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New police crackdown spreads in Downtown Eastside generates protest

February 12th, 2009 · 9 Comments

Vancouver police brought out their 2009 business plan a few weeks ago, which was unusual in the numbers it attached to some of its efforts. Among them, police set a target of increasing ticketing for bylaw infractions in the Downtown Eastside by 20 per cent, ticketing for Safe Streets Act offences by 10 per cent, […]

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Vancouver Police outline a new plan for the Downtown Eastside

February 5th, 2009 · 21 Comments

I don’t know what is going on over at the VPD, but, under new Chief Jim Chu, the department has turned into a more active social-planning agency than the city’s social-planning department. Last year, the police issued a substantive report that documented how much time the police spend dealing with mental illness. Shortly after, Premier […]

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Inside the failed Pantages deal

November 11th, 2008 · 3 Comments

A few weeks ago, there was a cascade of stories about how the city had scuttled a private developer’s effort to restore the historic Pantages theatre in the Downtown Eastside. We didn’t get much information about that, except for the general impression that the city had been the bad guy squashing a feisty entrepreneur. This […]

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Comparing the platforms of Vision and the NPA

October 28th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Here’s my story in today’s Globe that has a succinct overview of the platforms from Vision Vancouver and the Non-Partisan Association. There’s much more to say on both of these, both of which show that we are fully in the grip of policy wonks. (Each platform contains over 50 points and refers to strategies like […]

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Two mayor candidates’ visions of the Downtown Eastside

October 22nd, 2008 · 9 Comments

Another night, another debate. This one got hot a few times, though, thanks to giving mayoral candidates Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner a chance to argue with each other. As well, there were several good questions from the audience and moderator Gary Mason of the Globe & Mail. The most noteworthy one of the night […]

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Tags: 2008 Vancouver Civic Election

Where in the world is Jim Green?

August 19th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Three years ago at this time, the one-time Downtown Eastside housing activist was getting ready for what looked like, at last, a successful campaign to be Vancouver’s mayor at the head of the gosling Vision Vancouver party. As everyone knows, he ended up losing to Sam Sullivan by about 4,000 votes. There was a lot […]

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The history of the drug market on Hastings

August 13th, 2008 · 5 Comments

There’s a fascinating historical account by local historian Lani Russwurm on drugs and the Downtown Eastside at the Tyee today. Russworm has dug up some great old material from past decades, including the supposedly golden pre-drug era of the 40s,, 50s, and 60s, about people wringing their hands over the drug problem in Vancouver and […]

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