Does Vancouver have a bad reputation? Safety concerns voiced to mayor

Is crime hurting Vancouver's reputation? The city is getting a bad rap internationally, according to tourism officials who spoke at a special city council meeting Thursday night.

A special safety meeting held at Vancouver City Hall Thursday night gave members of the public and several organizations a chance to speak directly to the mayor about their concerns.

A variety of topics were covered at the meeting, which stretched into the evening, but a common theme was that speakers feel Vancouver is starting to lose its international reputation as a safe city.

The concerns raised included issues with violence, vandalism and hate crime.

“That global reputation and even our domestic reputation is under increasing threat,” said Royce Chwin, president of Destination Vancouver. “For example, on a recent sales mission to bring business to Vancouver, I and my team are increasingly getting these questions - is it safe there?”

When answering follow-up questions by councillors, Chwin said if the situation didn’t improve, Vancouver will “lose business because of it.”

Council also heard from Bridgitte Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

“For months our members have been expressing concerns with public safety,” Anderson told the meeting.

In an interview with CTV News Friday, Anderson said her organization has been vocal with the City of Vancouver “through many different venues” about the issues of crime and public safety.

“We did want to participate in the event last night because its a really important issue that impacts not only individuals and communities, but many businesses as well,” she said.

Anderson also echoed Chwin’s concerns that Vancouver could lose business going forward.

“Perception matters. We are on a global stage to compete for those kinds of conferences and tourist dollars,” she said. “When tourists are trying to decide if that want to come to Vancouver, if what they're hearing is that it’s not a safe city it will impact their choice and they’ll decide to go elsewhere.”

Business operators in Chinatown spoke about the levels of vandalism and violence targeting their community specifically.

"We've had to deal with numerous fires around our building from squatters in the alley setting mattresses and garbage cans on fire," said Tracy To of Forum Home Appliances.

"I've had female staff members physically attacked while walking to the bus stops and while waiting for the bus. The non-stop graffiti and defecation and needles in doorways is disgusting."

The city's top cop also spoke, saying the Vancouver Police Department has seen an increase of nearly 30 per cent in assaults with a weapon and assaults causing bodily harm. Chief Adam Palmer also shared another alarming statistic: more than 88,000 calls to the VPD went unanswered by the province's 911 dispatcher last year.

"241 times a day citizens in this city are calling the police and nobody is answering. If you want to see the crime rate go to zero, then just don't answer the phone at all," he said.

"These calls have to be answered."

The public safety meeting followed a council meeting during which the idea of installing more CCTV cameras in public spaces as a way to identify suspects was shut down.

Palmer addressed the decision Thursday, saying cameras are great when it comes to solving crimes after they've happened, and for presenting cases to the Crown, but that he understood privacy concerns and that more discussions are needed.

CTV News reached out to Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s office for comment on the city’s image concerns. The mayor wasn’t available for an interview but in a statement said in part, “The City invests over one million dollars a day into public safety which helps support our world class tourism industry.”

There was only time for a handful of the dozens of speakers to be heard, so the public safety meeting has been adjourned until May 10.

With a report from CTV News Vancouver's Ben Nesbit