Nicholas Ellan

Downtown Eastside residents vow to picket second gentrifying restaurant daily

“It’s a knife in the heart of our community,” said Wendy Pedersen, an independent organizer, about the newly opened Cuchillo (means “knife” in Spanish) restaurant at 261 Powell St. “Places like this cause a chain reaction and low-income residents are pushed out, priced out and policed out. We’ll be here daily until this restaurant closes.” Pedersen opened a spirited news conference with about 50 local residents and supporters who want gentrification stopped until the housing that low-income people need is in place. “We aren’t a group,” said Pedersen. “We’re a network of people rising up in this neighbourhood.” About 850 people in the DTES are homeless and about 5000 more live in single rooms with no bathroom or kitchen and numerous pests, and are threatened by displacement. (…)