Downtown Eastside

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Location of the Downtown Eastside (in red) in Vancouver.

The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver and is noted for high incidences of poverty, drug addiction, and community activism. The neighbourhood has a rich and colourful history and a strong community fabric. It is bordered by Cambie Street to the west, Clark Drive to the east, the waterfront to the north and Pender Street to the south, with Hastings Street running down the middle of the neighbourhood. In recent years there have been tensions between developers and members of the community relating to gentrification development proposals.

1 Social problems
2 History
3 Significant locations
4 Trivia
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Social problems

Carnegie Community Centre at the corner of Main and Hastings.

The Downtown Eastside is home to poor and transitional populations including runaways, prostitutes, petty criminals and recreational drug addicts. A disproportionate amount of the vagrant population are of First Nations descent.

The DTES's (and Vancouver's) drug problem has grown steadily worse over the last decade with the most common drugs being heroin, crack cocaine, and - increasingly - crystal methamphetamine. The Downtown Eastside also has the unfortunate distinction of having the highest rate of HIV infection in the Western world.^[1]

However, the opening of North America's first safe injection site, Insite, in this neighbourhood has lowered the spread of HIV (and the number of overdose deaths) considerably, according to a recent article by the Canadian Press.^{[citation needed]} The southwest corner of Main and Hastings Streets continues to be a problem as drug sellers and users frequently occupy the corner, establishing a plein air drug market. Recent effortshave attempted to increase police presence at the Main and Hastings intersection, but this has been opposed by the residents. A major police station is only half a block north of the intersection.

The neighbourhood is home to a strong Residents' Association, the Downtown Eastside Residents Association* DERA

Early 20th c. buildings on East Hastings St

The many hotels in the area are single room occupancy, or SROs, which provide housing for some of the most difficult people to house in Vancouver. Some low income residents and DTES advocacy groups are concerned about the area's increasing gentrification. Many SROs are being closed, and there is concern that they will be replaced with condominiums and other housing, whos prices will be out of reach for the residents of DTES.

[edit] History

This area was the centre of the city at the turn of the 20th century. City hall, the courthouse and the Carnegie Library were all located here. It was also the main shopping area for the city, which centred around Woodward's department store. The surrounding stretch of Hastings Street was a major cultural and entertainment district. Prior to the Second World War, there was a large Japanese community in Japantown.

Robert Pickton, accused serial killer of Downtown Eastside women.

As the city centre moved to the West, and suburban shoppers took advantage of new local malls, the DTES began to decline. Eaton's moved its Vancouver flagship store out of the neighbourhood in the 1970s and Woodward's shut down in 1993, around the same time that crack cocaine was becoming a serious problem in the city. The main businesses that remain are pawn shops, run down restaurants, and 99 cent stores, some of which are a front for drug dealers. Some of the storefronts along the DTES stretch of Hastings Street are empty, often with the entire building for sale.

In the 1980s many of the street prostitutes in other parts of Vancouver, such as the nearby West End, were harassed out of the neighbourhoods they were in and moved into the DTES and contiguous industrial areas near Vancouver's ports. Many believe that this has exacerbated the problem of violence against prostitutes. The trial of Robert Pickton, a pig farmer accused of the murders of 26 women from the DTES, is ongoing.

Hotel Empress at 235 East Hastings is one of the many SRO hotels in the area that are included in Vancouver's diminishing affordable housing stock. In the fall of 2006 Empress residents were issued eviction notices.^[2]

[edit] Significant locations

Vancouver's historic Chinatown (Pender Street) and Gastown Historical District (Water Street) are popular tourist areas in the Downtown Eastside. Gastown is home to many high-end restaurants, lofts and boutiques. Some see this as creeping eastward gentrification as a promising development while others are concerned that this will only force many of the poorest from the only housing they can afford. However, these two neighbourhoods are not traditionally referred to as part of the Downtown Eastside among Vancouverites even though they fall within its borders.

The Strathcona neighbourhood is also within the DTES and is a historic working class neighbourhood that has retained a very strong sense of community, despite the decline of the general area. However, this sense of community is being threatened by the growing number of wealthy land speculators buying up the neighbourhood in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics.^[3]

[edit] Trivia

The band Billy Talent wrote their song Standing in the Rain while recording in Downtown Eastside. The band stated that it was hard to believe a place like this could exist in North America.

[edit] References

^ [1] Guy Babineau, "Poverty and Prejudice, not drugs, fuel BC's HIV rise," The Georgia Straight, 1 December 2005.
^ [2] "Council defers vote on redevelopment," Metro News, 20 October 2006.
^ [3] Olympic-related property speculation and its effect on the DTES housing stock: PIVOT Legal Society Report.