Recognizing the ever-changing landscape of The Granville Entertainment District, Downtown Van has expanded its resources to ensure that Granville Street is safe, clean, and welcoming for all.

Below is a comparison in staffing levels and statistics pre-pandemic, to the current year.

Safe

  • Downtown Van has 14 full-time Downtown Safety Ambassadors who work seven days a week from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
  • Downtown Van has increased the team by four since 2019.
  • There is at least one dedicated team to Granville Street each day, with an additional team routinely patrolling the area.
  • Downtown Safety Ambassadors are the eyes and ears of downtown, reporting everything from cleanliness issues to illegal activity. They can provide a visible presence for member business and escalated issues as required to the appropriate organizations.
  • Downtown Van offers a SafeWalk service- anyone who lives, works or visits downtown can call: 604-689-HELP (4357)
    • With a larger team, the Safety Ambassadors have been able to conduct 4399 meet and greets with Granville Street businesses in 2022, almost doubling the 2395 they did in 2019.
    • They have also spent 12259 minutes responding to business calls on Granville this year, dwarfing the 1486 minutes from 2019. With more teams focused on the area, Downtown Van has been able to ensure a greater level of coverage.

Clean

  • Downtown Van has eight full-time Clean Team members who work seven days a week from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.
  • The team has doubled since 2019.
  • Two Clean Team members are assigned to Granville Street each day, removing graffiti, picking up sharps, power washing, and micro-cleaning.
  • The Clean Team will flag any issues that are too large for them to handle and send them to the City of Vancouver, ensuring that they will be addressed.
  • Due to higher staffing levels, the Clean Team has been able to remove 4421 separate graffiti tags on Granville Street in 2022 so far. This is much higher than the 1847 they removed in 2019.
  • For sharps, they have so far collected in 645 in 2022 compared to the 1867 in 2019.

Outreach

In August 2021, Downtown Van implemented the Outreach Program. Downtown Van transitioned two Safety Ambassadors with backgrounds in social work and psychology to be full-time Outreach Ambassadors. The Outreach Ambassadors assisted with housing, facilitating meals, showers, clothing, coordinating specialized mental health treatment, crisis response services, and administering first aid. In only one year, the team referred 3302 individuals to these services and resources. Learn more about the Outreach Team here.

Partnerships

Downtown Van has also partnered with organizations like Goodbye Graffiti or Coast Mental Health to ensure that Granville Street looks its best. These partnerships increased power-washing and graffiti removal services insurmountably over the last two years.