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Grandview - Woodland |
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Safety & Transportation—Needs |
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Needs 1. Sex Trade: Michelle Miller is executive director of REED (Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity), a Vancouver Christian organization. She is a resident of the Grandview Woodlands who attended a community dialogue in her area where they discussed about justice and a reduction of the terrible harm experienced by prostituted women. The meeting members spoke about the Living in Community (LIC) project which legitimizes the buying and selling of women’s bodies for sexual pleasure of others. They also envisioned prostitution as simply a business transaction and how the “workers” need a safe place where they can conduct their trade. The author disagreed about how prostitution is presented as a “business” and how the women who are terrorized by it are described as workers. She also wondered how a girl who is under 18 goes from a victim of exploitation; and once she turns 18, she magically turns into an “adult sex worker”. She feels that this liberates and empowers women by being given the “choice” to prostitute herself. She believes that using the term “sex worker” dismisses the rape and abuse women experience while on the job and feels that prostitution is violence, not commerce. It should be abolished by providing safe houses, longer term housing, exiting programs for women to leave prostitution and treatment for addiction. In addition, Michelle found that “85% of prostituted women experienced a history of sexual abuse in childhood; 70 percent were victims of incest and the average age of entry into prostitution is 14. Moreover, she adds that most girls are recruited or coerced into prostitution by someone who holds power over them and exploits their vulnerability - usually a vulnerability born of previous abuse (Miller, 2007)”. This indicates how counselling, and psychiatric may help get women in prostitution. 2. General Safety: O'Connor, Elaine (2008), an author of the Vancouver Province talks about how some of the Grandview Woodlands’ residents feel about safety in their neighbourhood. A yoga teacher stated that his yoga classes are getting disturbed by drunks fighting or addicts smoking crack outside the studio. He explains that his students get trapped by homeless people blocking the door, and he has to clear needles, pipes and garbage before opening. The president of the Grandview Woodlands Area Council also complained saying he was a victim of crime more times than he can remember and that the people there are fed up. Moreover, other residents have also found needles, witnessed public urination and defecation, and spied on criminals trying to steal. Another resident stated that people “fixing” behind the bowling alley was a common sight. All these complaints show how drugs, theft, homelessness, sanitation are a problem in the Grandview Woodlands. These problems risks the safety of the residents because these make them vulnerable getting sick and getting hurt physically and psychologically. 3. Drugs: One person who lives and works in the Grandview Woodlands noted that he has witnessed his friends coming to Commercial Drive to buy drugs. He stated that both indoor and outdoor drug dealings were common there (Grandview Woodlands Drug and Alcohol Coalition, 2006). Indoor drug dealing included buying and selling drugs in homes and/or in stores. The author stated that drug houses are among the top reasons for complaints to the Grandview Woodlands Community Policing Centre (Grandview Woodlands Drug and Alcohol Coalition, 2006). Drug dealing also occurs in the streets, alleys, and the parks in the area (Grandview Woodlands Drug and Alcohol Coalition, 2006). A survey reveals that almost 90% of residents agreed that the neighbourhood has drug problems while just under 80% said the same for alcohol. The corner of Salsbury and Napier, Grandview Park, Broadway, and Commercial area were common sites for drug dealing. Property and violent crime were also common, and this was usually related to the drug scene (O'Connor, 2008). |
