Dear Editor,
I recently visited the shopping area on Dunbar Street in Vancouver, between 25th and 30th avenues, where I had lived for a number of years when the street was almost totally occupied by independent/mom-and-pop stores and restaurants.
It saddened me to see that, block by block, the buildings that housed these merchants were being replaced by a valley of sterile, generic three-storey apartment-storefront buildings.
It is not hard to imagine the district eventually losing everything that has made it unique, inviting, and neighbourly during the past 50 years.
What made the situation even more depressing was that so many of the storefronts in these new buildings remain empty, with papered-over windows and for-lease signs replacing wonderful mom-and-pop stores.
What is happening in Dunbar should be a cautionary tale for what could very well be in the works for Steveston.
In particular, we should keep an eye on the futures of The Cannery Cafe building and the village’s two hardware stores resting in the hands of a developer-friendly city council.
Heritage?
Can’t let a silly issue like that get in the way of profit-taking by off-shore investors.
Ray Arnold
Richmond
