City Of God 27

Cities are not nice places. They are densely populated with humans, or they are repositories of the most noxious species on the planet. It can't get worse. They are stressful, unsafe, noisy and polluted. Especially downtown, where all the action is. There is traffic everywhere, buildings and people, none of them predominantly anything, so at least we re a poster child for diversity. Our local beggars are still predominantly Caucasian, then Aboriginal, and this is an unpleasant reminder. The people who get left behind are disproportionately aboriginal. Almost all the other panhandlers are white, or the ones who didn't win the White Privilege Lottery. I have never seen an Asian begging on the street, nor can I recall any blacks or Latinos sitting on the sidewalk, perhaps one or two. The racial and ethnic diversity really begins to reveal itself in the government-subsidized apartment buildings, as well as the workers and clients of the local nail spa, Subway, Blenz, three sports bars (three too many), hair salon, thrift store, Seven-Eleven, and last but not least, that obnoxious private liquor store next door to the front door of the building I live in. There is also a middle-brow hotel with all the diversity our little hearts desire. Living downtown has both its conveniences and its obstacles. It is easy to access quick public transit to get anywhere you need to in a relative hurry. Services and shops are nearby. There are people everywhere (always a mixed blessing). Of course, some cities are more liveable than others, and if you are blessed with a lot of lovely heritage architecture that has avoided the wrecker's ball (not on my block), then that is some compensation. I do not like my particular neighbourhood, and really, it is not a neighbourhood but a transit hub. It is difficult to get a stranger to acknowledge you if you say hi to them here, very unlike many other areas of Vancouver. People generally seem in a hurry to get somewhere, or on their guard, or looking for a quick opportunity. This is not a nice ambience. It is rather hostile. Young people come in the evening hours to party in the many bars nearby and as they get drunk and high they turn this neighbourhood into one gigantic urinal. And they throw garbage everywhere. One evening, while on my way to the store, I noticed a young woman, with her two white middle class young woman friends, out to party and maybe pick up guys, and she casually dropped her vodka cooler can on the sidewalk. She seemed puzzled and perplexed when I told her that I didn't like it when people litter my neighbourhood. She didn't realize that people actually live here. With some gentle shaming from her friends (thanks, girls!) she did apologize, picked up her empty can, and instead of throwing it at me, took it to the nearest receptacle. not everyone is that nice, and usually the young males are particularly obnoxious and sometimes threatening. Like the young waste of DNA who threatened me with rape when I asked him to not urinate in people's doorways of their apartment buildings, and the other idiot who swore at me when I asked him not to smoke in the doorway of my building. This is why I seldom go outside after dinner. It either feels unsafe, or there is so much public idiocy afoot that I invariably return home feeling disproportionately upset. I have lived here for sixteen years. I would like to think that things have improved here but they haven't. They're actually a bit worse. I'd like to think that we could do better. I really would like to know what it would take to change this area into a community. I would also like to be one of those ones who actually stop cursing the darkness and will light a candle. I seem to have run out of matches.