Nearly $1.5-billion in public spending since 2000 and little to show for it — that's the story of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The Globe is pleased to introduce four experts who will lay out fresh solutions for the neighbourhood. Each will join us online to take your questions and participate in a live panel discussion March 24 at the University of British Columbia.
The forum will be hosted at 7 p.m. (10 p.m. ET) at UBC's Robson Square campus by The Globe, in partnership with CTV and the university. For tickets, call toll-free 1-866-545-0016.
Vancouver architect Gregory Henriquez is the author of Towards an Ethical Architecture. Mr. Henriquez is the architect on the Woodward's building, a mixed-income development in the Downtown Eastside. Woodward's is a bold experiment: When it opens later this year, the development will see wealthy condo dwellers living cheek-by-jowl with the poor living in 200 subsidized units. Mr. Henriquez spoke earlier to The Globe's Wendy Stueck.
Mr. Henriquez answered your questions live Feb. 18. Questions and answers are below.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Brodie Fenlon, globeandmail.com: Thank you very much for joining us today Mr. Henriquez. Readers can survey some of the challenges facing the Downtown Eastside and its residents by visiting our special series hub Canada's Slum: The Fix . I'd also like to remind everyone that Mr. Henriquez, three other experts and Globe columnist Gary Mason will take part in a public forum March 24 at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET) at the University of British Columbia's Robson Square campus. The event will be hosted by The Globe, in partnership with CTV and UBC. CTV's Mi-Jung Lee will moderate. Click here for more information and tickets.
Let's get to our readers' questions:
Ed Long from Canada writes: We walked past the Woodward's project on Saturday going to lunch in the area. I have been in the DTES twice in the last three weeks. I commented the project is distinctive, not austere like traditional poverty 'projects', it has wonderful historical design references that add to the surrounding area and it respects the streetscape. Therefore the residents and the project are not stigmatized. I could live there if I worked in the city. DTES can form a new transitional neighbourhood. Nice work.
Gregory Henriquez: Thank you, we have worked really hard to create a series of buildings which are not only meaningful from a programming perspective, but also have an expression that is grounded in an appropriate architectural vocabulary, which is a poetic expression of the historical context.
Skip Towne from Vancouver writes: How is architecture 'ethical' if a neighbourhood's stakeholders, apparently solely for financial gain, cavalierly disregard and circumvent heritage protections that have been carefully preserved for generations? In the case of Woodward's, for many years the site and its surroundings were designated part of a unified historical district. Ceremonial plaques were placed on important buildings (including Woodward's) and height and density restrictions were rigidly enforced. Immediately prior to approving the project, which allowed 40+ stories to rise incongruously (and hideously) in the midst of this heritage, the City of Vancouver had posted official assurances on its website that the height and density restrictions, in place for years, would be retained and respected. But as condo values soared the plan for the current development by Millenium was deployed, and all of the protections were swept away in an instant. Oddly, not a single dissenting opinion to this heritage destruction was published at the time in the predominant media voice, The Vancouver Sun. Did the Sun foresee the massive injection of advertising revenues that the weekly full-page colour sales ads for Woodward's would bring to its coffers? This entire project is tainted by a shameful process, and the players should be held accountable.
