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As vulnerable as people in care homes, but no plan to help protect them yet: The homeless, sheltered, living in SROs

March 16th, 2020 · No Comments

People who care for the homeless and those living in the worst conditions (shelters, SROs) are frantic about the lack of resources and preparation for the vulnerable group they serve. My story here and in text below. 

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Downtown Eastside plan puts 80 per cent of $1-billion total investment into housing

March 6th, 2014 · 117 Comments

There is a lot of meat to pick over in the city’s Downtown Eastside plan, even though lots and lots of details are still missing. Last week, we got the quick overview: $1-billion to go into the area overall over the next 30 years, diversity of housing, protection of community businesses and services aimed at […]

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Can a giant bureaucracy and a bunch of idealistic missionaries really save the Downtown Eastside?

February 17th, 2014 · 13 Comments

The Downtown Eastside has become our regional mental-health institution, as most of the world knows. What that means, among other things, is trying to deliver health care to thousands of people who are spread out across a few dozen city blocks instead of one convenient large institution, who can’t be compelled to show up for […]

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Vancouver property values go up in Chinatown, Downtown Eastside, Mount Pleasant industrial — speculation maybe?

January 30th, 2014 · 17 Comments

Many thanks to Andy Yan, number-cruncher and city analyst par excellence, for this map and story. Andy scraped or whatever all the data about property assessment changes between 2014 and 2013 and put it on a map. Look really closely and you can see what happened on your block. The map tells the tale of […]

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Downtown Eastside future development plan gets its first airing: a rental-only district; a goal to get low-cost grocers into the hood; lots of “a variety of new housing forms encouraged”

July 19th, 2013 · 32 Comments

Okay, now it’s the the Downtown Eastside’s turn at the “emerging directions” for their area plan — the last of the four neighbourhoods that are getting new visions for development and services. The open house was yesterday, another one Saturday. Lots in there. (Here is the link to the city’s information boards.) A few of […]

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Downtown Eastside: Home of secret Games fans

February 22nd, 2010 · 3 Comments

This story was in Saturday’s Globe but for some reason isn’t on the website, so I’m posting it here, rather than linking it for now. 2010 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. Free tickets are nice, but neighbourhood hopes attention will lead to increased funding from province Rick Russell and Bill Lucas normally wouldn’t spend […]

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A trip around a different world with photographer Wendell Phillips

March 31st, 2009 · 1 Comment

I don’t do a lot of events listings on this blog, but I love Wendell Phillips’ work. He shot a beautiful set of photos in the Downtown Eastside with psychiatrist Bill McEwan and his patients last year, which won a National Magazine Award. He’s back from travels to Nepali prisons, Tibetan refugee camps and elsewhere. […]

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A resident advocate’s view of the Downtown Eastside

February 20th, 2009 · 45 Comments

In case some of you missed this in the comments, here is Wendy Pedersen’s take on her neighbourhood, which she advocates for through the Carnegie Community Action Project. FROM WENDY PEDERSEN Hello. If you want to know what low-income DTES residents think about their neighbourhood, you can read this report: http://ccapvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/ccapvisionwebsm.pdf Its called Nothing About […]

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Vancouver mayor opposed Downtown Eastside “czar”

February 20th, 2009 · 12 Comments

Robert Matas’s story in the Globe this morning gets on the record the Vision Vancouver council’s discomfort with the idea of having a czar for the Downtown Eastside, a constantly recurring idea that had been floated again recently. The Vision mayor and council didn’t criticize the idea at first, but behind the scenes, they were […]

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The never-ending quest to transform the Downtown Eastside

February 16th, 2009 · 18 Comments

Vancouver’s defining neighbourhood has been in the limelight this past month, with two media outlets (the Province and the Globe and Mail) running extensive series on how to fix the neighbourhood, while police chief Jim Chu put out his own report on what to do. The unspoken message behind all of this is, “Yikes, the […]

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