Poverty activists say Vancouver’s clean-up plan could get messy
By KEVIN SPURGAITIS
VANCOUVER — Vancouver politicians are raising the ire of homelessness activists, lawyers and civil libertarians, as the city prepares to sweep its streets prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics.
This past summer, the City of Vancouver unveiled a $1.3-million plan to reduce homelessness, aggressive panhandling, public nuisance and the open drug market by at least half within three years. Though details are unclear, Project Civil City could involve hiring more police, by-law officers and prosecutors; beefing up community agencies and drug treatment programs for chronic offenders; conducting litter audits; and analyzing public nuisance complaints. Mayor Sam Sullivan said in a press release that Vancouver’s 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are a catalyst, but Project Civil City will “develop long-term and sustainable solutions to homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness.”
Following the announcement, the plan’s opponents gathered for a forum, dubbed “Civil City Slam,” at First United Church, which has long advocated for the poor in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. They argued that in trying to make the city “squeaky clean,” policy makers will hurt the city’s underclass.
The plan really comes down to the “hyper-regulation of public space” and the “street sweeping of the poor,” said Michael Vonn, policy director at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, adding that police could target and displace someone just for sleeping on park benches or sidewalks.
“We have absolutely no qualitative data on issues like aggressive panhandling, and without this, we’re certainly not prepared to say that this is a proportionate — or even appropriate — initiative,” Vonn continued. “Instead, it makes it almost impossible for those who conduct the majority of their lives in public spaces to have privacy and to not break the law.”
Originaly published in the United Church Observer, October 2007
