Pubdate: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell, Staff Writer DRUG MAYHEM 'WORSE,' BUT DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE MAN'S LIFE BETTER Real People, Real Lives Exhibit Challenges Stereotypes Mike Leland has good news and bad news. The good news is he has a place to live in the Downtown Eastside and he collects enough money through a disability pension and binning to survive. The bad news is that a small percentage of residents in the former commercial fisherman's neighbourhood continue to cause drug-fuelled mayhem on the streets. "It's worse down here," he says, when comparing the level of drug activity 10 years ago. "The trouble is there if you want it, but there's so much more to the Downtown Eastside than drugs and all that." Leland, 51, is one of 12 residents from the Downtown Eastside who agreed to tell his story for an exhibit that opened last Friday in the rotunda at Pacific Centre mall. Called "Real People, Real Lives," the exhibit's aim is to challenge viewers to look beyond stereotypes of Downtown Eastside residents often portrayed in the media. The project was a collaboration involving Atira Women's Resource Society, its property management company, photographer Michael Bednar and the provincial government. Leland said he agreed to the project because he was tired of the negative portrayal of his fellow residents, many of whom have families and jobs. Until last fall, Leland worked part-time unloading transport trailers. The company shut down, leaving Leland to resort to binning to supplement his $900 per month assistance from the government. Leland looks older than his 51 years, a fact he attributes to "hard living," which included alcohol and drugs. He's had three heart attacks, his first at 39. He suffers from heart disease and recently had three stents inserted into his arteries to keep him alive. He lives at the Marr Hotel near Oppenheimer Park, where he will stay for another month while the Orwell Hotel in the 400-block East Hastings is renovated. There, he will have access to support workers for his medical needs. "There's a million hands reaching out and it's up to you whether you want to grab them or not. It's making a difference for me, it really is." When asked what he thought politicians, police or social service agencies could do to improve the mayhem on the streets, Leland didn't have a solution. "I don't know really what more they can do." The exhibit comes amid claims made regularly by activists that governments and the police have a plan to "sweep the streets" for the 2010 Winter Olympics in February. Housing Minister Rich Coleman and Police Chief Jim Chu have told the Courier in previous interviews there are no such plans. Janice Abbott, executive director of Atira, said the exhibit was not done purposely to show a different view of the Downtown Eastside before the Olympics. "I can only tell you that the Olympics wasn't in my mind when we started this," said Abbott, noting the project began more than a year ago. Around that time, the provincial government continued to buy Downtown Eastside hotels and fix them up. Support services are attached to the hotels. Atira manages 17 of the hotels. "Whatever reason is behind the government buying the hotels, I don't really care," Abbott said. "People have housing and that's the bottom line. And if it took the Olympics, whatever. People have clean, decent renovated housing and that's what matters." The exhibit can be viewed at the rotunda at Georgia and Howe. It will move to the Interurban Gallery at 1 East Hastings Oct. 30 and run until Nov. 14. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr