Head of DTES market tries to help, but draws a line at stolen goods
The new head of the Downtown Eastside market has big plans for the city-designated vending space, despite a vow by one Vancouver mayoral candidate to shut it down.
Constance Barnes, a former Vancouver park board commissioner, said she has taken a nononsense approach to running the market since she was appointed executive director a few weeks ago, likening it to “being Mom to a whole bunch of people.”
She recently directed a vendor who was found selling stolen rollerblades to return them to their owner, then helped the vendor find a job.
She also met with Vancouver police to develop a tagging system for donated clothes to ensure it’s clear where they come from.
She encourages anyone with a problem to find her and promises to help resolve issues.
She’s usually on site at the market at 62 East Hastings, which the city set up to contain and organize the spread of people selling stuff — sometimes stolen property — along Hastings Street, blocking sidewalks and even traffic lanes. “I want this to work,” she said. “I’m not an enabler. I want to provide a way for people to get out of the rut that they’re in.”
Barnes said she hopes to see more markets in areas where people are already selling things on the streets, like Commercial Drive.
But mayoral candidate Fred Harding isn’t having any of it.
The former West Vancouver police officer, who is running for Vancouver First, wants to “take back the streets” — and the market will be one of the first things to go.
“It is incomprehensible to me that people have to go down to this market when they’ve had something stolen and buy back their things,” he said.
“The message this market sends is that the city has given in.”
Other mayoral candidates were more circumspect.
“We need to approach this carefully,” said NPA candidate Ken Sim.
“I recognize the DTES street market is an effort to find a legitimate place where those who are struggling in our community can make a few extra dollars, and operate legally. At the same time, there are real concerns about stolen property being sold on our streets.”
Sim said he would work with organizers to ensure a “balance around safety concerns and the needs of the vendors.”
Independent candidate Kennedy Stewart also spoke about the need for balance.
“This is a symptom of a larger problem,” he said, pointing to the lack of affordable housing and the opioid crisis. “(Illegal vending) is going to exist whether or not the city does anything.”
ProVancouver candidate David Chen said setting up the market has allowed the city to exercise some control over street vending.
“It’s easier to monitor. Enforcement is a critical component to make it work,” he said.
The City of Vancouver’s director of social policy, Mary Clare Zak, said the city recently hired an organization to conduct a study on illegal street vending.
According to a city, street vending is expanding across the city, particularly near the Main Street and Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain stations, “without an adequate city-wide policy.”
The report is expected to examine the approaches taken by other North American municipalities and talk to vendors and customers, to propose several policy recommendations by next summer.
Zak said part of the reason for the increase in vending is that many jobs require full-time hours. For those who are unable to work full-time, options are limited.
The market can help “ladder” people from street vending to parttime work to stable employment.
(Illegal vending) is going to exist whether or not the city does anything.