Business groups and tourism promoters near the downtown Eastside area are meeting this week to discuss what role they can play.
Spend half a day in Vancouver's Chinatown, exploring historic districts, exotic restaurants and specialty shops, according to the tourism website.
'Don't feel safe', 'Exclusion zone', 'Avoid, avoid, avoid - shocking slums - sad' in India, Netherlands, UK. Others mentioned random violence, rampant graffiti, and the dire situation of the homeless.
Trade associations and tourism promoters near the Downtown East Side are meeting this week to discuss what role they can play in improving those bad first impressions.
"I hear conversations with tourists and concerns about some of the things people are seeing on the streets. There is a sense of this dire situation here on the Downtown East Side, and it We are concerned that it will affect tourism," said Walley Wargolet, executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society.
The City of Vancouver is working to remove a temporary shelter on East Hastings Street between Main and Carral Streets due to fire safety concerns.
On Sunday, the mayor urged state government to address the need for mental health services after a suspect set fire to an apartment building before attacking it, addressing a multi-criminal endangering public safety. He called for reform of the judicial system to A resident with a machete.
"We are constantly emphasizing that we know there is a humanitarian crisis in this camp and in our city camp and there is a lack of places for people to go. But then we also have to look at the wider community and the impact they have,” said Wargolet.
He said many businesses are still struggling to recover despite increased traffic on the roads in recent weeks as the pandemic continues. said.
"It has to go on for years. If there is a blemish in the branding of what Vancouver is and it has a negative impact and people don't want to visit our city. It's a huge concern that we have and we need to address it."
Destination Vancouver CEO Royce Chwin said his organization's responsibilities include: He said it was to help Vancouver emerge from the pandemic with a vibrant tourism economy. He said there have been negative tourist reviews of these downtown neighborhoods for over a decade.
Abelardo Mayoral-Fierros has been booking international bands for years at venues such as The Rickshaw Theater on East Hastings Street. His returning visitors have long said some conditions of the Downtown East Side rank along the streets of the rough neighborhoods of San Francisco and Detroit. There seems to be, he said. In April, a band's tour bus was marked with graffiti and members found overdosed people beside and under it.He now employs additional security guards to monitor parked buses. increase.
"I still do it because the inside venue is great. During the day, when I'm unloading outside, I hear screaming. It's more aggressive than before," Mayoral said. Fierros said.
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Executive Her Director of the Classical Chinese Garden, Lorraine Lowe, says that when employees arrive at work, they are treated to a racist, anti-Asian tirade, subversion. Said I was greeted with a wave of deeds, rubbish. And feces were regularly left at their gates.
"We are very considerate when guiding visitors back to the waterfront area, asking them where to go (not to go), Uber or taxi, or walk north to Abbott Street.”
She contacted her counterparts in Portland and Seattle, reporting similar situations of poverty and concentration of drug treatment services.
Lowe said it was complicated, but as a result some of the poorest and most marginalized residents of the East Hastings SRO had their meager spaces.
Jordan Ng of the Chinatown Business Improvement Association says that small and medium-sized businesses are trying to support their families and take care of their homes and employees. He said he was a business owner.
``We grew up in this neighborhood.
"This is a completely different situation. You see people who have just passed out.
jlee-young@postmedia.com
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