DonLever Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Pidgin restaurant continues to draw protests CBC News Posted: Feb 20, 2013 9:59 AM PT Last Updated: Feb 20, 2013 5:25 PM P Close Pidgin restaurant protests continue2:07 Twitter Close Restaurant protest2:21Restaur A new high-end restaurant in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside continues to be the focus of nightly protests, amid a clash between those redeveloping the area and critics who say the poor are being pushed out. Pidgin restaurant opened on Carrall Street in February, directly opposite Pigeon Park, a drug-dealing landmark and makeshift home for many of the area’s troubled residents. Protesters say the restaurant -- which offers a modern menu fusing Asian and French flavours - is gentrifying the area and the premises would be better used for housing. Co-owner Brandon Grossutti says demonstrators have been gathering outside on a nightly basis. "They have shone flashlights into our restaurant, so we had to block out the windows," he said. "The big thing is the screaming and intimidating our guests."High-end Pidgin restaurant (on the right) sits directly opposite notorious Pigeon Park (on the left). (CBC) Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is undergoing a dramatic transformation as trendy new restaurants and new condo developments pop up. But Grossutti believes he has a responsibility to the neighbourhood. "There is a guy down here who is now our dishwasher and at the time was homeless and I used to take him out for groceries all the time," he said. "I said to him about two years ago, 'When this project takes off you have a job.'" 'Saturation point' Grossutti said he employs as many low-income people as he can and helps local charities, but to the protesters outside the restaurant represents a tipping point. The protestors say the area now has too many high-end businesses and still doesn’t have enough social housing. "We are past the saturation point for that," one demonstrator told CBC News. "It means the real estate values are going up … and people get displaced." Grossutti agreed there needs to be a dialogue about the lack of good social housing, but said it's important to have a mix of people in a neighbourhood.Co-owner Brandon Grossutti hoped Pidgin would open a dialogue about providing dignified housing in the area. (CBC) "It's not the Downtown Eastside and the rest of Vancouver — it is Vancouver. It's time we start talking about how we work together," he said. "There is a discussion that needs to be had but I still feel as though, rather than a building sitting empty with boarded up windows, this is creating jobs, paying taxes and stimulating the economy." Protester Dave Diewert disagrees. "We are supposed to be grateful for some of the housing in these projects but what come with the gift are the shock troops of gentrification that take over the place and render space a completely alien space for low income people," he said. Protestors say they won't leave until the restaurant goes out of business. But Grossutti says the protests are actually helping prevent that — the restaurant's phone has not stopped ringing with calls from supporters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancaster Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 So, some poverty pimps wants to retain their clientele and perpetuate the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbinger Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Not really interesting to me. Had to stop reading after I got to the guys name. Grossutti. I think his name is hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stexx Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 going to his restaurant tuesday before the phoenix game to support this guy he doesnt deserve this crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Well...what won't they protest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus099 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 waah people have more money than us so we're going to bitch and moan outside an expensive restaurant these people are as useless as the occupy movement protestors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masutheakita Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 you are not really poor, if you have time to make a sign and protest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masutheakita Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 you are not really poor, if you have time and resources to make a sign and protest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I'm all for helping people in need, but I can't stand people that act as if they're owed something. Like society owes them something for them choosing a life of drugs. To be clear, not saying all people in the downtown east side are like this, but there are lots of them that are. People that just don't wanna work, and get high all day while they collect money from other hard working taxpayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 If these protesters care about their neighbourhood so much, why don't they fight just as hard to push the drug dealers and other bigger blights out of their neighbourhood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 If these protesters care about their neighbourhood so much, why don't they fight just as hard to push the drug dealers and other bigger blights out of their neighbourhood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus099 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Because then where would they get their drugs? Seriously though, it is hard to get on their side when there seems to be so many slimeballs among them. If they could actually organize something meaningful, instead of childish whining and disrupting businesses, then maybe people would sympathize with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dellins Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I'll make sure to drop by for lunch some day... give the protesters a good ol' Happy Lappy smile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonberries Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Main and Hastings was a real neighborhood when I was a kid, with real shops, department stores, restaurants ,nightclubs and movie theaters. As a kid I used to enjoy going to movies at the beautiful old City Nights Theater across from the Balmoral Hotel on Hastings that opened as a vaudeville theater in 1908 and, with the negligence of city council, was sadly demolished last winter. I would love to see the resurrection of what is an historic Vancouver neighborhood. People today would be amazed if they could have seen the area as recently as the sixties and early seventies before it went to shambles. It deserves a better fate, it was once the downtown core of this city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonLever Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Main and Hastings was a real neighborhood when I was a kid, with real shops, department stores, restaurants ,nightclubs and movie theaters. As a kid I used to enjoy going to movies at the beautiful old City Nights Theater across from the Balmoral Hotel on Hastings that opened as a vaudeville theater in 1908 and, with the negligence of city council, was sadly demolished last winter. I would love to see the resurrection of what is an historic Vancouver neighborhood. People today would be amazed if they could have seen the area as recently as the sixties and early seventies before it went to shambles. It deserves a better fate, it was once the downtown core of this city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonberries Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Bah. The junkies are just gonna have to get over their elitism and get used to rubbing shoulders with rest of us folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Offensive Threat Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 , with the negligence of city council, was sadly demolished last winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Ambien Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 These protesters do not look that poor to me, more like contemporary crybabies expecting a handout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electro Rock Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 If they ever fix up that neighborhood and clear out most of the parasites, it'll benefit the whole core of the city. The fact that this hasn't happened years ago already, says a lot, and none of it good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 I saw a story about this on CBC news yesterday. There was one guy who hit the nail on the head. He said "This has to be the only city in the world where people actually protest an improvement!" Personally, I think the cops should break this up. These people have no right to picket a restaurant just because they don't like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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