A plan to revitalize Vancouver’s beleaguered historic Chinatown is scheduled to go before city council next week.
Details of the plan, ordered by Vancouver’s new council late last year, are laid out in a city report released this week.
The Uplifting Chinatown Action Plan calls for action beginning in the second quarter of 2023 with just under $2.2 million in funding from the 2023 operating budget.
That funding would result in a 0.2 percent property tax increase or a corresponding reduction in services elsewhere, according to the report.
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It proposes action on three fronts – cleaning and sanitation, graffiti reduction and placemaking and community support – run as a set of pilot programmes.
“The short-term actions identified in the action plan are an initial set of immediately implementable actions,” the report states, although they will be introduced with a view to broader, longer-term strategies and collaboration with senior levels of government.
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The plan will be overseen by the city manager’s office, which will coordinate with Vancouver police, the Chinatown Business Improvement Association and other stakeholders.
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Council had originally asked staff to look at potential bylaws, but the report advised against that, saying any changes would apply citywide and could have unintended consequences.
Instead, he is calling for more support to reduce and remove graffiti on private property.
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“Rather than proposing any changes to the bylaws at this time, staff are instead recommending the implementation of a range of graffiti removal strategies and initiatives that are included in the action plan, while continuing for the time being with a discretionary non-enforcement of existing by-laws Downtown and in Chinatown,” the report states.
The report adds that any changes to neighborhood parking measures require further study.
It said the city has also identified three potential sites for a satellite city office in Chinatown and is projecting an initial cost of $110,000 for the facility.
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The plan would set aside $1.34 million for improved cleaning and sanitation.
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Of that, $80,000 will go specifically to expand a Chinatown poop collection pilot project and $670,000 for improved daily cleanup and poop collection for the broader Downtown Eastside, the city and Chinatown.
Another $120,000 will be earmarked to increase the neighborhood’s “micro-cleaning program” from nine to 13 times a week, $65,000 for 15 new trash cans and $125,000 for a neighborhood cleanup program.
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And $280,000 will go towards better access to toilet posting in the wider Downtown Eastside, City and Chinatown.
As for the graffiti problem, the plan proposes $150,000 to remove and reduce graffiti in Chinatown and another $10,000 for a graffiti removal program run by the China Community Police Center.
An additional half-million dollars will be earmarked for grants to each of the city’s 22 business improvement associations, including $50,000 for the Chinatown BIA.
Finally, $50,000 will be dedicated to the development of a safe travel program within the Chinatown BIA under the heading of “community support.”
Councilors are scheduled to receive the report for discussion on Tuesday.
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