VanCity funds DNC

Vancity today provided the DNC with a much needed funding infusion. The DNC thanks our new funder and hopes it is a sign of good things to come for the true voice of the neighbourhood.

Santa Claus is a Capitalist Plot

Santa Claus is a Capitalist Plot

By Diane Wood

Father Christmas works one night a year

And gives lotta Santa impersonators jobs

For a month or so

From an SRO to Social Housing

From an SRO to Social Housing

By Herb Varley

First of all I want to acknowledge the Tsleil-wa-Tuth, Musqueam, and Squamish peoples for allowing me to live and work in their beautiful unceded territories. I lived in the York Hotel on Gore and Powell for almost three years. It was a typical hotel: no bathroom, no kitchen; it did have roaches, mice and bedbugs. All in all, it was not a very dignified way to live. In addition to pests, people were always yelling up to their buddies’ place to get in. (Until recently there was no buzzer. Even now many people don’t have a phone to connect it to.) I had neighbors that were nice to other people but were either partying or fighting all the time.

Why I Heckled City Council

Why I Heckled City Council

By Herb Varley

As co-chair of the Local Area Planning Process (LAPP) committee, I was at city hall on Oct 12, 2012 to report on the condo development proposed at 955 East Hastings. After I had given the report I was cross-examined by councilors Louie, Meggs, and Jang. They were trying to fish for any sort of division in the LAPP committee. This left me feeling disrespected and frustrated.

Chinatown: The Anti-Colonial perspective

Chinatown: The Anti-Colonial perspective

By Daisy Chen

Orientalist and Colonialist accounts of Chinatown allude to a tourism district with colorful shops and vibrant restaurants harbouring exotic treasures and experiences. This Chinatown is a place to be visited but never investigated. For the less Walt Disney account of Chinatown, it’s critical to understand the historical and economic realities on which the existence of Chinatown is predicated.

Stand for Social Housing Every Week With People Across BC

Stand for Social Housing Every Week With People Across BC

The Social Housing Coalition BC has relaunched Stands for Social Housing as part of its campaign to make ending the housing crisis in BC a major part of the May 2013 BC election. Every Saturday at noon from now until the election people will gather on street corners in communities throughout the province to put forward five important demands. See the coalition’s website for weekly locations and contacts to get involved. Stands are happening in the DTES at three locations already: Hastings and Abbott, Hastings and Main, and Hastings and Princess.

Power Hour – 6th Annual March for Women’s Housing and March Against Poverty

Power Hour – 6th Annual March for Women’s Housing and March Against Poverty – Action Speaks Louder Than Words

By Shurli Chan, Power of Women Group

On Saturday September 15 at 1:30 pm, people gathered and milled about outside 302 Columbia Street to join the Downtown Eastside Women Centre, Power of Women Group in their 6th Annual March for Women’s Housing and March Against Poverty. It was a beautiful, sunny, autumn day and yet the energy, activism, and controlled frustration and rage of the growing crowd was palpable. Over the next few hours, about 300-400 people would march together, shoulder to shoulder, to once again collectively express their ongoing fight—weary, angry, yet peaceful and unbroken–for affordable housing, and rail against the continued poverty of the Downtown Eastside and a new threat: gentrification. Development in this area promises ‘social mix’ and affordable housing but in many cases instead delivers social segregation: high-end condos rather than social housing, boutique shops (that sell $3.00 donuts and $25 pizzas), renovated drinking establishments that draw drunken out-of-area people who bully and demean local residents.