Society believes 'justice delayed, justice denied' for black community at Hogan's Alley
Credit to Author: Nick Eagland| Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2019 18:25:22 +0000
The group leading the revitalization work on Vancouver’s historic Hogan’s Alley claims the city has shattered its trust by delaying efforts to address injustices against the displaced black community.
The city insists its commitment to redress hasn’t waned.
During the 1960s, the Hogan’s Alley community — a hub for black citizens in the Strathcona neighbourhood — was razed to make way for on-ramps to the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. Black residents were scattered and left isolated across the city.
When city council voted to tear down the viaducts in 2015, black citizens organized a group to work with the city to involve the community in planning for the Northeast False Creek land. Some of them then formed the non-profit Hogan’s Alley Society to weigh in on the city’s award-winning Northeast False Creek plan, which contains specific policies to make redressing historical wrongs a guiding principal in the land’s development.
The highly-valued land, just steps from the edge of Chinatown, is believed to be sought by various interest groups.
In April 2018, Hogan’s Alley Society sent a draft memorandum of understanding to the city, proposing they form an agreement for the society to lease the Hogan’s Alley block by July 31, 2019, and create a community land trust stewarded by black citizens.
The society said signing that agreement was crucial because that would enable it to make formal applications to B.C. Housing and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for funding.
But Hogan’s Alley Society director June Francis said that since April 2018, the society has been met with “absolute silence” from the city regarding the proposal.
“There has been no commitment,” said Francis, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business. “We have been the ones constantly asking to meet, constantly trying to get some idea of what’s going on. We have got no response.”
The city, however, said it is fully committed to redress. Staff plan to meet with the society in early February to resume discussions.
“This is a really important piece of city building and community healing, from my point of view,” said Gil Kelley, the general manager of planning, urban design and sustainability for the city.
“I’m emotionally attached to the success of this Hogan’s Alley work bringing back, essentially, the home base, if you will, for the African-Canadian, the black-Canadian community in B.C.”
It could take years before shovels actually break ground but the city remains committed to its partnership with the society, Kelley said.
He said council directed that the Northeast False Creek plan be self-funded, using only resources from the private development of the land. Only one sub-lot has made it to the rezoning process and funding for development of the Hogan’s Alley Block hinges upon the completion of projects there, he said.
Add to that the removal of the viaducts and the rebuilding of the street network, and it could be five years before the block is ready for development, Kelley said.
Life around the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2018. The city is voting on a redevelopment plan for the area that will see the viaducts come down. Chinatown advocates are not pleased. (Arlen Redekop/PNG photo)
But Francis said securing funding for the project is irrelevant to “negotiating a runway,” in the interim, toward a five-year plan through a memorandum of understanding.
She said that without a commitment from the city to provide staff, funding and other resources for work on the society’s proposal — and working on it in a “timely” manner — the city’s talk of redress rings hollow.
Francis said she looks forward to resuming discussions with the city in February but after so many months of disappointment, she does not trust it to fulfil a commitment to redress.
“If all they do is talk about it, it’s tokenism, and the time for token gestures has definitely passed,” Francis said. “Justice delayed is justice denied. And right now that is what it feels like.”
Kelley said city staff members are now reviewing the memorandum. He said it is crucial the Hogan’s Alley community has “a stake in the game” once again.
“They were displaced by a large public infrastructure project and this is an opportunity to come back and actually have an ownership stake, again, potentially through an umbrella land-trust or some other organization,” Kelley said. “The redress piece is really important.”
Province file photo date stamped March 31, 1937. Hogan’s Alley, Vancouver.
Asked about the society’s loss of trust in the city over the memorandum and communication shutdown, the city sent an emailed statement.
It reiterated that the city is committed to partnering with the society “to prioritize the needs of black people who face persistent social and economic exclusion and work with them to acknowledge and address historical wrongs, identify and remove barriers to full participation and celebrate their vibrant culture.”
Randy Clark, 66, a former member of the Hogan’s Alley Society, said he believes the city is committed to redress but it would mean more to the descendants of the displaced families if there was a timeline attached to it.
Clark lived in the community from 1965-1969. By the time his family moved there, most black families were already gone. There, his grandparents ran the famous Vie’s Chicken and Steak House that closed in 1979.
He recalled the strong connection between the hundreds of congregants of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and community at large.
“It was a working-class community and the parents all knew one another, the kids all knew one another,” Clark said.
“If a kid got into trouble, it was really quite common for somebody to say, ‘Don’t do that, I will let your mom or your dad know.’ We don’t see much of that today.”
Clark lamented that the city council of the day would often use the term “blight” to describe Hogan’s Alley and the people who lived there.
The city stopped doing regular garbage pickup, used liquid creosote on the street to keep the dust down and left buildings to decay, he said.
“This was all a plan to make it almost unbearable for people to live there,” Clark said.
“I know the descendants of these families, myself being one of them. I think they deserved better then and I think they deserve better now.”
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