Oppenheimer Park

Oppenheimer Park is a park located in the historic Japantown in Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. During the late 2010s it was the site of a large homeless encampment.[1]

Oppenheimer Park
TypePublic Park
Location400 Powell Street, Vancouver, British Columbia
Created1902
Operated byCity of Vancouver

History

Opened in 1902 as the Powell Street Grounds by Vancouver's second mayor,[2] David Oppenheimer; it was later renamed in honour of the mayor, not after J. Robert Oppenheimer who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the Nuclear Bomb, specifically the 2 that were dropped on Japan during World War II. The park is bounded by Jackson Ave, Dunlevy Ave, Powell St and East Cordova St. Oppenheimer Park's facilities include a softball field, a basketball hoop, a children's playground, and a community centre with bathrooms, meeting space, and public computer access. The park employs two full-time activity coordinators and several part-time staff.[3]

The Asahi baseball team used Oppenheimer Park as its home field prior to World War II, although it is most notable historically as being the site of one of the large demonstrations of striking workers during the events of Bloody Sunday in 1938. The park remained a popular family destination until the late 1980s when crack cocaine trade and abuse began to dominate the park's usage.

Since 2004, initiatives by the Vancouver Police and the Strathcona Business Improvement Association have attempted to return the park to its original image of safe recreation, with some success.[3] The park was upgraded in 2010 with reconfiguration of the pathways and additions of a playground, a basketball hoop and a new field house.[4]

First Nations protest

In July 2014, members of the First Nations community occupied Oppenheimer Park by creating a makeshift tent city, in protest of the city of Vancouver's attempt to evict homeless people that had been living in the park. Protesters cited the fact that Vancouver, including its parkland, is unceded First Nations' land and the B.C. Supreme Court decision in 2009, which stated that homeless persons are allowed to camp in a public park if no alternative shelters are available.[5][6]

The protesters and campers were given deadline to vacate the park on October 15, 2014 after injunction was granted to the Vancouver Park Board to evict the protesters from the site.[7] Over 100 tents remained at the park after the deadline, but the protesters and campers were removed from park and five people were arrested on October 16, 2014 for resisting to vacate the park.[8]

Events
  • Powell Street Festival — Vancouver's longest running community celebration
  • HomeGround Festival
  • Asahi Tribute Baseball game
  • Endless Summer Festival

References
  1. Watson, Bridgette (28 Nov 2019). "'People are freezing here': No heat for homeless in Oppenheimer Park a human rights concern, advocates say". CBC. Retrieved 1 Dec 2019.
  2. Oppenheimer Park, Yahoo Travel.
  3. "Cops flag Oppenheimer", Vancouver Courier.
  4. Oppenheimer Park Programs, City of Vancouver
  5. Cheryl Chan, “Do tent cities work? A look at winners and losers in Vancouver's history of park protests”, 31 July 2014
  6. Duncan McCue, “Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park protest raises question of aboriginal title to urban centres”, CBC News 22 July 2014
  7. Oppenheimer homeless camp to be evicted after injunction granted, CBC News, October 8, 2014
  8. , CBC News, October 16, 2014

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