The unsettling calm before the possible storm: Post-Panda in Sandy Hill

Steve Higham, who lives on the block between Somerset Street East and Templeton Avenue — the eye of last year’s riot — erected temporary construction fencing in front of his and two neighbours’ houses. Others in the same block hoped yellow caution tape would be enough to discourage the house-climbers and defecators that plagued them a year ago.

“Some of my neighbours consider this a traumatizing event, and the neighbourhood as a whole goes into this weekend with a lot of trepidation, anxiety and fear,” Higham said.

Why that particular block? Higham said a frat house that existed there about a decade ago and received free beer from a brewery, setting a precedent.

While the frat house no longer exists, the tradition does. “The only thing easier than Carleton boys is their football team,” read one sign painted on a bedsheet and displayed for all to see. Another asked, “What does a Carleton grad call a uOttawa grad?” (“Boss” was the answer provided.)

Higham added there was reason for “cautious optimism,” however, following criticism of police responses to both last year’s post-Panda activities and last winter’s occupation of parts of downtown Ottawa by the “Freedom Convoy.”

“Those are going to be very motivating for the police to get a win,” Higham predicted. “Nobody wants to see the police out in riot gear. We just want them to be out and visible so people know that they can’t be out carrying alcohol and spilling onto the street. Something has to happen before that gets out of control.

“The police didn’t have a (Panda Game) plan last year beyond 6 p.m., but we know a lot of planning has gone into that this year.”

Police on Saturday afternoon tweeted that they had issued tickets for noise and open-alcohol violations. Tickets for excessive noise were $1,000 each, plus $130 victim surcharges.

One convenience store worker, who asked not to be named, said that last year post-Panda scene was “terrible.”

“Students were coming in here and just taking things and then leaving, and I couldn’t do anything to stop them.”

This year, he said, more police were on hand in the morning as many students made their way through the neighbourhood to an organized pre-game tailgate party at Sandy Hill Arena.

“The police came in and talked with me and gave me a number to call if there are any problems.”

One 79-year-old woman stood outside her property, shooing away uOttawa fans who got out of a car in front of her. “Go away,” she told them. “No parties.” The woman said she hoped the police presence would be greater this year and she hoped the officers would stay until one or two in the morning.

“And I haven’t had people peeing in back this year, so that’s good. The police have been good,” the woman added.

Another Russell Avenue resident strung yellow caution tape in front of her home to try to remind students to be respectful.

“My partner and I were outside for seven hours last year,” Meagan LaRose recalled. “I had eggs thrown at me and people screaming in my face. It was not a fun night.

“And this is not new,” she added. “It was on the news last year because they overturned a car, but in 2018 they were climbing on people’s porch roofs and peeing in people’s gardens. And we don’t find the university is taking it seriously.”

This year, she added, residents set up a group chat whereby they could reach others if they felt unsafe. “But there’s really nothing else we can do. And we don’t want to antagonize anyone.”

The bombardment of parties in the area, LaRose added, “is one of the main things that propels people to move out of the neighbourhood.”

Higham wasn’t going anywhere, at least not Saturday night, as he and his family and a guest stayed home and waited to see what would happen.

“It was like a zombie apocalypse last year,” he said, “and I’d be far more anxious if I weren’t here tonight.”

As those who appeared to be uOttawa students returned to Sandy Hill from the game at Lansdowne Park — the Gee-Gees thumped the Ravens 37-7 — they were met by a large presence of first responders, including Ontario Provincial Police officers.

It was impossible to know for certain if the police presence had caused some sort of detente, but the streets seemed fairly quiet despite the increased foot traffic.

Russell Avenue resident Dominic Salotti said he didn’t want to paint the issue strictly as residents versus students, adding that some students he knew in the area were similarly frightened by last year’s problems.

“We all have a right to live in a healthy, vibrant and safe community, for ourselves and our children, just like the Glebe, like Rockcliffe, like Kanata. Like anywhere else,” Salotti said. “We hope everyone’s having fun, and we hope everyone’s having fun respectfully. And we’re glad that people are safe this year.

“So far.”

Third-year uOttawa political science/history student Mica Oestreich, who lives on Russell Avenue, as he did last year, said he didn’t feel this year’s larger police presence was out of line.

“I thought that last year the police might’ve helped exacerbate the situation by trying to cram everybody into one area. They had fenced the area and tried to cram everybody into a block. It was bodies on bodies,” Oestreich said. “I’ve liked the strategy this year, with people dispersed into a wider area. That seems to be the biggest change, and I think it’s a good change.

“I can’t blame them for wanting to keep things safe after last year. It did get out of hand.”

Oestreich added that he didn’t feel anyone’s ability to party this year had been threatened by police.

“I’ve passed 15 parties. I think people are fine.”

bdeachman@postmedia.com

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