Street vendors sell their goods on East Hastings Street in Vancouver.Ben Nelms/The Globe and Mail
Since the City of Vancouver quietly approved a Downtown Eastside street market five years ago, the weekly affair has grown considerably: What was once confined to the grass and pavement of Pigeon Park has spilled onto Carrall Street, and security guards, greeters and volunteers patrol among tents and tables of goods every Sunday.
If all goes to plan, the street market will grow more next month.
The City of Vancouver has purchased property on the corner of Powell Street and Jackson Avenue, kitty-corner from Oppenheimer Park, with an intention to relocate the market and give it some permanence. Supporters of the move say it will give the burgeoning bazaar some structure – such as a properly fenced-in area that is easier to police – while opponents worry that unsavoury elements such as crime and drug activity will follow.
The move is also part of a broader effort to address the illegal street vending and resulting chaos along Hastings Street.
Last year's relocation of the United We Can bottle depot was expected to reduce congestion, but building owners and non-profit groups have reported an increase in street-vending activity since.
The Downtown Eastside Street Market began in 2010 as a protest action by low-income street vendors who felt they were being unfairly targeted for bylaw infractions.
By summer, the city had quietly approved it; crews power-washed the area before the market opened each weekend, and police refrained from issuing the $250 vending tickets at the market.
The Downtown Eastside Street Market Society, established last year, requires vendors to have memberships and abide by a number of rules.
There are now between 150 and 200 vendors at the market every Sunday.
Some items for sale have remained consistent throughout: binned books, DVDs, phone chargers, clothing, toiletries. Stolen items are prohibited, though this can be difficult to police.
Organizers hope that, as the market matures, so, too, will the quality of its goods.
"That vendor who started on a blanket a couple years – now, maybe he or she is on a table, or at a tent, cleaning up their goods and caring more about their displays," said Roland Clarke, co-ordinator at the DTES Street Market Society. "The market will improve. It will have more arts and crafts. We hope to bring fruits and vegetables and all kinds of things people expect at a market."
The market could open at the new location as early as mid-June. It will remain a once-weekly affair at first, though Mr. Clarke would like to see it grow to two or three days a week by summer's end.
Mary Clare Zak, managing director of social policy and projects at the City of Vancouver, said the city is hopeful some of the unsanctioned vendors who line Hastings Street will be drawn to the semi-permanence and low-barrier nature of the new location. It will also provide Downtown Eastside residents with an area in which to socialize.
"What the market will do is, hopefully, provide a place and space for low-income people, and the community, to mix together," Ms. Zak said.
But not everyone is happy with the move. Lance Burger, who owns a construction company in the area and started a petition called Stop The Junk Market, is convinced the move will result in "increased drug activity, vandalism, property crime, prostitution and chaos."
"There is no fact-based data to support the assumption that to allow an individual to sell illegal goods somehow migrates their activity to legitimate work," Mr. Burger wrote in his petition, which had garnered 211 signatures as of Monday.
Joji Kumagai, executive director at the Strathcona Business Improvement Association, said members have been caught off guard by the suddenness of the planned move. They are not necessarily opposed to the market, but have questions about the short- and long-term impacts on surrounding areas, he said.
"There's always going to be tension, but at least if there was proper dialogue and consultation and opportunity to really build on the community's concerns … then I think it could be a much stronger project."
Meanwhile, construction on a 14-storey mixed-use building by the Atira Development Society, at the former United We Can location, is expected to begin in June. It will include 52 supportive housing units, 68 social housing units and 78 secured market rental units.
Atira CEO Janice Abbott she only recently learned of the market's move. She doesn't yet know how it might impact construction; however, she expressed doubt that many of the unsanctioned vendors would relocate.
The city will be holding an open house on the project on Wednesday, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Groundswell Café and Learning Space (566 Powell St.).