A group of residents in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood say they are fed up with issues in the area and resorted to hiring their own security guard.
A GoFundMe for the movement states that starting in November, the neighbours got together and asked a private security company to patrol five streets between Dundas and Shuter.
They say the goal is for the guard to work alongside first responders to "increase safety in our neighbourhood", and claim that when the guard was on duty there were no overdoses, break-ins, thefts or assaults.
"The Private Security Guard is trained in CPR and First Aid. They have the ability to aid people in distress, alert paramedics and/or police, kindly discourage trespassing & loitering, and act as our eyes and ears while we are sleeping," the campaign said.
It's just over $200 per night to hire the security guard, and they're trying to reach a starting goal of $10,660 to pay for security two nights per week for six months.
"If we can get to $15,990 we can pay for security THREE nights per week for six months. Our ultimate goal? If we can get to $74,825, we can pay for security SEVEN nights a week for ONE YEAR!"
NEWSTALK1010 has reached out to the City of Toronto for a response.