To the editor:
Re: "City installs mid-block crosswalk on East Hastings," June 21.
It's very frustrating that the VPD continue to mouth the line that the discriminatory and targeted ticketing of poor people in the Downtown Eastside for jaywalking is to "educate the public about the danger of jaywalking." Can the VPD cite any evidence (from Vancouver or anywhere else) that ticketing for jaywalking decreases incidence of jaywalking or improves safety? If this is a public safety campaign, why are 75 per cent of all tickets being handed out in the Downtown Eastside while other neighbourhoods are ignored? Why was ticketing for jaywalking not among the 20 short, medium and long-term recommendations to improve pedestrian safety in the "We're
All Pedestrians" report, funded by the City of Vancouver and presented by the city at the International Conference on Urban Health in New York in 2010?
This ticketing isn't about public safety - it is about justifying inflated police budgets by criminalizing and over-policing the poorest neighbourhood in our city.
Aiyanas Ormond, VANDU Community Organizer
