Plan to address public safety in Vancouver's Chinatown passes, but without free parking

A file photo shows Vancouver's Chinatown in summertime. (Shutterstock)

A plan to improve safety in and draw people to Vancouver's Chinatown was passed by city council Wednesday night, but it won't come with free parking as originally proposed.

After a two-hour discussion, Coun. Melissa De Genova's motion aimed to address public safety in the neighbourhood passed with several amendments. One included changing the suggestion for free parking on Sundays to a strategy with "parking incentives," meant to reduce meter fees in non-peak hours.

De Genova criticized the changes to the motion, saying they didn't go far enough to help the neighbourhood.

"I think it's really important to think about how we progress in this city and it would be one thing if we were just looking at the culture in Chinatown and how to preserve that, but it's eroded to where people don't feel safe walking down the street," De Genova said during Wednesday's meeting.

"Unfortunately without the free parking here … this is really watered down in a time of unprecedented crisis here, we're watering this down, we're giving Chinatown less and not more."

De Genova explained before the meeting the motion was meant as "an incentive to bring people to Chinatown" and reduce crime by increasing crowds.

One speaker, Colin Stein, spoke against De Genova's original motion, saying it focused on an "environmentally damaging" mode of transportation and incentivized car use.

"It's a very poignant and in some ways troubling motion," he told council. "I think it would be important to see evidence not only of the demand for free parking from Chinatown business owners and stakeholders … but also a precedence where free parking has resulted in economic growth, let alone some impact on hate crime."

The area is reeling from impacts of the pandemic and ongoing street disorder, including arson, vandalism and other crime. Last month, the neighbourhood’s business improvement association revealed it’s spending half its budget on security to restore a sense of safety for visitors and shop owners.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Alissa Thibault