‘An eyesore and an embarrassment’: What will it take to stop graffiti vandalism in Chinatown?
Global News
Vancouver police received 176 mischief reports for graffiti in Chinatown in 2020 and 2021. Charges were laid in four cases with two of the accused convicted.
On almost every corner in Vancouver’s Chinatown, graffiti vandalism appears to get a green light.
“We cannot stop that,” said Art Lam, as he pointed to the newly-defaced wall of his Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent Association headquarters.
Originally constructed in 1903 for the Chinese Empire Reform Party, including the Chinese Empire Ladies Reform Association, the building is the oldest of Chinatown’s 13 non-profit society heritage buildings.
The south exterior wall repeatedly targetted by taggers faces Suzhou Alley between Shanghai Alley and Carrall St., and the non-profit said it cannot afford to keep covering up the graffiti.
“We got to paint it over and over again,” said an exasperated Lam. “I think our association is going to go broke.”
A few blocks east, eevee’s installed video surveillance after its front window on East Pender St. was smashed. It didn’t take long for the cameras to catch a vandal scrawling tags on the temporary plywood covering the broken glass.
“C’est la vie. Oh well, the cost of doing business,” eevee’s co-founder Lukas Tanasiuk told Global News.
“It’s just like shoveling water right — there’s no stop to it,” added Chinatown Safety Program co-ordinator Aman Jawanda.