Cop Crackdown on Pigeon Park

Police defend efforts to control 'activity in that whole neighbourhood'

Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier, Friday, January 30, 2009

Pigeon Park is not what it used to be.

The small triangular open space at Carrall and East Hastings is no longer teeming with people, and the shrubs that brought a green feel to the park have been cut back or removed.

Valued by many residents as the main outdoor meeting spot in the neighbourhood, the park is all but vacant of its past life.

It's as if there is an imaginary fence around it.

On a sunny Wednesday morning, during the Courier's visit, the park's benches were empty save for one occupied by three men. Barbara Pascal was pushing her walker through the park when she stopped to survey the scene.

"I've lived across the street for seven years and I walk through here every morning and say hi to my buddies, but they're not here now," Pascal said.

She believes her friends moved on to Oppenheimer Park and other spots in the Downtown Eastside. Pascal blames the police for the change to the park.

She claims police are hassling and arresting innocent people and seizing their belongings. Pascal used to sell old radios and clocks that she collected from her husband, a dumpster diver.

Pascal stopped selling her wares, she said, because she was afraid police would write her a ticket. She admits though, she couldn't afford to pay a fine.

"It's a cops' park now, not a residents' park," she said, before continuing along Carrall Street.

Her fear of being ticketed is warranted.

In 2008, police issued 439 bylaw tickets in the Downtown Eastside for infractions related to illegal vending, panhandling and loitering offences--a substantial increase from 247 tickets in 2007.

Sgt. Doug Bain of the Vancouver Police Department said the police's efforts have had a positive effect in the neighbourhood. Bain emphasized police aren't targeting innocent people as Pascal suggested.

Pigeon Park, he said, was primarily a drug dealing centre, and other visitors to the park were selling stolen goods. Much of the seized property has been stored in a large bin across the street from the park.

"You have to wonder what the park was being used for if people are afraid to go there for fear of being arrested," Bain said. "I mean the police don't go into a park and arrest people for sitting on a park bench."

Added Bain: "Now the people who are only using the park, for the purpose of a park, are the people that you saw [on Wednesday]."

The alley across the street from the park was crowded with people during the Courier's visit. People were smoking from pipes and cowering in alcoves.

Bain didn't know if those people used to hang out in the park. But, he said, the police action in the park has forced people into other areas of the city.

"This is all part of the plan to try and control this kind of [illegal] activity in that whole neighbourhood, and you've got to start some place," he said. "But a lot of time it's like herding cattle, it's like pushing water in a bucket."

In reviewing emails on his computer, Bain said police have received numerous messages and letters from residents who are happy with the police's work in the neighbourhood.

"Now they feel safe that they can come out and enjoy their park, their street and not feel intimidated by the thugs and the activity that goes on there," he said.

The parks board has a plan for a $120,000 upgrade to Pigeon Park, including a new concrete surface, benches, drinking fountain, lamp post, tables, trees, historical references and public art.

The park is part of the city's Carrall Street Greenway plan, which will link north False Creek with Burrard Inlet. The city hopes residents will see a more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly corridor, complete with trees and benches.

© Vancouver Courier 2009