At 8:30 on the morning of September 30th, 2006, the Woodwards building on Hastings and Abbott came crashing down, all to make way for condominiums. It was hard to watch the implosion. For many of us, it has brought up memories of the past. The building symbolizes our heritage and identity. The project is a revitalization and a gentrification—a development in the interests of the ruling class. So many people blame the under-class of drug-slaves who populate the area for their own decrepitude, and many others blame the rich who benefit from the billion-dollar industry built on the backs of these Downtown Eastside residents. I blame myself for the victimization of substance abusers that makes it possible to knock down all the old buildings and put up new ones.

Albert Thompson told me about when he was up on top of the tower to receive the “W” sign. “It came up in two pieces and I was there to weld them together. Back then there wasn’t much higher. You can imagine the view I had.”

Lydia Jeal told me about how, as a little girl, she and her sister used to play hopscotch on the sidewalk out front. “People used to walk past and throw down money for us. Our parents scolded us for taking money from strangers, but ‘What were we supposed to do,’ we’d tell them, ‘throw it back at them?’” Jeal had passed away before Eaton’s moved to the Pacific Center, the Bay went bankrupt, and the neighbourhood began its downward spiral. Thompson died around the time that anti-poverty activists seized the building and halted development.

On September 21st, 2002, Vancouver Police broke down barricades and arrested 58 people at the end of that episode. Protesters were beaten, choked, and pepper sprayed. Then on a Sunday night police blocked off traffic and attacked the people living around the perimeter of the building. People were clubbed. Police smashed one woman’s face into the ground. Then there was a march and the protesters drove off the police and held the building until December, when the activists were finally relocated to temporary accommodation.

Then in the following March, the City bought the building from the Province for $5 million. There was an unprecedented level of community involvement in the planning process. They arrived at a design with towers of condos, a tower of low-income housing, an employment center, and an outdoor garden-galleria. Bricks from the torn-down building could be purchased for $15 each, (and they say you can’t find affordable real estate in the city!), the profits going to an organization that trains aboriginal youth in the trades. SFU announced they’d move their School for the Performing Arts into the building. Even Stan Douglas was commissioned to create a mural to commemorate the legacy of the community.

On April 22nd, the 536 units went on sale and in one day were all sold to the tune of $200 million. The initial buyers, apart from a group of friends of the developer, were identified by wristbands—buyers on the internet offered $1,000 for a wristband, but sellers were asking $5,000. “The smart money gets in early,” said Bob Rennie, the undisputed king of Vancouver condo sales. “Vancouver can only move in one direction—east. This is your neighbourhood. Be brave or move to the suburbs. That’s why I say Woodwards is an intellectual property.”

What the heck does that mean, “An intellectual property”? Does he mean the stupid money will be left holding the bag? I have learned never to look for real meaning in the pitchman’s hustle, and yet I cannot help but be sold on this building. The designs are so beautiful; the trees planted on the upper stories are particularly moving.

I love this new building and that is why I’m ashamed, that is why I feel I have the blood of the drug-slaves and the prostitutes on my hands. We know what it means when derelict buildings come down. We saw the same thing when Montreal Mayor Drapeau knocked down all the poor places to beautify for the 1976 Olympics. We know that so many of our fires are property owners liquidating their assets. We know that the slum-lord, billion dollar-drug industry has been permitted in part because it lowers the prices for developments like Woodwards. Who’s to blame for the slavery? It’s us. Shame on us.

I hope Stan Douglas is absolved. He is a very talented local artist, but we will have to see if he includes in his mural any references to the gentrification and the oppression that made it possible.