1 of 3 2 of 3

Since November 2015, the City of Vancouver has been spending money to keep the north side of the unit block of East Hastings Street clear of vendors.

Before then, the strip of the Downtown Eastside that runs between Carrall and Columbia was so crowded with people selling goods that it was often a very slow walk down the street.

Then, on November 16, the Vancouver Police Department began deploying extra officers to patrol the area and forced the vendors there to move away.

The move was confirmed in a letter signed by the City of Vancouver's managing director of social policy and projects.

“The objective of the Street Vending Task Force is to assist and facilitate the movement of street vendors from the Unit Block E. Hastings Street and surrounding area, to designated vending locations,” wrote Mary Clare Zak. “You will begin to see a larger City presence in the DTES, including VPD officers, as we continue our efforts in the area to ensure it is a safe place for everyone”.

The plan was met with some skepticism, given the north side of the unit block had been crowded with vendors for so long that, over the years, there had already been several failed attempts to do what Mayor Gregor Robertson's administration announced it would finally accomplish once and for all.

Since November 2015, the city has worked with the Vancouver Police Department to keep the north side of the unit block of East Hastings free of street vendors. Travis Lupick

But four months later, the block is still empty. The north side, that is.

Since then, the south side of the same block of East Hastings has grown increasingly crowded with the same vending activities the city said it wanted to cease from happening there.

That's despite the city spending an unknown but not insignificant amount of money on its plan.

The extra police patrols mentioned above have cost something.

And when the city announced the initiative, it promised nobody would be displaced, and to that end, opened two sanctioned sites for street vending. The city is now accepting bids for a nonprofit to run those sites. The contract up for grabs is worth up to $174,000 annually.