Downtown Vancouver Updates

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Hed Kandi

Another vomit worthy design.

Originally Posted by Chikinlittle

Understatement.

Make that another one. Blech.

[Sir Conga]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

it will link up to the breezeway already in place but closed off on Pender in a Historicalk Chinatown Builidng....

you can see it here run through the builing in front of the cross walk >> http://g.co/maps/4e8yu

Knowing that, I love this idea. When that area is cleaned up, it won't seem odd at all.

[Millennium2002]

I'm not pleased about the design either. It seriously does not match nor complement the other buildings. As others have suggested, it should have been broken up into several other different styles to amplify the effect of many narrow heritage buildings on that block.

[entheosfog]

Originally Posted by Built Form

After: note the future development massing on the right. This alarms me as the 2 storey wood frame structure at the corner of Hastings and Columbia is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Vancouver. I doubt any heritage retention would be proposed.

That would be really unfortunate to lose that building. It looks like crap now but it's one of the more important heritage buildings in the area and should be restored, considering what else was lost on this very block...

[leftside]

Feel the Squeeze:


Take from here: http://dnchome.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/condoma/

[Metro-One]

So what are these people's answer then? Keep the DTES a shit hole forever?

I am sorry, but the homeless and the drug addicts don't own the DTES. Why is it that they have to live downtown in the heart of the city?? Why do they get to have (and destroy) one of the premier areas in our metro?

I have never figured out why they have that right.

And I love their defense of its their "community." Well it seems to me that the only way for many of them to better themselves is to separate them from their "community" that keeps them in a perpetual circle of substance abuse and crime.

To me it is the same as calling a gang a "community."

[osirisboy]

They sound like a bunch of paranoid neo nazis. They only want "their kind" allowed to live in the area???? So if you're Jewish, oops I mean high income earner you aren't welcome here? That a real nice attitude

[quobobo]

I've found that DNC's lists are one of the best ways to browse for starter condos in Chinatown and the DTES. Not quite what they intended.

[Echowinds]

That said, I do hope that the land prices don't go skyrocket in that area, especially Chinatown. There are many neat unique stores in that area that may not be able to maintain their presence if rent goes up along with the gentrification. There's actually a markedly different culture within Chinatown than Richmond.

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I am sorry, but the homeless and the drug addicts don't own the DTES. Why is it that they have to live downtown in the heart of the city?? Why do they get to have (and destroy) one of the premier areas in our metro?

Absolutely. Only the rich should be permitted to destroy premier areas in our metro.

[Metro-One]

Sorry, but i just did a bunch of environment scans of the the most violent prone areas of our city (the majority of the them in the DTES) and there is nothing more I would rather see than the DTES cleaned out. That area potentially has the best street landscapes and the finest stock of old architecture in the city, it deserves far better than what it has now. I funny support social housing, assistance programs, etc... but the DTES in its current form, no way, uh oh, sorry. Again, just because an area is poor does not give it the right to be filthy and dangerous. Like everywhere else in our city, the DTES belongs to all of us, so i fully support some gentrification in that area.

No, i don't want it to become an area only affordable and available to the rich, but it would be great to have it where it becomes a vibrant and clean community largely occupied by the middle class.

Having the homeless all conjugate in one area makes it so very few of them can ever escape their circle of poverty and substance abuse.

[BIMBAM]

I agree, but the issue is that the DTES and surrounding neighburhoods are essentially the only places in the entire metro that aren't middle class or high income. A rather unique situation. All poverty ends up concentrated there because, frankly, where else can they go? There's the city's social housing, but for those who for whatever reason can't get it, there's no market housing remotely in that price range anywhere else. If there were I feel like the obstacles to redevelopment would be less, but since no community would allow towers of low cost rental housing to be erected and developers aren't interested in doing so anyhow, the problem remains.

[Echowinds]

I guess the idea is to spread out the people in poverty by having social housing and support around the city away from DTES, while infusing positive influence by introducing middle-class developments into the DTES epicentre.

By diffusing the struggling population away from a centralized geographic area, it is hoped that they can be less vulnerable from groups that holds an interest in keeping them that way (certain social "support" groups, drug dealers, etc). The flip side is that without an obvious physical manifestation of the problem, the city and society at large may just sweep the issue under the rug, and even less legitimate support will be given to these unfortunate people.

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Having the homeless all conjugate in one area makes it so very few of them can ever escape their circle of poverty and substance abuse.

Where do you propose we send them? To the Pickton farm?

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by Echowinds

I guess the idea is to spread out the people in poverty by having social housing and support around the city away from DTES, while infusing positive influence by introducing middle-class developments into the DTES epicentre.

People end up on the DTES because, for various reasons, they've been stigmatized and shunned by society. Banishing them from the only home they've ever known only reinforces the shame and worthlessness they feel, further fueling the cycle of substance abuse and poverty that some on here are supposedly so concerned about.

[Metro-One]

Their only home they have known is a filthy cesspool of crime. If the "community" there was able to keep the DTES cleaner and safer, then there would not be such a problem. I do put a lot of this blame on our governments allowing the situation to get this bad (local, provincial and federal). Again, social housing needs to be built, along with rehabilitation centres and mental health units to get these people off the street.

And another thing is that many of these people are not from Vancouver, or even BC, so in that fact the DTES is fare game for redevelopment and for other middle and high class people to move in. The wave of homeless from across this country and the rest of the province people drove out others in the past, now the reverse is happening. Communities should take care of their own disenfranchised, but why should we sacrifice one of our most beautiful neighborhoods (historically and structurally) for the nation?

I am sorry, but people who enter the DTES rarely seem to get better, their community keeps them down. Again, if people want to revitalize an area, they can.

I could go on about the issue, but I wont. All I can say is that after seen how clean and organized the homeless are in Japan (and how little visible substance abuse their is compared to our homeless) you do become jaded with many of the homeless people around here. But, before you run down my throat with this, I do wish we had far better mental health, senior and physical disability services. Those people I feel for and hate seeing them waste away on the DTES.

Over all though , i cant wait for the DTES to be cleaned up and have a more varied population inhabiting it. Remember, this is one of the primary gateways into our city, and I am tired of it being a gigantic embarrassment.

[Echowinds]

While Japan doesn't have as much of a substance abuse issue, they have other cultural problems related to stress, shame, and trauma. Suicide is one of the most obvious physical manifestation of these problems in Japan. This doesn't create homeless people, but rather the more terrible situation of dead people. Different cultures handle mental and social issues differently, and Japan has their own set of problems that may not be an issue in Canada.

Originally Posted by EdinVan

People end up on the DTES because, for various reasons, they've been stigmatized and shunned by society. Banishing them from the only home they've ever known only reinforces the shame and worthlessness they feel, further fueling the cycle of substance abuse and poverty that some on here are supposedly so concerned about.

That is true, but that is more the reason that active programs should be aimed towards reconciliation of these people with the society. Continuing wallowing with others with similar social outlook and negative perception will surely perpetuate their unfortunate circumstances, especially with predatory organizations around that stands to gain from the continued misery of these people. There are arguments on both sides in regards to keeping people in DTES or separating them from that area.

In any case, urban development is at best a minor change to the whole homeless issue in Vancouver, for better or worse. I personally believe that the problems are way more fundamental that will not get a whole lot better or worse by the development of condos.

[Prometheus]

How many people's problems were made better by living in the DTES? How many broken lives has the DTES mended? To how many desperate has the DTES given hope?

In every conceivable way, the DTES makes bad situations even worse. It destroys any remaining health; it destroys any remaining hope; it destroys lives.

No one who earnestly cares about the well-being of those living in the DTES can rationally oppose the gradual breaking-up of that poisonous neighbourhood. To defend the status quo is to advocate for perpetual misery.

[Rico]

My general feeling is the way poverty has been focused in the DTES amounts to a gheto. Do people have a sense of community etc. in a gheto of course. Is a gheto a good idea? Of course not. The poor should not be kept in a single neighborhood out of sight of most people. Gentrify....but slowly, new social housing to replace displaced residents built in other neighborhoods.

[leftside]

Hey guys, it wasn't my plan to turn this into another DTES discussion. I just wanted to show the new developments in and around the DTES.