DTES

Pete McMartin: A fruitless quest to save the Downtown Eastside

Posted on Wed, Apr 2, 2014 - 12:00am

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Photograph by: Arlen Redekop , Vancouver Sun

Mary Morgan has seen the worst the world has to offer. Guatemala, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Afghanistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe — her consultancy work in developing nations has given her first-hand experience with war, poverty and disease. She has worked for CARE, CIDA, and the International Rescue Committee, among others.

But nothing prepared her for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

In 2002, she stepped into the job of executive director of Partners for Economic and Community Help (PEACH). The previous executive director had left, and Morgan was hired for the job.

Province won’t pony up money for DTES plan

Posted on Tue, Mar 11, 2014 - 12:00am

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DTES, urban health

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Housing Minister Rich Coleman says the provincial government will not contribute money to the city’s $1 billion plan to revitalize the Downtown Eastside over the next 30 years. And his counterpart in Ottawa, Social Development Minister Candice Bergen, is leaving Coleman’s government to make any spending decisions on federal money set aside for affordable housing in B.C. “We’re not going to be involved,” Coleman told the Courier. “It doesn’t meet any of our priorities or match up to anything we are doing.”

City hopes Downtown Eastside plan will transform neighbourhood, stabilize low-income community

Posted on Mon, Mar 10, 2014 - 12:00am

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Downtown Eastside, urban health, DTES

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The City of Vancouver’s ambitious plan for the Downtown Eastside goes to council Wednesday and there are concerns about whether the plan is the right solution for the troubled neighbourhood.

The 300 page plan maps out development in the area east of the downtown core for the next 30 years, while striving to preserve the neighbourhood’s low-income community.

Read the full story here

Youth on DTES twice as likely to experiment with intravenous drugs: study

Posted on Wed, Jul 3, 2013 - 10:03pm

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youth, drugs, DTES, Dr. Evan Wood, BC-CfE

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A new study has found that youth living on Vancouver’s drug-riddled Downtown Eastside are twice as likely as at-risk youth in other neighbourhoods to experiment with intravenous drugs.