Downtown East June 2013
The June 2013 issue of the Downtown East is focused on the ongoing gentrification pressures on low-income residents. Gentrification and the constant threat of displacement is reshaping the long-standing low-income dominated community and the sense of social justice that binds these communities together. Begin reading with an editorial that examines the strains that gentrification puts on the fabric of these communities and continue to see what these pressures mean for sex workers, migrant people, and other low-income residents, as well as how – from hunger strikes and demonstrations to planning work – these residents are fighting back.
By Downtown East editorial collective
Throughout the history of the DTES, resident-based groups have arisen to build and strengthen the community through the struggle for social justice. Today, determined work continues to defend our community against spreading homelessness and inequality, rapid gentrification and forced displacement. (…)
By the Anti-Gentrification Caucus of the DTES LAPP Committee
The future of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) is being made by super rich real estate investors and developers who are profiting off changing the neighbourhood from a place where low-income people feel at home into yet another fashionable strip mall. (…)
By Harold Lavender
The May 14 provincial election proved to be a disappointment to many in the DTES. We are now saddled with four more years of a right-wing Christy Clark-led B.C. Liberal government dedicated to serving the interests of the rich and powerful. How can we respond to this situation? We are not responsible for the election results. (…)
By Lulu Bordeaux and Shannon Bundock
The invasion of high end businesses and expensive condos into the Downtown Eastside has brought pressure against women working in street level sex work. The changes in the neighbourhood threaten to drive them away from the area that they are most safe and comfortable working. Many street level sex workers choose to work in the DTES because it is an affordable and familiar community. (…)
By Ivan Drury
As the main points of the City’s coming DTES Local Area Plan (LAPP) begin to emerge from the highest offices of city hall, a caucus of low-income people who have been involved in the consultation process around the LAPP are developing their own plan. (…)
By Jean Swanson
City council is happy with a new deal to give $22 million worth of land to a non-profit developer to build about 350 units of rental housing on four sites in South Vancouver. I probably would have voted for the project myself if I had been on council. But there is another council decision I wouldn’t have voted for: a decision to give an estimated $200 million worth of land and relief of taxes to help build a fancy new art gallery. (…)
By Mercedes Eng
I recently met with Sheung Leung, a Chinese elder better know as Popo Su, and Deanna Wong, the Chinese Seniors Outreach coordinator at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. I wanted to talk with her because of her long-time commitment to the DTES community. (…)
By Tamara Herman
“Good Neighbour Agreements” may sound like friendly and harmless arrangements for community living, but what’s behind their seemingly innocent names? (…)
By Jean Swanson
Over 125 Downtown Eastside residents packed into the Carnegie Theatre on May 26th for a celebration and feast in honour of (formerly) Homeless Dave’s hunger strike. Homeless Dave ended his 36-day hunger strike on April 28th. (…)
A poem by Mercedes Eng
By Agricultural Workers’ Alliance – Surrey Support Centre
The next time you visit Richmond, Surrey, Langley, the Okanagan Valley, or other places in BC, pay attention to the fields where our food is being grown and harvested. Have you ever noticed the workers toiling to put that food on our tables? Would you have guessed that they are actually temporary foreign workers, who come from Mexico, Guatemala, the Caribbean and the Philippines? (…)
Por la Alianza de Trabajadores Agrícolas, Centro de Apoyo de Surrey
La proxima vez que usted visite Richmond, Surrey, Langley, el Valle del Okanagan, o cualquier lugar en BC, preste atención a los campos donde nuestros alimentos están siendo sembrados y cultivados. ¿Alguna vez ha notado los trabajadores que laboran duro para poner esa comida en su mesa? ¿Se ha imaginado usted que en realidad son trabajadores temporales extranjeros (…)
By Diane Wood adapted from a statement by Gallery Gachet
When does a behaviour, mood, thought become a disorder? BorderLines is a group art exhibition about behaviour, mood and thoughts as seen by contemporary Western medicine. Mental illness labelling can be destructive and limiting; it can also help us understand behaviour. (…)
Poem by Stephen Lytton
First of all, let me ask you some questions./ What is it that you wish to capture?/ Is it the essence or the moment?/ Or the character – heart and soul of the Downtown Eastside?/ Or is it about the human spirit/ and its will to survive in spite of all the challenges it encounters?/ What will you take from your experience? (…)
By Byron Cruz
Her name was Amalia, Amalia from Hastings, Amalia from Guatemala. Amalia was one of the first Latin American women to live and work in the DTES. Amalia had a history of pain, a history of suffering. She had been kidnapped and tortured by the Guatemalan army. Amalia started working in DEYAS (Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society) (…)
Film review: My Brooklyn
By Harold Lavender
“My Brooklyn” is a moving, informative but ultimately very sad documentary about how a vibrant diverse neighbourhood can be wiped out by the forces of gentrification. (…)
By Ivan Drury
On May 16 Vancouver City Council passed a motion to support the United We Can bottle depot to move from its long-time home at the 000 block of East Hastings to an industrial area south of Terminal Avenue. The Vancouver Police Department celebrated the move as breaking up “crime” on a public street (…)
By Jean Swanson
ATIRA women’s resource society will be the new manager of the Asia Hotel on Pender St. owned by the Mah Society. This news comes after over a year of uncertainty. The building was scheduled for renovation. It was unclear when current residents would be evicted. Nor was it clear whether they could come back, and what rents would be changed. (…)