“NO! I think not.” That was the answer. You’ll find the question further below.

The Parole Office has been controversial for some years now, since it opened at its Gilmore/Elgin location. Where was it before then?

For a long time it was located on Kent St at Albert, where the third tower of Constitution Square was recently completed. Back then there was a small office building there, occupied by the National Film Board. Apparently the NFB arty-types didn’t exactly appreciate the Parole Office’s clientele in the lobby. After that, the Office was located at Bank and Queen, above Laura Secord’s. I am unaware if they had any friction with the AIDS Committee offices and The Living Room co-located there. From there, it moved to the Elgin site, which my source tells me their clients find too far from the transitway routes on Albert and Slater.

About 16 parolees come into the offices daily. On some days there is additional traffic to the offices because the clientele has to give urine samples which used to be collected by half-way and three-quarter way houses. Apparently the houses are retiring from this function and so its off to the parole office.

My source also opined that the Somerset location was too far from the transitway, which most of their clients use to access the offices. In addition to the distance, there isn’t a direct enough route from the transitway to the offices. Interestingly enough, the Hull Parole Office is a storefront operation with an illuminated sign on the front of the building and has no (known) neighborhood association objections to its location.

My source thought that the previous locations on Kent and on Bank were ideal – anonymous, downtown, on the transitway. As for my last question, it was “would you want a Parole Office located within a block or two of your house?”