My camera is cold in my hands, despite the February sunshine. I am standing in the middle of West Cordova Street in downtown Vancouver. This is the outer edge of the business district, but it is starting to feel like the downtown eastside: a few bleak, empty buildings, seedy hotels, grimy sidewalks, and dismal alleys. The sad spire of the abandoned Woodward’s building takes up most of the available sky, a memorial to defeated affordable housing initiatives and a reminder of the gentrification turf-war that persists in this part of the city.