September 2025 Newsletter

** September 2025 Newsletter
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** Upcoming Local Events
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SRA Residents Meeting Tuesday, September 16, 7-8:30 PM, in the upstairs community room at the Strathcona Community Centre. We’ll be discussing questions around safety and development (see below). Both in person and online. An agenda and zoom link will go out to all members the day before.

Kiwassa Days 2025 Block Party Saturday, Sept.13, 2-6 PM. E Georgia by Seymour School and Rise Up. Live music, drinks, food, fun activities, sports and kids games.

Personal Safety & De-escalation Workshop Wednesday, Sept. 17, 6:30-8 PM at SCC. An interactive workshop that gives you practical tools to stay safe, confident,

and prepared in real-life encounters. To register, call 604-713-1838.

Hogan’s Alley Resurgence Saturday, Sept. 20, 1-7 PM. People’s Park (Union & Gore). Music, dance, food, vendors, community healing

MacLean Park Music Sunday, Sept. 21, 2-5 PM. Final concert in the 2025 season. Free live music. Click for details (https://www.facebook.com/MacLeanParkMusic/events)

Do You Feel Safe?

Do you feel safe in the neighbourhood?

Some context. Earlier this year, the VPD launched Task Force Barrage in the DTES. It included a combination of more foot patrols, an integrated response team and enhanced gang investigation. We were concerned, with some evidence, that this was pushing crime and “street disorder” into Strathcona.

We’re curious to know your experience. If you can’t attend the meeting on Sept. 16 (see above), please e-mail your thoughts to sra@strathcona-residents.org (mailto:sra@strathcona-residents.org?subject=Safety&body=) . Specifics help.

From the city’s perspective, Task Force Barrage has been a success. On Sept. 8, Police Chief Steve Rai announced that this year has seen a significant decrease in the DTES in violent crime (-18%), robberies (-44%), assaults (-23%) and (maybe related, maybe not) medical calls (-28%), false alarms (-31%) and overdoses (-36%). VPD claims that surrounding neighbourhoods, including Strathcona, have also seen a decrease in violent crime and robberies (though perhaps an uptick in street disorder).

Funding for Task Force Barrage runs out in October, but the city wants to build upon its success. To that end, they’re proposing the creation of a new Police District 5 that would cover just the DTES. (The current District 2 covers from the DTES all the way to Boundary). They also want to create a citywide data collecting system they’re calling VanStat to coordinate city departments and hold them accountable to measurable progress. The first phase will include Strathcona. More to come on how it will actually work.

What Is Good Development?

A 12-storey building with 109 units of social housing was just announced for the lot on Main near Union. Telus is exploring options for their property on Raymur and Union. A developer has plans for a six-storey, 65 micro unit building for 441 E. Pender. And the three towers Westbank proposed for Hastings and Glen are still on the drawing board.

Are these projects a good fit for Strathcona? What do residents want?

I’ve been asked these questions by developers and I have my opinions. But I’m curious to hear from you. What kind of development do we want in the neighbourhood? Is it a good idea to concentrate so much social housing into one area of the city? How high is too high? How dense is too dense? What kind of community amenities do we need? Do we want to revisit the DTES Plan? RT-3 zoning?

I welcome you to be part of this conversation at our upcoming meeting. Again, if you can’t make it, e-mail us your thoughts: sra@strathcona-residents.org (mailto:sra@strathcona-residents.org?subject=&body=) .

** SRA Board
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Want to get more involved in the neighbourhood? The SRA will have a few seats open on our board at the AGM in November. We could use people interested in helping with the newsletter and website, taking minutes and organizing meetings.