Gastown
I moved to Vancouver in 84, back then the West end looked very friendly, however for a calmer lifestyle I opted to move to Mount Pleasant neighbourhood after residing in the West end a couple of months. In 2003 I moved to Gastown right in the village square, at first I truly thought I had made a mistake by choosing a loft in this area, but it soon changed, it is a very friendly neighbourhood and once you get oneself accustom to the environment , it is pretty much what I had sought in the first place, good little coffee shops, friendly grocery stores, smart little boutiques from unique designers, a melt pot of different backgrounds and culture trying hard to make this area a nice place to reside. With the Woodwards development comes a huge amount of changes, such as new and extremely expensive boutiques and some old business coming back after decades of laughing at this neighbourhood.
there are quite a few developments in the works such as the Terminus and Garage Loft, the Paris Place on Hasting, and from word of mouth that some company is in the works to buy the social housing located in Blood Alley and turn the entire block into a entertainment district with street cafe and night clubs similar to Old Montreal, the green way is one third completed the Hasting Block is due next Spring and the final part of the green belt by spring 2009 with an overpass at the foot of Carrall street leading unto the North shore of CPrail road.
My only concern is I hope we never turn this area like Yaletown , cold and unfriendly, snobbish and rude.
I once was told how Gastown was the poor mans Yaletown, now lets see you laugh last, with all cultures poor and rich small and tall, black or white, it matters not we make due to accept all and respect all, this is why I vote Gastown the best NEW Neighbourhood in the Greater Vancouver area.
In regards to many of the homeless in the area most of them will be housed or a majority are housed now in many of the social housing in the area, the major problem is not the fact that they are drug users in this neighbourhood,
is the fact that the drug DEALERS that comes in most part from the suburbs when they need to sell their crap to the lesser fortunate, then get on the skytrain and ride back to their homes with complete disregard for those who live here.
I know for I am approached so many times by theses low life insisting and harassing anyone that walks and breathe along the DTS street.
they are for certainty some who are beyond salvation at this moment in time due to the severity of their addictions, however one must and need to remember that they where once a child of someone, or a mother who lost hope trough abuse, and let me be clear to ask not to past judgement so hastily until you have listen to their story some are sad and some are troubling and as a society , we are responsible to ensure the welfare and the well being towards each other as civilized as one can be, stop the me, me , me attitude it only leads to ignorance and growth of illness to what we hide in our closets, case in point the ROBERT Dziekanski showed to what can happen when we loses our way and choose to remain indifferent to the world we live in.
the Mayor may stay silent, but time will tell a other tale with hope, one cannot hide for an eternity and think that pushing the homeless further east or underground for two weeks will suffice.
The Police in this Area are truly inundated and overworked, verbally abused and disrespected daily and yet they stand proud to do the best they can with the little they get and the mayor well he couldn't care less.
I say this neighbourhood will be a example to be viewed not by the effort due to its mayor but by the efforts made by its people and is police force that working in harmony have and will come to a solution(s) that many cities in the future will envy for we as a community have stood strong despite the indifference policy maker created to silence us.
VPD and DTS equals GASTOWN equals SUCCESS.
Last edited by Jacques; Nov 25, 2007 at 8:13 AM.
Reason: re-evalutation
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