Dumpster moves anger Yaletown businesses

Business owners in Vancouver's trendy Yaletown district are crying foul over a temporary move of the area's dumpsters.

Some 62 commercial garbage containers have been relocated to allow for street construction in the downtown core near False Creek, making for some drastic storefront changes.

A week ago, the dumpsters were moved from the west side to the east side of Mainland Street and Hamilton Street while crews paint lines for parking spots and put in new parking meters.

"I'm very, very disappointed that they were just plopped in front of our offices," said Dr. Shelly Kassam, who operates a dentistry and laser therapy centre on Mainland Street.

The motto for Kassam's centre is, "enriching lives beautifully." That's tough to do, she says, with four containers full of waste parked out your front door.

'Consultation not practical'

Kassam says her walk-in trade has fallen off sharply.

"We're all in a state of shock, actually, we don't know what to do," she said.

Kassam said she wasn't consulted, and would have liked to see the dumpsters spread around instead of clumped in groups like the ones blocking the view of her business.

A spokesman for the city of Vancouver was unapologetic.

"Folks need to understand that the reason for the containers is because of the fact that they're generating waste," said Chris Underwood, manager of the city's 's solid waste management branch.

"It's just not practical for large public consultation process to occur on a relatively small-scale project," Underwood said.

Underwood also said the city plans to start moving the containers back to their less obtrusive positions on the west side of the streets on Friday.