Gent Map

The Downtown Eastside in Context

Situation
Speculation and fear of gentrification in the Downtown Eastside is based largely on its location. It is directly adjacent to the Vancouver's affluent downtown core. It is also located with close proximity to Granville Island, a site of massive redevolpment in the not too distant past and False Creek, a current hotbed for develpment. Is the Downtown Eastside the next logical step?

Boundries and Gates Though the boundaries of the downtown eastside are not as clearcut as the coverages in this analysis portray, it is a distinct community from its surroundings. Certain boundaries exist that will make one aware of their surroundings. The bridges and overpasses to the east (Racan, below), west (Canada Place, right) and south (Georgia Viaduct, below right) act as distinct boundaries marking the transition from or to the downtown eastside.

Perspectives

The Downtonn Eastside represents different things to different people. These views can best be related through quotes from the various interests:

I am a casualty of the politics of exclusion. Not because of the color of my skin. Nor my religious affiliation. Nor my sex. But because of my relative affluence. I am a home owner. … In Vancouver's downtown eastside, I am the gentry in gentrification .
       - "A Dispatch from the Gentrification Wars" Vancouver Sun, May 19, 1995

The guys who've lived down here forever. They don't consider themselves to have rights. They live here out of choice. Maybe a very diminished choice, but it is nonetheless their choice. But they don't have the right to stay here simply because at one point in their life, anymore than I have the right to live in Dunbar for the rest of my life.
       - Interview in Blomley 1997

Until Woodward's is up, these people are going to sit on their property for five years. What scares people is still the housing, its not the safest area. The area is ideal because it central and accessible, but the quality of people is not up to par. Potential buyers aren't sure how the mix of market and social housing is going to work out.
       - "Realestate Boom looms for Hastings Street" Vancouver Sun March 5, 1997

There's and old saying that the best way to make people powerless is to make them invisible. Maps are a good way of doing this. When Europeans first came to North America, they made Indians invisible by leaving large blank spaces on maps. That way they were able to rationalize stealing other peoples land. The city insists that the downtown eastside must be gentrified. One way to do this is to eliminate the downtown from city maps. By leaving a community off the map, they erase the people who live there and make them invisible. That way they leave the neighborhood open for what ever changes they have in store.
       - From Carnegie Newsletter printed in Blomley 1997

Just the tax base alone is forcing a lot of older business to close and look for other areas to pick up again.
       - From BCB July 1994 from a Bosa sales representative: I am a casualty of the politics of exclusion. Not because of the color of my skin. Nor my religious affiliation. Nor my sex. But because of my relative affluence. I am a home owner. … In Vancouver's downtown eastside, I am the gentry in gentrification .
- "A Dispatch from the Gentrification Wars" Vancouver Sun, May 19, 1995; The guys who've lived down here forever. They don't consider themselves to have rights. They live here out of choice. Maybe a very diminished choice, but it is nonetheless their choice. But they don't have the right to stay here simply because at one point in their life, anymore than I have the right to live in Dunbar for the rest of my life.
- Interview in Blomley 1997; Until Woodward's is up, these people are going to sit on their property for five years. What scares people is still the housing, its not the safest area. The area is ideal because it central and accessible, but the quality of people is not up to par. Potential buyers aren't sure how the mix of market and social housing is going to work out.
- "Realestate Boom looms for Hastings Street" Vancouver Sun March 5, 1997; There's and old saying that the best way to make people powerless is to make them invisible. Maps are a good way of doing this. When Europeans first came to North America, they made Indians invisible by leaving large blank spaces on maps. That way they were able to rationalize stealing other peoples land. The city insists that the downtown eastside must be gentrified. One way to do this is to eliminate the downtown from city maps. By leaving a community off the map, they erase the people who live there and make them invisible. That way they leave the neighborhood open for what ever changes they have in store.
- From Carnegie Newsletter printed in Blomley 1997; Just the tax base alone is forcing a lot of older business to close and look for other areas to pick up again.
- From BCB July 1994 from a Bosa sales representative

A final note on the Downtown Eastside. This is yet another perspective on the course of evolution the area could / should take.