Vancouver police to close Main Street headquarters, take over Vanoc building

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      The Vancouver Police Department will move its headquarters out of the Downtown Eastside and into the Vanoc building, a block away from Burnaby.

      The decades-old police station at 312 Main Street will be closed when the relocation to 3585 Graveley Street, near Boundary Road, is completed next year.

      Today (January 18), Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day and Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson announced up to $15 million in funding for the move.

      The federal government will provide $5 million from its $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, while $10 million will come from city hall.

      In a city press release, Chief Constable Jim Chu called the move “a valuable and cost efficient legacy of the 2010 Winter Games”.

      You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

      Comments

      24 Comments

      me in burnaby

      Jan 18, 2010 at 5:43pm

      so the city of vancouver buys this building several years ago for $18m + lots of $$tax credits (from a local businessman that bought it from Glenayre for around $12m ?). They lease/give it to Vanoc for next to nothing and now tax payers are on the hook for another $15m ($10m directly from City of Vancouver).

      wtf??!!! all this cost to move a police force OUT of the area that NEEDS to be policed???

      Oldtimer

      Jan 18, 2010 at 5:48pm

      Wow These politicians are out of touch with reality! Seems like the other New police station just off 2nd Ave just opened fairly recently, and I imagine that was a multimillion dollar project, now the $15 Million move to Burnaby (at the far eastern fringe of the City). Of course Jim Chu is going to call it valuable and cost efficient, he is probably delighted. Seems like a strange place for VPD, not exactly "central" to the service area.
      I am sure that the money could have paid for substantial addiction treatment services and homelessness outreach workers, but those uses of public tax money aren't near as sexy as a sleek new headquarters for VPD.
      Gregor is showing his true colours on this one.
      I am curious how Stockwell Day, as minister of International Trade, becomes involved in this slick move?

      miguel

      Jan 19, 2010 at 10:13am

      On an other news site the chief is quoted as saying the eventual head office will cost tens of millions. ??? You can't buy a condo for that, and this guy has budgetary control.
      Miguel

      glenc

      Jan 19, 2010 at 1:19pm

      Will the lock up ( jail ) also be located in this facility ? If so , there was no public consultation . There are quiet residential neighborhoods on both sides of Boundary Rd. What will happen when criminals are released from jail ? They will wander into the quiet neighborhoods and bring street crime to another part of town .

      ajoe1982

      Jan 19, 2010 at 3:20pm

      You all need to calm down. Please.

      $15 million, as far as renovations, moving costs, and securitizing the new building, is a fairly reasonable cost, especially given that the new building is approximately 190,000 square feet (do the math - that's $79/sf, which is relatively low for office space renovations).

      Go and read the larger VPD press release. This seems like mostly an administrative move. They say something about "moving the 72 Beat Enforcement Team officers who deploy from there to another location close by in the Downtown Eastside." - does that satisfy the worries about "abandoning" the main/hastings area?

      As for having the lockup in a "quiet residential neighbourhoors", I don't see how putting the lock-up in the middle of an industrial area off Highway 1, with neighbourhoods a full block away is any worse than having it in the middle of an area being jammed full of condos (let's leave the talk about development for another day).

      glenc

      Jan 19, 2010 at 3:53pm

      "As for having the lockup in a "quiet residential neighbourhoors", I don't see how putting the lock-up in the middle of an industrial area off Highway 1, with neighbourhoods a full block away is any worse than having it in the middle of an area being jammed full of condos (let's leave the talk about development for another day)."

      Easy for you to say because you probably don't know the area . I happen to own a house about 7 blocks away . I've also spent the night in the lock up in my younger years , and what I can tell you is that when they release you at 4 am , they simply let you walk out the gate and you are left to get where you need to go on your own .

      So how is it any different that where it is now ? Well , that area probably won't change much in the near term . It's too close to the street drug trade . What may end up happening is that those problems may end up being exported to a new part of town . Let's face it , what will happen when a drug addict is turned out to the street in the middle of the day or at 4 am in the morning and they need a fix ? Will they break into a home ? Rob an innocent bystander ?

      I was just in the area earlier today and what I can tell you is that there is a public park ( Charles Park ) 1 block directly west of this new facility. There is also a daycare on the other side of this park . Immediately to the east on the Burnaby side of Boundary, there is a residential area of Willingdon Heights .

      Ajoe1982

      Jan 19, 2010 at 4:01pm

      Actually, glenc, I work in the area. I do know the area. I won't go referencing parks, schools, daycares, or fuzzy-puppy-facilities in other areas of town, though, because I know that all areas have those, not just quiet East Van neighbourhoods.

      As for the location of this lock-up, if I were you I would start lobbying. I'll bet that, if they go ahead and make a separate facility to patrol the DTES, they'll probably have a lock-up there as well. Maybe if there's political pressure, they'll make sure it's large enough so they never have to drop a crack-head in your end of town.

      beelzebub

      Jan 19, 2010 at 4:38pm

      You miss the point. Its something to whine about.

      DTESer

      Jan 19, 2010 at 5:01pm

      The VPD might as well leave downtown because they don't seem to be making a difference down here. Drugs and crime on every corner. It's embarrassing. I think they should put that money into some old fashioned policing not fancy diggs in the suburbs.

      Sean

      Jan 19, 2010 at 5:08pm

      Don't forget all the falling brickwork on the other new police station. Atleast with this new leaky condo vanoc building we can hope that the mould and fungus will infect the facist police, just like the olympic village, built without insulation and mould infested already. now that deserves some sort of green energy award!