chinatown organizations worry about proposed city funding cuts
3 minute read
"they're slashing the budget, but they don't know what they're cutting and we just want to trigger them to rethink a little bit," said jeffrey wong, director at the wongs' benevolent association.
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chinatown community members are worried that proposed cuts to the city of vancouver’s budget could set back progress made in recent years to bolster cultural spaces, housing for low-income seniors and legacy businesses.
“they’re slashing the budget, but they don’t know what they’re cutting and we just want to trigger them to rethink a little bit,” said jeffrey wong, director at the wongs’ benevolent association.
he said that funding and grants in the past few years have been crucial in helping groups such as his make progress in revitalizing the historical, but struggling, area.
“they have actually dramatically improved the neighbourhood,” said wong.
scenes from e. pender and carrall streets in chinatown in november 2023
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he said this funding from the city has come as generational change in some associations such as his, which dates back to the city’s early history, has allowed younger members to repair buildings and invest in programs.
for example, money from city grants allowed the wongs’ association to complete a fire safety upgrade and improve a building built in 1911 that it has owned since the 1950s.
in another case, wong said, city funding and staff helped the owner of a legacy business, modernize tailors, located in one of the association’s buildings, navigate the steps to getting her occupancy permit and creating what is now a reimagined venture that is self-sustaining and pays rent.
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“it would be quite a risk on the associations to uphold initiatives without secure funding and support,” said wong, giving the example of helping legacy businesses pay their rent.
some associations have been able to make “drastic improvements when it looked like their buildings were close to being condemned,” said wong.
scenes from chinatown in september 2023
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it’s important to understand how small amounts of city funding can help the area when small businesses are able to pay lease income to the societies, said wilco van bemmel of dunefield consulting.
he worked with the wongs’ association and also the kong chow society, whose building on pender street houses the revamped kam wai dim sum legacy business.
“the unique setting of chinatown is that the stewardship is in the community’s hands and they are all volunteers. they could do other things. they could (use their time) and go on a hike or go skiing — and i hope they do that, too — but they give their own time, their own sweat equity, so a bit of funding is important to make it count. it’s some wind in the sails,” said van bemmel.
aside from housing ground floor businesses, these wood frame buildings that are over 100 years old are also community centres of sorts where people play mah-jong and table tennis and practise kung fu, said fred mah, a longtime community advocate and president of the chinatown society heritage buildings association, which includes the owners of 12 buildings.
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“council has declared the area as a cultural district, so it’s not just the buildings, but what’s going on inside the buildings that matters,” he said.
storefront signage in chinatown in september 2023
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van bemmel agreed and added that, for example, when the chinatown community holds a remembrance day ceremony every year in its chinatown memorial square, “all that is being prepared in the society buildings,” he said.
in the past few years, city funding has allowed the association to do assessments on four out of the 12 buildings, which identified critical problems that need addressing as a soon as possible.
“we’re hoping that the city doesn’t cut this funding. these buildings are important,” said mah. “everyone is speculating as to what could be cut.”
there has been no indication if or what of this funding for chinatown might be dropped, but there’s “a general anxiety in communities like chinatown,” said van bemmel.
the community group savechinatownyvr pointed out in a post on tuesday that as the city is aiming to cut budgets across every department, except police and fire, there are proposed decreases of 12 per cent for arts, culture and community services, 14 per cent for planning, urban design and sustainability and 13 per cent for real estate, environment and facilities management and that these “will hit the departments that sustain culture, community, and neighbourhood life the hardest, including those directly responsible for chinatown.”
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