Vancouver city council approves Yaletown overdose prevention site
City council voted 7-4 in favour of the proposed location at 1101 Seymour St.
Vancouver city council has voted to approve an overdose prevention site in Yaletown after a long debate which divided those who supported it and residents concerned about its location across from a popular park.
The vote was 7 to 4 with NPA councillors opposing it. Mayor Kennedy Stewart tweeted out the final vote and repeated his supportive stance.
Grateful that a majority of Council listened to the science & supported moving the Yaletown OPS indoors.<br><br>Harm reduction not only saves lives, it can help our neighbours on a path to rebuild & renew.<br><br>Housing, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/safesupply?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#safesupply</a> & support w/o stigma. That's the way forward. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vanpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vanpoli</a> <a href="https://t.co/vLhTfwPQ6N">pic.twitter.com/vLhTfwPQ6N</a>
—@kennedystewartCouncillors Sarah Kirby-Yung, Melissa De Genova and Lisa Dominato called for more community engagement with residents living in downtown south Granville and pushed unsuccessfully to have staff look at other options.
Some of the neighbourhood's residents argued the site at 1101 Seymour St. is too close to Emery Barnes Park which is across the street.
However, advocates for the site have said the indoor location will get people who are using illicit drugs off the streets into a place where they can receive supervision which will help save lives.
The latest numbers from the coroners service show British Columbia recorded 127 drug overdose deaths in September, pushing the province's death total for the first nine months of the year past 1,200.
During the pandemic, the Yaletown neighbourhood has seen an increase in people who have moved from a tent city at Oppenheimer Park to provincial government purchased hotels on Granville Street and the West End.
Green Party Coun. Pete Fry said the city could have done a better job introducing the idea to the public.
"We should have been more proactive in presenting this plan to the public and anticipating the conversation around this specific location, so we could have avoided a lot of the polarizing, stigmatizing, under-informed language that has come out of this conversation that had to happen."
More than a hundred people signed up to voice their opinions about the site.