Contents -
- CCap Newsletter - Goldenrod pages.
- CLOSED for Incompetence??!
- IF
- Harper arrogant, lying – media, too
- DEYAS programs
- Editor, Carnegie Newsletter
- Dear Letters Editor
- I saw Jesus again today
- “Distant Intimacies”
- Hope In Shadows - PIVOT 2007 Calendar
- Harassing Behaviour by Primcorp Security
- Women’s Centre: Celebrating Our Journeys
- Attention: Management Primcorp Security
- M
- Food: The Stuff of Life
- Guard(ian) Angels (?)
- THE TEDDY BEARS PICNIC (revisited)
- Support Groups
- Art Against Brutality
- News from the Library
- Addiction : It’s Not About Drugs
- Poverty Amidst Plenty
- Poverty in B.C & Everywhere in Canada
- Art for Art’s Sake
- Attention All,
- “The Price is not Right”
- Welfare rate campaign having an impact
- CCAP letter to editor of Vancouver Sun
- BC has second worst poverty rate in Canada
- Discredited “Broken windows” theory
- The Columbia Hotel court case--an urban myth
- American Hotel threatened with closure
CLOSED for Incompetence??!
CLOSED for Incompetence??!
This is what Stephen Harper and his fascists want us to believe, but the addition of the word “Political” tells the true story. The utter stupidity / ignorance / incompetent idiocy of his ordered compliance with the American Christian fundamentalism controlling the White House should be little more than a fucking joke, but what’s a few (thousand) dead drug users, junkies, compared to the redemption of the world & salvation for the True Believers?!
How much of a stretch is it to connect the closure of InSite – North America’s only supervised injection site – with the rabid fundamentalist mindset of those profiting from continuous war?
Consider some basic observations that certainly cannot be dismissed as radical, socialist/communist/ left-wing / warm&cuddly crap issuing forth from weirdos crying in the wilderness:
-the War on Drugs, both here and in the USA, permits the arrest, detention and ongoing oppression of poor and middle-class people. The oppressive aspect results directly from the illegality / criminality imposed and blindly maintained by legislators which, of course, keeps prices and profits in the range of 1000-1700 percent over the original investments by the rich and connected;
-diluting such profit-margins by the Four [equal] Pillars of prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement throws the whole moral morass of the aforementioned fundamentalism into turmoil; drug users / addicts get status as people, get to make informed choices and can ask for available options;
-harm reduction measures are anathema to the quasi-moral high-rollers: Needle Exchanges are decried as giving people the idea that the government supports the use of (antichrist) narcotics etc so NO sanctioned needle exchange programs are permitted anywhere in the USA. Because Canada has the most cherished and wished-for health care system in the world – everyone has access to free care – the fact that preventing just 4 people from contracting HIV/ AIDS saves us the equivalent of the annual budget of the largest Needle Exchange in the Western Hemisphere can’t just be ignored.
-A factoid that has to be repeated constantly to government quasi-moralists is that a single person who contracts HIV and then AIDS will cost said government a minimum of $150,000 in treatment until they die. The annual budget of said Exchange has been $600,000.
-In the States, with their pay-as-you-get-sicker system, everybody is definitely not responsible for everybody else, so those who have – the same rich & connected who have the wherewithal to do the whole number of such multi-billion dollar drug businesses – don’t have to help those who haven’t if they don’t want to… and virtually all of ‘em don’t want to. (“whole number”: production – growing, harvesting, refinement; global distribution, with transportation, secrecy and multitudinous territories; financial cheques & balances for funding the production, pay-offs, bribes, corruption of law enforcement officials and subsequent laundering.
-Over 2000 people died from drug-related incidents in the last 15 years or so (just in Vancouver). Insite was the culmination of years of activism and hammering the powers-that-be with the cold, hard facts of the result of not having a supervised injection site. The 3-year pilot-project was kept under a microscope for numerous studies, opinions, reports and evaluations by very hard-nosed conservatives. The outcome astonishes only the certified half-wit: in every report, category and analysis, Insite shines as an unqualified success. No overdose deaths, a huge jump in the number of users seeking treatment &/or counseling, and even reduction in the amount of health paranoia cum mental degeneration because of the relative stability offered by this program - removing the fear of dying in an alley from an OD or getting a rig-poison
from taking water out of a puddle on the sidewalk.
The political incompetence inherent in Harper and cronies seeing more in pleasing George Dubya than in doing what is best for people… think of the most offensive compound word in the English language!!
The next step up from Insite should be to expand the number of sites and the scope of holistic approaches; after that (or even at the same time) would be the decriminalization of small amounts, effectively cutting the international drug traders off at the knees. In England prescription heroin is 3 cents a hit and property crime in high-use areas has dropped by almost 90% - this stat from the police there.
Come September 12, Harper and his masters are going to “let [Insite] close.” Then “We’ll make a decision.” He can decide 2 + 2 is 1 if he thinks it’ll get him brownie points or, as Mark Townsend was quoted as saying in a daily paper, “Harper can go on believing the world is flat, but the real world is round and he can’t change it by ignoring that fact.”
An ostrich is conservative; a religious fundamental ostrich should just be shot and buried. I ask ya’.
By PAULR TAYLOR
IFIF
If Mother Earth had a tongue
She would be wagging out loud
Where is your compassion?
Are you being blinded by Greed?
Take, take, that is all your goal
Destroying all our beauty of
our land, ocean, sea & rivers
Especially our air!
Never mind if you ruin the mountains
Building right in the midst of our animals
No wonder why you have animals
at your doorsteps.
Leace our Mother Earth alone.
Building condos on the water now
What is up with that?!
Ruining the marine life, bad enough,
taxing the waters now.
Come on Mayor Sullican
Wake up to all the pollution!
a concrete jungle
GREED is overpowering our
environment
Wake up People
Help solve our problem!
Protect our land, water & air
Especially protect our mountains
for our animals
They need their homes too.
Stop invading the mountains
Their beauty is slowly fading away
By having condos, houses,
buildings, etc, etc
Bearty is in the eye
Not in your pockets.
All my Relations
Bonnie E Stevens
Harper arrogant, lying – media, tooHarper arrogant, lying – media, too
The flight attendant on any airline will ask passengers to turn off their Blackberries and cellphones (because their electronic air traffic will interfere with the plane’s own running). One did recently for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper on one of his flights, and he declined. (Apparently, Harper thinks he is above physical and safety laws.) So his pilot asked him personally to turn them off. This time, Harper did so. But at the end of the flight, the pilot was informed that his services would be no longer required on prime ministerial flights. Harper is, if nothing else, arrogant. (The Globe and Mail, “The unwritten bylaw of Bytown: Fall in line or fall out of favour,” August 9, Lawrence Martin)
A poll’s results announced on August 1 in The G&M declared that 56 percent of Canadian opposed
That PM Stephen Harper is arrogant and is a liar should come as no surprise. After all, he is a politician, and North Americans have come to expect those qualities to be present in their politicians. But did you know that the media are arrogant and dishonest too?
This might come as a surprise to more than a few, since the media are constantly declaring their uncompromising impartiality. So here are a few illustrative examples.
After The G&M published their results that Canadians are opposed to being in Afghanistan, it began periodically publishing letters to the editor from people in favour of Canada being in Afghanistan—and none from those opposed, although it’s obvious from the poll results and from the prime ministerial communications from ordinary Canadians that in fact a majority are opposed (and so, one would expect the majority of letters to the editor to be opposed as well, and thus fairly represented). But The G&M (like most conservative-led news media) supports Harper, and so is arrogant in its depiction of Canadians’ reality.
As for the media being a liar—that case is much easier to prove. It has long been known that the media give short shrift to stories about the poor, and that when they eventually do get around to writing stories, these are invariably poor-bashing. (When was the last time you remember hearing about the Raise the Rates campaign—the effort by the Carnegie Community Action Project to get welfare rates in BC raised to proper living standards—in the mainstream media? Answer: never, because it has never been written about there, although the media are surely aware of it. [NB: Actually, it was mentioned once on the editorial pages of The Vancouver Sun, on August 24—after this article was written])
But my illustrative example is as follows: U.S. President George W. Bush recently assigned himself even more power; a homeless man in BC is starving himself to death in jail to protest his being unable to sleep in a park without being arrested; in the US, some video was shot depicting “Bumfights,” where poor people are paid to hurt each other or themselves for viewers’ amusement, apparently endorsed by professional asshole Howard Stern. None of these stories made the G&M. What did get endlessly written about instead were Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks upon his being arrested for drunk driving. As I remarked to a friend, I couldn’t care less what Gibson said, when I am much more concerned about what happened to Canadian Jazz legend Oscar Peterson and his being subjected to racial epithets yelled repeatedly by some young thugs driving by his residence. That subject was barely mentioned. So it comes as no great surprise that the media lie by omission.
So there we have it. What a great combination: both the Prime Minister and the nationally read media are arrogant and liars. How convenient for the Conservatives. That’s the way they’ll slither into a majority government.
By Rolf Auer
DEYAS programs"DEYAS programs provide windows of opportunity for youth and adults who are "street involved", and those wanting to leave the street. Through a range of personal interventions, harm reduction and health promotion services to high-risk and at-risk people in
positive changes in their lives.
DEYAS Board of Directors invites applications for membership to the society, either general or corporate. Contact society secretary Lyn Cutshall for an application form or more information:
Tel: 604-685-6561 Fax: 604-685-7117
Email: info@deyas.org
Editor, Carnegie NewsletterPaul Taylor 23 August 2006
Editor, Carnegie Newsletter
Dear Paul,
Congratulations on the Carnegie Newsletter's 20th Anniversary!
I am always pleased to see the latest edition of the Carnegie Newsletter because it is the only publication that allows the voices and opinions of people in the Downtown Eastside to come through so clearly. As a result, it offers a reference point for my work as the local Member of the Legislative Assembly
Thank you to everyone involved in creating and distributing the Carnegie Newsletter and many thanks to you for your work as the editor. Well done!
Here's wishing for another 20 years of success!
Jenny Wai Ching Kwan,
MLA Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant
Dear Letters EditorI sent this to the Globe&Mail (which will as usual, be ignored):
Dear Letters Editor,
Re "B.C. bylaws targeting homeless face court challenge," August 29:
The article's opening question asks, "Should municipalities have the right to make it illegal for people to sleep in public spaces if there isn't enough shelter space for the homeless in the community?"
What kind of a question is that? That ranks right up there with, "Should the homeless be shot on sight if they have no place to stay?"
The community should be taking every possible action to ensure that the homeless have proper housing, even if it means lobbying the provincial and federal governments to help out.
Making it illegal to sleep in public places is a cruel and uncompassionate action by a society that is morally bankrupt and refuses to acknowledge the plight of the less fortunate among its citizens.
"The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens."--Jimmy Carter
It is quite significant the Jimmy Carter has been involved for a long time in providing housing for the homeless. Why shouldn't our society be involved in the same thing?
Rolf Auer
I saw Jesus again todayI saw Jesus again today
I saw Jesus again today
He's still begging at the Library
Living under a bridge;
Has no I.D. so Welfare will not see him
He showed me his wounds
Said he would be going to jail.
I pressed a coin into his dirty, weathered hand;
Along with my regrets.
He asked my name, where I could be found
If I lent him money he would repay Tuesday.
Maybe he is a junkie
Maybe he is a con artist who
believes his own stories.
For sure he is desperate; for sure he is Jesus.
Wilhelmina Miles
“Distant Intimacies”Gallery Gachet
88 E.Cordova; 604-687-2468
On Friday, September 8th, Gallery Gachet is pleased to present "Distant Intimacies: the art of cell phone video", new work by
“Distant Intimacies” is comprised of six short narrative videos aiming to discover and describe the distinct dynamics of media creation and explore the mental and social barriers enabled by cell phone technology. Stephen Long has a three-decade long tenure in new media production and innovation.
Toni Latour's motivation in conceiving “The Drag King Project” came from a desire for continued queer representations from within queer communities. “The Drag King Project” includes photography, video documentation of live performances, and a textual component derived from audio interviews.
Toni Latour teaches New Media at the
Gallery Gachet is Canada's premiere art and healing centre, run by artists informed by mental health issues; viewing hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 12 to 6pm. Information on our calls for submissions and programming is available online at www.gachet.org.
Hope In Shadows - PIVOT 2007 CalendarHope In Shadows - PIVOT 2007 Calendar
For the first time, the top 40 photographs in the Hope in Shadows Downtown Eastside Photography Contest will be ranked by the general public.
The top photographer will receive the first prize of $500 at the annual award ceremony, which will be held at Carnegie Centre on Tuesday October 17 at 10:30 a.m. The 2007 calendar will be launched at the award ceremony, and street sales training will be held in the week of the launch (October 16 to 20). People who would like to sell the calendar can put their name on the list by calling Pivot and there will be a list at the judging exhibition.
The second place winners are five photographs that receive the next most votes, resulting in the photographers receiving $100 each. The ten third winners get $50 each and the remaining photographers get $25 each. All winners also get an enlargement of
their photo and a certificate.
Harassing Behaviour by Primcorp SecuritySecurity Programs
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Mr. Greg Langham
A/Deputy Director
Private Investigations & Security Agencies Licensing
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General
1- 250-356-1509
[Re: Harassing Behaviour by Primcorp Security,]
Dear Mr. Langham: August 9, 2006
I would like to advise you of an incident that occurred recently involving a security guard employed by Primcorp Security,
At 11:45, August 6, 2006, I was standing on the southwest corner of Main and Pender Streets, in
A Primcorp security guard in uniform (Caucasian male, 30, 6’1, 180 lbs., dark brown hair, moustache and short beard around his mouth and chin, walked up and, standing on the public sidewalk within a couple of feet of me, started to verbally harass the handicapped man. The guard said something to the effect of, “Scum like you shouldn’t be here. Get out of here.”
I intervened by saying, “Excuse me. He has every right to be here.” At this, the guard said to me, “Fuck off. Mind your own business. Why don’t you get lost.” I repeated my assertion that the handicapped man had a right to be on public property and told the guard to stop using abusive language. Once more he told me to, “Fuck off.” As this loud exchange drew a small crowd of observers, the guard said to me, “Fuck off, cunt. Why don’t you get a boyfriend.” With that, the guard left the corner.
In disbelief and shock over this Primcorp Security man’s behavior, I stood and talked with the handicapped man for a minute or two. He told me that this incident was not his first encounter with Primcorp Security or this particular guard. He also told me he was concerned for his future physical security because of this incident and an earlier incident where he relayed he’d been manhandled & pushed around physically by security a couple of weeks earlier.
The security guard returned to the corner a couple of minutes after he left, where the handicapped man and I were still standing, still talking. As he walked by, the guard repeated his insult to the handicapped person, referring to him as “scum of the earth pretending to be handicapped does not have a right to be here”.
After this incident, I called the Vancouver Police Department. I was told there was little they could do as the guard had not actually threatened or physically assaulted me.
I feel threatened and intimidated by this security guard’s behavior. I am a total loss as to why he would treat an obviously handicapped person with such a lack of basic respect, and then turn his profanity and anger towards me.
This is clearly unprofessional conduct for a profession whose mandate is to protect people. The security guard has no legal right to “move” people off of public property, and certainly has no need to use such profanity in the course of his duties. This person should not be a security guard. By his demonstrated behavior, he cannot be relied upon to look after citizens’ best interests in this neighborhood.
I would like you to investigate this incident and I would like to know the outcome of your investigation, as well as any sanctions you might impose.
Sincerely,
Lesa Dee Tree
cc: Ms. Libby Davies, MP
Ms. Jenny Kwan, MLA
Women’s Centre: Celebrating Our JourneysThe Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, with the generous support of several DTES community groups, eagerly invites you to its 3rd annual event….
Celebrating Our Journeys:
A Downtown Eastside Neighborhood Street Party
12 – 6pm, Sunday, September 17th, 2006
Please join us at Celebrating our Journeys, an occasion where women are given the opportunity to continue – despite the difficult circumstances which afflict their daily lives – to laugh, sing, dance, rejoice, and resist. See you at the Party! For further information or to volunteer at the event, please call 604-681-8480 x242, email celebratingourjourneys@yahoo.com, or drop by the
Centre and ask for Cara, Event Coordinator.
The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre is located at
Attention: Management Primcorp Security
Daniel and Iris Lee,
I am writing again because I have yet to hear any response from you regarding the incident involving security guard misconduct on Sunday August 6, 2006. I have tried to call your office several times, left messages to return my calls, and sent additional emails asking you to please respond.
Having been encouraged today by the Chinese Merchants Association and directed by them to contact you in earlier correspondences, they assured me they would also be encouraging you to respond . I again ask for your immediate response by email.
In an earlier email to the Chinese Merchants I stated that the reason for no response can only mean one of two things, which I will also put to you:
1 That you are so disgusted by this situation that you wish to distance yourself from it
2 That this is in fact acceptable behavior to you somehow
Needless to say, it is professional and legal protocol to respond to such complaints.
Lesa Dee Tree
MM
I think to think
of all the sunsets we have missed
Many of which I cannot count
Our lives were not caught in a busy lane
Maybe because we were in the midst
of not caring
There, there my sweet heart
My love for you is not being forgotten
You still are the most important person
to me
We will always be in some other world
Come back to realize
what I have missed
Dwell with remorse, asking for forgiveness
Making up is the most wonderful part
of relationship
All I ask for is patience
My love will never run out for you
Bonnie E Stevens
Food: The Stuff of LifeFood: The Stuff of Life
At this time of year, as we gather together with family and friends to celebrate our abundance of food, it is easy to forget that a large percent of the world suffers from a perennial food scarcity. At harvest time all cultures have their own unique thanksgiving. It is a tradition as old as the race.
In the Western World we take it for granted that food, and food in sufficient quantity, is a basic human right. Indeed, of all the human rights, none is more important. A people without sufficient food are unable to demand the other basic necessities of life. It has been the case that oppressive political regimes have succeeded merely due to promises of employment -which translates as food. In other cases these regimes simply promise enough food. To a starving populace no other promise would bring such an immediate response. A hungry person is ripe for any ideology that guarantees to fill the ache in her belly, and in the bellies of her children. Some of these regimes have even been true to their promise.
In the modern world of food production we have become very sophisticated. However, our problems with famine and starvation remain. Even
Nutrition is a complicated issue. A country in which pregnant women do not receive proper nutrition experiences a generational disadvantage. Whole generations grow up unable to compete with other nations in physical and mental capacity. Without the necessary tools to deal with their environment these children of the undernourished grow up to continue an economic condition that keeps their countries backward; from keeping up in the global market, both economically and intellectually,
Lack of food is at the core of many social ills. Too much we see, even in an affluent country like
Perhaps in the kinds of food, and in its abundance, we can see the greatest disparity between social classes. An Anglican clergyman from an underclass parish in
Yes, to talk of food is not just to speak of basic human rights. I could go on - about the improper use of land for efficient food production; the market-driven forces that create a bigger-is-better philosophy of farming. More and larger animals and vegetables that please the eye and the pocket of the businessmen, but contribute little to the health of the consumer or the economy of smaller and ecologically-sound operations. And we have come to a place where having sufficient food is not the comfort it used to be. Our food, due to the relentless push for profit, has become a means by which we can become sick. We need to look carefully at the new cost-effective means of farming, and also to examine the methods of traditional farming. If we have the knowledge to feed our World properly perhaps then we can begin to deal with the other questions that plague humankind - war, pestilence, disease.
Wilhelmina Miles
Carnegie Writers' Group
Guard(ian) Angels (?)Guard(ian) Angels (?)
Identification: Friend or Foe? (Fiend or Faux)?
Several weeks ago, the DTES was "visited" for the first time by the Guardian Angels, a para-vigilante group, and their founder Curtis Sliwa.
The Guardian Angels are what could be loosely termed a pro-active anti-crime citizen group made up of volunteers who, for whatever motivation, wish to help society in the fight against crime. While I have no problem with attempts to address the matter of criminal activity and would be one of the first to come to the aid of a helpless victim of assault, (should it be a viable option), I think it would be wise for the city of Vancouver and our police department to consider carefully whether we want the kind of knee-jerk vigilantism dished out in Doc Martens, the kind of anti-crime radicalism that could pose more problems than it could solve.
What is really required in the redress of the issue of crime is addressing the root cause of most criminal behavior - poverty and its attendant social ills (addiction, homelessness, and marginalization). Only as we begin to address these core issues will society be able to adequately deal with the more immediate concerns of crime prevention and law enforcement.
The Guardian Angels and Curtis Sliwa can stay in
RabbleRouser
THE TEDDY BEARS PICNIC (revisited)THE TEDDY BEARS PICNIC (revisited)
On Monday the 21st of August, the Carnegie volunteers and seniors went on our now yearly, officially named "Teddy Bears Picnic." I want to publicly give thanks to our Codfather Ian for his arts in cooking our fantastic roast beef dinner.. and to that Gerald guy who forged them Mr. Sub recipes so well.
We arrived at
Colleen had us sit our bears on a log and clapping carried the judging. My bear got the most! (No! My bear does not now nor has ever got the clap.) Anyway last year you might recall my bear was not even picked as a contestant and was laughed at and called
"loser” by all the other bears. He was so hurt he tried to commit suicide a few times. After months of therapy he has come out of his depression. You can read about his story at www.Getwellbear.tripod.com (his new name is Winner Bear).
I will be posting pics of this party soon. In the meantime I have put together a video of our trip (including my temporary defection to the
"a day without a bear is like a day without beer"
mr. mcbinner
mrmcbinner@hotmail.com
Support GroupsSupport Groups
The in and outs of the Native Organizations are sometimes new to me. When I was in great need of help there was none to be found. I was employed and my own employer fired me, even when I had a Doctor's letter. This is an organization that is helping Women who have drug & alcohol problems when they are pregnant. Instead of sitting me down & talking to me, they said “You're fired.” My employer tried to demoralize me, saying I wasn't fit to be in the work force. The employer also tried to make it hard for me to collect E.I, but sorry folks! I had proof from the Doctor that I had a problem with drugs & alcohol.
With my drugs & alcohol experiences, I’ve come to believe that any organization should look at their staff issues too. The staff go through many things working with all the women, and wind up getting caught up in their problems. They end up taking it home. Why not try a glass of beer or drug of choice; it will take my pain, anger, loss, or anything away.
I ended up dong this all. I realized it, confronted it, but ended up with a slap across the face. Come all you Native & Non-native Organizations: Open your EYES, it is probably happening as we speak.
Instead of dismissing your staff, look at all issues first before judging the person. Today, I would like to thank YWCA for having support groups; I likely wouldn't be on this Path. I'm proud of being a part of the FASD PEER SUPPORT GROUP. It has helped me out.
Now I want to know what is happening with our Correctional system, Are they looking into why our children are in & out of the system? Where did the problem start? Did it start at home or school. Did the professionals look into her problem? Did they take the time to see why there is a vicious cycle here? Maybe she has a learning disability and does not realize what is right or wrong...
It is about time that all professionals, native and non-native, open their eyes. We as the community should all start to work together instead of ignoring the problems we are having. Teach our children early about the danger of drugs & alcohol, especially if they are planning to have children of their own. As a grandmother of 8 or more, I'm learning how to love myself. It has been a long journey, fighting all the way to be drug &alcohol free. The Creator is my mentor.
All my relations
Bonnie Stevens
Art Against BrutalityArt Against Brutality
is a day long multi-media community celebration of the healing and revolutionary power of art. As last year, the event will take place in
Other highlights of the day will be some fungames, a graffiti wall, random performances and a salmon bar-b-que in the late afternoon.
How to prepare for Art Against Brutality:
Think of a visual way to present your experience and thinking on the subject. Make an altar, or decorate an item that is personally meaningful. Copy a poem for the poet tree. Find a stone to bring for the medicine wheel, and/or something to remember a loved one lost to violence. Let your friends and neighbours know about the event and invite them to do the same. You can contact us, to register or for more info, and to help with the various tasks that we are already working on.
DONATIONS FOR THE FEAST CAN BE
DEPOSITED IN OUR ACCOUNT AT THE
PIGEON PARK COMMUNITY BANK.
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2006
open to the public at noon:
Dress festive and bring your art to the park for display, or just come as you are!
Artagainstbrutality.blogspot.coml
( 604) 682-3269 extension 7400 to leave a message
News from the LibraryNews from the Library
New Books:
We have some great new books with interesting things to say about city and community building. Belltown Paradise/Making Their Own Plans (710.4) recounts how citizens of a
In Ecocities (307.12 ) Richard Register shows us how to re-build our cities using ecological principles.
In Shadow Cities (307.3 NEU) author Robert Neuwirth discovers worlds of vitality and creativity thriving in the face of government indifferences and hostility while living in four different squatter communities around the world.
Events:
Downtown Eastside Poets
Come to the Carnegie Theatre Saturday September 2 at 7:00 pm to listen to some poetry or offer up some of your own. Coffee will be served.
Book Giveaway
Every Friday afternoon at 2:30pm outside the Carnegie Centre on
Mark the Librarian
Addiction : It’s Not About DrugsAddiction : It’s Not About Drugs
Our neighbourhood is not the Downtown Eastside. Yet we have severe addiction problems of our own, and not just to drugs. What are people in the Britannia/Grandview area addicted to? What causes these addictions? What can we do about it? In this program we will review some new literature on addiction, discuss our own observations, and formulate practical solutions both on a neighbourhood and a personal level.
Course number: 44909.401BR
Mon 7:00-10:00 pm Sept 18-Dec 4
Britannia Community Centre
LRC B Alexander $40/10 sess
(No class Oct 9, Nov 13) Call 604-718 5800/5807/5809/5811 – 7 days a week)
Bruce Alexander and Terry Patten have been organizers for “A Community Aware” operating in the
Poverty Amidst Plenty
We can brighten the dark side to BC's economy.
By Marc Lee
Without any fanfare a report popped up on the web site of Human Resources and Social Development Canada this past month. No press release, no communications strategy at all. Just another statistical report on poverty in a society that thinks of itself as middle class.
But this is not just another statistical report on poverty (or "low income" as the government politely calls it). It is a whopper, especially for folks in B.C. The average poverty rate in B.C. was 22.5 per cent in 2002. But the rate is much higher for certain family types. Over 30 per cent of children were living in poverty, as were 58 per cent of single moms. For almost every group, B.C. poverty rates are higher than previous estimates, higher than the national average, and higher than every other province except
What is particularly interesting is the report's approach, which calculates a "market basket" to estimate what households minimally need to spend not to live in penury. This includes provisions for food, shelter, clothing, transportation and some other miscellaneous items.
For a family of four in
Reading between the poverty lines
First, some context for these new numbers. For many years, forces on the right argued that poverty rates in
The point is that welfare incomes fall below the poverty threshold no matter how they are measured. Including both provincial and federal benefits, a family of four on welfare in B.C. receives $16,951, about $3,000 a year less than the Fraser Institute's minimum.
BC in 2006
Should we care? This is 2006 and the numbers presented were for 2002. The economy has indeed improved since then. The labour market is steaming, with unemployment in the 4 to 5 per cent range. There are cranes everywhere. Housing prices make jaws drop on a daily basis. The Olympics . . . .
What the new report does is reinforce the accumulating evidence of a dark side to B.C.'s economy. B.C. had the highest overall poverty and child poverty rates in
To my eyes it seems there have never been more street people in Vancouver than this year, and they appear to be living not just on the streets, but in public parks, under bridges, on the Flats and in almost every part of town, east side or west side, downtown or the suburbs.
We know that what is in public view is only the tip of the iceberg. A count of homeless in Greater Vancouver turned up 2,174 homeless people in March 2005, up double from 2002, a large share of whom are long-term homeless. For every homeless person there are many more who are in inadequate housing or who are but a paycheque away from the street. And to (badly) paraphrase Yogi Berra, the housing market is so hot no one can afford a home anymore.
According to the Canadian Association of Food Banks, about 30,000 B.C. households used food banks in March 2005. A survey a few years ago found that about eight per cent of households went hungry at some point in the year.
The conclusion is inescapable: there is deep poverty in
Lights, camera, apathy
There are solutions, but they require the political will to be bold. We need to double the supply of affordable housing. We need to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour so that anyone working full-time and full-year is above the poverty line. We need to raise welfare rates by 50 per cent so that they are adequate to basic survival, and we should allow people to combine welfare and paid income in ways that are currently not permitted.
Mostly, we need to stop moralizing about the poorest and whether they are sufficiently deserving of help. The economics of doing the right thing are favourable: more money in the hands of the poorest goes right into children's bellies and benefits local merchants; we spend more on homeless people right now -- through health care, social services and the criminal justice systems -- than we would if we were to provide them with homes; and it makes more sense to pay for addiction services through our taxes than after the fact by replacing broken car windows.
As mentioned up front,
B.C. would do well to engage in a similar approach. It is not like money is the real problem. B.C. just finished the last fiscal year with a record $3.1 billion surplus, even after Carole Taylor took out close to a billion for public sector negotiating carrots. This tops the 2004/05 surplus of $2.6 billion. These surpluses go towards paying down B.C.'s debt, but our debt is already quite low -- relative to GDP, B.C.'s debt is the lowest among the provinces (except for oil-rich
This year's surplus will also be in the $2-3 billion range, though you will not get that from official estimates. Over the past four budgets, surpluses have been under-stated (or deficits over-stated) by a total of $8 billion. That is unhealthy for democratic debate in B.C., and should be a concern whether you are a right-wing tax cutter or someone like me who wants to use those available tax dollars to tackle some of these festering problems.
Tax cuts cannot solve our poverty problem. They will not build more affordable housing. They cannot help vulnerable children. Tax cuts only widen the gap between rich and poor.
Did I mention that the Olympics are coming? Think lots of visitors and lots of cameras. But what will the world see when the spotlight goes on?
Poverty in B.C & Everywhere in CanadaPoverty in B.C & Everywhere in
I am aware how things are in your Province (B.C.) and especially in
We also have a government here in
The A.I.S.H. Program has been raised only recently to $1.000 and even this is not enough. Same with our minimum wage, it has gone up to a little over $7 per hour but a person needs to make at least $10 per hours or have two jobs in order to be able to survive in our city. I personally had to fight for the past five years with the system here to get on A.I.S.H., and only recently our government decided that I deserved to be on it. (This was because I had to spend a week in the hospital due to internal bleeding caused by my stomach. It was the second time in two years this happened to me and this time around I almost didn't make it so they had no choice but to help me out.)
Ralph Klein and his government lie to the people in the rest of our country when they say that things are just fine here. There is a very serious situation with homelessness everywhere in our Province - from
I don't know where these governments and institutes get their numbers but what I see in
As I mentioned before, our last count for our homeless jumped from 2500 to a little over 3400, and those are only the ones who are living in the shelter system. This isn't counting those who are living in abandoned houses, cars, parks or along the river. As well, in excess of 50.000 households are at risk of becoming homeless. About 20% of our homeless are women while the majority are actually low income workers. We have a lot of work available here but we lack the social support for our low-income workers.
Rents are sky high. For example, most rooms in rooming houses are between $375 and $400 per month and these are not the best places; one bedrooms go anywhere from $575 to $700 and two bedrooms anywhere from $750 to about $900 in some places. I am one of those who has to pay $700 per month for a two bedroom but, as you can imagine, it is very difficult for me to survive because it doesn't leave much for food and other necessities of life.
This is why I and a lot of people in our country believe that we need to have a stronger voice for our less fortunate, we need to work together to address these issues and show our governments that we are no longer prepared to sit and watch things degrading across our country and say nothing. In solidarity with our brothers and sisters across
Daniel
Art for Art’s SakeArt for Art’s Sake
Jean Jean maid a machine
JoJo mad it go
But Art Art blew a fart
and blue the hole machine apart!
We are one
We do it in unison.
The Creator is creative
Change is painful for everyone
The Creator is an Artist
Irony! is that shit stinks; then it falls apart
and you’ve got stuff to make a rose garden!
Jessica
Attention All,Attention All,
I am seeking media contacts regarding a story about the security of the downtown east side. Seeing the lack of accountability by Primcorp and the Chinatown Merchants in their non-response to address the situation of August 6 2006, I am considering approaching the Media.
Since bringing this information forward I have been informed of several other incidents regarding Security mistreatment of residents in the dtes. This issue is partly being addressed in a program being developed by the Human Rights Coalition. More needs to be done and people need to know that this treatment is unacceptable. Perhaps the media is one powerful way beyond the Ministry of Solicitor General and its current investigation into these incidents that real change can happen.
Lesa Dee Tree
“The Price is not Right”“The Price is not Right”
Your next chances to see the skit will be at the Art Against Brutality Festival in Oppenheimer Park on September 16th and at the Womens’ Centre Street Party on September 17th. People who are working on the skit now include Bob Sarti, Joan Morelli, Sandra Pronteau, Lou Vodnak, Trish Garner, Colleen Carroll and Kelly.
If you know of an event where the skit could be performed, call Jean at 729-2380.
Welfare rate campaign having an impactWelfare rate campaign having an impact
An editorial in the
That editorial followed another one on August 24th, which said, “Social activists like Jean Swanson of the Carnegie Community Action Project argue persuasively that successive provincial governments have allowed basic welfare rates, which have not been raised in more than a decade, to erode to the point that people in real need have no choice but to beg for further assistance.”
The first editorial was a response to articles about people in the tourist industry complaining that panhandlers and drug users were affecting their businesses and
Meanwhile the Raise the Rates Campaign that CCAP works with has distributed almost 2000 flyers and even more leaflets around the province. They call for raising welfare rates 50%, ending the barriers that keep people in need from getting on welfare, allowing everyone on welfare to keep the first $500 they earn, and raising minimum wage to $10 and hour and ending the $6 an hour training wage.
In addition, last month the BC branch of the Dieticians of Canada joined the Raise the Rates campaign. It is a professional organization that puts out annual reports analyzing how much a healthy diet costs, and it sees that welfare is too low to support healthy eating.
Also, the City of
CCAP letter to editor of
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Re: Beggars, drug dealers kill convention business, Aug. 18
Fifteen years ago,
One, the provincial government has changed welfare rules so many people in desperate need can't get it. Two major reports say this is the biggest cause of homelessness.
Two, welfare rates are so low that people can't live on them. At $510 a month you need extra money to survive, let alone look for work, and the government won't let you keep any extra money you earn (another new rule from 2002).
Three, federal and provincial governments have ended the national housing program that built thousands of units of affordable housing across the country every year.
The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, Tourism Vancouver and the tourist businesses should be begging the provincial government to raise welfare rates, end the barriers that keep people in need from getting welfare and allow people on welfare to keep some of what they earn. They should be going after both senior governments for affordable housing.
You can attack impoverished people endlessly, but they still have to eat and sleep. It would be more humane and efficient to change the policies causing the problems.
--Jean Swanson
Carnegie Community Action Project
BC has second worst poverty rate in CanadaBC has second worst poverty rate in
The new way of measuring poverty is called the Market Basket Measure. It was developed by Human Resources and Social Development Canada. And it’s based on what it actually costs to buy certain items that people need to buy, like food, clothes, rent, transportation, childcare, etc. It even includes (are you listening, Claude Richmond?) things like telephones, furniture, rugs, sewing machines, lamps, toys, video rentals and bicycle repairs.
For the last few years, anti-poverty activists have been asking the BC government to justify how a person could actually survive on the pitifully small amount of money that is allowed for welfare. This Market Basket Measure shows that living a safe, healthy life on the BC welfare rate for a single person of $510 a month is virtually impossible.
The government report, called “Low Income in
The report also shows, to no one’s surprise, that single parents, people with physical and mental disabilities, immigrants and Aboriginal People are more likely to be poor.
The report is just one more piece of evidence, in a huge list, of why it’s time for the BC government to raise welfare rates and minimum wage.
Discredited “Broken windows” theoryDiscredited “Broken windows” theory means cracking down on the poor
“Broken windows” is a discredited theory that has helped increase the number of people in US jails from under 200,000 in 1970 to about 2 million in 2000 according to Bernard Harcourt, a
The “broken windows” theory comes from an article in the Atlantic Monthly in the early 1980s written by George L. Kelling and James Wilson. They said “One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, so breaking more windows costs nothing.” Their idea was that if neighbourhoods didn’t deal with minor disorder, they would soon have a lot of major crimes.
According to the
According to Harcourt, the “broken windows” theory results in numerous arrests for minor offences and discriminates against people who are “dark, young, and poor.” Besides that, it doesn’t even reduce serious crime.
The broken windows theory boils down to harassing the poor so you can be seen to be doing something without fixing the real cause of poverty: wrecked welfare and housing systems and low wages.
Instead of enforcing a “broken windows” policy, our governments should be fixing broken welfare, EI and housing.
The Columbia Hotel court case--an urban mythThe Columbia Hotel court case--an urban myth
A few months ago CCAP asked David Mossop, a lawyer with Community Legal Assistance to look into the court case to see if it really is a good excuse for not using the bylaw. But Mossop couldn’t find the decision or any record of the court case. Beth Davies, our Carnegie Librarian, found media articles about the city planning to do repair work on the Columbia Hotel. In April, 1990 the city hired a contractor to do $253,000 worth of work at the
Then, last month, CCAP learned that the court case is an urban myth. The city had looked for the court case records and found nothing. It also checked financial records and found that the
Then I talked to our Member of Parliament, Libby Davies, who was on city council in 1990. Libby said she could remember her husband, Councilor Bruce Eriksen, pushing council to do the repair work at the
So at this point it looks like there was no Columbia Hotel court case, and the city has no good reason for not enforcing section 23.8 of the Standards of Maintenance bylaw which allows it to do repairs and bill hotel owners for the work.
–Jean Swanson
American Hotel threatened with closureAmerican Hotel threatened with closure
The relentless assault on low-income housing in
“This is beginning to look more and more like Expo 86,” said David Eby, lawyer for Pivot Legal Society. “The eviction notices are illegal, but the process for appeals under the Residential Tenancy Act is so difficult that most tenants will probably get kicked out nevertheless.”
The reason given by the American Hotel on the eviction notices for evicting all the tenants is that renovations they are planning cannot occur with tenants in the building. However, no City permits have been obtained, a requirement before evicting a tenant to make renovations under the Residential Tenancy Act. In addition, the forms used were invalid. When the representative of the American Hotel was advised of this fact, he told lawyer David Eby: “I don’t care. I’m going to change the locks at the end of September anyway.
Under the Residential Tenancy Act, a tenant who wishes to appeal an illegal eviction notice must go to
“The temptation for owners of SRO hotels to find ways to evict their tenants and make a quick dollar is only gong to increase as the Olympics approaches,” said Eby. “If the City of
The impending closure of the American Hotel (37 units) by the owners of that building follows the slow-motion closure of the Lucky Lodge (61 tenants as of July, 2006) by the City and the Province where 9 units are now vacant due to welfare’s new policy to refuse to issue rents to prospective tenants of that building. These closures in progress follow the dramatic closures of the Burns Block hotel (18 units) and the Pender Hotel (36 units) in March, 2006, and the closure of the Marble Arch hotel (148 units) and St. Helen’s hotel (100 units) to low income tenants through renovations and rent increases.
