Downtown Eastside - DTES Issues

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That Strathcona camp has been gone for several months, and the field is currently getting rehabilitated. I've gone for a few walks around there recently. It's mostly back to just being a nice, big, slightly underutilized park.

Yes, after tax payers were on the hook for half a million dollars + previous policing costs, and all for what?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

So like North Korea?

Show us a real world example of where this has worked.

If they have a humane incarceration work-facility in N. Korea, I'm sure the whole world would be learning from them by now, just saying.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Vin

Yes, after tax payers were on the hook for half a million dollars + previous policing costs, and all for what?

All I was doing was pointing out that it's gone, after Rofina used the present tense about structures in the park.

You sure are awfully butthurt for someone who doesn't live that park.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

All I was doing was pointing out that it's gone, after Rofina used the present tense about structures in the park.

You sure are awfully butthurt for someone who doesn't live that park.

Not blaming you about anything: just pointing out the fact that after all the hoo-hahs and money spent, it's just back to square one. My blood (not butt) boils thinking about how much half a mil can do. Such a waste especially for something that could be prevented in the first place.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

All I was doing was pointing out that it's gone, after Rofina used the present tense about structures in the park.

You sure are awfully butthurt for someone who doesn't live that park.

I made a typo. HAD. Strathcona is indeed in recovery at the moment.

There was some epic structures in that park, I made sure to document for the sheer curiosity of the debacle.

[Prometheus]

Since the Robertson council made the inexplicable decision to amend the DTES Plan to quash the miraculous rejuvenation that was starting to occur in the neighbourhood just before and after the Winter Olympics I have predicted here many times that the conditions of the DTES would not just worsen but reverse the gains already made, spread to other parts the city and ultimately lead to the destruction of many of the historic buildings that make up the heart of Vancouver’s original downtown, a national treasure of pre-war urbanity senselessly sacrificed to demonstrably failed policies.

The Balmoral is now officially the latest in historic buildings slated for demolition:



https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...s-in-vancouver

[Metro-One]

The city and the people of Vancouver really is its own worst enemy.

But whatever.

I have found that my constant dismay and growing frustration with the city has really diminished my interest and emotional investment with the region.

Living in a country with cities larger than New York yet with far less homeless / drug problems and social disorder than Vancouver doesn’t help.

At this point I just want to say, if you want to continue hurting yourself and doubling down on “solutions” that haven’t improved or helped anything for decades, whatever, go at it.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

The city and the people of Vancouver really is its own worst enemy.

But whatever.

I have found that my constant dismay and growing frustration with the city has really diminished my interest and emotional investment with the region.

Living in a country with cities larger than New York yet with far less homeless / drug problems and social disorder than Vancouver doesn’t help.

At this point I just want to say, if you want to continue hurting yourself and doubling down on “solutions” that haven’t improved or helped anything for decades, whatever, go at it.

Made my choice to leave much easier too.

But it is sad to see the City deteriorate while there is still discussion if things are even getting worse.

That's been the most perplexing thing over the last 4 years or so with culture in general; convincing people that what their eyes see is not true.

Those of us that spend time Downtown and in adjacent areas see and smell the trend. Things are not improving, despite improvements being made like the modular housing.

Vancouver rapidly falling down the livability ranks and some of the negative international headlines we have been garnering this year hopefully finally serve as enough of an embarrassment to allow for action.

Until then, lets continue multiplying human misery and patting ourselves on the back for it.

[Vin]

The Feds are already going to destroy the jewel of this city: Sinclair Centre. So it's not a big deal to raze the Balmoral hotel or anything historical in the DTES. Might as well create a slum that fits the reality of this city.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Vin

The Feds are already going to destroy the jewel of this city: Sinclair Centre.

The what?

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

The what?

It's what's known as a 'Vin one-two'. 1) a weird perspective on a (not yet certain) development proposal and 2) not at all related to this thread, the DTES or the City's possible redevelopment of the Balmoral Hotel, with BC Housing.

[Vin]

This is close enough to the DTES.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/gast...ub-burglarized

Gastown nightclub burglarized three nights in a row: VPD

A prolific property-crime offender has been arrested by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) after one Gastown nightclub was allegedly burglarized by him three nights in a row.

VPD officers were called three times this weekend to a nightclub located near Abbott and West Cordova, after someone reportedly smashed a window, entered the building, and stole liquor bottles in the early morning hours.

The man was arrested on Sunday morning after he was seen breaking a window to get inside the club.

According to the VPD, the incidents at the nightclub caused thousands of dollars in damages and losses.

“Since April, VPD officers have responded to 82 violent crimes and 259 property crimes in Gastown, including 32 commercial break and enters. But VPD believes that’s just a small portion of the crimes that are actually occurring, because so many still go unreported,” said the VPD in a statement.

“An alert witness called 911 after seeing the suspect break the window,” said VPD Sergeant Steve Addison.

“This allowed our officers to discreetly enter the area, make observations, and arrest the suspect before he was able to flee.”

VPD has identified the man as 37-year-old Kevin Willard, and he is being charged with one count of break and enter in relation to Sunday’s incident while the VPD investigates the other two break and enters.

This wasn’t the only crime that took place over the weekend.

On Friday, someone entered a store on West Cordova and Richards Street and stole more than $10,000 in clothing, jewellery, and accessories. VPD later recovered $2,800 of the stolen merchandise from someone who was attempting to sell it in the Downtown Eastside.

On Sunday evening, a business employee near Abbott and West Cordova confronted an unmasked shopper. The man allegedly uttered racial slurs at the Asian employee and began behaving aggressively. VPD officers are looking for the suspect.

Also on Sunday, a 42-year-old man was stabbed in the neck, abdomen, and shoulder at a social housing building on Water Street. He was bleeding heavily when officers arrived on the scene. The victim told police that the person who stabbed him was a stranger.

The suspect was known to police and was arrested a short time later.

The criminals will probably be let go right away to repeat the crimes. What do you think?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It's what's known as a 'Vin one-two'. 1) a weird perspective on a (not yet certain) development proposal and 2) not at all related to this thread, the DTES or the City's possible redevelopment of the Balmoral Hotel, with BC Housing.

The Balmoral hotel is a historical building, but it has already been turned into a slum by this City. Why would anyone bat an eye for its demise when hardly anyone cares when there is a proposal that major parts of the Sinclair centre, a major historical landmark, could be destroyed?

With that said, tell me the following is related to this thread since you nonchalantly wrote it previously:

Originally Posted by Changing City

One of us is very confused. A gulag was 'a forced labour camp'. That's the defintion of a gulag. Your idea is that people are forced to be in these 'camps', they're not voluntary? And once there, they're forced to work. It's not an option, is it? In what way is there a difference?

Don't be a hypocrite.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It's what's known as a 'Vin one-two'. 1) a weird perspective on a (not yet certain) development proposal and 2) not at all related to this thread, the DTES or the City's possible redevelopment of the Balmoral Hotel, with BC Housing.

But is it avant-garde?

[Sheba]

Balmoral Hotel, the notorious, derelict Downtown Eastside SRO, is set for demolition

The City of Vancouver says the Balmoral Hotel is set to be demolished.

The Downtown Eastside single-room occupancy hotel, which has been shuttered since 2017 and in the city's possession since 2020, has too many problems to remediate, according to an assessment by the city.

The idea was to use the building, over 100 years old, as social housing. However, as the demolition order notes, it has continued to deteriorate over the last five years.

Among the problems noted in the demolition order are rotting walls, studs and beams; moisture throughout; bad electrical work and poor fire protection.

"Despite the city's ongoing efforts to maintain the safety of the building, the decades of underinvestment and mismanagement by the building's previous owners was irreversible," a statement from the city read.

"After receiving two third-party engineering reports on the current fire and structural risks it became clear that the building has deteriorated to the point that it poses a danger to the public and adjacent buildings."

The city says the demolition alone could take months "given the age, complexity and condition of the building."

...

The city and B.C. Housing both said social housing is in the cards for the Balmoral site, but details have not been sorted out.

[MIPS]

What a waste.
Years fighting the Sahotas, finally expropriating it, then leaving it for another half a decade before THEN finally saying "yeah we gotta pull it down lol".

I liked the bar in that place.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by MIPS

What a waste.
Years fighting the Sahotas, finally expropriating it, then leaving it for another half a decade before THEN finally saying "yeah we gotta pull it down lol".

I liked the bar in that place.

......not to mention all the millions sunk into it, all for nothing.

And this is only one building.

Before wasting more money, they might as well purchase the entire DTES and raze it.

[MIPS]

My question follows in regards to them also mentioning in the article that recent frozen pipes added to the final call. What were they even doing to salvage the building up to now?
Sure for the first few years after the city got it the Sahotas dragged them to court until they settled on a price better than $1 and they couldn't really start work beyond shoring the walls but once the building price was settled I still didn't see anything happen every time I was in town. The windows got taped but you never saw any other work being done beyond painting over graffitti and cleaning the garbage that accumulated behind the fences at the entrance. There was no indication that any major work was taking place and with the city seemingly so intent on converting it back into low income housing I would of expected them to of immediately start ripping the walls out. Were they waiting on the feds to give them money? Were they backlogged on inspections? Was the plan from the start to turn it into a parking lot?

[SeymourDrake]

There was never any real plans to rebuild this death trap. The best thing they can do is sell it off to a condo developer. Use the money to buy one of the older hotels. But get those rooms out of the DTES.

[SpongeG]

The news I saw yesterday said the hotel will be replaced with social housing, a new build.