa resident.
Councillor Mathieu Fleury, whose ward includes Rideau Street, said change is on the way.
"We're also getting right into a renewal of the street between Dalhousie Street to the Cummings Bridge that's going to be over a period of two summers, starting actually next week," he said.
"You'll be seeing pretty significant infrastructure work for sewage and water."
Fleury said the Neat Streets program, where students clean and give information to tourists, and the planned LRT station should also help spur on change.
For locals, they said they can't see past the street's issues as they stand.
"I'm born and raised in Ottawa and I find in the last ten years or so, it's really gone down hill," said Ryan Hartman. "As far as a young family we don't come down here as often as we used to."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Katie Griffin
