The Homeless and East Hastings…
My commute means driving completely down East Hastings each day. After the first few months of shock at what goes on down there, I now marvel at how the “homeless” have managed to take control of the area and turn it into a lawless area.
There is a solution… if anyone really wants one.
Stop tolerating this behavior.
When I worked in New York, I got to witness how Rudy the solved the crime and drug problem.
He posed the question…
… Why do the homeless and drug addicts have more rights than the people working and paying taxes do?
He then started by cleaning up areas and painting over graffiti. Fixing windows and changing the way police dealt with the problems areas…
The results are legendary.
Vancouver’s permissive society is at the root of the problem.
As I drive down East Hastings – I have yet to see a cop do anything about the crack whore jumping into a car next to them, the group of guys openly selling pot and crack, or actually doing anything to preemptively stop crime.
It’s like they are part of the gang. The only time I see them act is when someone is run over, starts a fire, or is beating on someone.
The Police Department should be charged with dereliction of duty.
The first step in demonstrating that bad behavior is no longer tolerated is to clean up the street, paint over graffiti every day, focusing on crime before it happens, and arresting anyone whoring, dealing or public intoxication. The presence of authority in the area would change thing immediately.
Show that the city cares about the mess by cleaning it up. Every day. Even if it takes a dedicated sanitation unit.
Every time I suggest they should arrest people for using drugs in public, I hear the answer – the courts won’t do anything, we don’t have enough jails…
It’s a cop-out. Get a warehouse and convert it to an overnight jail. Arrest and hold overnight.
Disrupt the party. Catch and release…
Feed the hungry, house the poor – with conditions.
Quit using money as the excuse… it isn’t the problem. They’re spending a ton down there.
Ending the tolerance is the first step in really helping the addicts and homeless.
Start now and you won’t have to hide this embarrassment when the Olympics arrive.
…
July 11th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
the shithole of vancouver – easthastings….
July 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Thanks for the post – it caught my attention immediately as I drive by the same thing everyday on my way to gastown. I agree about Rudy’s work to clean up NYC! When I went there I was so impressed at what a clean city it is. Let’s get on it Van.
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
hey people i have been there done that lived that life. i was a well respected dealer at one time in my life. When i was Addicted to ( Crack & Heroin ) i was shot once stabbed 5 time and put in I.C.U 3 time .. Anyways i have been clean for 2 years now and im doing great for my self
February 12th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
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February 16th, 2011 at 7:56 am
hey uh im doing a report on east hastings and that place is the true shit hold of vancouver something needs to be done to help now.. if we dont take action things will gt worse my sister lives there and says its disgusting to have to pass by thre andsee all those whores and drug addicts get your shit togther VAN!
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:02 pm
It’s more than just an issue of policing, it’s a social issue. They’ve tried what you’ve described, but anybody with any knowledge in the area knows that placing these people in jail not only costs taxpayers a lot of money, it also rarely changes anything at all.
It’s a social issue, and in order to “clean the area” you need a coalition of policing AND social structures to help solve the problem. Simply placing people in jail and covering up their tracks is a cowardly and ignorant way of going about it.
I don’t really have much more to say, I agree that Hastings is an issue, I think you should do some volunteer work or gain some first hand experience before you lose your touch with human connection and just start to refer to people you dislike as a “problem that needs to be dealt with”.
September 2nd, 2011 at 4:19 am
I am glad you have said this, it needed to be said. I also understand how Goldam feels but there response is precisely what keeps the downtown east side in a constant spiral, their catch phrasing and uneccessarily complicated feelings need to be simplified to get results. Making the people on the street understand what they are doing is wrong not only for them but for us too should not be interpreted as treating them as “people you dislike”. The police in Vancouver do not try hard enough. The people on the street need structure in their lives! Instead of giving it to them we let them do whatever they want supporting their drug habits and even lowering the speed limit to 30 kilometers an hour so they will not get run over while jay walking. If we don’t lay out just even basic rules they need to abide by they will just keep sinking as far as we let them. Shame on the VPD, Gregor Robertson and all the previous elected before him, and let’s not forget the dirt lot on East Hastings where the City put up a chain link fence covered with orange tarping and a sign that said something like “Vancouver Initiative for the Homeless” during the Winter Olympics so the drug addicts could not be seen by the tourists, is that not “covering up their tracks” in a cowardly and ignorant way?