Vancouver council has approved a plan to move the Sunday Pigeon Park street market to a new home on Powell Street.

But in a surprise twist, organizers and the city have agreed to allow a second, smaller market on the south side of Hastings Street across from Pigeon Park. They hope the second smaller market will bleed off legitimate vendors from the street disorder taking place a block away between Carrall and Columbia, the former location of the United We Can bottle depot in the heart of the Downtown Eastside.

Organizers of the DTES Street Market say they have already done a “soft opening” for 30 spaces at 62 East Hastings Street, a vacant lot next to Pigeon Park Savings.

They plan to now open up to 200 spaces at 501 Powell Street, a new city-owned site kitty corner to Oppenheimer Park.

The two markets will each be open three days a week, up from one at Pigeon Park.

Roland Clarke, the DTES Street Market coordinator, says that will give vendors, who mostly tend to be people on low incomes, to make a better income while separating out those “feeding off the street disorder.”

“Eventually what will happen is that the people who are just trying to survival vend will have the opportunity to get a foothold. Then what we hope is that the 30 per cent who are left behind, who are feeding off the street disorder and illegal activity, well that’s just a law enforcement issue and no longer a social issue,” said Clarke.

“Right now without a legal vending space you have the social problem, the stick and no carrot. We are trying to create the carrot and now the police can deal with the drug dealers and the human slavery and all the things that get wrapped up in this general chaos of that block.”

The plan also comes with a temporary increase in policing, particularly around the new Powell Street Market.

Superintendent Michelle Davey told city council the Vancouver Police Department will increase street patrols over the short term until Clarke’s group is able to create a security group.

“We are very alive to the impact that this has potentially on the neighbourhood,” said Davey, noting that her officers don’t want an unorganized “market” along East Hastings to move into the area around the new Powell market.

“Our enforcement strategy will take into consideration the concerns of the community that creep into their community,” she said.

Mary Clare Zak, the city’s managing director of social policy, said the plan is to create a permanent street market at 501 Powell, including a farmers market. Over the short term, however, the market will operate on a temporary basis as the parts of the site are developed for social housing. Once construction is complete, the street market would be housed inside one of the buildings, she said.

The market at 62 East Hastings will take place on the site of a tool share organization. Clarke said space is limited and his volunteers will screen for stolen goods, illegal activity and drug sales.

Zak said the city had to close Pigeon Park as a street market because of security and concerns over the sale of stolen goods. The new sites will be enclosed by fences. The city also plans to turn Pigeon Park into a weekend exhibit space for street art.

Clarke said he hopes to have the Powell Street market open on Aug. 1, in time for the Powell Street Festival.

jefflee@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/sunciviclee

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