Chinatown ‘left behind’ in False Creek planning
Some members of Vancouver’s Chinatown said the community is being left out in the Northeast False Creek plan that goes before council Tuesday.
The sweeping plan lays out the vision for a waterfront neighbourhood with mixed-used developments that would be home to up to 12,000 people, including two blocks of land between Prior and Union east and west of Main that was expropriated in the late 1960s from Chinatown and Hogan’s Alley to make way for the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts.
Discussions were ongoing between Chinatown groups and the city when in late January the city released the 174-page plan, which suggests city planners had already “planned away” the two blocks in question without adequate consultation, said Henry Yu.
“We were left behind (in) the consultation process,” said Yu, a UBC history professor who sits on a Chinatown working committee that was in discussion with the city. “Chinatown should at least have some say.”
The Northeast False Creek plan calls for a 27,000-square-foot cultural centre on the east side of Main Street. The site, on 898 Main St., was the nucleus of Vancouver’s black community before the forced displacement caused by the viaducts, it said.
Based on his understanding from discussions with the city, the “pencilled-in” plan for the other block on the west side of Main is to sell it and use the revenue from the sale to pay for the other block, said Yu. “At this point in the plan, there’s nothing for Chinatown.”
Yu said the Chinatown community acknowledged the impact the expropriation had on Hogan’s Alley and the black community.
“A lot of people suffered and lost their homes and businesses,” he said. “We all ought to be talking about how to find some justice out of this, but it has to be done where we’re not pitted against each other.”
Fred Mah, chair of the Chinatown Society Heritage Building Association, said he doesn’t support the plan in its current form.
Chinatown has supported the plan to tear down the viaducts on three conditions, he said, including one that stipulates the two blocks be considered part of Chinatown for planning purposes, so it can ensure buildings’ architectural character and the type of businesses they house fit well in that “transition area” that will serve as the gateway to Chinatown.
The community also wants part of the land to be designated as senior and affordable housing and to make sure access to Chinatown isn’t impeded, said Mah.
The Northeast False Creek plan, which notes an opportunity for “reconciliation and cultural redress” in replacing the viaducts, falls short of its goal, he said.
Mah is calling on the city to create a steering committee, including representatives from Chinatown and Hogan’s Alley, to discuss the future of the two blocks.
Council heard from speakers Jan. 31. It is expected to vote on the plan Tuesday.