VANCOUVER - Downtown Eastside community groups took their fight to city hall today. About 100 community members interrupted a regular City Council meeting to demand a stop to the Sequel 138 condos.

A development permit for the condos in the 100 block of East Hastings is slated to go to before the City permit board next week. The community wants 100% social housing on the site. They want council to debate the future of the site with input from groups like the DTES Not for Developers Coalition. 

When they arrived in council chambers, the councillors and Vision mayor scattered, quickly calling a  five-minute recess that stretched into half an hour. Vision councillor Andrea Reimer was sent out to deal with the 'disruption' of citizens demanding social housing.

Some councillors eventually returned and sat through 30 minutes of comments and questions from the crowd. Green Councillor Adriane Carr vowed to try to get a motion before council to address the  social housing concerns for 138 rather than letting it go directly to the permit process.

The afternoon protest started outside the 138 site where the historic Pantages Theatre stood until Sequel 138 developer Marc Williams tore it down last year.

For more background see: dtesnotfordevelopers