Businesses in and around Rideau St. in Ottawa are considering hiring private security over concerns about escalating violence. 

They're frustrated after a meeting with the city and police and say spending money to save business may be their only option.

It's a drastic measure but for some of the businesses, they say these are drastic times.  Some of their employees have been assaulted coming to work and some of their customers are staying away.

At the Second Cup Coffee Shop at the corner of Dalhousie and Rideau, barista Maureen Williams makes a frothy cappuccino for a customer.  It is her last week at the coffee shop.  After 9 months and quite a few scares, she's done.

“It's frightening, I get harassed every single day,” she says.

The tipping point came two weeks ago when a homeless woman approached her as she walked to work at 6 a.m.

“She punched me in the face and pushed me to the ground and was screaming at me,” says Williams, “and I got up and she punched me and pushed me again and spat in my eye.”

Sam Dalbah has owned the Second Cup for 9 years and says the last year and a half has been especially bad.

“I have at least 3 incidents a day with people intoxicated or on drugs,” he says, “I’ve been harassed and yelled at.  Their behavior has become more aggressive.”

 Dalbah says he is losing employees and customers to other parts of the city like Lansdowne.

“If they build Lebreton, I predict this area will be gone, people won't come here.  Why would I come here if I can go to a safer place?”

Last week, over mounting concerns, about two dozen merchants came together with the landlord of Mercury Court at the corner of Dalhousie and Rideau. The councillor for the area, Mathieu Fleury was there along with Ottawa police representation but the merchants say they were not satisfied with the outcome.

So instead, landlord Bill Sioulas with Golpro Holdings initiated a discussion about a private solution to a public problem: hiring security guards to patrol the area.

“If it's affordable, we could do it as pilot project,” says Bill Sioulas, “we could try it for 3 or 6 months and if it's successful, great. We’ll keep going.”

Sioulas has already spoken with several security firms who are working up proposals.

“I'm thinking why not group all our resources together and all share in this costs,” he says.

The head of the Downtown Rideau BIA questions suggestions that the area is becoming less safe.

“Recent safety concerns are incidents between individuals known to each other,” Peggy DuCharme said in an email, “Statistically, violent crime is down in our area, which supports our opinion that Downtown Rideau is very safe for those who work, shop and live in the area.”  

Business owners in the Byward Market just a block or two over say the city has to be more proactive to draw people here. 

“It's all been focused on Lansdowne,” says Andre Schad, the owner of Schad, a clothing store on Sussex, “Our city council fast-tracked Lansdowne.  It’s a big destination. Every seat they have is competing with Byward.  The fact they have funding guarantees from city of Ottawa allows them to do a lot of marketing. We don't have that luxury.”

Schad and other retailers have been fighting for a share of the parking revenues generated by customers coming to the Market that they could put towards beautification and lighting.

“Our mayor needs to focus.  Byward needs to become a priority,” he says, “We're the number two tourist attraction in the city next to Parliament Hill yet we can't get a dollar for beatification, for Christmas lighting.”

“This should be lit up like the back of Santa’s behind the whole entire year,” says Mandy Gosewich, the owner of Stunning!, a fashion accessories store on York, “for it to be a destination, for people to feel safe.”

The councillor for the area, Mathieu Fleury, understands the concerns of the business owners and says many improvements have been made and more are on the way.

“We fixed the street lighting issues,” he says, referring to the large LED lights installed in the Market, “we haven't fixed the pedestrian lighting issue. We are working through those components.”

It's all too late for Maureen Williams.  After Friday, she's out of here.

“It's not what I thought it would be when I started working here,” she says, “It's a lot scarier than I thought.”

Ottawa Police say changes are coming in January that they believe will help free up more front line officers to do more proactive policing.

Councillor Fleury isn't convinced of it; neither are the merchants.