April 15, 2013, carnegie newsletter

FREE. Do not pay for this paper.

CRUNCH

•

)...,

Ca rneg1e G N~\N_§_L ETTER

·· ·"· -

APRIL 15, 2013

:::::::::~~~:·.. www.carnnews.org

VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION WEEK

Lti~WIE

li@ lUE!Ff fiJ!j~~

f1JN~T@N/£@J

W@Jr£

0

.........

-

_%...-

.........._ - -·

-

-

~--

-

--.

-~

-

HOORAY FOR VOLUNTEERS

the universe being someone's private property. The endless chant of these same financial boneheads is "There Is No Alternative." Buslzwa Ed .]

Lawyers practice asking questions in such a way that almost any answer will make their case, or at least weaken their opponent's case in court. Such was the case when a member of Carnegie's board of directors was on the radio, repeatedly telling the host that the Carnegie Community Action Project was not the organising force for the pickets at a new and pricedout-of-reach restaurant.

"Carnegie patrons were seen there; members/staff of CCAP were photographed there; the CCAP website has words of support, even listing picketing as being something residents could participate in!!"

Fraser Stuart, erstwhile member and resident of our illustrious 'hood, called in. He said, "I am a volunteer APRIL 14-20, 2013 ~ for CCAP; a member of the Carnegie Community Centre Association Board of Directors; have a card (Look for Event Brochure Monday, April 1) ~ that works for the Vancouver Public Library, am a This week is an opportunity for ALL volunteers to past member of the Montreal Musicians [something] be applauded for their many contributions and posi"' I.. [and a few more obscure associations]. That does tive affects you have on our Community! It's to rec~ not make any of them responsible for the pickets at ognize and celebrate your profound desire to assist in Pidgin Restaurant." [Not a direct quote but you get multiple capacities for the Carnegie Community the idea.] throughout the year.

Individuals in the Downtown Eastside mostly gladly Volunteer Dinner volunteer their time and energy to have a say and to Wednesday April I J th, 4:30pm, Carnegie Theatre change things in a good way for the majority of their Volunteer Recognition Party+ Awards Celebration friends and neighbours. But it's only when such Friday, April 191h, 4:00pm in the Theatre actions and expressed opinions go against the claimed .. .please pick up dinner and party tickets in the operating manipulations of naked capitalism that ~ Volunteer Program Office. everything that even hints of alternative ways is Every year there's a Volunteer of the Year selected. damned as "Marxist' . .'anti-business'. .'crazy' & 'stupid. He or she will have met a high standard of performFor those questioning the motives of picketers outside ance consistently throughout the year. It is always a PiDGin Restaurant, try actually thinking instead of very tough decision because there are so many volstopping and just adopting someone's stereotype. unteers deserving of recognition. At this Celebration Being against the encroachment of high-end businthe Volunteer of the Year will be announced for the esses is not being opposed to a ll bus iness. It's easy first time, plus the names of four other volunteers for for the expensive, exclusive places to hide behind special merit recognition. ~ rhetoric, using pat phrases like "just trying to "help" This party is for YOU -IT WON'T BE ANY FUN ~ to lull people into dull indifference and narrowWITHOUT YOU . .. food, entertainment, your favorminded ditto-ing, but the Myth vs Reality is pretty ite T-shirt of the year, door prizes and more. Please ~ simple. Boneheads like Province columnist Mark pick up your ticket in the Vol. office. ~ Hasiuk and their ilk are too eager to get paid .. than Directly following the Recognition Party will be a ~~ tell the truth . And what really messes up such rightDAK{l, 7-lOpm in appreciation of our wonderful ~ wing ideologues (read rednecks) is that Foundations volunteers! Come and join the fun! and granting bodies read, learn and approve funding for such expansive activities and exploring actual alternatives to the capitalist dream of everything in xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx~

VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION WEEK

~

~~g

g

Abso/ule/JIreryone Welcome!

~

Stephen BelKin, Local Artist will have ChalK 'PaStels on display Starting May 1st, 2013 Carnegie's 3rd floor Art Gallery This we have now is not imagination, This is not grief or joy.

Not a judging state, or an elation, or sadness These come and go.

This is the presence that doesn' t.

Videha

AF~EE Pretttiere:

The ltt~t~ates Are Ruttttittg the Asylu~tt FAREWELL TO MARLENE GEORGE THURSDAY, APRIL 25,2013 2:30- 4:00pm Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main Street Marlene has been the Seniors Programmer in Carnegie for over a decade, I think. Actually I don ' t have much biographical detail so can share only a tip don' t mess with her unless you like laughing. All her poignant and powerful contributions to the people and communities of the Downtown Eastside and beyond will have to be filled in by you.

The next issue of the Carnegie Newsletter will be out on Wednesday, May 1st. This is a call for everyone who knows Marlene - as a person, as staff at Carnegie, as a force in the neighbourhood - to write stuff down and get it into me by Monday, April 291h before noon. Let's fill the next issue of the Newsletter with something that Marlene can take with her to read and enjoy. Photographs and art are welcome!

PRT

A docu~etrlary about the • transfo~ed

1

~i"EW~.i-~-..

~~1

rr-

free

4'o0.

)=' )

Cat1ada s \ __ ; 1 psychiatric , -~f-¡f .-(/) lattdscape. ..t:O'(jnae<iW Founded in 1971 as a peer support attd advocacy group- Yattcower's MPA was a radical respOttse to the lhttitations of tne 1\tental health syste~ of the times.

This ~5 1ttinute documetttary was directed by foottding tttetttbers of the orgattizatiott attd created by historyoftttadttess.ca Joit1 us at the Carnegie Theatre on Saturday May 11th for free filttt screettings at .fpw. attd 6p!M. First sereettit1g to be followed by a patteJ dlscussfott.

-

Hello From the LibrarY! First of all, hearty congratulations to James McMath, who won our draw for 2 ti ckets to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre to see Billy E lliot: T he Musical, featuring music by Elton Joh n. James, we hope you and your friend enjoyed it. We will occasionally have other prize draws in the library, so everyone, be sure to d rop in from time to time.

T hanks again to Carnegie patrons for your understanding and cooperation, as we get used to our new checkout desk and sec urity gates. We appreciate that you are willing to come back into the library to re-do your check-out if the gates have " beeped" on you.

Here is a selection of new books we've added lately: Drugs- without the hot air I by David Nutt.

Information is available about drug policy, but often it is contained in densely w ritten reports that are not at all fu n to read. But now, here is an exception- a very engaging, readable account of drug and alcohol polic ies from an evidence-based perspective. It covers public health, individual risks, taxpayer costs and harm reduction. The informatio n is mainly fro m the U.K., but the author illuminates many issues that are

similar here in Canada.

R ebel without a crew I by Robert Rodriguez Th is is a true life story of Robert Rodriguez, director ofEI Mariachi and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. It describes how a 23-year-old filmmaker with just $7000 became a major player in the Hollywood fi lm industry. In fact, much of the money he raised for filmmaking was from participating in various medical tests and trials in Texas (and please note, I'm not recommending anyone else follow this path, I'm just saying that's what he did). While d irecting, Rodriguez used creativity, not cash, to solve a myriad of filmmaking problems. He passes on some of these low-budget tips in the section called The Ten-Minute Film School. Although this is an o lder book from the 1990's, it's new to the library and the story is timeless.

The Buddha walks into a bar I Lodro Rinzler Rinzler is a meditation practitioner and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. As the author's introduction says: This isn't your grandmother 's book on meditation. It's for people who might want a beer o nce in awhile, who get frustrated with friends, family o r co-workers, and otherwise have messy corners in the ir lives. That's a lot of us, I think. You don't have to be Buddhi~ to get into this book. You just need to have lived a little and be willing to examine your li fe from some different points of view.

Stunned by Grief: re-mapping your life when loss changes everything I by Judy Brizendine This book is easy to use, practical, and equally effective whether you zero in just on key sections that are significant to you, or if you read it through cover to cover. It's conversational and easy to read, without be ing too fluffy. The author is decided ly Christian in her perspective; if you the reader are not Christian, the book is still useful and enlightening.

50 Photographers you should know This is just one of the "you should know" series of books about art and artists that we've received lately.

Some of the others include 50 Women Artists You Should Know and 50 American Artists You Should Know . The books in this series contain lots of illustrations combined with useful background information, and, unlike many other nice art books, they do not weigh 20 pounds!

Stephanie (Carnegie Librarian)

complaint of an advocate

sad, lord tired and worn and sick so sick of power politics of turf wars of meetings and committees and subcommittees sick of everything that loses focus because every deception every agenda every meeting every resentment every control grab every move for the money slams down hardest on the most wretched human beings in north america who are suffering and dying in the streets and alleys and shit-hole hotels of the downtown eastside all the pettiness and ambition slams directly down on those who are most afflicted by poverty and illness addiction and discrimination homelessness and demonizing propaganda so, lord I want to quit I want to stop I want to say tuck it it's too fucking hard 1 am old and beat and hurt like a bastard I want to sit beneath a tree a dog beside me the ocean in front of me and write an occasional haiku about a passing cloud I feel like hell my life is a mess I can't sleep worth a damn my health is shot 1 keep going by consuming .. caffeine and sugar and nicotine and asp1nns I have no paid job and no resources to deal with all this shit

the agencies the bureaucracies the maneuvering for advantage all the greed and fear the loss of focus but I remember (and this is why memory is such a liability to self-interest) 1 remember her eyes glistening with tears in the lobby of the pacific cinematheque theatre after the showing of her documentary

tu as erie I let me flO a long beaulifullove poem to her daughter a heroin addict and prostitute murdered in montreal her film also a plea a challenge to transcend the senseless and bankrupt slaughter f the war on drugs so yeah today when I feel like shit and want to quit â&#x20AC;˘ I see her eyes glistening with tears after I held up for her that day's vancouver sun newspaper with the headline western wortd's worst hiv/aids epidemic among drug users in the downtown eastside ¡she said don't stop fighting she looked directly into my eyes and said don't stop fighting and today when the fight seems too fierce to deal with when it feels like it's killing me I remember her eyes 1 hear her words and I remember this junkie in the downtown eastside who has aids and who came up to me recently after our dopefiend discussion meeting

where we discussed fighting towards a life-saving and enlightened place he'd been very articulate during the meeting he understands the situation in his flesh in his misery in his anger he understands how other people hate him and wish he'd just go away somewhere out of sight and die he said to me you know how cynical I am about anything good happening for us but this meeting today it gives me a ray of hope and I see his face illuminated for a moment with that most alien and elusive expression hope today when I feel hopeless when the odds are too long the deck stacked against the clock running out and who the tuck am I anyway? a junkie myself a fucking mental case surviving on social assistance straight just a few years and ripped again with dopefiend cravings for pain relief shit sitting in meetings with people paid to be there and 1pass up the fucking sandwich lines to sit and listen to them and get frustrated and pissed -off and hungry and depressed shit and then I see her eyes and hear her voice and see on his anguished face a ray of hope and then I walk

past the walton and the patricia hotels within a block of each other in the downtown eastside and see the first names of my father and mother both of whom died homeless and broke my father full of drugs and booze when he hanged himself in jail and my mother wracked by drug addiction and mental illness whose friends at the end were crackheads and thieves walton and patricia and remember how my parents were jailed and scapegoated but I still want to say fuck it I don't have to do this I'm not strung-out now I've gotten a miracle pass to a new life why waste it down here in this mess of shit and trouble where I have spent nearly all of my fucking life I could hustle something better than stretching between the gutter with the scum and meeting rooms with lying backstabbing sleight-of-hand bureaucratic hustlers yeah I remember my father got rid of all our furniture except for the beds because he said furniture was too middleclass so no I'm not too happy with all this manipulating glad-ass convivial crap dehumanizing me even further but I remember reading about the first dirt-poor black man sprung from an alabama death row for a murder he didn't commit sprung largely through the intense and tenacious efforts of a young black lawyer

with a graduate degree from harvard law who could've written his own ticket to corporation law firms coast to coast but chose to defend for almost nothing the baddest and most undeserving of poor people and this lawyer defines the role of an advocate by telling a bible story when jesus came upon some men fixing to stone to death a woman who violated their morality and jesus told them to let the man who never tucked up throw the first stone and the men became ashamed of themselves dropped their stones and walked on home but this young black lawyer says that kind of thing ouldn't work today because people today not only don't become ashamed of themselves but are only too eager to decide .who Vvilllive ard v.ro wll d~ and so an advocate today says the lawyer an advocate today must be

a stone catcher catching stones with your nerves urheart your skin your life catching stones intended for those like the western world's worst for those like my father and mother today when I don't feel I can take another moment of it when I don't want to take anymore of it when I think I must be a complete fool to go through another day of it when today hits me so goddamned hard then the fight that is in my blood the ray of hope that is in my soul the high threshold for pain burned

my nones remembers despite myself who I am and where I stand when the stones are being thrown who I am and where I stand when the stones are being thrown Bud Osborn

IntO

•

• •

•

• • •

/ 1 /

lvl~

£r?r~ ~rr .

7

My Revolutionary Mother

In 1he now

Only in her eig hties the old doll's gettin' radicalised wonders why the homeless are the enem the vets we send to their deaths now live under bridges and beg for food & mercy getting very little of both and the homeless everywhere hide just like in combat shellshocked and punch drunk better tell the lieutenant getti ng so damn hard to tell just who the enemy really is

•

~.....-~.....

' •

• tim in the street

-

In the now that's where it's at the brill iant pristine moment cherish the moment you have or you can lose sight of the beauty and resistance how powerful al l for one is the power behind you is so very essential each breath is a delicate prayer of LIFE

in the pouring cold rain Nora Kay ;n front of 1 east hastings tim curses like a naked prophet like isaiah in the streets of jerusalem • his shirt is wide open his chest is bare in the crosswalk the light is green but ask anyone who drives through here if there are not angry skirmishes and resistance a fight to the death between pedestrian residents and driver invaders and david ley says the new trade and convention centre will at least douhle the volume of traffic but tim is an accomplished opponent and doesn't just have the cars blocked he has them lined up and passive and keeps them with his fierce prescence and roaring voice at a respectful distance from him and a moment later tim's in the room he doesn't look like a drop of rain has landed on him ~ and for awhile is quiet and still this poet and beat activist against powers of darkness

•

.'

/~

If there is a tomorrow make it a kinder day maybe one without tears ifthere is a fut ure can it finally be friend ly? or it just more of blood and gore if there is truth out there who will tell it?

TZM

•

•

'

'

\

• •

\

•

'

Bud Osborn

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)

Newsletter Read CCAP reports: http://cca vancouver.word ress.com

A ril15, 2013

Developer hungry for property on the Bottle Depot block City Council has approved a plan

by Stephen Lippman to renovate the building at 17-77 E. Hastings into 19 tiny apartments that will rent for around $700 a month. Although the building is empty the adjoining Persepolis hotel is not and, while council was anxious to approve the developer plan to upscale the block, 路 they were not so quick to enact regulations to protect low-renting SRO hotels from gentrification. .I':

The building is the old BC Collateral Sign at protest against Lippman's American Building. The upstairs has been lzotel gentrification, September 2010 empty for decades. In this case, the Stephen Lippman owns six other city is requiring that at least 5 of the gentrifying buildings in the Downtown units in this elevator-less building be for Eastside that we know of, including: the seniors. This qualification will not cost the York Hotel, Lotus Hotel , Golden Crown, developer anything because seniors may the American, the Picadilly and Alexander be able to afford $700 a month if they take Court.

He has also made millions advantage of the SAFER rent supplement speculating on commercial properties program. including the string of storefronts across In 20 years the building's owner will be from Woodward's and the redevelopment able to apply to turn the apartments into of Save On Meats, which he sold to real condos.

1

estate giant Anthem Properties in early 2013. In the hotels he buys he usually renovates buildings slightly and raises rates so that people on welfare, disability and pensions can't afford them.

The Carnegie Community Action Project is afraid that the project will contribute to gentrification of the area, increasing property values, and rents in nearby hotels and stores. When this happens low-income people get pushed out of hotel rooms by high rents or have to stay and have very little left for food and necessities.

Lippman 's housing projects also usually come with boutique restaurants at the street level , changing the feel of the street and driving up storefront rents so that lowincome serving businesses can't afford to be there anymore.

the biggest danger is the displacement of the low-income community dominated public space on the sidewalk. It is no secret that the City hopes to break up and displace the Bottle Depot social space and vending spot. T he Bottle Depot itself is scheduled to move in the next year or so, to be replaced by a new rental apartment and social housing development currently under rezoning application.

With the entire welfare cheque at $610 a month, people on welfare cannot hope to afford $700 a month for rent. The story is getting familiar. Council has once again approved a housing project in the Downtown Eastside for higher income people and the one who will really benefit is the real estate developer who has already made millions off our community. ~JS

In the context of the Bottle Depot block

March to BC Housing protesting Lippman s attempt to buy Wonder & Palace hotels. June 2012

2

Walk for welfare justice, from west side to east The weather shone on the Raise the Rates' Walk for Welfare Justice today, March 27.

Over 75 people joined at least part of the 14.5 kilometre walk across Vancouver.

horns in s upport or said well done to us on the streets.

The journey started with over 40 people at a Rally at the Premier of BC, Christy Clark's office in Point Grey. We then walked along Broadway to Commercial Drive, up Victoria Drive and along Kingsway and then to Joyce. The walk

•

Along the way we chanted:

• •

•

Tax the rich to feed the poor - raise welfare now Mend the social safety net - Raise welfare rates to!

Welfare rights are workers rights!

M igrant rights are workers rights

.. ;,~

I

~~·~..,.-.... {' · ~

Vicloria Bull outside Christy Clark:~ office at the beginning of the Walk for Welfare

ended with a rally of over 50 people at the Leader of the Opposition, Adrian Dix 's office. Along the way there were quick soap box rallies at several main intersections. Thousands of flyers were given out and many people honked their

At the all the rallies people spoke movingly about the harm that pove11y causes people, the struggles of surviving on $610 a month, of living on an inadequate diet and the struggles of raising children. Women are forced into survival 3

sex work. People end up in poverty and on welfare because of misfmtune - loss of their job, serious injury, physical and mental ill-health and escaping violence and abuse. Most people in , BC live only a couple ~:" of pay cheques away f' from poverty.

Homeless Dave at the Walk for Welfare "I haven't walked "We need a welfare increase so we don't this far in as long as I can remember but I'm a grandmother & have to sell sex to survive" stated LuLu B. I did it to raise welfare rate." said Victoria Harold Lavender explained that "the Bull. welfare system is punitive and that's not GwinGadlthAmetGoot (Herb Varley) just. We're here against inequality and for remembered that "When I lost my job I had justice." to wait 5 weeks for welfare so I lost all my At each office Raise the Rates handed a savings & lost my home before welfare letter to Christy Clark's office and Adrian would help me. Need to end the 5 week Dix. It pointed out that people cannot wait so people don't become homeless." 路-g~live a healthy life on f~~~ 路 路.welfare. The Dietitians of Canada in their report, Cost of Eating in BC, 2011, point out __.-that people on welfare would have to spend almost every cent they receive on food and still would not have a . healthy basic diet. This assumes they spend nothing on clothing, 4

Fraser Stuart at the Walk for Welfare

looking for work or keeping clean. A single person on welfare really only has $26 a week for food and even a trained dietitian or chef cannot make the money stretch.

The BC government decides how many people willU ve in poverty by the decisions the MLAs make about welfare rates, minimum wage and low paid work. How can they justify a disability rate of $906 a month while Alberta has a rate of $ 1588 a month?

Poverty costs BC at least $8 billion a year, with over $ 1 billion in health costs alone. A strategy to end poverty would cost around $4 billion a year, so ending poverty in BC would save $4 billion a year. Yet politicians claim they cannot afford to end poverty really we au cannot afford them not to act.

I

It is clear that most of the people of BC want action on poverty and with good reason.

Compared to the rest of Canada, BC has the worst poverty, the worst inequality and has had the worst or 2nd worst record on child pove1ty for a decade. A recent opinion poll commissioned

by the BC Healthy L iving Alliance found that 78% of people support a provincial poverty reduction strategy and 75% support adjusting income assistance rates to account for the real cost of a nutritious diet and real market rental rates.

Several major city councils, including Victoria, Vancouver and Surrey have passed resolutions calling for action on poverty including the province to raise welfare rates.

Rai se the Rates challenged both leaders to show real 路 leadership and act to raise welfare and end poverty in BC. - Raise the Rates news release

What happened to he Social Safety Net

5

Tell Strathcona BIA to end their contract with private security companies Volunteers at the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) have asked the Strathcona Business Improvement Association (BIA) to hire the Mi ssion Possible sec urity and outreach service instead of CSC Security.

The CCAP volunteers met with Mission Possible in January and with Joji Kumagai, Executive Director of the BIA, and with a committee of the BIA in February and March.

At the two meetings with the BIA on March 8 and March 21 . Darcie Bennett, Campaigns Director with Pivot Legal f

I .

. ;

•

~~

~

·!

I

.

.J

•I _ )

~f

At the meetings with Kumagai and the BJA , one local resident told about being told to " move on" by esc when he was standing in front of the building he lives in getting his keys out. He told of CSC tell-

,... ...-r.

<~:' /C~:~IJ

; 1 "\ :J;... J, ...,.:~

..

tB:.;

•J 'Iii/ t.•·<er

Society, told the group that Pivot has filed a complaint about esc security with the BIA and the provicial regulator. The complaint outlined problem behaviour by esc guards including tellin g women to ·'move along", taking pictures of women, and talking to them in an intimidating way. Private security guards have no more power than regular citizens when on public property.

In~

<)!ilPP:)! I• "ilj)'- :..

:· :·:

c•: ...::';·:•• ~:~~: ~';;~.':';.....~:-.,~·f:'

Lu Lu B speaking about the displacement of sex workers by private security guards at the site of the coming Wall condo project at 955 E Hastings, fall 2012

6

ing some Indigenous women under an awning in the pouring rain to "move along."

A woman said CSC staff take pictures of sex workers with their phone cameras, and make degrading remarks to sex workers.

Another woman said "We hope a car with a uniformed person has a duty to protect us too."

"Can you train people you hire about the culture in our community so they don't say, ' there's a dirty whore' and move her along?" asked another woman.

Brian Postlewaite of Mission Possible told the CCAP volunteers on Jan. 25 that their security service trains local Downtown

Eastside workers who already know the community. They hand out clean needles and refer people to services. They don 't te.ll people to "move along" and have strict policies against abusive language and disrespectful manners. As a condition of support from the CCAP volunteers Postlewaite agreed to have an independent third party complaint resolution process if hlred by the Strathcona BIA. The BIA hasn't decided yet who to hire.

-JS

'

~rivate. s~curity rightS card·· C:~m.ittg soo~.· ·~. k~~p an .eye out . .

Pivot Legal for a new rignts'r;diarcf ft:om ' -:' - society,. whic4 is working with CCAP for res~dy.(lts' rights agairise'private sepurity gua[d driven displacement. · ~(

<

' •

-:"":

'

' t'

'{~

Prioritize seismic upgrades to Lord Strathcona Elementary School

>

'

' -

-- - ;

Clir+ & deliver to CCAP office

Protect our school children! We have multiple, heritage buildings that pose a greater risk than other BC schools. The government is going to have to allocate more money to fix this school, but that shouldn't mean that our school should be last when it's been designated the highest risk. It shouldn 't mean that our school should have to spend more money and time than other schools on repetitive cost-saving project reviews .

It 's time to do the right thing, and get a project agreement in place for Lord Strathcona Elementary so that our school can be made safe for the 560 children it houses. http://www.vsb .be .calstrathcona-elementary -school-renewal-project Name: __________________ Address: ______________________________ Email: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ Signature: ---------------------------

7

MISSING PLAQUE REWARD

After a three-year negotiation with City Hall Carnegie Community Action Project and the Vancouve r District Labour Council finally got twelve historic plaques put up around the East Side tommemorating our histories of community resistance. The historic plaques were launched with a news conference in M arch and city engineers put them all up on poles. But...

One plaque, commemorating the death of Olaf Solheim and the struggle against the Expo ' 86 SRO hotel displacement, went missing within the first few hours of it going up outside the Patricia Hotel. The owner of the Patricia is the same person who evicted Olaf in 1986.

The City is so far refusing to pay for a replacement so CCAP is posting a reward for the plaque's recovery.

Vancity

vancrJuver foundation

Support for this project does not necessarily imply Vancity or Vancouver Foundation's endorsement of the findin or contents of this newsletter

8

D l JO O

Gastown

f

~ .-.-,

l

cordovOa ~

"'

I

~~

East Pender

~~~

_

Chinatown

-St~na

~

I . C ntre Occupation

0

~~~~:~~im:r Park-Cordova@Dunlevy

0 0

Battle For Ballantyne Pier Oppenheimer Park-Cordova@Dunlevy . .

f Frank Rogers

~~~e~~~~:~~r ~ark-Cordova@Dunlevy

0· G Japanhe~e ;~ar~Cordova@Dunlevy

. for Free Speech Soapbox VIctory @Dunlevy Oppenheimer Park-Cordova

•

m

& Mill Union

Oppen e1me

b · · al workers A on g Oppenheimer !_a

I~ P§.!rkJS:-~Cc\:!.or~d~ov~a~@:..=D=u""'n_le_vy

SOLEMN Like not picking up a hitchhiker within a mile of City Hall or an asylum for the criminally insane, did you ever learn to laugh with everyone else at yourself.. I was taught to underachieve and always take the blame, that Disruptive Audience Dispersal Choir somehow became my hallucinary but never there when you need them friends. My real friends the SatanGodiceCreamFamily are trying to save the Downtown Eastside before Snooty Qween Christy Clark chews and gnaws down to the bark of the growing tree family of o ur DTES - o r she pays good money to make others say they're her friends, the promising scale of life once again lets us down open your mouth and your opinions may never be heard again - the filthy rich are taking our little piece of earth away, the universe is actually getting smaller it's the Gregors and Furlongs and Dixes with sewage for brains I've never heard lies and stories more tall; now is this just a rich man's game o r can the rest of humanity play??

I hear buildings are having sex with each other will the older one be asking the other one 'will you still inspect me in the morning?' Unexceptional breeding makes no waves, millions of million-dollar condos means more work for the slaves all the land destroyers ask is for advance warning, like owning your own star - it only takes 1250 years to get there!

Now if everyone who's ever been ripped off by scum like that were to form a human chain people in space

could see us including those who have fallen down and died, like nuclear ocean fishing with human radiation as bait if you read MobyDyck Part 2 you'll know every living organism has met their fate Saint Minus told me and he has not or ever will tell me a lie- he couldn't if he tried Our galaxy I a whorehouse your god is a pimp his political cohorts dole out party favours attached by so many strings just the stench alone is the first hint let alone the clouds spitting dogs and cats the intention is to exterminate the worthless, now what gives you the right!? Like being in league with The Breakfast Club' Satan and other questionable influences this post-modern ruin decor fits you and me to eve~ ryone else's delight, the nights are for the briefest of moments when your mind can and just may s tep over that cliff you've dreamed of since birth .. . speaking of cliffs and mountains and waterfalls and soon-to-be a lcohol fou ntains (isn't OJ Simpson still searching every golf course (and bed room)?) for the killer??

We know he did it but he is willing to 'search' this earth like Solomon and his mines have been left so far behind I think he was the last in that line that can be seen from space; if there is death after life followed by more death will we have been cheated twice and suffer more we are and have never were a solemn nor a compassionate race.

By ROBERT McGILLIVRAY CHINA SURF

this dream of us living under the sea the surf I remember the clear water I remember the dream I remember the surf Hara

I ROSE

/

the rose pricks the palm of my hand I bleed the rose you gave 路 e a blood ruby but I bleed my love for you and I bleed Hara

FRED JOHN

The Privilege of Yoga Friday, April26, 7:00pm If the practice of yoga has had value for you, but the politics of yoga haven't: join us in a critique of the racism, patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, ableism and heteronormativity of Western-yoga-culture. And participate in a conversation about how yoga can be a tool for radically re-embodied social change. Featuring a panel of local yoga teachers and practitioners, and all of the wisdom and experience that you bring. Presented by Spirited Social Change.

Free; donations welcome

Founded by the Vancouver Coastal Authority, Heyway-noqui serves the alcoholic, drug dependent and children of alcoholics. It has been in existence since 1989 and has been located in its beautiful offices since 2004. It's near the Skytrain at Commercial Dr Its name means Helping Families Together. It is a powerful place to turn for First Nations and Metis to work through these issues such as drug and alcohil dependency.

Likeable at first glance, Fred known as Freddy to family and friends and is the Outpatient alcohol and drug counsellor. Fred is certified by the Federal government. One perceives he has a good sense of humor and peaceful J:lisposition. He means the physical and spiritual needs of his clients. Fred does workshops, public schools and preschool children. Others learn by word of mouth. "l find it easier to communicate with Indians," he said. "That is why I heal them better. They say I do a good job to help them deal with their addictions and crisis/ suicidal relapses from their addictions.

Other issues include the pain of residential schools . ."Fred continued, "Like many, 1 was removed from my parents and put into a foster home. I survived because I had good directions from elders both white and native." Fred teaches power drum mi ng every Tuesday evening. It touches and teaches the spirits of people.

This organization offers services for the public which are listed for participation: Out-patient c-Counselling Services, Children's Counselling, Culturally Based Educational and Therapeutic Groups, Prevention Outreach Services and Educational Workshops, Pre-Care Assessment &Referral , Follow-Up, And After-Care Services.

By Nancy M. MacLean

Not a TeJWJ of En&twnent

Lucky You Ain't Dead Yet See Mr Lucky over there just don't get it despite the continuous whine Lucky's got legs nuffto walk to pick up his free drugs nuff to get around up and down even tho he looks like a clown see all these po' folk strugglin up the strip barely enough steam to make the trip being blind don' t help much when you get by with just touch but Mr Lucky' ll chase you down the block 'cause he just got to talk only it's more of a squawk like a parrot but not pretty in fact the whole story sounds kinda shitty On and On the whining never stops till the pin drops someone better Call the cops Mr Lucky needs to answer Just one question What' re ya doin' still alive what kinda suit you wanna be dressed in? when we finally close the door a nd won't have to listen to LUCKY's LAMENT no more "

John~

Health Tips for Lepers

Some neighbourhoods you' d never hear the honest to God absolute Truth but down here in the ' hood we got more truth than most people can hand le or wanna hear the truth being something some of us stay clear of, don't go near 'cause they just can't handle it case in point try yelling out RAT see how many big boys get real nervous o r yell GOOF (there's another big word) secretly knowi g it's referring to them how as a kid always bullied your skin disorder gave 'em all ammo you couldn't be a good sport about it so they fired your ass outta there, didn' t they? so you bullied ' em all to make up for the Rat you secretly always were and Goof, well, you made that name all yer own now yo u bristle at what you can't deny ANON

~

Here in the dumpground of the unwanted. , ' we are free to starve, to go to jail [regularly] to live out our little fantasies a (\ent\st where neurotic trumps psychotic and we play-act who it was ~antec\ to -oe nc\ we started out to be . • ~ou a\~a'jS to -no'f..e arou oot 'e~ -out \ ~ ; teet \" 'jou "' (\on' t vo\~: ~out'n v:ne~n.ac¥..\ec\ ~'1 s o~eone . tne cna\t' \' \\ £eehn'B s ec\ ,n ut\ 'jor , t (\ra~ 5tra'Q\l t\ng, to 'n ~an "'O can t no ers ~l' \te art teacb no can' t ~r '1 lever) ~r\ters ,>.~ tn\n'E> to sa: ve no anc\ ~a tbe'i sa'j \rror a \\'f..e '1 ~¥.. \n tne ~ t f,ng,ers \o

u 'Qo\t\

,

•\ore jO Goc\ sa'f..eS anc\ £or n.anc\5 · .••asb 'jour . \ac\d1 Y" ?,ons

DTES GET OUT THE VOTE ID BC Identity Card

Membership card

Prescriotion bottle

Inhaler

Bank card

OTHER ACCEPTABLE FORMS OF IDENTIFICATION Government-issued Identity Documents Voter registration card; BC Care Card, birth certificate, Social Insurance Card, BC 10 Card, passport, citizenship document/certificate, Old Age Security Identification Card, Canadian Forces identification, Firearm Acquisition Certificate, Firearm Possession and Acquisition Licence, Veterans Affairs Canada Health Care Identification Card, Correctional Service Canada Offender Identification Card, Status Card Other Government-issued Documents Property tax assessment, income tax assessment notice, government cheque, government cheque stub, statement of employment insurance benefits paid, Canada Child Tax Benefit Statement, statement of Canada Pension Plan benefits, statement of Old ~ge Security 路 School/college/university-issued Documents Admissions letter, report card, transcript, residence ~cceptance , tuition/fees statement, student card Other DQcuments Prescription pill bottle; inhaler, utility bill, Provincial Where to Vote card , bank/credit card or statement, residential lease/mortgage statement, insurance statement, public transportation pass, membership card, hospital bracelet/document, personal cheque 路

Thursday, April 18th, lpm-3pm

Register to Vote AT

Union Gospel Mission 601 East Hastings Street

~~~ Raise welfare rates. End Poverty I see those two statements on posters all over the DTES, and I'm in complete agreement with the former. It's hard to imagine any trio of words so eminently embraceable, so commonsensical and so goddamn about time. But putting "end poverty" along side it is a bad move because it li nks the rat ional and achievable with the ludicrous and unattainable. I've seen posters championing the cessation of violence and disease, too, but even those aren' t as puerile as "end povetty" for if violence and disease were no more. we'd at least know it-every man, woman and child would be a doe-eyed pacifist blessed with an impervious immune system Poverty's strictly a relative term, the poverty line an ever shifting dollar figure. I' m always checking it out, though, this line that separates the poor and the not poor. At times, I' ve been comfortably above this fiscal demarcation. . Those were my halcyon days. Unlike these days when I'm so far beneath the broke ass loser divide, I have to step on the head of an indigent monk just to grab on to the tattered pant leg of a homeless binner . merely to briefly glimpse the poverty line I used to Oh well, easy look down on fro m a dizzying come, easy go.

I cringe when I see people marching against poverty. Declaring opposition to poverty is li ke saying you' re against blunt force trauma. And like I said, poverty is eternal, ceaseless, and ubiquitous; like exploitation and bad luck, it's j ust part of the human condition. If activists want to raise welfare, they should be less strident, less demanding, more specific. Try to think like a middleclass working stiff, now what does this g uy o r gal need to hear in order to gain their support and sym pathy? They probably want to hear that people are desperate to escape welfare. Frankly I don't believe society is ameliorated by thousands leavi ng the rol ls for low paying work.

But many people do believe th is, and many on welfare want to work, in any kind of job. I run into lots of guys on the food lines who say they can't look for work because they have to s pend too much time chasing free meals . The piddling amount of money they get precludes them from finding a job. While those on 0 8 2, who supposedly aren't capable of holding a job, can earn 800 bucks a month as well as receiving about a cool thousand from the Ministry.

One should be given a bus pass on general welfare and if he can prove he's doing a diligent and consistent search, he gets at least two hundred bucks more than those tlOt busting their asses in pursuit of gainful employment. As well, they should be exempt from participation in some waste-of-time program like Job Wave, In fact, come to think of it, get rid of Job Wave. The only jobs Job Wave provides is for the employees of Job Wave And I should q uickly add, though I do n't want to elaborate on this rig ht now, that Job Wave is part of major US outfit owned by a particularly unsavory American millionaire with ties to both Liberal and NIJP MPs. Isn't it nice to know that we who have nothing can still be an economic boon for fo reigners who have so very much?

Another recommendation: If the Ministry's looking to save dough, they should shut down the Preve ntion and Loss Department. The Sherlockian geniuses there nab those who don't understand the rules, and who don't even bother hiding the non-welfare money they have acquired. What the Ministry regards as earnings can be pretty damn vague . Midlevel drug dealers, professional gamblers, under-thetable skilled labourers, Prevention and Loss doesn't do dick about these relatively affluent welfare frauds unless aided by species of creature more ignoble

than the well-to-do cheats: the dreaded dime dropper (actually I suppose one doesn't drop a single dime anymore, it's now five dimes that need dropping) Finally, if anyone reading this knows a Hollywood big shot, I have two marvelous screenplays that are surefire blockbusters. You can have 15 percent from the initial purchase and ten percent from my two percent of the approved budget. We can negotiate later backend monies from DVD sales and toys and T-shirt and video games.

By Kevin Mcdonough

Why is this here?

Amid the turning of phrases & glib attacks on something never participated in by someone ready to abandon any values as soon as his ship comes in, is there anything worth thinking about?

End Poverty.

Let's have a society where the worth of an individual is measured not by the contents of bank accounts but by the content of their character. It's not utopian and un-realisable but the basis for a just society, where people can live full and meaningful lives. But let's get into it.

Poverty is not a self-created condition. It results from selfishness mistaken on purpose for enlightenment, by those who work diligently at all levels to ensure that the material benefits of what they claim continue to flow to them and damn all who get in the way.

Accepting this as "the way things are" is a major part of the con job that Kevin Mcdonough seems to have swallowed whole. And now spews out cute phrases like "doe-eyed pacifist" & "broke ass loser" so anyone reading it can stop thinking and start nodding in tune with the "poor-bashing blues.

His advice to be nicer poor people and be willing to work for peanuts in any conditions just to get back into the workforce; the elite must love this rap. What is so distasteful to downright scary to the ruling, financial elite is when those living in poverty think, research, learn and educate themselves and their friends, neighbours, 'working-class stiffs' and the whole gamut of classes what the causes, structures, systems and laws have and are being perpetuated to keep wealth a top-heavy phenomenon. It's part of the expected & dictated messages that: -if you're poor you're bad; anyone can get rich if you try hard

enough (meaning focus your criminal intent and talents); rich people deserve everything they get; sneer at all who seem to be playing the system; don't bother fighting for anything you think you have a human right to ...

The devil is in the details is another little homily that those working to end poverty know intimately.

The myriad ways that the psyche can be scarred by being put down by dilettantes like Kevin here. ' Get a cool thousand'; just get so disabled, so physically and mentally wrecked that 75-95% of the ways of 'gainful employment' are closed to you and Hey! Easy Street for life!! (or, 'easy come, easy go') What End Poverty empowers is poor people standing up to many goliaths, saying we have a right to live where we are and not be swept away like so much refuse because rich people want to live here, that there is no inherent right to speculate and ignore human rights of people.

Under the veil of all anti-poverty demonstrations, protests, rallies and groups is the sure knowledge that what's being sought is far better than what is. If everyone thought as Kevin does slavery would still be at its height and the only way to complain would be with his "Scuse me, Massa. I wrote this play. You wanna buy i!?!"

By PauiR Taylor

18th Annual

Sto.ne Soup Festival Saturday May 11 1 2013 12-5pm Napier Greenway & Britannia Centre Site Food Market • Artists • Community Groups • Mus ic en Info • Workshops • Author Talk • Free Soup a More!

THIS NEWSLETIER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.

camnews@shaw.ca email www.camnews.org website http://chodarr.org/taxonomy/term/3 Index WANTED Artwork.for the Carnegie newsletter

• •

• • • •

•

• •

•

•

Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry.

Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6 %')wide x 15cm(6')high.

Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered .

Black & White printing only.

Size restrictions apply (i.e. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit) .

All artists will receive credit for their work.

Originals will be retumed to the artist after being copied for publication .

Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful ·i• committed citizens can change the world. · Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

4

-A1argaretA1eade 1 ~~~--~&&~~--~OM~ Vancouver's non-commercial, listener-supported, community station.

Next Issue: SUBMISSION DEAOUNE

MONDAY, APRIL 29TH

DONATIONS 2013: (Money is always needed & welcome.)

Sheila B.-$100 Jenny K.-$25 Elsie McG.-$50 Terry & Savannah -$100 Robert McG.-$100

j