The Ongoing Challenges Downtown and Chinatown

Unusual to see a blue lion on display

Yesterday and today was the 22nd Chinatown Festival, with a mix of performances, food trucks, painting, calligraphy and Asian-related products out in 26-degree heat.

I got there this afternoon by bus and the ride was fine until we got downtown at the stop for Cordova and Homer when a disheveled passenger with mental issues had an argument with the bus driver over the route he was taking.

Giant mahjong, anyone?

The passenger didn't understand the route was correct and that it would eventually get to Hastings and Renfrew, but kept claiming the driver was going the wrong way. 

Thankfully the driver kept his cool and patiently waited for the man to collect his belongings and get off the bus, while other passengers murmured for him to stop wasting others' time. Luckily there was no incident, but there was the potential something could have happened. 

After getting off the bus at the next stop, Cordova and Carrall, I had to navigate blocks of homeless people and their belongings, and the putrid smells of urine and old sweat to get to a contrasting bright and cheery area of Chinatown. People were there to have a good time and police officers were also there to keep the peace.

A topless homeless man was hanging out on a grassy area until two officers came up to him and asked him to put on a shirt and move along. While he didn't provoke anyone, it was discomforting to see him there.

The Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association is trying hard to encourage people to come to the area to patronise shops and restaurants, but it's hard when there are drug addicts and homeless people wandering about, making people feel unsafe.

People curious about rice whisky

Wandering around the small bazaar was trouble-free after that. I visited the stalls of entrepreneurs I had written about before and was pleased to see they had a steady stream of customers. One sells various chilli oils made with local duck oil; another makes rice whisky as well as other products like ginger wine, honey wine and rice wine. 

While it was good to see a decent crowd of people there, interested in seeing traditional Chinese culture demonstrations and try some food and drinks, these festivals are only twice a year. But there is no definitive solution to the problems in the downtown east side and Chinatown, which is why they continue to fester and accumulate into bigger issues that cost more money and effort to solve...