The Pidgin Restaurant struggle is part of a larger problem–lack of affordable housing and fear of being priced out of the neighbourhood
By the time the mainstream media began to focus its attention on the protests being held at the Pidgin Restaurant in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, the protesters had been on the sidewalks in front of the new business for several weeks. Front page stories followed. Christopher Reynolds reported in the Vancouver Sun that the protests were “the latest — and most strident — in a series of demonstrations that participants and targets both say is reaching a boiling point.” The National Post’s Brian Hutchinson opened an article called “Pidgin patrons not put off by angry protests against Vancouver’s latest ‘gentrification atrocity’” with a quote from a Pidgin host, while showing the columnist to a table: “Don’t worry,” says our host, showing us to a table at the front of his new restaurant. “The windows are bulletproof.”
The tenacity of the protesters, along with the entrepreneurship of the restaurant owners, set against the backdrop of the “troubled” Pigeon Park, created what seemed to be a prime backdrop for what is becoming a social justice theme: the lack of affordable housing in Vancouver (and, by extension, in cities across Canada).
The Province began its editorial on the situation by praising Pidgin owners (and demanding that police step in to stop protesters):
Enough already. The sense of entitlement displayed by Vancouver’s taxpayer-funded poverty industry is sickening.
The anti-gentrification protesters, who have been picketing daily outside the Downtown Eastside’s Pidgin restaurant, need to understand their actions do nothing but perpetuate misery.
If they really cared about poverty, they’d be protesting against the capitalist drug-dealers and pimps who infest the depressed area, not vandalizing the premises of a legitimate, taxpaying restaurant operator and harassing his customers.
Pidgin co-owner Brandon Grossutti is employing local workers, using local services and supporting local charities — and helping subsidize local lives.
He should be hailed as citizen of the year, not drummed out of business by those bully boys and girls who believe in the race to the bottom.
Former British Columbia N.D.P. premier, and current chair of the Building Community Society, Mike Harcourt wrote in an opinion piece for the Vancouver Sun:
The Pidgin restaurant controversy in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) is part of a much larger issue for the area and for the city as a whole.
Data from the City of Vancouver housing department and from the Carnegie Community Action Project show that market housing is developing significantly faster than affordable and non-market social housing in the DTES.
Yet the majority of the people are poor and can’t afford market housing, whether rental or owned. As well, commercial and retail activities providing affordable services are in decline, replaced by higher-end stores and restaurants.
That’s why people are standing out in front of the restaurant. They’re worried they are being priced out of their own neighbourhood. And while one restaurant is not going to tip the scale, they have good reason to be worried.
Analysis of the Pidgin situation continues. From the financial background of the restaurant’s ownership to historical accounts of the evictions of working class people from Vancouver neighbourhoods, the Pidgin flashpoint has opened up a broader examination of social and economic dynamics.
Jackie Wong is a writer and contributor to The Tyee. She wrote a post called “Increasingly, Vancouver’s Pidgin restaurant is focal point for BC social housing push“. We speak with Jackie Wong.
