If you live or work in or around Chinatown or have visited its 10 blocks often enough to notice, you’ll have no doubt seen how the pace of development has quickened to a startling, Yaletown-like gallop. Community groups and residents are concerned that all the new condos, buildings and businesses going in are going to price them out. The G-word threat that these people – many of whom are senior citizens – face is very real. Some of them have already faced renoviction. The Mayor acknowledged and accepted a petition signed by 1,400 of them, but that’s it. He surrendered a handshake and a look of concern. Because camera. What are your thoughts?
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Should I be mildly amused that Scout is posing this question even though it could be technically accountable for some of the buzz behind Chinatown. I mean y’all promoting restaurants and shops that are totally against the ethos of Chinatown on this site.
It’s great that we are asking this question, but it certainly belies the intricacies of the gentrification debate. Are we saying, “halt all development”? Are we saying “Some development is good if it includes social housing”? Are we saying “Bao Bei and Bestie are good, Starbucks is bad”? If the developments in question were razing whole blocks of heritage buildings I would say no. But are they? At what point do we stop and say, “density along major transportation corridors is good. Having people live downtown and not in the suburbs is good”? Also, what amount of white guilt enters the equation? Displacement is obviously bad and needs to be addressed, but Chinatown is becoming a destination again. Sure, whites are moving in, but is that a bad thing? And what about the Chinese community itself. Couldn’t one make the (admittedly generalizing) argument that they abandoned Chinatown for Richmond? With all these questions in mind I voted no. We need to encourage healthy development but we can’t halt it completely. We need to have incentives for developers to retain heritage and social housing. Otherwise you might as well light up a torch and march through Chinatown with a black mask on your face.
i love this
I think the poll is a tacit admission that championing the neighbourhood has to be done sensitively and thoughtfully, and that independent restaurants like Bestie and Bao Bei that move into and embrace the neighbourhood are not the same as big name developers.