Never seen anything like this before. A large group of profs, many with in-depth knowledge of gentrification and housing dynamics, have mobilized to oppose allowing taller new buildings in the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown.
Dear Mayor Robertson and Councillors:
Re: January 20, 2011 Council Meeting on the Historic Area Height Review Update.
We, the undersigned, are professors at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia with an interest in the fate and well being of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.
We therefore note with concern the recommendation before Council to change the allowable heights in the ‘Historic Area’, which includes much of the Downtown Eastside. The effect of this will be to increase permitted heights on several sites. Assuming, as seems inevitable, that this facilitates market housing, we fear that this will lead to a further reduction of affordable housing in the surrounding area, particularly that of the residential hotels. This will have a devastating effect on low-income residents and the continued vitality and viability of the neighbourhood as a whole. We believe that planning in the Downtown Eastside should have at its centre the interests of the most vulnerable, rather than risk further destabilizing a community that is already facing intensifying pressures.
Market development, if wisely managed with the insights of the low-income community, can bring benefits to the Downtown Eastside. However, it can, and has, also led to increasing rents, conversions and displacement. We encourage Council not to proceed with the Height Review until a more thorough community based planning process is conducted, a cornerstone of which should be the improvement and protection of the affordable housing stock of the Downtown Eastside.
Yours sincerely,
Nicholas Blomley, Ph.D.
Professor, Geography, SFU
Elvin Wyly, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Geography;
Chair, Urban Studies Program, UBC
David Ley, Ph.D.
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada,
Canada Research Chair,
Professor and Head of Department, Geography, UBC
Samir Gandesha, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Humanities, SFU
Eugene McCann, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, Geography, SFU
Jeff Derksen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, English, SFU
Nicolas Kenny, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, History, SFU
Dara Culhane, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Anthropology, UBC
Jamie Peck, Ph.D.
Canada Research Chair in Urban & Regional Economy
Professor, Geography, UBC
Donald Grayston, PhD, former director, Institute for the Humanities, SFU; theologian and public educator
Derek Gregory, Ph.D., Professor, Geography, UBC
Fellow of the British Academy; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; Dr. h.c (Heidelberg); Dr. h.c. (Roskilde)
Steve Collis, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor; Associate Chair, English, SFU
Mónica Escudero, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Spanish Language Program, Language Training Institute
Humanities Department SFU
Graham Riches, Ph.D.,
Emeritus Professor, Social Work, UBC
Elise Chenier, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, History, SFU
Janice Matsumura, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, History, SFU
Paige Raibmon, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, History, UBC
Endar Brophy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Communications, SFU
Gary Teeple, Ph.D,
Professor, Sociology;
Director of Labour Studies, Morgan Centre for Labour Studies.
Clint Burnham, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, English, SFU
Thomas Kemple, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology, UBC
Sunera Thobani, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, UBC
Willeen Keough, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of History, SFU
Karen Ferguson, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, Urban Studies/History, SFU
Pilar Riano-Alcala
Associate Professor, Liu Institute/Social Work, UBC
Mark Leier, Ph.D.,
Professor, History, SFU
Valerie Raoul, Ph.D.,
Emerita Professor, Women’s Studies and French, UBC
Catherine Murray, Ph.D.,
Professor, Chair, Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies, SFU
Shauna Butterwick, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies, UBC