This is a common
colloquial term for the intersection of
Main and Hastings in the
downtown East Side of Vancouver. I've also heard it called
Bum and Druggie a few times. It is the
epicenter of
homelessness and drug use in
Vancouver. I ride past it twice a day on the
bus and everyday I see either someone getting arrested or a
drug deal going on. It is a dirty place where people are left to
rot that are in a lot of pain. It is a waste and it is being allowed to continue and people seem dead to it, so
desensitized. The people there take comfort in being so near the police station, ironically located on the same intersection as the worst part of the city. They say that they feel safer knowing that help is so close.
It is not all badness though; in the midst of the shady deals, the skeletal people walking with their eyes fixed on the pavement, there is a community. People gather on the three corners (not on the corner of the police station) to hang out. Sometimes I ride past on the bus and see dozens of people sitting on the steps of the old gallery, talking, laughing.
This is the heart of the area that the Vancouver Police made their documentary Through a Blue Lens in. The alleys near the area are places for people to shoot up in, OD in, and sometimes die in. Needless to say, it can't be allowed to continue forever. The 2010 Olympics will cause a great movement to clean up the city and actually help the people that need it in areas like Main and Hastings.