Ah yes, the Downtown Eastside.
Someone once described it as a political minefield.
And after many years of writing about the good and the bad in the community, I never really get a sense if life is getting better for residents.
It really depends who you talk to.
In the past couple of weeks, I talked to two more people about life in the Downtown Eastside. I asked them both whether they thought things were getting better in one of the country’s poorest communities.
The respondents were Janice Abbott, CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Society, and Supt. Mike Porteous of the Vancouver Police Department.
I spoke to Abbott after a tour of a recently renovated single-room occupancy hotel on Alexander Street. It’s now home to 37 women who would otherwise be homeless.
The hotel has a dark history.
“There were a group of alleged drug dealers who lived here and women were being brought in and tortured — head shaved, lit on fire, raped, assaulted,” said Abbott, whose non-profit along with the help of police rid the hotel of the gang.
Atira manages several buildings in the Downtown Eastside and Abbott has witnessed first hand the struggles of women and men in the community. So to the question: Are things any better?
“It’s a really complicated question,” she answered, standing in one of the rooms at what is now called the Empress Rooms. “Is it worse? I don’t think so. Is it better? I’m not sure.”
She noted the people who are typically preyed upon in the Downtown Eastside are vulnerable women and men. And, she said, as long as people continue to struggle with addiction, homelessness and mental health issues, they will continue to be targeted.
She hoped a clean, safe hotel would help curb the violence and allow women to feel more comfortable about seeking justice against predators.
“So, hopefully, as women start to feel safe and secure, they’ll feel safer to make statements to the police,” Abbott said.
Two weeks after that conversation, I attended a press conference at the VPD’s Cambie Street headquarters. Police displayed guns, drugs, money Kevlar vests and other paraphernalia used by a group alleged to be preying on vulnerable Downtown Eastside residents.
In Porteous’ words, the gang operated their drug business through fear and intimidation. This wasn’t the first time Porteous was at a microphone talking about drug gangs operating in the Downtown Eastside.
So to the question: Are things any better?
“It depends on the time frame,” he responded. “When I was first a police officer, I was a foot patrol officer in the Downtown Eastside and it’s exponentially worse now that is was then. It ebbs and flows, often times based on enforcement. But there seems to be gaps being filled once people are incarcerated and other people move in.”
Not very good news for residents or city council, which is expected to finalize a new plan for the Downtown Eastside in the new year. Will such a plan make things better?
I recall doing a story a while back on improvements to Oppenheimer Park and how the hope was the park would no longer serve as a selling spot for drugs or general public disorder.
Not sure that that’s happened.
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