The Winter Olympics tends to be heavy on glitz and fanfare, but this year much of the pageantry is taking place unusually close to one of the bleakest neighborhoods in North America.
Vancouver’s “Skid Road” is just a few blocks from the site of Friday’s opening ceremony, and the host city has found that proximity awkward, to say the least.
East Hastings Street is the main drag of a neighborhood often referred to as “Canada’s poorest postal code.” But it’s not just poverty that sets this area apart.
“It’s where a lot of people get their drugs; it’s a lot of dealing around here,” says Tillman Doiron, who lives nearby.
Read or listen to it all.
Vancouver Tries To Polish 'Skid Road' For Olympics
The Winter Olympics tends to be heavy on glitz and fanfare, but this year much of the pageantry is taking place unusually close to one of the bleakest neighborhoods in North America.
Vancouver’s “Skid Road” is just a few blocks from the site of Friday’s opening ceremony, and the host city has found that proximity awkward, to say the least.
East Hastings Street is the main drag of a neighborhood often referred to as “Canada’s poorest postal code.” But it’s not just poverty that sets this area apart.
“It’s where a lot of people get their drugs; it’s a lot of dealing around here,” says Tillman Doiron, who lives nearby.
Read or listen to it all.