Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Monday, 20 September 2004

A voice from the Downtown Eastside

By Joseph Planta

VANCOUVER - Vancouver's Downtown Eastside - Vancouver's Skid Row, the poorest postal code in the country - has always warranted justified attention here and across the country. It's odd how that happens though, as sometimes it'll be very de rigueur for the Downtown Eastside to make the news, the top of a CKNW newscast, or phone calls on the open lines, or in the papers. It comes in waves. When Woodward's was being squatted on, the plight of the neighbourhood was very much on people's minds and a concern. When Fix, the documentary by Nettie Wild debuted and won plaudits everywhere, it put the Downtown Eastside on the map of our collective consciousness. However, due to the weather at the moment, as well as the fact there's some time before the next municipal election, not to mention people in this city are concerned about the RAV line or implementing wards, the Downtown Eastside doesn't rank high on people's priorities.

I am guilty of the same. Though I live east of Ontario Street, it's far from the hub of Main and Hastings. I rarely if ever pass through the area on my travels, so turning a blind eye on the plight of those living in the region is easy. City planners hardly care, as do those in more lucky neighbourhoods hardly care, as it's probably safer for their property values that they stay in the Downtown Eastside lest they migrate elsewhere.

Apathy and self-serving ambivalence to the problems and solutions for the area shouldn't reign any longer. The region is hardly homogeneous, thus blanket solutions are not the answer. It's very easy from behind a computer screen to prescribe solutions, thus it's important for political observers to pay attention to the neighbourhood and give it the attention that it deserves. And to those ignoramuses who thinks it's a choice of theirs to live in that neighbourhood, that's hardly encouraging. Most in the region suffer from mental illnesses, that the proper prescriptions that more fortunate folks are used to aren't a luxury that they have.

Nearly a month ago now, I spoke with long-time advocate for the Downtown Eastside, as well as prostitution in the area, Jamie Lee Hamilton. Hamilton had e-mailed prior to respond to a column I'd written nearly four years ago, in which she was the subject. She corrected me on a number of assertions I had made at the time, as well as let me know about her blog, which you can find at http://www.downtowneastside.blogspot.com. Our chat, which you can listen to in the On the Line section, touched on a number of subjects of current concern. The Jeff Berg matter, which puts the Vancouver Police Department under a critical gaze, as well as the heating-up fight over wards, we talked about, and Hamilton's point of view allowed some heretofore unknown perspective pervade.

To say that Hamilton is flamboyant or a shit-disturber would be an understatement. The transvestite turned political activist, has run municipally, as well as federally (provincially too, if I'm not mistaken), numerous times. She's been arrested for running a bawdy house, something Hamilton finds offensive considering that escort services and massage parlours are rampant throughout the city, yet she's only targeted because hers cater to the downtrodden. Four years ago, I summed up my opinion of Hamilton by calling her less than politically correct, which is refreshing, as well as a credit to her community which is hardly heard.

As I've told Hamilton in a reply, thought we may not look eye-to-eye on most issues, the work she does is valuably especially for those of us who are guilty of having turned a blind eye to the Downtown Eastside, or who've been ambivalent. I'll be making Jamie Lee Hamilton's blog a regular read of mine. It's important that one check into the commentators that they disagree with as much as they readily rely on those that most resemble their political persuasion. The blog is good in that it puts large and small political issues affecting the greater city in the light of a perspective that is often discounted, marginalised, and ignored.

Check out Jamie Lee Hamilton's blog at http://www.downtowneastside.blogspot.com. Keeping an informed opinion is the first step in tackling the great issues of our time, and this city.

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