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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
December 3, 2004 | |
Author: |
Bob Ross | |
Phone No.: |
604-657-1368 | |
RTS No.: |
04504 | |
CC File No.: |
2251 | |
Meeting Date: |
December 16, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
General Manager of Engineering Services |
SUBJECT: |
Grant to `Save Our Living Environment' |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve a grant of $60,000 to Save Our Living Environment (SOLE) for supplementary cleaning of sidewalks, lanes and public spaces in the Downtown Eastside in 2005, as outlined in this report, with funding provided from the Solid Waste Capital Reserve.
B. THAT Council approve an additional grant of $15,000 to Save Our Living Environment for garbage container service, with funding provided from the Solid Waste Capital Reserve.
COUNCIL POLICY
City Council has previously approved four grants of $50,000 each, and in the last two years, $60,000, to SOLE for micro street and lane cleaning in the Downtown Eastside. The source of funds was the Solid Waste Capital Reserve.
Approval of grants requires eight affirmative votes.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to seek Council's approval for SOLE to continue for twelve months its very successful program of supplementary cleaning of public spaces in the Downtown Eastside (DTES). Two grants totalling $75,000 are requested from the City ($60,000 for cleaning services, to be matched by others) and $15,000 for garbage container service.
BACKGROUND
Save Our Living Environment (SOLE) is a non-profit urban environmental group active in downtown Vancouver. The Society sponsors several projects at 39 East Hastings St, including the United We Can Bottle Depot and Crossroads and Lanes. A primary objective of the Society is to create self-sustaining enterprises that focus on caring for the urban environment, while also creating income and job training opportunities for people of the inner city. The program employs residents from the DTES with barriers to traditional employment, giving them valuable job-training and enhanced self-esteem.
SOLE now employs between 30 and 40 people (depending on the season) who no longer require income assistance. Eight full-time employees work primarily in the lane and sidewalk cleaning project funded by the City's grant. SOLE's pool of active casual labour participants has increased to 244 people, most of whom have participated in the cleaning program.
Last year, SOLE contracted with the provincial Ministry of Human Resources to operate a community assistance project (CAP) which allowed the society to offer support to more than 200 people in the inner city who are seeking opportunities to make a positive contribution to their community by engaging in this work and in the other projects operated by SOLE. Ministry regulations and CAP program guidelines have allowed people with disabilities who receive income assistance to earn up to $400 per month without deductions, people with persistent multiple barriers to earn up to $300, and people who are considered employable according to Ministry employability screening to receive up to $100 as a training allowance while participating in the project.
In 2004, SOLE was able to extend its street and lane clean-up activities by $90,000 above the City's grant. This allowed the Society to maintain an increased staff presence on Hastings Street. SOLE's lane cleaning crews also worked with the City's Solid Waste Branch to monitor the impact of the new secure garbage containers on lane cleanliness. They also participated in the needle collection program and attended regular meetings of the Needle Sweeps Committee coordinated through Vancouver Coastal Health.
Other ventures that SOLE continued to develop in 2004 included:
- A commercial beverage container collection service, which now serves 109 customers in Vancouver.
- A bicycle repair shop, Bikeworks, which continues to grow towards self-sufficiency.
- The Neighbours First Project along the Hastings corridor. This project trained local residents to provide a `block watch' style street presence and assistance, while continuing to remove graffiti and litter on Hastings Street, Gastown and Chinatown.
- Graffiti removal, pole painting and pressure washing along Carrall Street, with funding support through the Vancouver Agreement and through private contracts in other locations throughout the community.
- A Binners' Association, which flowed from discussions with City staff regarding the requirement that more secure garbage containers be installed in some DTES lanes where abandoned garbage and litter are a problem. Following a meeting which SOLE organized for city staff to discuss the new secure garbage containers with representatives from the binning community, photo identification cards are being issued to members of the new Binners' Association.
- Working on a plan for a community recovery residence as part of SOLE's vision for a more holistic approach to revitalization in the Downtown Eastside. Funding support has been secured from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia to further this process.
Over the coming year, SOLE hopes to seek support (from others) for a training and image development program which will help integrate its workers and services into a model that can reflect the City's vision for the "Inclusive 2010 Winter Olympic Games".
STREET AND LANE CLEAN-UP
The amount of garbage and litter that is deposited on streets and lanes in the DTES is far greater than elsewhere in the city. There are many reasons for this, including:
- A large number of premises have no formal garbage disposal arrangements.
- The drug and sex trades create litter from discarded drug paraphernalia, etc.
- Street people pull garbage from dumpsters and litter containers, while searching for food and commodities to sell.
- Dumpsters are left unlocked and become overfilled, which results in spillage when the dumpsters are emptied.
- There is, generally, a lack of stewardship of the public spaces by adjacent property owners and the community.
While there are some businesses in the DTES who are very conscientious about keeping the public areas around their premises clean, the Engineering Department's Sanitation Branch and the Park Board provide a much higher frequency of cleaning services on DTES streets, lanes and parks than elsewhere in the city. In addition, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority also pays a number of agencies to perform needle-sweeps in the DTES.
However these cleaning activities are still insufficient to keep the DTES streetscape acceptably tidy on a consistent basis. The grant which the City has given to SOLE in the past six years has been used to supplement these cleaning activities in the public realm. SOLE's program has been very effective in cleaning up the smaller or more frequent items of litter, such as cigarette butts, bottle caps, drug paraphernalia and condoms, as well as litter which accumulates in abandoned entranceways and private alcoves.
Furthermore, the Gastown, Chinatown and Strathcona BIA's hire SOLE to do regular cleanups of public property in their areas. Movie Production companies also contract SOLE's cleaning services. It is hoped that the higher level of street and lane cleanliness that results from these activities helps encourage merchants and property owners to pitch in and help keep the public spaces around their premises tidier.
PROPOSED GRANT FOR 2005
In each of the past six years, Council has approved grants to SOLE ($50,000 per year 1999-2002 and $60,000 during the past two years) for micro-cleaning sidewalks and lanes in the DTES. In the past five years, SOLE has been able to raise matching funds to double the amount of the City's grant and in some years has even been able to exceed this level. The program now covers approximately 65 blocks and several parks. The work is regularly monitored by City staff, and is very effective in supplementing the Sanitation Department's daily street cleaning in the challenging DTES area.
For 2005, SOLE is requesting two civic grants totalling $75,000, to be used for cleaning public spaces in the DTES, as follows:
$60,000 Grant Request:
- Micro cleaning of sidewalks.
- Supplementary lane clean-ups.
- Litter pick-up on public spaces on private property adjacent to lanes and sidewalks (building setbacks, entranceways, alcoves, loading bays, vacant lots, etc).
- Collection and separation of discarded needles as part of a monitored needle collection system implemented through the City and Coastal Health Authority.
$15,000 Grant Request:
Provision of up to two garbage containers for the exclusive use of SOLE's lane and street cleaning crews. The requirement that secure garbage containers be installed in some lanes is reducing opportunities for crews to dispose of the litter and garbage. Crews must either waste significant time looking for empty containers, or else they will have to pay for this service out of the $60,000 grant, both of which would result in a reduction in funds available for lane cleaning.
In 2005, SOLE will again solicit matching funds to support this work. During the nine years that SOLE has been engaged in sidewalk and lane cleaning in the inner city, it has been able to raise approximately $360,000 from sources other than the City of Vancouver to assist with the cost of doing this work. 92 % of the dollars spent on the project go directly to pay the workers who do the actual cleaning work. 8% of the funding is used to cover administration, overhead and supplies. (However $15,000 of the $75,000 grant requested for 2005 will be used for garbage container service).
SOLE's cleanup program provides a very effective contribution to the cleanliness of the Downtown Eastside. It complements the City Sanitation Branch's street-cleaning program by providing a level of `micro-cleaning' under and around parked vehicles, garbage containers, in alcoves etc which the City's mechanized equipment cannot do as efficiently. There is no question that without SOLE's efforts, the Downtown Eastside would be far messier and less attractive.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Two grants totalling $75,000 ($60,000 and $15,000) to Save Our living Environment (SOLE) are requested for continuation of the supplementary cleaning program in the Downtown Eastside in 2005. Funding will be provided from the Solid Waste Capital Reserve
CONCLUSION
Recognizing the considerable benefits of this public spaces cleanup program to the City and to the DTES, in terms of cleanliness and employment training and opportunities for inner city residents, it is recommended that two grants totalling $75,000 be given to SOLE for 2005. The DTES Policy and Core Staff Committees, as well as the City Manager, support this recommendation.
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