A legacy business owner in Vancouver’s Chinatown is so fed up with vandals targeting the historic neighbourhood that he has launched a petition calling for accountability.
Global News first met Peter Lau on Mar. 23, days after the city-funded mural on the wall of his shop was defaced by taggers.
“Very dirty,” Lau told Global News as he commented on the latest attack on Chinatown.
“I am very, very upset.”
Lau feared the destruction, all in black paint, could bring more bad luck to a neighbourhood already under siege.
For 46 years, Lau has operated the Liang You Book Co. Ltd. out of a two-storey building on East Georgia Street.
The taggers who destroyed the mural also left graffiti on his store sign.
Lau decided to start his own protest against the rampant vandalism, launching the petition which calls for the city to “Revive Chinatown & Stop Vandalism by Graffiti.”
It states that the graffiti on the walls of shops destroys the appearance of Chinatown and looks like a “hell pattern.”
The petition describes the vandalism to the city-funded mural as contempt for the municipal government and “an expression of racial hatred.”
“This is totally not acceptable,” it reads.
Lau said the vandalism also affects tourism and business by deterring customers, while leaving shopkeepers on the hook for the cleanup costs.
“The graffiti itself in Chinatown is up 300 per cent,” said Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Const. Howard Chow.
It’s also hugely under-reported, said Chow, who applauded Lau’s effort.
“I think he is likely from a generation that realizes that you’ve got to step in and do the work that you need to do to take back your community,” Chow said.
Having the public participate in reclaiming the neighbourhood through activities like painting and clean-up will be a key part of Chinatown’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Vancouver Chinatown Foundation chair and co-founder Carol Lee.
Speaking during an online conversation about the future of Chinatown hosted by the Foundation on Mar. 29 as part of the Vancouver Public Library’s Uplift Asian series, Lee said they will be launching an economic revitalization plan this month.
Developed with Deloitte, the five-pillar strategy will include safety, beautification and revitalizing local businesses among the top priorities going forward.
“How do we make sure we don’t lose the legacy businesses that have been here for 25 and 30 years, that really give Chinatown its character?” asked Lee.
Seniors, the “cultural fabric of the neighbourhood,” are slowly coming back after safety concerns during the pandemic, said Vancouver Chinatown BIA president Jordan Eng.
Eng said Chinatown is still “the cultural heart and soul of the Chinese community throughout the Lower Mainland,” and visitors will come from across the country.
“They’re not going to go to some mall or some outskirt in Vancouver and say, ‘Hey, this is where it all started,'” Eng said.
SFU City Program director Andy Yan said Chinatown’s sizeable commercial vacancy rate of 18 per cent compared to the overall city vacancy rate of 12 per cent could be seen as an opportunity for young entrepreneurs.
“There are 102 vacancies, vacant storefronts or versions of vacant storefronts in the neighbourhood,” Yan said.
For those just trying to survive, the rampant graffiti vandalism is exhausting.
“Maybe some people don’t like Chinese, I don’t know,” Lau said.
“Whether the motive itself is Asian hate crime, the fact is the feeling from the community is that it is,” Chow told Global News.
“That’s a problem.”
Lau said he was so angry over the mural vandalism that it exacerbated his heart issues, and he is now resting at home.
His petition has generated some 500 signatures so far.
His wife is turning the page on the grassroots appeal by sharing it with other area shops to support change in Chinatown.
“I hope the city (does) something,” Lau said.
“I talk from my heart, I like Vancouver.”