Naomi Klein endorses No Condos in the DTES
On Thursday December 1, 2011 Downtown East Side (DTES) housing activists, under the slogan – DTES is not for Condo Developersthe DTES is for Low-Income people, held a media event in front of the partially demolished Pantages Theatre to protest the demolition and the proposed development of the site by Marc Williams.
Author Naomi Klein spoke at the event endorsing the housing activists’ struggle to advocate for more housing for lower income residents of the DTES. Representatives from DTES Neighbourhood Council, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, Aboriginal Front Door and the DTES Power of Women Group spoke about the need for the construction of 10 buildings in the next 10 years for lower income residents and a moratorium on other development construction until the housing crisis in DTES is addressed.
The groups that attended the media event are opposed to the redevelopment of the Pantages Theatre site at 150 Hasting Street East and call the proposed project “ a gentrification bomb in the heart of the DTES” because the project proposes to build condominiums in the lowest income neighbourhood in Canada. In a July 11, Straight article by Yolande Cole, Marc Williams is quoted as saying that “The development isn’t displacing anyone. The site only contained vacant commercial buildings.”
In the same article The Straight stated that:
“A development permit application has been submitted by Studio One Architecture for a mixed-used six-storey development called Sequel 138, which would include 18 social housing units, 79 “affordable home ownership” units, and 12 commercial units.”
For more info on the project check the full Straight article: The Striahgt
Photo from the event: Photos on Flickr of the media event
husband, father, citizen, community organizer, , artist and always re-defining myself.
Brent, his wife Anita, and their daughters Safrin and Mallika are long-time residents of the West End.
