After a large section of the walls at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden was vandalized with graffiti over the weekend, the cultural site's executive director says it's a sign of a large and ongoing issued of vandalism in the area.
The walls weren't the only thing hit at the gardens Saturday (Jan. 15); the dog statues at the front had stars spray-painted on them.
While the city and parks board were able to get the paint cleaned up quickly, the garden's executive director, Lorraine Lowe, says this type of vandalism is rampant in Vancouver and hurts businesses and organizations trying to draw tourists to the attraction's historic neighbourhood.
"We're a national and international destination; we want to attract people to come down to Chinatown," Lowe tells Vancouver Is Awesome. "We want people to feel safe."
A police report was filed on the latest graffiti, and Lowe notes the Vancouver Police Department "have been fantastic." While the spray paint is obviously letters, there's no coherent message she can make out and it doesn't appear to be hate speech.
"The tags are just hateful in general," she comments.
She says it's disheartening to have to deal with the large-scale vandalism at a time when the site is already facing low numbers of visitors as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep tourism numbers low.
She's thankful the city was able to clean it up quickly this time, but notes graffiti and tagging are an ongoing battle. The local business association has a graffiti removal service on contract, she notes, but often they can't leave a message when they call; the company's voicemail inbox is full will calls from other clients needing their services, too.
"Our custodian, he's had enough with it," Lowe says. "He's constantly trying to get the graffiti and tags off. The store-bought stuff doesn't cut it."
They've ordered higher grade cleaners, but it's difficult to source and often sold out.
The organization has reached out to the Vancouver Chinatown BIA, city and Vancouver Mural Festival to look into murals in Chinatown, to try and stem the amount of tagging, but funding is an issue.
While the vandalism may dissuade people from visiting the neighbourhood, Lowe says she hopes people will visit all the same.
"I want to encourage people to come down to Chinatown to support the community," she urges. "There are lots of new shops and businesses. We're a resilient community, please come down and support us."
