Downtown Eastside groups demand police cancel tickets issued in crackdown
The Vancouver police board today (June 17) came face to face with competing interests in the city’s Downtown Eastside.
On one hand were representatives of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the nonprofit Portland Hotel Society, who were protesting against the massive ticketing by police of residents in that part of town.
On the other was the Strathcona Business Improvement Association, whose chair Claude Lemay expressed frustration at drug-related street disorder and called for more police presence in the neighbourhood.
Around 60 VANDU members wanted to attend the board meeting at the Vancouver Police Department headquarters at 2120 Cambie Street but only a handful were allowed to come in.
Pivot Legal Society lawyer Laura Track had written the board on behalf of VANDU and PHS, requesting the cancellation of hundreds if not thousands of tickets slapped by the police on Downtown Eastside residents since December last year.
By Track’s account, almost 900 city bylaw infraction tickets and over 370 tickets for violations of provincial laws were written by cops in December alone.
Track addressed the board, chaired by Mayor Gregor Robertson, and told members that this ticketing blitz has caused “incredible stress and grief” to the residents.
For his part, Strathcona’s Lemay told the board that statistics show that assaults related to drug dealing and use have increased by 39 percent in the district.
Lemay also said that “security is the number-one priority” of business owners, recommending that more police officers on foot, bicycles, and even horses should be deployed.
Vancouver police chief Jim Chu asked for a month’s time to evaluate whether or not the tickets can be cancelled.
Robertson said in a media scrum that balancing the competing interests in the Downtown Eastside is always a big “challenge”.
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Comments
I ''break'' them all day everyday, the high concentration of lawlessness the petty crimes as well as the serious ones in the dtes are nothing to disregard, To compromise because of pressure from neo non profs is nothing more than insulting to both me and the rest of the law abiding citizens. Since when does one or two interest groups have the power or think they have the authority to even over turn the laws of the land especially when they represent a group that does nothing but break the law .I can only guess how many people who drive in this area of town who have had to swallow there hearts as some intoxicated addict floats across the street in a haze of consumption. Even worse the poor souls who have actually hit someone and had to live with it. ''THESE FREAKS'' and i don't use that term lightly have never had themselves been victimized by this and would scream the loudest had they ever been exposed to this type of lawlessness. In short enough is enough, drug addicts are entitled to the same rules laws benefits of our society as the rest of us because they choose to live a lawless life why does that give them a green light to challenge it.
Whatever credibility the Pivot had is slowly draining away with such inanity.
i had to move back to ontario over this crap so bite me
As a motorcyclist of forty years and a cyclist longer, I am well aware of the challenges to staying alive and intact that two-wheelers face in a heavily-trafficked city. You will generally find that more experienced motorcyclists are reasonably law-abiding, because they are well-aware that it is better to have a sympathetic or, at least, neutral public than one that is pissed off because they perceive motorcyclists as constantly taking advantage.
I believe that cyclists face the same challenge. If you’re using a pedestrian crosswalk, you’re a pedestrian and both feet should be on the ground. I may not be expecting as I make that left turn that someone is going to be halfway across the intersection in the crosswalk, shooting off the curb in the half-second I do the final visual check the other way.
And however much it rankles, if you’re a vehicle, stop at stop signs. The smoothest flow of traffic -- and we need that in this city -- is achieved when everybody obeys the rules, and can therefore anticipate and build that expectation of others’ actions into their own.
The hard part about being on a two-wheeler is that in a battle with a car, you may be right, but that’s just no good if you’re lying underneath it. Promote harmony by doing the right thing, not necessarily what suits you at that moment. Getting upset when you get tickets for breaking traffic rules makes no sense. Go home and think that through again.