Downtown
Remember that song? Petula Clark's.
"Downtown" used to be the place to be!
Now...well I don't know about your downtown but...
I've even heard my old, dear Seattle downtown is not the way it used to be.
I used to be a little more naive, and downtowns used to be a little more safe. Now, I keep my wits about me. If my music is on a little too loud on my bike ride home, I turn it down. I don't want any sneak ups or anything like that!
For example: just today there was someone yelling and behaving quite erratically right near the bike path on my way home. Broad daylight, lots of people out...but.
For example: on the first day of my new job someone was stabbed to death and another person had their hand cut off. Right at a couple of intersections I pass by on my bike. About an hour before I passed by.
"Don't worry, it appears to have been random attacks, perpetrated by the same person"--the news told us.
"Don't worry, the person has a history of violence, and mental health issues"--the news told us.
Oh. Like THAT'S supposed to make us feel better?
As I watch people downtown, I see their faces are a little more anxious, a little less cavalier. They have their wits about them. Maybe some mace, too. Or a whistle.
There are so many people living on the streets with severe mental health issues, often exacerbated by substance abuse and addiction. Passing through downtown here over the years, you are bound to see someone covered with a sheet dead from an overdose. You are certainly going to see someones on a regular basis hunched over bent in half pants falling off in the slump of drug use. Maybe even see someone with their body half on the curb and half on the street--about to be run over--passed out.
Over the summer we took the bus to the PNE (the fair). We meant to take an express bus through one particular part of town adjacent to downtown, but there were issues with catching that bus, so we had to take the slow one, then get off in that particular part of town and WAIT for the express, there. Broad daylight, so....well...in the past I wouldn't have been all that worried. "They're harmless," "They struggle with mental health, it's awful, but they're not violent"...after all, I used to work in *that* part of town. Things have worsened. Or, maybe reporting on things has increased, and things are the same as they were before. Maybe I've just lived a little more and seen the effects of unchecked mental health issues. Maybe I've seen too many movies like The Joker.
Speaking of that! Last night we went to The Joker! (Rare to go to the movies these days, but we did, Simon and I. Thanks kids!). As we bought our tickets, this man came in behind us. I recognized him right away! He lives in his van here in our neighbourhood! He sometimes stands outside certain spots along the street and sets up shop, ranting about Free Masons and pedophiles, about governments and the Pope. Clearly very troubled. No one ever stops him, so my assumption is that he's mostly harmless. However! He calmly bought the ticket right behind us! And I swear he said "balcony" too, like us, for his seats! Simon and I were a little spooked. I mean, have you seen any of The Joker movies? The whole beginning of the movie we were wondering where that guy was, if something in the movie would trigger him...while at the same time the whole experience made us think well gee we can see why he's pulled to this movie, he's just someone (too) who wants to go the movies from time to time, to escape in some way. But! How skittish we were!
We never saw him.
And now I'm sad for him, like...what happened? Why didn't he come back and watch the movie? He bought the ticket! It was a wild ride, I'm glad I saw it...he could've enjoyed himself. What happened?
Back to *that part of town*...well we finally caught our bus. But after an excruciating wait, with all kinds of heightened and tense activity around us. A young woman, clearly new here, lost and trying to get to the PNE as well, worriedly looked to us to answer her question of whether or not she was in the right place. I wondered what the downtowns she'd come from had been like. Maybe she was used to this.
Is this a problem everywhere now? It's not just unique to Vancouver's Gotham City vibes? Portland? Seattle? San Francisco? East Coast West Coast Midwest Down South?
Downtowns used to be the place to go for ritz and excitement. They still are that place where people from all walks of life come together, and that's what makes them so interesting. It's just, there is so much decay nowadays, and there are so many *that part*s of downtown. More than there used to be. Places boarded up. Trash everywhere. Human excrement. Bodies lying there, passed out there. Shopping carts. Shady deals in non-shady-broad-daylight. Alley secrets on the main drag.
(If that's what the main drag is like then what are the alley's like?)
If I didn't work downtown, I probably wouldn't go downtown. Much at all.
If I didn't work downtown, I'd kinda miss it though. Cause...it's so interesting! It's still that place where people from all walks of life come together. The Porsche driving past the yelling and erratically behaving young man. The model looking lady with the fancy clothes walking past the regular people just going to their office jobs. The young kids marvelling at the skyscrapers from their strollers. The shady grimy heartbreaking stuff of human nature. All of it mixed in.
It's just...I remember when downtown was exciting for MORE-than-being-just-sketchy. When it was glamourous, too. And safe-enough to feel ok about bringing your kids to, to marvel over the skyscrapers from their strollers--strollers you pushed without thinking maybe you needed mace in your hands at the same time, or the neck of an owl.
When you're alone and life is making you lonely
When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know, downtown
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure, downtown
Everything's waiting for you
Don't hang around and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows downtown
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never close downtown
Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You'll be dancing with 'em too before the night is over
Happy again
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
And yo may find somebody kind to help and understand you
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
So go downtown
Where all the lights are bright, downtown
Waiting for you tonight, downtown
You're gonna be alright now, downtown
Downtown
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