May 1, 1994, carnegie newsletter

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NEWSLETTER

MAY 1, 1 9 9 4 .

401 Main St., Vancouver V6A 2T7 (604)665-2289

On March 17, 1994, C i t y Council voted f i v e t o f o u r n o t t o b i i l d t h e Columbia S t r e e t Overpass t o C.R.A.B. Park t h a t was promised t o r e s i d e n t s of t h e Downtown E a s t s i d e b e f o r e l a s t

g e a r ' s e l e c t i o n . T h i s p e d e s t r i a n overp a s s , t o b e b u i l t o v e r t h e CN t r a i n t r a c k s , was t o i n c l u d e a wheelchair l i f t and would have provided a d i r e c t l i n k between t h e community and t h e

park, u n l i k e t h e t r u c k ovkrpass t h a t we c u r r e n t l y u s e .

Downtown ~ a s t s i d e r shave fought f o r CRAB Park f o r o v e r seven y e a r s , f i r s t t o c r e a t e it and t h e n t o make it a t r u l y a c c e s s i b l e park f o r a l l . The Columbia S t r e e t Overpass i s t h e key t o community a c c e s s . With t h e over? p a s s , S e n i o r s , s i n g l e moms , w i t h k i d s and d i s a b l e d p e o p l e w i l l have d i r e c t , s a f e and convenient a c c e s s t o o u r park, j u s t l i k e f o l k s on t h e west 1 s i d e have t o t h e i r s .

For y e a r s we have followed t h e procedure s e t o u t by t h e C i t y t o g e t t h r overpass b u i l t . Council e s t a b l i s h e d a Committee on Access t o P o r t s i d e Park ( t h e i r name f o r o u r p a r k ) . Local r e s i d e n t s v o l u n t e e r e d t h e i r time t o s l o g through e v e r y p o s s i b l e a c c e s s o p t i o n . These i n c l u d e d a p e s e s t r i a n overpass a t Columbia o r C a r r a l l S t . , an underpass a t Columbia, a ramp structure attached t o the existing Main S t r e e t o v e r p a s s , a f r e e s h u t t l e bus t o t h e park from Columbia and Powell S t r e e t and many more.

The m a j o r i t y o f r e s i d e n t s p r e f e r r e d an a t - g r a d e c r o s s i n g from Columbia S t r e e t . Federal T r a n s p o r t Regulatory b o d i e s wouldn't even c o n s i d e r i t . We compromised on a p e d e s t r i a n overpass t o b e b u i l t a t t h e f o o t o f Columbia.

S e v e n ; y e a r s of working t o a c h i e v e consensus through c i t y - s p o n s o r e d channels was b e t r a y e d by one Council vote.

C o u n c i l l o r s d i d n ' t l i s t e n t o u s and n e i t h e r d i d t h e y l i s t e n t o t h e i r own Engineering and S o c i a l Planning depa r t m e n t s who s a i d t h a t i f t h i s p r o j e c t were not passed no a c c e p t a b l e a l t e r n a t i v e would b e b u i l t .

We followed p r o c e s s t o t h e l e t t e r .

In r e t u r n we have r e c e i v e d , a s t h e saying goes, ' s h i t between t h e eyeb a l l s ' . Neighbourhood r e s i d e n t s , unw i l l i n g t o accept the g u i l l o t i n i n g

access a r e organising again ( ofoThef Proper f i r s t e f f o r t w i l l b e a blockade t h e Main S t r e e t Overpass. . .

And t h e P r e s s Release gave a time and d a t e and asked everyone t o come.

P o s t e r s went up and i t began t o b e r e p o r t e d a s " c i v i l d i s o b e d i e n c e f 1 on t h e CBC, f o l l o w i n g Sunday1s meeting about w a t e r f r o n t development i n general a t Carnegie's Theatre.

Come Tuesday, A p r i l 26th, i t was a good demonstration, w i t h what looked l i k e 150 people and s i g n s and wagons and w h e e l c h a i r s and canes and PEOPLE! What f o l l o w s i n q u o t e s i s from P r i n c e s s Margaret, w i t h o u t whom t h i s e v e n t wouldn't have happened:

"TRAFFIC CAME TO A HALT AT THE CORNe r o f Main f, Hastings, because you cared enough t o come o u t and s u p p o r t your need f o r p r o p e r a c c e s s t o CRAB '; A s p e c i a l t h a n k s t o you t h e PEOPLE

PEOPLE POWER has caught on...

Thanks a l s o go o u t t o Margaret M i t c h e l l , Libby Davies, Eob Taylor (Poli c e Dept.) and h i s crew. T h e i r suppo r t goes beyond t h e c a l l o f duty.

Now we w a i t t o s e e when t h e C i t y i s going t o open F i l e #5702-1. Tomorrow i s t o o l a t e and y e s t e r d a y would have been b a r e l y s u i t a b l e .

I b e l i e v e t h i s blockade has re-ope& ed many p e o p l e s 1 eyes and minds. Let u s hope t h e y h e a r d o u r needs and what we r e a l l y want.

Once a g a i n t h a n k s ! See you a t t h e n e x t blockade. T.B.A. ...soon."

Never say die

/ ~ N D KEEP

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Some Hope Give t h e n some ho?e, t o b e f r e e t o smell t h e f l o w e r ' s perfume. The machf u l s o u l l i v i n g with t h e p l a n t s . Oh young ones, growing up i n t h e c i t y , w i l l you know t h e l a n d ?

The peopleJ:s t r o u b l e i s coming; t h e r e a r e a l t e r n a t i v e s . Sensible

e a r t h . Let u s embrace each o t h e r with l o v e , f o r we need. Earth wise, i n c e n s e ; m e d i t a t e f o r your way. t o change t h i s mess f o r t h e b e t t e r .

Grey h a i r s now; I y e t h e a r your v o i c e s , s e e d s were p l a n t e d ; may we too be f r u i t f u l .

Michael Bohnert

Mayor P h i l i p Owen and C o u n c i l l o r s

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I am v e r y d i s a p p o i n t e d and dismayed t o l e a r n o f t h e r e c e n t C i t y Council d e c i s i o n t o r e v e r s e a long time commi t m e n t t o t h e Downtown E a s t s i d e c o m u n i t y t o j o i n t l y finance, with t h e P o r t o f Vancouver, an a c c e s s i b l e e n t r a n c e t o b e a u t i f u l P o r t s i d e "CRAB" Park. T h i s i s a b e t r a y a l o f , l p a s t promises t h a t involved a long p l a n n i n g p r o c e s s i n c o - o p e r a t i o n with P o r t a u t h o r i t i e s and t h e community. By r e s c i n d i n g a commitment t o make t h i s p a r k a c c e s s i b l e , C i t y Council i s cont r a v e n i n g t h e C h a r t e r o f R i g h t s and Freedoms and denying t h e many d i s a b l ed and e l d e r l y p e r s o n s who l i v e nearby t h e r i g h t t o use t h e i r park.

M r . Mayor, you and your longtime c o l l e a g u e s must remember how hard t h e community and t h e i r e l e c t e d r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s , i n c l u d i n g t h e n MP's Pat Carney and myself, worked over many y e a r s t o persuade t h e Port o f Vancouv e r t o reserve t h i s waterfront land f o r p u b l i c u s e and t o develop a v e r y b e a u t i f u l p a r k f o r people who l i v e nearby i n crowded, p o v e r t y c o n d i t i o n s I t i s a d i s g r a c e t h a t C i t y Council r e f u s e s t o s h a r e t h e c o s t s o f a promi s e d Columbia S t r e e t overpass o v e r t h e r a i l w a y t r a c k s t o make t h e park a c c e s s i b l e . To suggest t h a t t h e Main S t r e e t overpass can b e used by pedest r i a n s and people i n wheelchairs i s i r r e s p o n s i b l e . I urge you t o personall y walk t h i s o v e r p a s s , which i s d i f f i c u l t f o r able-bodied p e r s o n s . I t was e s t a b l i s h e d y e a r s ago t h a t t h e e x i s t i n g overpass cannot b e made a c c e s s i b l e .

I s t r o n g l y urge you n o t t o b e t r a y Vancouver c i t i z e n s , t o r e - e s t a b l i s h a j o i n t p l a n n i n g committee with t h e community and t h e P o r t , which h a s promised t o pay 50% o f c o s t s , and t o proceed with t h e Columbia overpass.

Yours s i n c e r e l y , Margaret M i t c h e l l

RUSTLIN' WESTERNS FOR THE READING ROOM PART I :

HOTELS AND BARS

on one of t h e f i r s t r e a l s p r i n g mornings i n biarch, Mike Guy from s e c u r i t i ' a n d nyself s a t over a c o f f e e in t h e Ovaltine, planning d e l i v e r y o f o u r famous f l y e r t o h o t e l s and b a r s a l o n g Hastings, a s k i n g f o r t h e r e t u r n of o u r b o o k s . . p a r t i c u l a r l y WESTERNS. The sun was l i g h t i n g t h e grime on t h e O v a l t i n e windows a s we f i n i s h e d o u r c o f f e e s and headed o u t , e a s t along Hawkes and west t o Abbott, g l a d t o b e f r e e of t h e Carnegie b u i l d i n g on such a g r e a t day!! ., A s we walked we r a n i n t o a l o t o f turns out o u r Carnegie ' r e g u l a r s ' t h e y a l l have i d e a s about where o u r books a r e h i d i n g and w i l l h e l p u s o u t a s much a s t h e y can.

In and o u t o f h o t e l s f o r t h e next couple of hours. .up and down t h e mostly s t e e p s t a i r s . . s o m e c l e a n , g r e y marble, some faded grimy c a r p e t and some wood p o l i s h e d s h i n y by many shoes over t h e y e a r s . I t t a k e s you back! One of t h e desks had a L i l y Ton~lins t y l e switchboard s t i l l i n t a c t . I t ' s a l l p a r t o f t h e unique neighbourhood we c a l l t h e Downtown East s i d e .

The c l e r k s i n a l l ) t h e h o t e l s were very h e l p f u l . They do know about u s and t r y t o send o u r books back regul a r l y . We posted t h e f l y e r i n t h e i r l o b b i e s and asked about t h e a d j o i n i n g b a r s . T h e r e ' s no b e t t e r PR t h a n a guy looking a t o u r f l y e r while he h a s a few.

From one ' h i s t o r i c ' s i t e t o a n o t h e r t h e morning f l e w and we were having a n o t h e r c o f f e e i n Gastown, p l a n n i n g t o use o u r remaining time t o cover Main from Terminal t o t h e water.

By t h e time we'd f i n i s h e d t h a t we'd 2 o s t e d i v e r 50 f l y e r s , g o t promises

If you see BOOKS Like the one below

...

In the Downtown Eastside Hotel Rooms Bars Restaurants

PLEASE Return'to the Carnegie Reading Room

401 Main Street THANK Y O U FOR YOUR HELP

f o r continuing r e t u r n s , seen o l d f r i e n d s , made new ones and given t h e Reading Room i t ' s p l a c e i n t h e DES. Don't f o r g e t , i f you s e e o u r books please r e t u r n then, o r c a l l u s a t 665-3015. Many t h a n k s !

Eleanor P.S.: Thanks a l o t , Mike . . . y ou made my job a l o t e a s i e r .

VANCOUVER CITY CORONER: LARRY CAMPBELL WlLL SPEAK ON CAUSE OF DEATH, HOW TO BE SAFE, USE OF CLEAN NEEDLES, CUTTING AS OPPOSED TO INJECTING ETC. ALSO SPEAKING WlLL BE JOHN TURVEY OF DEYAS, NEEDLE EXCHANGE.

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LIZ WHYNOT, MEDICAL HEALTH OFFICER - HEALTH POLICY AND PREVENTION DISCUSSION ON HOW TO PREVENT MORE DEATH & PROMOTE COMMUNITY AWARENESS OF THIS ISSUE.

TUESDAY MAY 3RD 1994.

CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE SECOND FLOOR LOUNGE

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2 4 P.M.

Changing

A t Inst I come logclhcr, rccl.lirnirig niysell from hungct tleriicd I s p c ~ kniy name.

I am clcsirc.

I ,lm rio longer a guillotine hiding in a p l ~ t cof noodles.

B . C . , decided t o start a f l o a t i n g cannery and f i s h o i l p l a n t a t Coal Harbour. This i s i n Burrard I n l e t , j u s t p a s t t h e F i r s t Narrows and tucked around t h e c o r n e r o f what i s now c a l l e d Brockton P o i n t . T h i s bay was c a l l e d Coal Harbour by t h e European s e t t l e r s because bf t h e c o a l found i n what i s now Vancouver's West End. In 1882 Burrard I n l e t was s t i l l r i c h i n f i s h , and i t s s h o r e s were s t i l l l i n e d with m a g n i f i c e n t f o r e s t s i n s p i t e o f t h e logging t h a t had been .going on f o r o v e r t e n y e a r s . Douglas f i r t r e e s o v e r t h r e e hundred f e e t t a l l and one thousand y e a r s o l d s t o o d where much o f Vancouver i t a n d s today.

Gassy (because he t a l k e d a 1 o t ) J a c k Deighton had wandered over t o Burrard IrJlet from New h e s t m i n s t e r i n 1867 with a b a r r e l of whiskey. He b u i l t a shack t ~ e l v ef e e t by twenty f e e t a t what i s now t h e i n t e r s e c t i o n of C a r r a l l and Water S t r e e t s , and s o l d l i q u o r t o t h e l o g g e r s and m i l l workers a t Stamp's M i l l ( n o r t h end o f Dunlevy) and Moody's M i l l ( n o r t h s h o r e of Burrard I n l e t ) .

By 1882 Gassy's Town, o r Gastown, o f f i c i a l l y known a s G r a n v i l l e , was l i t t l e more than one block long on Water S t r e e t . I t c o n s i s t e d b f a few (:

t r e e stumps a n d - t h e s k ~ n kcabbage.

Giant f i r s loomed i n t h e background.

Joseph S p r a t t planned t o u s e h e r r i n g a s h i s major s o u r c e of f i s h o i l f o r h i s cannery. T h i s p l a n was r e a s onable a s t h e h e r r i n g run i n t o Burra r d I n l e t was a l a r g e one on which t h e F i r s t Nations p e o p l e had r e l i e d f o r hundreds and hundreds of y e a r s .

Motivated l i k e most newcomers t o t h e west c o a s t by dreams o f u n l i m i t e d wealth, M r . S p r a t t d i s c o v e r e d a c o s t e f f e c t i v e way o f f i s h i n g . He would dynamite t h e f i s h . The Native people were v e r y u p s e t with h i s method o f f i s h i n g , and warned him t h a t somet h i n g bed ldohld happen. He d i d n ' t l i s t e n t o them.

In 1855 M r . S p r a t t had t o c l o s e down h i s f l o a t i n g cannery and f i s h o i l p l a n t because t h e h e r r i n g stopped coming t o Burrard I n l e t , and t h e y ' v e never r e t u r n e d . He d i d n ' t seem t o und e r s t a n d t h a t he was r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e i r d i s a p p e a r a n c e . H i s greed d e s t royed h i s e n t e r p r i s e , you might s a y , and i t a l s o d e s t r o y e d an important f i s h e r y i n Burrard I n l e t f o r F i r s t Nations 2 e o p l e .

By SANDY CAMERON

The Cariboo Mob and the Carnegie Connection Ceeds h a s 300 l b s o f o u t l a w s e e d p o t a t o e s t o d i s t r i b u t e a t Carnegie.

These i n c l u d e t h r e e v a r i t i e s : Netted G e m s , Green Mountain and Cariboo.

T h e s e p o t a t o v a r i e t i e s were d e - c e r t i f i e d by t h e f e d e r a l d e p a r t m e n t of agr i c u l t u r e and i t i s a g a i n s t t h e law t o see1 them as s e e d p o t a t o e s - we g i v e them away. A number of C a r n e g i e p e o p l e h a v e had a hand i n t h e i r product ion.

They were o n c e t h e p o p u l a r c h o i c e s i n our region i n years p a s t , but l i k e e v e r y t h i n g else c o n n e c t e d w i t h a g r i b i z , p r o f i t i s t h e bottom l i n e . Flavo u r , n u t r i t i o n a l v a l u e and t h e p o t a t o ' s o t h e r v a l u e s a r e i g n o r e d . Under a g r i - b i z t h e p o t a t o i s o n e of t h e c r o p s most h e a v i l y dosed w i t h chemica l s and p e s t i c i d e s . The l a s t d o s e s t e r i l i z e s them, p r e v e n t i n g them from s p r o u t i n g . A p e r s o n may as w e l l p l a n t a r o c k - y o u ' d g e t t h e same r e s u l t s .

We've b e e n growing s p u d s f o r o v e r 20 y e a r s u s i n g t h e o r g a n i c method as p e o p l e h a v e done f o r g e n e r a t i o n s bef o r e u s , s o o u r spuds a r e f e r t i l e .

L a s t y e a r we n o t i c e d a t r e n d i n t h e supermarkets t o r e f e r t o c e r t a i n b i n s of p o t a t o e s o n l y as "red" o r "white",

Come one, Come all, to the

VIDEO & MUSIC SHOW in the Carnegie Theatre on Wednesdav. Mav 4th. 4 p.m.

Extra Treat: Sample the OUTLAW CARIB00 POTATO! (For information, call 253-471 8)

with t h e red ones p r i c e d higher than t h e w h i t e ( t h a t 's a n o t h e r swindle) Most o f u s s h a r e a g u t f e e l i n g t h a t w e must p r o t e c t o u r gene p o o l of b o t h p l a n t s and a n i m a l s . Imagine i f everybody s t a r t e d growing t h e i r own potatpes.. .it would b e t h e s t a r t of a revolution !

Because of o u r e x p o s u r e i n t h e Vanc o u v e r Sun, f o l l o w e d by CBC R a d i o ' s "As It Happens", w e have had r e q u e s t s from p e o p l e i n e v e r y p r o v i n c e i n Cana d a f o r t h e Cariboo P o t a t o . We m a i l o u t packages of f o u r p o t a t o e s and p e o p l e c h i p i n on t h e m a i l i n g and p a c k a g i n g c o s t s . Each y e a r on opening day of t h e F a r m e r s ' Market, f o r t h e p a s t s e v e r a l y e a r s , we've been g i v i n g away f o u r s e e d p o t a t o e s t o anyone w i s h i n g t o grow them. We'd l i k e t o do t h i s a t C a r n e g i e f o r anyone who can p o s s i b l y grow them o r p a s s them o n t o someone who c a n , w h e t h e r a t t h e S t r a t h c o n a Community Garden o r even i n a t u b by t h e window.

W e w i l l b r i n g 300 l b s of o u t l a w h e r i t a g e s e e d p o t a t o e s t o t h e SpudF e s t and would b e most happy t o s h a r e them w i t h C a r n e g i e p e o p l e who want t o a c t i v e l y come t o t h e d e f e n c e of t h e p o t a t o , t h e d e f e n c e of n a t u r e .

Ceeds

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/,

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'PEOPLE POWER'

Waterfront casino plan decried at downtown residents' meeting ROBERT SARTl Vancouver Sun

Let the people decide.

That was Liberal MP Anna Terrana's response after sitting through an angry meeting Sunday in which 100 Downtown Eastside residents denounced the plan to put a casinolhotel complex on their doorstep.

By the people, Terrana made it clear she means the low-income residents of the neighborhood around the Port of Vancouver's central waterfront property.

"I am going to Ottawa to work on your behalf," she told the crowd at Carnegie Centre.

"The residents are to decide, and that's people power."

Terrana, whose Vancouver East riding takes in part of the project, commented after more than 20 speakers criticized the project as threatening the destruction of low-rent housing on a grander scale than Expo 86, causing crime and other social problems, and taking tourism in an unwelcome direction in Vancouver.

The $1-billion project, which includes a casino larger than B.C. Place Stadium and a 1,Wroomhotel, would he a joint venture of the Port, VLC Properties Ltd. and a Las Vegas gambling enterprise called Mirage I lesorts.

The Port is an agency of the federal government, i,nd Tkrrana said she would relay the message of community groups to the cabinet.

In an interview later, she said the local residents s l ~ u l have d the final say, "just like the people in Mount Pleisant, who had their opinion about the halfway I ,

house."

She also said she would support a city-wide referendum on casinos.

Approval of the casino is contingent on a change in provincial legislation to allow for-profit gambling.

The provincial government has announced a gambling review, but has not said how community groups can participate.

The Carnegie meeting was the first in a series by a coalition of eastside groups to initiate a "community planning" process for the entire Downtown EastsideStrathcona area. Groups in both communities have told city plannersjn the past few weeks that they are losing faith in top-down planning processes.

Residents at the meeting drew up a list of amenities they want to see on the waterfront, including low-income housing and more open space.

"This process has to be what the community needs, not wealthy people deciding that we are fair game, that they will throw us out and take the place over," said resident Bharb Gudmundson.

Urban planner Bart Reid said megaprojects like the casino are part of a trend in public spending in cities across Canada toward "spectacles, extravaganzas, bread and circuses."

He said public agencies in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton have proven themselves unresponsive to public concerns and incompetent in planning projects like waterfront recreation areas, gambling meccas and hockey stadiums.

i

EVERY PERSON PRESENT SPOKE AGAINST THE CASINO. THE BEGINNINGS OF A COALITION WERE IN THE ROOM. WHEN TERRANA RESPONDED TO THE INVITATION TO BE PRESENT, SHE ASKED IF SHE COULD HAVE 15 MINUTES ON THE AGENDA TO TALK ABOUT THE GST. 'NO, THIS MEETING IS ON WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT.' AFTER PEOPLE HAD BEEN TALKING FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES ON THE CASINO AND COMMUNITY PROCESS, SHE PUT HER NAME ON THE SPEAKER'S LIST, ASKING AGAIN IF SHE COULD HAVE A WHILE TO TALK ABOUT THE GST! WHEN TERRANA DID GET UP TO SPEAK, SHE ASKED WHERE WE EXPECTED ALL THE MONEY TO COME FROM TO PAY FOR WHAT THE COMMUNITY WANTS. 'TAX THE RICH,' WAS THE IMMEDIATE ANSWER. TERRANA SAID, 'THERE AREN'T ENOUGH RICH TO TAX.' OUR M.P. IS SORELY IN NEED OF AN EDUCATION ON THE REALITIES OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND THE EXTENT OF CANADIANICORPORATE WEALTH. SHE ALSO NEEDS TO LEARN TO LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY, AND NOT TO IGNORE OUR CONCERNS IN FAVOUR OF WHAT SHE FEELS COMFORTABLE TALKING ABOUT. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE LIFE OR DEATH OF OUR COMMUNITY.

PRT

THE NEW RACKETEERS

GARRY GUST

THEY HAVE SIMPLE PIMP NAMES LIKE VLC/ MIRAGE. THEY HAVE THE FINEST MOUTHPIECES THAT MONEY CAN BUY. THEY HAVE THE POWER TO CONTROL UNION FUNDS TO ESTABLISH OPEN MARKET GAMBLING HALLS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA. THEY ARE FAMILIES OF CORPORATE POWERS WHO SLITHER INTO NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITIES TO MPAND THEIR PROFIT BASES, AND I N EFFECT, TAKE CONTROL OVER THOSE COMMUNITIES BY "GETTNG TO" KEY POLITICIANS. THEY ARE ACCOMPLICES BEFORE THE FACT I N RECRUITING FROM THE LOCAL POPULATlON OF ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED CITIZENS TO, CLEAN THEIR TOILETS, SELL THEIR LOPE, AND HAVE OUR DAUGHTERS SLEEP WITH THEIR WELL-TO-DO TOURIST CUSTOMERS. THEY PUT THIS PROCESS INTO MOTION LAST JUNE, WITH MIKE HARCOURT'S APPARENT KNOWLEDGE, BY TAKING A GROUP OF COKPORATE POWER CONTROLLED NEWS REPORTERS OUT YACHTING ON BURRARD INLET. THE REPORTERS WERE SUGGESTIVELY TOLD THAT THERE WOULD BE A GAMBLING CASINO ON THETEEHELI LANDS. BUT, THIS NEWS SHOULD BE BURIED FAR FROM THE FRONT PAGES, TO TEST THE PUBLIC'S OPPOSITION. ThE BAIT & SWITCH TACTICS OF THE PORT CORP AND THEIR GOVERNMENT COHORTS HAS BEEN A BLATANT ABUSE OF PROCESS SINCE ThLY FIRST STARTEU ADVERTISING IN EARLY '93 THAT THEY WOULD WORK TOGETHER WITH THE PUBLIC I N PLANNING THE CENTRAL WATERFRONT PORT LANDS. AT OPEN HOUSES AND PUBLIC WORKSHOPS WE WERE PROMISED THAT A "POLICY STLITEMENT" WOULD BE PREPARED WITH PUBLIC INPUT Ti) SET MAXIMUM DEVELOPMENT TARGETS.

BY THE WINTER OF ' 9 4 THEY FELT THEY HAD ENOUGH FISH HOOKED TO OFFICIALLY

INTRODUCE INTO THE POLICY STATENENT THEIR HIDDEN AGENDA ITEM OF OPEN g .

J MARKET GAMBLING, AND THEIR VLC/ FiXAGE BACKROOM BOYS ' ULTIMATUM OF NG CASINO, NO DEVELOPMENT. THE PORT CORP & CITY PLANiQiNG DEFT EikVE X O U N THEIR ADVEXTISEE COVENANT OF COMMUNITY CONSULTATION, BY DISHONESTLY WITHHOLDING THEIR TRUE INTENT. EVEN I F THE D E s i d e HAD THE RESOURCES TO PURSUE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT TO, SHOW COLLUSION BETWEEN THE ABOVE MENTIONED & VLC/MIRAGE, IN ORDER TO FORCE THE SAID PARTIES TO START THE PROCESS OVER AGAIN FROM SCRATCH, WE WOULD PROBABLY LOSE. BUT, I F WE STAND STILL WHILE CORPORATE POWER PERSUADES THE GOVERNMENT TO DECRIMINALIZE COMMON LAW GAMING ACT? THEN WE WILL EE FACILITATING THE MORAL TURPITUDE THAT WILL SLOWLY SPREAD AND DECAY THE DECENCY OF OUR COMMUNITY AND EVENTUALLY OUR CITY. WHEN MAJORITY MEMBERS OF A SPECIFIC COMMUNITY, REGARDLESS OF RANK, STATUS, OR POSSESSION, ARE DENIED PROPORTIONAL CONTROL, OF THE AFFAIRS OF THEIR COMMUNITY, THEN DEMOCRACY CEASES TO EXIST, AND ELITIST SOCIAL POWER CANNIBALISM TAKES I T S PLACE. BUT, OF COURSE, WE CAN'T ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN.

Oppenheiner Park

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Outing t o Val l e y Regional Park

With Marina behind t h e wheel we b l a s t e d o f f a t 10L45am. A s u s u a l it ' I was r a i n i n g c a t s & dogs b u t , i n h i g h c h e e r , we b e e t l e d o v e r t h e Oak S t r e e t Bridge, through t h e t u n n e l o u t t o Langley. P i l e d up & loaded t o t h e t e e t h w i t h g o o d i e s t o e a t E d r i n k , we 1 1 floundered o u r way t o t h e p i c n i c area.

A l l o f a sudden, l o E behold, t h e The Main and I l a s t i n g s IIousing F, ~ r n ~ l ll warming t a y s o f t h e sun s t a r t e d t h ~ loyment P r o j e c t has a s t e e r i n g commit-' 2eak through t h e clouds. t e e . I t ' s work r i g h t now i s t o g e t a l l A t l a s t we got underway on f o o t t o ' p a r t 8 of t h e p r o j e c t t o meet t h e needs i n v e s t i g a t e t h e b e a u t i f u l n a t u r e park i n o u r community. To do t h i s , f o u r s u b while overhead t h e sun shone through committees have been c r e a t e d t o d e a l t h e now-blue sky, warming t h e e a r t h . . with 1 ) p u b l i c d e c i s i o n making; 2) houb i r d s s i n g i n g , f r o gs croaking, wild s i n g development; 3) t r a i n i n g and job geese honking, b u t terflies flyin2 6 o p p o r t u n i t i e s ; E 4) use of t h e s t r e e t t h e ;,lost b e a u t i f u l flowers. l e v e l space.

T h i s time t h e r e were 8 wopen, 2 The p r o c e s s f o r making d e c i s i o n s i s 2 nen.

Some g o t c h i l d r e n and (only) t o i n c l u d e s u g g e s t i o n boxes, a d v e r t i s t i r e d walking t h e whole way but it i n g meetings with handouts, m a i l o u t s E was worbh i t . p r e s s n o t i c e s ( i n English & Chinese We p i l e d back i n t o t h e van f o r t h e community papers)) 1 and on community TV r e t u r n t r i p t o c i v i l i z a t i o n . A l l en& r a d i o . Also n o t e d was t h e need t o joyed t h e day. Well f e d , c l e a r h e a d e d , i n c r e a s e a t t e n d a n c e a t meetings.and ( a l l cobwebs blown away) we landed t o have p r a n d l a t i o n s i n Spanish. back a t Oppenheimer.

Thanks t o Marina Housing d i s c u s s i o n s i n c l u d e numbers p a r d o u r t r a v e l i n g chauffeur-friend. o f u n i t s , t h e t h i n g s t h a t need t o b e p a r t o f each apartment, t h e kind o f s e l e c t i o n p r o c e s s needed f o r t e n a n t s and f o r t h e r e s u l t t o b e s a f e F, secure.

T r a i n i n g 6 employment s h o u l d b e one leading t o t h e o t h e r ; s k i l l s acquired SOCCER & SOFTBALL should b e 'lreall1 t h a t h e l p t h e t r a i n e e Calling aU players! g e t work. There may b e a s many a s 20 jobs and l o c a l people should g e t them.

Join Carnegie's summer team.

The s t r e e t - l e v e l space u s e has p o s s i b i l i t i e s f o r a community f i n a n c i a l in s t i t u t i o n , a h e a l t h c e n t r e , an a f f o r d Practices start Friday, May 6th a b l e housing s e r v i c e , a human developat Oppenheimer Park. ment c e n t r e The o l d b a n k ' s a d d r e s s i s 390 Main; a t 380 Main i s an empty Sign up with Marina, 3rd floor. b u i l d i n g t h a t a l s o has p o s s i b i l i t i e s b u t must have i t s a s b e s t o s removed.

EVERYONE WELCOME!!

NEXT MEETING: J . GREEN RM., 133 Powell 6 pm, May 2nd.

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I decided t o s t u d y a g a i n f o r two b a s i c r e a s o n s . Studying i s a good beginning t o s e e i f I can handle s t r e s s and whether t h e s e l f - c o n f i d e n c e t h a t i s needed t o f u l f i l l any dream i s evident i n my s o u l .

Throughout my s h o r t but t r o u b l e d p a s t I have had a h a r d time d e a l i n g with s t r e s s and t r y i n g t o overcome the mountain t h a t God has p u t i n my p a t h . I f e e l t h a t through s t u d y i n g and t h e a c t o f s e l f - d i s c i p l i n e , t h e s e mountains w i l l develop p a t h s covered with r o s e s which w i l l make t h e journey more e n j o y a b l e .

Self-esteem and s e l f - c o n f i d e n c e a r e u s u a l l y found when one f i n d s something one does w e l l . A s a c h i l d I a l ways enjoyed s t u d y i n g 6 s c h o o l , I ( , f e l t t h a t I was i n t e l l i g e n t and t h a t through s t u d y i n g I would make somet h i n g of myself. During t h e l a s t few y e a r s t h i a y a r e a o f my l i f e has ceased t o e x i s t ; a s a r e s u l t my s e l f - c o n f i d ence has l e s s e n e d . I am l o o k i n g f o r t h a t c h i l i d - l i k e a t t i t u d e I once had where hard work does pay o f f .

A t t h i s p o i n t i n my l i f e I am ready t o grow up and g e t t o work.

T h i s i s b a s i c a l l y t h e r e a s o n I have decided t o s t u d y a g a i n .

V a l e r i e Hewlett

P l a g i a r i s m i s a s p e c t r e t h a t daunts.

I f a w r i t e r quotes exclusively then t h a t w r i t e r i s a p l a g i a r i s t . I f more t h a n j u s t one s o u r c e i s drawn from, then it 's research.

Doesn ' t e c l e c t i c imply being in•’l u enced by a l o t of d i f f e r e n t t r i p s ?

Well? Yet, i f someone r e f u s e s t o a l l ow himself t o b e i n f l u e n c e d from any a r t , t h e n h e i s supposed t o be s e l f & a b s o r b e d , a fuck-up.

S i n c e i t i s i m p o s s i b l e t o l i v e out a l i f e i n some p h i l o s o p h i c s e n s o r y d e p r i v a t i o n t a n k , t h i s i s an i n v i t a t i o n t o p e o p l e of a l l mediums of crea t i v e (what o t h e r kind i s t h e r e ) exp r e s s i o n t o b e unwavered when someone c a l l s you a p l a g i a r i s t .

Look a t it i n a t e l e o l o g i c a l conte x t , i n terms of f u t u r e p l a n s and ont o l o g i c a l g o a l s . To b e p l a g i a r i z e d i s t h e s i n c e r e s t form of f l a t t e r y .

It ' s k i n d of l i k e farming, sowing s e e d s of c o n c e p t s . P r e s e n t p l a g a i r i s m could o n l y l e a d t o f u t u r e o r i g i n a l c o n c e p t s . Maybe t h e i n d i v i d u a l who o r i g i n a l l y spoke t h e s e n t e n c e wants s h a r i n g an i d e a t o be p l a g i a r i z e d w i t h a s many p e o p l e a s r e l e v a n c y allows.

And...perhaps t h e people who c a l l you a p l a g i a r i s t a r e r e a l l y u p s e t t h a t i t ' s n o t them you a r e v a l i a n t l y emulating. It i s a compliment when you t e l l someone t h a t t h e y a r e worth plagiarizing dean ko

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P.S. A thought h a s o c c u r r e d t o add a n , ' i a n ' t o f r i e n d s ' l a s t names t o acknowledge t h e o r i g i n a l i t y of each of t h e i r s c h o o l s of t h o u g h t . But maybe . i t ' s n o t t h a t h e a l t h y because i t sugg e s t s a t e r r i t o r i a l r e f l e x and no one should have t h e monopoly on an i d e a . '

IF YOU ARE GOING TO HELP ME

One world, one market, one crisis

1. Please be p a t i e n t while I d e c i d e i f I can t r u s t YOU. 2. Let me t e l l my &ory. The whole s t o r y , i n my own way.

3 . P l e a s e a c c e p t t h a t whatever I ' v e done, whatever I may do, i s t h e b e s t t h i n g I have t o o f f e r and seeme r i g h t a t t h e time.

4. I am n o t a p e r s o n . . I am t h i s p e r s o n , unique and s p e c i a l .

5 . Don't judge me a s r i g h t o r wrong bad o r good. I am what I am and t h a t ' s a l l I've got.

6. Don't assume t h a t your knowledge about me i s more a c c u r a t e than mine. You o n l y know what I ' v e t o l d you. T h a t ' s o n l y p a r t o f me.

7. Don ' t ever +-thin)c. t h 9 t you \know what I should do - you don' t . I nay be confused b u t I am s t i l l t h e e x p e r t about me .

8. Doh1t p l a c e me i n a p o s i t i o n o f l i v i n g up t o your e x p e c t a t i o n s .

I have enough t r o u b l e with mine.

9. P l e a s e h e a r my f e e l i n g s . Not j u s t my words - a c c e p t a l l o f them. ~f you c a n ' t , how can I? 10. Don't save me. I can do i t myself.

I knew enough t o ask f o r h e l ~

Will the City survive?

To Robin Blencoe, b l i n i s t e r of Government S e r v i c e s

Dear M i n i s t e r :

(an open l e t t e r )

We w r i t e on b e h a l f of a number of Downtown E a s t s i d e community groups.

We a r e r e q u e s t i n g t h a t you meet w i t h a d e l e g a t i o n composed o f r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s from o u r groups t o d i s c u s s t h e review of gaming p r a c t i c e s which i s now i n p r o g r e s s .

A s you know, o u r neighbourhood i s u r b a n Canada' s p o o r e s t community. Many, i f n o t most, o f t h e o r g a n i s a t i o n s t h a t providd s e r v i c e s t o t h e c i t i z e n s o f o u r neighbourhood r e q u i r e gaming revenue t o c a r r y o u t t h e i r work. We a r e a l s o concerned about t h e impact o f t h e proposed w a t e r f r o n t c a s i n o and t h e i m l i c a t i o n s t h i s may have f o r b o t h o u r f u t u r e a b i l i t y t o p r o v i d e s e r v i c e s and t h e p o t e n t i a l f o r wide-open gambling i n Vancouver and, p a r t i c u l a r l y , o u r community. You w i l l b e aware t h a t t h e Downtown E a s t s i d e a l r e a d y h o l d s almost 80% o f t h e l i c e n s e d s e a t i n g c a p a c i t y i n Vancouver.

I f you r e q u i r e more i n f o r m a t i o n , o r t o a r r a n g e a s u i t a b l e meeting t i m e , d a t e and p l a c e , p l e a s e c o n t a c t me a t I ( ;I Carnegie Centre.

Sincerely, JEFF , SOMMERS I

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Hounded to the Coast

By BUD OSBORN 'We're on a highway to hell!' screams across the narrow aisle out of a ghetto blaster held by young jailbird tattoos.

Wild white boys piling into the rear seats.

'Sixty-nine hours to Vancouver,' the ticket seller said.

Janice, a brand-new parolee, flops into the empty seat beside me. The judge exiled her from Toronto for two years, to Thunder Bay. Paroled to parents she hasn't seen in six years.

She's drunk and showing off her slit-pocketbooster-coat. Handing out valiums and passing a bottle of rum.

All I can think of is Marie, abandoned in a hellhole hotel of drunken emergencies. But I was on the verge of jumping from the window there, or throwing someone else through it.

Silver comet splits the darkness, outside Sudbury. ] A monstrous paper mill's blowing Bhopal-like clouds near Espanola. The hyper-anxious doctor's son who drank his way out of university gets off at blacked-out station, and heads for a bar before calling home.

Anthony, a passenger I meet at a rest stop, lets me know that Jane has told the old Frenchman who's been bugging her that I'm her pimp. I conjure grim scenarios...

Anthony's a blues musician making his eighth trip to the coast in ten months. Says he doesn't know why, just knows he can't stop;.

The woman in the seat ahead of me, who climbed aboard in Sault Ste. Marie, says she's been ion Toronto, and is going to Winnipeg to see her ex-husband, though her fiancee is waiting for her in Saskatoon. Somewhere along the way she ended up; hitchhiking , a biker picked her up ,, gave her a ride, and a ticket for this bus.

A girl from Costa Rica, an exchange student, fills a cup with water from the toilet tap, and appears startled and confused when a man warns her. 'Don't drink it, it's poison!' and a woman advises her, 'It's not really poison.'

The kid with the blaster and tattoos said he woke up drunk, rolled and broke, in Buffalo. He lifts the white plaster cast covering his wrist and

13.

(forearm more like a badge of honour,, than a flag of surrender.

Janice broadcasts a tabloid headline to the entire bus: 'Man solves his own murder.'

Another woman's reading a Pentecostal magazine. The man sitting next to her is reading Hustler.

Lake Superior, past Dead Horse Creek trees.. .trees...trees...and glacial rock.

Bleak houses in battered White River, advertising itself as "The Coldest Sport In Canada" for hitting seventy-two below, once upon a time.

Wild boys making noise and smoking. The driver pulls onto the highway shoulder, walks to the rear and tells them. There's not going to be any partying back here! A wild boy blames Jane. 'She keeps trying to show us her boobs!'

And Jane says 'Hey driver! They're just givin' you the grease!' Through the window I see the World's Largest Oilcan" in Moosonin.

Amethyst Mines in Thunder Bay. Marie's astrological gem. A charm against drunkenness.

Old black and tan dog in the middle of a sunlit oil-stained bus bay. The nervous wide-blue-eyed novice missionary, who replaced Jane next to me, is on his way to a Native reserve. He stares at the dog and say, 'Boy, he isn't worried about anything is he?'

In the station, a newspaper headline shouts: Cannibals Shrink Space Alien's Head!'

This is called a 'non-smoking fresh air bus,' jammed-packed and sour with stale sweat .

A new driver threatens. 'Don't smoke in the restroom or I'll put you off the bus!' Smokers roll pop cans below the seats, rattling and clanging all the way to the driver's heels. Somebody yells, 'Let's put the driver off the bus!'

Lung-wracked coughing careers throughout the Greyhound, sounding like riding on a mobile quarantine unit for some respiratory plague.

A pond with a large beaver lodge resting g peacefully in it, beautiful; with smooth sticks and mud.

A sign proclaims Niponee to be the home of Al Hackner,, a curling champion.]

The newest hound-boss admonishes the wild boys. 'I don't want you disturbing the other passengers!' they're disturbin" us!' a wild boy replies.

Riding in early grey afternoon....

'So you're the new driver,' a wild one says. 'good, the last driver was drunk!'

A lengthy general discussion concerns crosscountry welfare benefits, which towns and cities let go of emergency cheques or a meal or an overnight flop.

A wild boy tells the conservatively dressed older man next to him, 'I trust you, you don't look like me., I know what I'm like.'

A black man reading a Reggie Jackson biography suddenly turns to a jabbering wild boy and says, 'You might not been talkin to me, but you mightta been talkin about me!' And silences the boy with a hard $are.

Roadside rock like a petrified rainbow: blue, green, gruffly, white, black, yellow, red.

We stop at the Terry Fox Statue Lookout. A plaque reads: 'He left a challenge for each to meet in his own way.'

A very drunken man reels aboard, and soon reveals the contents of his traveling bag, nothing but Alcoholics Anonymous literature. He says he just got out of a treatment centre., My thoughts turn to Marie, again and again.

Watching the full moon fiery white in the clear sky, I imagine its light shining into her window too. And, as though it's a telepathic satellite, I bounce a prayer off the moon, expressing my hope for renewed love, to Marie.

On the restroom blackboard in Upsala, someone's written: 'Louie, your moose is tied up in Savant!'

Itinerant welders. Drywall workers. Tunnel labourers. Riding west., hoping for jobs. A fresh start.

At a rest stoop. I opened a free copy of Rain Troth magazine, and learned that 'Greed is the underpinning of human nature.'

A small news-sheet I picked up at a restaurant in the Soo, reported that a seventeen-year-old female university student had been stabbed to death.

Twenty-five kilometres from Dryden, an inverted pentagram's painted on a boulder. A symbol for Satan.

Wild boys even louder, and nastier.

Completely broke now, living on water and crackers.

It's Credit Union Day, in Dryden. An enigmatic sign commands: 'Share The Vision."

A cold-hearted white moon hangs over

Kenora's Native miseries.

The wild boys were evicted as soon as we entered Manitoba. Furious, fill of grievances, they threatened the driver, cursed Greyhound, and were left standing in a parking lot, impatiently shaking their fists ..

Morning sunlight flashes off Little Steel River.

Short-ride lndians sit silently.

The young missionary from Pennsylvania's reading a paperback entitled: 'Witch Doctors and Sorcery' One brief tale I skim involves a priest, the lndians disliked enough to put a curse upon him, so that whenever he tried to preach to them, he lost the ability to speak.

Before disembarking, the blond missionary was chewing his fingers, and staring grimly at the road ahead.

Mostly poor people ride this bus that stops at expensive restaurants. An order of toast between two children. An orange between two hungry adults,. Other passengers wait until diners have left their tables, then scoop; the leftovers,. .

Stark subzero silvered pine tree in bone-blown Manitoba. Lone raven on a bare branch. ] The ex-Vietnam vet behind me told his seat,mate, a kindly-looking elderly woman reading a Bible that he just got out of a hospital. She asked what was wrong with him? He said, 'I thought the devil was chasing me. My psychiatrist told me that a lot of people think that.'

I sink, self-pityingly, into my seat, like the stone sinking into my gut; then pray Marie and I will be together soon, but saner, sober, and aware that we may not be on earth solely to make each other's life sheer hell.

She and I deftly detonate the deepest terror in each other unheal the oldest wounds. Being with each other is often like treading a minefield planted with bombs of trauma.

Marie's family remained together no matter what violence they wrought upon each other. My family fled separately after each new explosion of rage and madness.

Marie and I grew up with murderers, suicides. alcoholics, drug addicts thieves, convicts, mental patients , and rapists.

I remember my grandmother's summarizing statement, when told a distant relative was compiling a genealogy: 'Why'd he want to do

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that?'; my grandmother wondered. 'The ones we know about's bad enough!'

Oh dear God, help Marie and me overcome ourselves!

Approaching Winnipeg. I see the Place Louis Riel spelled out in letters of fire; and recall the Walt Whitman Hotel in degraded, downtown Camden, New Jersey. Two poet-prophets of North America - exclusive hotels.

Night of insomniac hell, switching buses and beside me a guy who sounds like he's digging a puck out of a corner. Elbows flailing.

Red-orange sunrise near Regina. Volcanic skyisland surfacing from snow-fields. Light-blue fog.

Pale lavender horizon.

Another ten minute rest stop. Anthony says he feels 'ridiculous,' forty-two years old, riding Greyhound back and forth across the country, with a copy of Kerouac in his back pocket.

I tell Anthony my terrible blues with Marie.

'Maybe you really love her,' he says. 'I do!' I tell him passionately. Our five years together reeling kaleidoscopically through my mind.

Five years of depressions, trances, addictions, starvations, mangled surgeries, desperation, tears and blood bursting from both of us - feeling doomed; but also joyous laughter, and intimacy such as only survivors from the worst of tragedies can feel, and our acts of selfless love, sometimes even recognized as such by the other An older woman in front of me explains to her seat-mate her reason for riding Greyhound: 'My husband's almost totally deaf. So you don't talk unless you absolutely have to. And when you just sit around and look at the walls, and watch TV and read, I said, 'I'm going to Vancouver to stay with my son for awhile.'

Anthony says he's been through the rock-popHoliday Inn-studio-trip, and just wants to play the blues now. As-soon as he can get off the highway. He knows individual waitresses by now in these bus stop diners and whether to trust a meal or just order soup.

In Regina, he had an epiphany, declaring unequivocally that our waitress had 'the world's plainest brown dress.'

Riding another long night through, awake and aching, with lives thrown like dice Down the highway...

In Tompkins, Sasketchewan, half-a-dozen

ranchers board with their wives. Beginning a hound tour like they did ten years ago., to Las Vegas, San Diego and Tijuana.

'Three weeks in all. You only live once,' said the tall rancher beside me, with large sun darkened hands, bulging forearms. a brown leisure suit with small Canadian flag lapel pin, cowboy boots, and a white Stetson hat.

'A strange thing happened this year,' he said. 'It rained all of September. Half the grain rotted.'

He couldn't recall that ever happening before.

He said it was a good summer for him, but, 'There were a lot of closures for anyone started a farm, or ranch in the last ten or fifteen years.

'They don't have a chance,' he said, softly, looking down at his hands, his face squeezed with compassion for men like those we see hanging out in prairie bus stations.

Hostile and curious looks from men in their thirties and forties, 'who don't have a chance.'

A stop near Outlook, and I imagine the fierce blue-gold-sky-wind roaring across the vast land blowing chains from my spirit and senses.

The old rancher keeps a diary. Spying over his shoulder, I read last night's entry: 'Rough night.

Kept moving. Turning.'

Anthony complains about contemporary music become as colourless and molded as 'ice cubes in a plastic tray.'

'Change the way we pray,' is the last entry I read in the rancher's diary.

In Swift Current, a good-natured Italian tourist camera bug, who's been stalking the aisle for photo opportunities, lugging all manner of camera paraphernalia, shooting out the windows, was attacked by an old man in the first seat by the door, who apparently thought the Italian was taking a picture of him, and drilled the camera lens with a right hook, but failed to knock out the exuberance of the Italian, who has provided comic relief, trapping himself in the Greyhound clapper, and struggling with the door for several minutes before extricating himself, red-faced and grinning, to be greeted by laughter and applause from the rest of us.

Someone surmised the odl man became so offended by the camera because he was probably in the Witness Protection Program. I thought perhaps the old man subscribed to the belief that the artificial reproductive capabilities

of the camera diminishes the spirit, or steals the soul of the person photographed. Most likely, the extrovert just got on his nerves.

The Italian chose this Greyhound route specifically so he could take photos of the Rocky Mountains, but was rendered speechless when informed we'd be passing through the mountains in the dead of night.

Reflection of a tree, dark-blue, floats amidst mountain-shadows. In the middle of a pond, in Alberta.

Now that the Italian has recovered from his shock about crossing the Rockies in darkness, he's [photographing people in doughnut shops and restaurants.

A young guy in the seat beside me, has been gulping bottle after bottle of codeine-laced cough syrup. I recently read that Canadians consume more codeine per capita than people in any other industrialized country.

I have certainly done my damnedest to help Canada reach the top in that category. Over-thecounter Tylenol with codeine just about killed me. I ended up taking lethal dosages to prevent withdrawal sickness from the codeine, and consequently overdosed on Tylenol.

In the emergency room the nurse told me overdoses on Tylenol were common. Two doctors appeared, looked at my test results on a clipboard, then gaped at me with open mouths.

Then one of them blurted a question I've been asking myself for most of my life: 'Why are you still alive?'

All I could do was hold up my hands.

Outside Medicine Hat, twenty years ago,. were trailers with showers and bunks and hot food, . provided free for road-weary travelers by the federal government. Today in Medicine Hat it's twenty cents to take a shit, plus graffiti: 'Fuck You And Everyone Who Looks Like You!' Twenty years ago in Medicine Hat, a very old Indian woman walked past me on the sidewalk. stopped and turned to'face me, She stood there looking into my soul, it felt like, and suddenly her eyes began pouring tears.

She walked slowly up to me, and when quite close, thrust a two-dollar bill into my hand, and said, 'My heart is sad for you.'

I stood there, astonished, as she walked away.

So many empty, abandoned houses throughout

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the forests and prairies, near small towns, on open land, with no way for anyone to live in them. People forced by economic techniques into the urban pressure cookers.

Greyhound drivers drinking coffee in a restaurant, talking grievances filed, breakdown schedules endured.

Calgary's lights at night, spread alluringly like petals and tendrils of a bright carnivorous flower.

Horrific farting turning the hound-bus into a gas chamber.

I finally passed out and woke up sweating.

'Emergency exit. ..lift this bar.. .Push window open.'

I look around at my fellow passengers trying to sleep, wrestling with themselves in their sears.

No contortionist performance artist I've ever seen has executed such excruciating postures as we do. trying to fit comfortably into these impossibly cramped seats.

I snatched a newspaper from the floor, and read that a psychiatrist has announced the first conference to study and discuss 'Self mutilation.. more common than you think.. discovered like bulimics and multiple personalities.. people ashamed to admit it.. covered by clothing.'

No revelation to me. I've swallowed and inhaled poisons, stabbed needles into my veins, slashed razor blades across my arms, and purposely driven an automobile into a wall at sixty miles an hour.

I've known people who pour acid on themselves, eat broken glass, stick their fingers intentionally into ,light sockets, viciously bite themselves, shoot bullets into their feet; and who practice various other disfigurements, inflicting lacerations and burns, as though attempting to mortify some unspeakable, shameful experience, and yet I've heard of religious people who wear hairshirts, put sharp stones in their shoes, or wear belts with nails embedded in their flesh.

But then, the religious do that to be reminded of God. The rest of us do that to be reminded of ourselves.

A sign says 'Mountains.' Wet rock beside the highway.

At Banff, young ski-resorters crowd the bus. I'm tired, anxious, stinking, and they seem to me prattling, puffed-up, pretentious, cream-filled beings, who've never missed a meal in their

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lives. My judgmental attitude bugs me more than they do.

The communion between Marie and me, at the last moment, as Iwas leaving for the bus station, comes back to me as something miraculous.

No matter how frustrating trying to love and receive love has been for us, we re-sealed a deep connection that drew us to each other in the first place.

Marie called me 'friend' more fervently and with such a radiant expression, than I've ever received from anyone,' Then we embraced, outside hotel hell, where guardian angels hovered over us.

A banner at the Mohawk gas station in Golden says: 'Reward Yourself.' But it doesn't say for what.

Headline in a Yellowknife newspaper: 'Drunks disrupt assembly.'

They'll do it every time.

Heavy rain falling ...

'I'm Chinese, sorry, I don't speak English,' says a man in suit and tie, to a cowboy who replies, 'That's okay. A lot of people in Canada don't speak English.'

I smoke a cigarette in the rain at Hope, where Rambo was filmed. That movie's inspired a lone army of camouflaged-dressed psychotics, committing mayhem in neighbourhoods and on city streets throughout North America.

Should be some kind of victim's

commemorative plaque; or at least a marker reading: 'He left a challenge....'

Closing in on Vancouver. Crowded-bus-rushhour-torture. Humpty-dumpty, the businessman, is wedged beside me, squirming with boils on his ass, he tells me. My own spiritual fractures are biting me with sharp teeth.

I have come out here to die. Like how many other Greyhound refugees, burning a continent behind them?

I've come here to die, either ignominiously in some wretched situation, or to my old life. But this is it. Nowhere left to run except into the ocean.

And Marie said she too would be riding the hound to Vancouver, to me, when she was ready.. ...

Heljo, a friend of Marie's and mine, and the woman who paid my fare out here, was driven, terror-stricken, through bomb-wracked Europe during the Second World War. Heljo, from Estonia, was more than once buried alive with debris, shattered bricks,, and scorched wood; but survived to build a new life in Canada. She told me she believes Marie and Iwill rise like 'mated phoenixes.'

Hounded to the coast, by furies and angels...

Hounded to the coast, to annihilation or resurrection...

Lunar eclipse. Skyline. Green dawn. i

AS I look down t h e highway, I o f t e n wonder where my l i f e i s l e a d i n g . I have t o make ur, mv mind which u a t h I should t a k e . 1f I t a k e t h e p a t h t o the r i g h t , w i l l t h a t be the r i g h t d e c i s i o n ? I don1t know.

I am s t u c k a t t h e c r o s s r o a d s and d o n ' t know which way t o go. I want t o be c e r t a i n i t i s t h e r i g h t p a t h I am t a k i n g f o r my f u t u r e depends on w h i c h . choice I make. I t h a s t o b e c o r r e c t , because i f I t a k e t h e wrong p a t h , .,. t h e r e may b e no t u r n i n g back.

Darlene E.

A! J

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DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE YOUTH ACTIVITIES SOCIETY

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STD C l i n i c Monday through Friday, 9am 5pm.

FREE MEDICAL CLINIC Mon, Wed, Friday, 5:30-7:30 pm.

NEEDLE EXCHANGE 221 Main; every day. 9am 5pm.

Needle Exchange Van on t h e s t r e e t evenings, Mon-Sat. N.A. meets every Monday n i g h t a t 223 Main S t r e e t .

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Out-To-Lunch Bunch meets d a i l y a t 59 Powell, loam

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1994 DONATIONS Bruce J.-$10 - .

Paula R . - $ l o Charley B.-$32 Sandy C.-$20 K e t t l e FS - $ I 6 C e c i l e C.-$10 Hazel M.-$10 E i l l B.-$16 J o y T.-$12 L i l l i a n H.$16 Diane M. $16 Etienne S. -$4O Libby D.:$20 Adult LCC - $ I ? CEEDS - $50 Carnegie ALC-$30 Margi S.-$5 Anonymous -$35 Sue H.-$35

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2:30pm.

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NEWSLETTER "I I*,.

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"I lY.,..%-ll"

TIIK NI3JSI.I~:TTI~R I S A PIII\I.II:ATIIIN (IF 'I'III: (:ARNT.GIK (:tlFBnlNI'rY (:I.N'I'RE hSSO(:l ATltlN

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A r t l r l r s ' r r p r r 3 r l l t t lor v l r w * o f l ~ l d l v ~ ~ ~ l ~ c o n t r l b 1 1 t o r 3 atld 11nt t r r t ~ A.soc. ~ c Iat ~ n n .

Ilelp i n t h e Downtown E a s t s i d e ( f u n d i n g ) S o c i a l S e r v i c e s $1000 Vancouver Health Dept. - $ I 1 Employment E Immigration -$800 P.L.U.R.A. -$I000

NEED HELP ?

0 Submission Deadline

NEXT ISSUE Wednesday I1 May

The Downtown Eastside Residents' Association can help you with: any welfare problem information on legal rights dis~uteswith landlords unsafe living conditions income tax UIC problem finding housing opening a bank account

Come into the DERA office at 9 East Hastings St. or phone us at 682-0931.

DERA HAS BEEN SERVING THE DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE FOR 20 YEARS.

204 gLORY ST. Dear S i r : The time has come1 t o s a y my p i e c e And a l s o ( t o n i g h t ) d a j c e w i t h my n i e c e She used t o b e my f r i e n d l y n u r s e But t h e n t h i n g s took a t u r n f o r t h e worse.

So Spring has sprung So many b e l l s I ' v e l e f t unrung On t h e 22nd of each month I MOVE 6 my small h e a r t BIG truck-Kenworth i f I can f i n d o r 4 The way s h e goes, you n e v e r know I may go on f o r Nevermore Spare Change f a i l e d I could have h e l ~ e d F i n a n c i a l l y I s h a l l b e SCALPED I won't b e h e r e t o r e a d t h i s t h i n g Mail ONE,ONLY copy t o : I wanted t o t a k e t h i s o p p o r t u n i t y t o t h a n k you f o r making an o r a l submission a t t h e Vancouver p u b l i c heal ing (of t h e Oppal Commission on Poli c i n g i n B r i t i s h Columbia) It was p a r t i c u l a r l y b e n e f i c i a l f o r t h e Comn i s s i o n t o h e a r p u b l i c views.

We a r e now n e a r i n g completion of t h e i n q u i r y p r o c e s s , and a r e i n t h e process of w r i t i n g o u r f i n a l r e p o r t .

We have r e c e i v e d hundreds of submiss ions from concerned c i t i z e n s , i n c l u i ing t h e o r a l p r e s e n t a t i o n s made a t over 50 community h e a r i n g s t h r o u g h o ~ t h e p r o v i n c e . It i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o note t h a t no two submissions a r e alike each i s unique and each i s important t o u s .

The informat i o n and s u g g e s t i o n s cc t a i n e d i n t h e s e submissions a r e of immense v a l u e t o o u r r e s e a r c h progrr and a r e b e i n g g i v e n c a r e f u l c o n s i d e l a t i o n as we develop o u r recommendations on t h e i s s u e s c o n t a i n e d i n o u r Terms of Reference.

Your i n t e r e s t i n t h e work of t h e Commission i s a p p r e c i a t e d , and I thank you a g a i n f o r p a r t i c i p a t i n g i~ t h e i n q u i r y i n t o p o l i c i n g i n B .C.

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Yours v e r y t r u l v . a l l a c e T. Oppal

DOivIN I ST3NEHOUSE c/o C . J . SHORTER e t f a m i l i c / o P.M. Vonda, SASKATCH where I ' m goin t o s c r a t c h

-WATERFRONT CASINO An open l e t t e r P l e a s e c o n s i d e r t h e s e p o i n t s about

the c a s i n o p r o p o s a l : Ay(,~hecommNity groups and s o c i a l a g e n c i e s t h a t would b e most a f f e c t e d a r e a l l s t r o n g l y opposed. DERA, RayCam, Carnegie, S t r a t h c o n a R e s i d e n t s A s s o c i a t i o n , B r i t a n n i a , GrandviewWoodlands Area Council.

Why? because t h i s p r o j e c t would d e s t r o y t h e community, c r e a t i n g thousands o f homeless p e o p l e . Like EXPO on a l a r g e r s c a l e , low-income r e s i d e n t s would b e e v i c t e d a s h o t e l s go u p s c a l e t o a t t r a c t t h e overflow of t h e 25,000 gamblers a day. S t r e e t act i v i t y l i k e drugs E p r o s t i t u t i o n would i n c r e a s e i n o u r community t o s e r v i c e t h e f r e e - s p e n d i n g gamblers,

and spread i n t o e a s t - s i d e neighbourhoods.

B) A d e s t i n a t i o n mega-resort i s a black hole t h a t sucks up money from o t h e r b u s e i n s s e s and i n t h e c i t y and from communities i n t h e r e s t of t h e province. Stand-alone c a s i n o s draw most of t h e i r customers from t h e i r immediate a r e a , d i v e r t i n g t h e i r d o l l a r s from o t h e r l o c a l e n t e r t a i n m e n t spending. (Cruise s h i p s have t h e i r own gambling f a c i l i t i e s on b o a r d . ) Even t h e l a r g e Vancouver h o t e l s , many with unionized s t a f f s , w i l l l o s e b u s i n e s s , unable t o compete w i t h t h e i u b s i d i s e d rooms and 6ood o f f e r e d by

C ) -7fjie Port- of \.ancdt!vc~ zad t h e VLC d o n ' t exac'try7have proven t r a c k r e c o r d s when it comes t o p u b l i c t r u s t .

The P o r t , one o f t h e most s e c r e t i v e f e d e r a l a g e n c i e s o p e r a t i n g i n BC, drew community groups and t h e C i t y i n t o an e x h a u s t i n g , year-long p r o c e s s o f f l c o n s u l t a t i o n " about P b r t development, never mentioning t h e c a s i n o .

Then it suddenly sprung t h e whole d e a l , s i g n e d , s e a l e d and d e l i v e r e d , with no o p t i o n t o s a y yes o r no.

VLC a p p l i e d t o l a b o u r union pension funds on t h e grounds t h a t i t would b e b u i l d i n g a f f o r d a b l e r e n t a l housing, 2000 u n i t s a y e a r i n t h e f u t u r e , p l u s c r e a t e union jobs. Unions responded i n an unquestioning, d e v o t i o n a l way.

But what has happened? In 4 : ~y e a r s , i t has b u i l t o n l y 740 r e n t a l u n i t s ,

with a mere 400 more planned. Meant i m e , i t i s b i i l d i n g thousands of condos a t market r a t e s . Now it i s becoming a mega-developer i n p a r t n e r s h i p on t h e w a t e r f r o n t . B l i t h e l y axi n g i t s s o c i a l mission, p r e s i d e n t Jack Poole now proudly compares VLC t o megadevelopers T r i z e c I n t r a w e s t .

D) The "amenities o f f e r e d t o t h e community by t h e P o r t a r e p i t i f u l l y i n adequate. Five m i l l i o n d o l l a r s would b u i l d newer than 50 u n i t s o f s o c i a l housing, and t h a t ' s i f none of t h e money i s used f o r p a r k s , daycare o r o t h e r s o c i a l s e r v i c e s . The s o - c a l l e d housing on t h e Woodward's s i t e i s an empty promise. The money f o r t h a t housing would have t o b e p u t up by t h e t a x p a y e r s of BC, d i v e r t e d from t h e a l l o c a t i o n o f housing a l r e a d y s e t by t h e p r o v i n c i a l government.

E) Any d e v e l o p e r w i l l r o u t i n e l y overs t a t e the b e n e f i t s of t h e i r project 6 u n d e r s t a t e t h e drawbacks. The more s o f o r t h e gambling i n d u s t r y , which i s i n t h e b u s i n e s s o f s e l l i n g i l l u s i o n . Cons i d e r jobs. In c a s i n o s , union j o b s a r e a s u n s e t i n d u s t r y . Already, 70 p e r c e n t of revenue i s from s l o t machines (uns t a f f e d ) , r a t h e r t h a n from gaming t a b l e s (which r e q u i r e s t a f f i n g ) , and t h e t r e n d i s growing. A s one c a s i n o owner s a i d , " S l o t s n e v e r go on s t r i k e , and t h e y never c a l l i n s i c k ."

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(: o n s t r u c t i o n jobs w i l l happen no ma1t t e r what p r o j e c t goes i n t h e r e , eva:n w i t h o u t a c a s i n o . And f o r a l l t h e ho 1t e l and r e s t a u r a n t j o b s c r e a t e d , how mar~y w i l l b e d e s t r o y e d i n o t h e r b u s i ne:s s e s and communities?

F) A s you know, c h a r i t y b i n g o s ,and c a s i n o s a r e a c r i t i c a l s o u r c e of i n come f o r BC community groups. The r e c ord o f , , l a r g e f o r - p r o f i t c a s i n o s everywhere i s t h a t t h e y d e s t r o y l i t t l e b i n gos and c a s i n o s i n t h e i r t e r r i t o r i t i e s A t Carnegie, we depend on o u r bingo t o feed o u r v o l u n t e e r s i n t h e l e a n t i m e s b e f o r e w e l f a r e cheque day, and o u r c a s i n o s t o pay f o r o u t J t r i p s f o r s h u t in s e n i o r s .

Open 24 hours a day, combining a l c o hol and gambling on c r e d i t , a Vegass t y l e c a s i n o i s an i n v i t a t i o n t o ab. use. S o c i e t y w i l l have t o pay f o r t h e s o c i a l problems caused. These c o s t s have never been e s t i m a t e d o r even ment i o n e c b y t h e proponents.

Many o f t h e p o i n t s above a r e documented i n an independent s t u d y o f c a s -

h o t : "Legalized Gambling a s a S t r a t egy f o r Economic Developmenttt by Prof.

Robert Goodman o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Massachusetts a t Ainherst. The Vancouvver Public Library has ordered copies.

You can o r d e r your own copy by c a l l i n g (413) 586-4235.

Our community j u s t does n o t have t h e r e s o u r c e s t o e v a l u a t e and c o u n t e r t h e well-financed hype-sell of t h e s e large s c a l e d e v e l o p e r s . Most o f o u r r e s i d e n t s l i v e on f i x e d incomes i n s i n g l e rooms. We need t h e h e l p o f community groups, r e s i d e n t s , t h e l a b b u r movement and everyone who c a n s e e between t h e l i n e s t o develop an independent capac i t y t o a s s e s s t h e c l a i m s o f t h e gambl i n g paoponants.

Each o f u s , and o u r groups/agencies/ unions, can s t a r t t h i s p r o c e s s by aski n g h a r d q u e s t i o n s and i n s i s t i n g on c o n c r e t e answers when gambling s a l e s persons come knocking.

Thank you f o r your i n t e r e s t , In s o l i d a r i t y , MUGGS SIGURGE IRSGI'I,

OLDER WOMEN'S DROP-IN

GAY & LESBIAN

* Refreshments * Movies

DROP-IN is l st and 3rd THURSDAY OF EACH MONTH

*Talks On Tuesday, May 3rd, the event will focus on "WOMEN WHO KILL THEIR ABUSERS" 3pm-6pm 509 E. Hastings Call 254-6207 for info.

Sponsored by THE NEIGHBOURHOOD HELPERS PROJECT

3100 - 5100 AT CARNEGIE CENTRE IN THE POTTERY ROOM ON MAY 5TH: VIDEO

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Sponsored by: Neighbourhood Helpers Project First United Church Camegie Seniors Committee

The Cameaie photo ~ m G p Presents

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ks. Included are

A MayWorks Festival Event

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MAY 5th JUNE 5th 1994 W,~/S~LASS/COUCTUM

Facm ~ ~ n t m r obyrUr~~~ C ~ RCLI M ~ I Syndra~e

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"Don't be ridiculous if there was an embezzler here, I'd know about it!"

The Carnegie Community Centre Third Floor, 40 1 Main Street Vancouver

Liberal Government has cut UI severely Now they are focussed on all of Canada's Social Security Systems

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OPENING MAY 5th 7:30 9:30 pm refreshments served

~ t t e n dthe VDLC's

Friday, April 29, 1994 7:30 p.m.

Maritime Labour Centre 1880 Triumph Street (at Victoria Drive) Vancouver, B.C. , , ' . ., SfeakeTs: Dick Martin, Canadlan Labour Congress JOY McPhail, Mlnlster of ~oclalSet-dces

Annual General Meeting In June, ( b u t t h e r e i s no o f f i c i a l d a t e y e t ) t h e C a r n e g i e Community Cent r e A s s o c i a t i o n w i l l have i t s y e a r l y meeting with e l e c t i o n s f o r t h e 19941995 Board o f D i r e c t o r s .

Even w i t h o u t t h e d a t e s e t y e t , i f you a r e i n t e r e s t e d i n running f o r one of t h e 15 s e a t s on t h e Board, you must have been a member f o r a t l e a s t 60 days immediately p r i o r t o t h e d a t e of t h i s meeting. If you want t o b e a p a r t of t h e meeting and v o t e , you

VOLUNTEERISM Hey man, you d o n ' t need t o b e a college graduate t o volunteer a t t h e Carnegie C e n t r e .

While i n my f i f t i e s I v o l u n t e e r e d a t Carnegie a f t e r comin, t o t h e Centr e f o r cheap meals and n o t i c i n g t h e y needed h e l p i n t h e Learning C e n t r e .

I was g r a t e f u l f o r t h e meals s i n c e my income d i d n ' t l e a v e a n y t h i n g f o r food a f t e r I p a i d my r e n t , hydro, $hone, and bought needed household i t e m s . The New Westminster food bank had a 2 o l i c y t h a t o n l y allowed p e r s ons t o p i c k up food on s e t c a l e n d a r days and it w a s n ' t working f o r me. I am a t t h a t awkward age between b e i n g employable and w a i t i n g f o r my s e n i o r pension.

I volunteered out of gratitude, but now I am i n s u b s i d i s e d housing s o am not a s d e s p e r a t e . A s a v o l u n t e e r i n t h e Learning C e n t r e I f e e l v e r y p r i v i l e g e d t o b e allowed t o work w i t h l e a r n e r s . While my c h i l d r e n were growing up I worked w i t h p r e - s c h o o l e r s i n a S a l v a t i o n Amy Sunday School, d i s a b l e d c h i l d r e n i n a handicap school, and have t a u g h t a c o r r e s i o n d ence c o u r s e . A f t e r t a k i n g a 9-month computer course and upgrading my o f f i c e t r a i n i n g I f e e l even more up t o date i n English.

How sweet it i s t o b e a b l e t o t a l k t o l e a r n e r s , h e l p i n g them w i t h t h e i r English. 'There i s no l i f e l i k e it. ' 1 wish o t h e r r e t i r e d g e o i ~ l e , r e t i r e d t e a c h e r s i n p a r t i c u l a r , would t a k e on the rewarding t a s k . Not o n l y a r e t h e r e ESL s t u d e n t s b u t t h e r e a r e lea^ ners i n t h e d r o p - i n a s w e l l . S e v e r a l long-term t u t o r s have been a s s i s t i n g t h e s t a f f f o r y e a r s , t e a c h i n g math, science, and o t h e r GED c o u r s e s .

They work h a r d i n t h e Drop-In p a r t of t h e Learning Centre.

One of o u r most q u a l i f i e d t u t o r s i s l e a v i n z besause she cannot g e t a work p e r m i t , and w i l l b e s o r e l y missed.

Another i s p l a n n i n g t o go t o South America t o t e a c h English because t h e y have developed. .agd ) l e a r n e d s k i l l s t u t o r i n g i n t h e Learning C e n t r e .

V o l u n t e e r i n g i s rewarding when you s e e how much you can b e n e f i t l e a r n e r s .

The Learning C e n t r e i s going t o have a one-time Volunteer Dinner, which w i l l come o u t o f t h e s t a f f ' s p o c k e t s , t o honour t h e Learning Centr e Volunteers. I t h i n k t h i s i s a g r e a t g i f t from them. I'm s u r e I can speak f o r a l l 3 r d f l o o r v o l u n t e e r s i n saying thanks t o t h e s e s t a f f people. .

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By DORA SANDERS

(WN NEWS)

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l ' / z years, over 100,000 women have taken to bicycling as a symbol of independence and mobility.

"Where there is a wheel, there is a way," is the slogan coined by the women of Pudukkotai, one of the poorest districts of Tamil i A Nadu state. 1 "Over a quarter OF all women here have learned to cycle," says Sheela Rani Chunkath, a former district collector of Pudukkotai who starred the women's cycling training in the latter part of

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movement. nwas to enable

women literacy activists to reach village interiors by getting them bicycles and teaching them to ride. She pushed the banks to advance loans for the bicycles and got each block to accept specific responsibilities for promoting the literacy program.

The scheme caught on, not only among literacy providers but also among the newly literare. In fact, every newly literate woman now sees. a direct connection benveen cycling, mobility and her personal liberation.

Women are going on cycles to collect water, often with their children. They can now cart provisions by them-

Ode To Somewhat Like S c h i n d l e r l s L i s t

selves. The cyclists include women agricultural workers, quarry workers, vdage health nurses, traditional craftswomen, gem cutters, rural school teachers and midday meal workers.

It was not easy to gain social acceptance of women as cyclists. But the literacy movement provided of5cia.I social sanction, so other women rook to it. Today, even young Muslim women from highly conservative backgrounds bike along the roads. Several have literally abandoned the veil for the wheel. Jarneela Bibi says,"It's my right. Now I don't have to wait for a bus.1 can go anywhere."

O r i f we Vancl s walk f o r Peace I see, I see We s t i 11 might win.

Greenhope Jack Said t h e Blindman Driving h i s p r i v a t e Automobile Through Vancouver East Making s u r e t h e workers' Snifters deteriorate So t h e y c a n ' t smell f l o w e r s o r The deadly poisonous a i r The same poisonous g a s ( s m e l l l e s s , t a s t e l e s s ) That murdered t h e Jews a t T r e b l i n k a From 6 d i e s e l e n g i n e s O r t h e two m i l l i o n i n j u r e d a n n u a l l y Grinning back a t us through h o l e s , Wondering how t o change Now t h a t i t ' s t o o l a t e t o

Bang Your Hands Together Bang your hands t o g e t h e r t h e Day i s coning c l o s e r When t h e d u a l i t y o f Man and Woman Comes t o g e t h e r a s one b e i n g of l i g h t A b e i n g whose depth o f s p i r i t Is e q u a l t o t h e h e i g h t of b e i n g Where t h e b l a c k l i g h t o f thought I s t h e p e r f e c t orgasm o f o u r Love Where o u r e t e r n a l awareness Of o u r s a c r e d word AmeN Father-Son-Bride-Mother C h i l d r e n of t h e Seven S e a l s

\

Bang your hands t o g e t h e r t h e Day i s coming c l o s e r ( For t h e Redeemer t o meet h i s lamb The day we t e a c h t h e c h i l d r e n How h i g h t h e i r p a r e n t s f l y Unicorn and Lady of Light

The most magical s e l f To g u i d e t h e m u l t i t u d e s Back t o o u r h i g h e s t l i g h t Where o u r e t e r n a l awareness Of o u r s a c r e d word AmeN F a t h e r - Son- Bride-Mother C h i l d r e n of t h e Seven S e a l s .

Bang your hands t o g e t h e r t h e Day i s coming c l o s e r When a l l t h e s c i e n t i s t s W i l l be surprised By t h e e t e r n a l s i m p l i c i t y Of t i m e and s p a c e An e x p r e s s i o n o f l o v e ?

How b i g , how s m a l l , how now Where o u r e t e r n a l awareness O f o u r s a c r e d word AmeN C h i l d r e n of t h e Seven S e a l s Dreamweaver 8

Say something.

John H. Rhoades

?

"There's one born every minute." . --

.

..----

milliqns of dollars trying to ..

Vancouver is not the only revitalize the old warehouse, place that has been district in the downtown area empire-builders at'/ unaccountable government The other 2 corporations., an to troll the same ?-., :' agencies like the V warehouse district and other Port Corporation. Urban p ts of the city forfa-kjs';i':-?

Bart Reid spoke at the Ap inesses to set, yp in their 24th meeting on the Pork ations. Meanwhile the North' Corporation's waterfront 'portage Eevelopment Corporation development. He told us a - stores outside,, how government agencies a ransacked the ,their mall in order to fill i p western Canada have built gigantic boondogles in th its empty spaces. Today. the.': inner cities that are*:. south side of Portage Avenue is decimating the low income like a ghost town that has been communities next door to ther sacrificed to keep the mallA :.:, Just like the Vancouver Port ive . T*<' I 6 -5: ??;!*I. Corporation, these agencies p.The Calgary Stampede has 'managed to all but destroy the accountable only to boards and to cabin Victoria Park neighbourhood.\*" ministers. The community an Before this, residents and th? 'city spent years of work on . . the public have no control over this kind o local area planning, not to ntion millions of dollars in organization.!kq%%x*cE< . Winnipeg has suffered f federal government k<-Y,:,'?i:h this kind of developm ighbourhood 1mproveme&'+ than any other Canadian ci oject funding. .These both,' .

For over 10 years, t down the drain so the P$' government-sponsored Stampede could build a, wild development agencies t theme park.9L:"i.' roamed Winnipeg's inn the Vancouver Port=. r,j." feeding on neighbourh rporation (or, as many call1 small businesses. R . ! X , the Pork Corporation) isq The Winnipeg Core Ar an operation similar to all&; Initiative. the North these others. It is accountable Development Corporati only to the federal cabinet and The Forks Renewal Corporatio Vancouver business. All the\ have left devastation behind communities that adjoin it have them. By developing new mall had major problems with it and and retail areas, they built ese have rarely been resolved a surplus of retail business,.,: favour of the community.,, . space in the city. Too many ;-, We only have to look at the' n Street overpass to f: . empty stores and too few '.., businesses to fill th erstand what the Pork thinks 'is of the Downtown Eastside. It : they had to begin competing with each other and with the "also tells us what will happen local small business to our community if we let the The Winnipeg Core Area .'L* 1.. waterfront mega-development Initiative spent years and boondoggle go ahead.

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SPECIAL REPOftT I n 1992 t h e Royal Bank made o v e r $63,000,000 n e t p r o f i t and p a i d $0 i n t a x e s . I n 1993 a l l 5 m a j o r banks r e ported r e c o r d p r o f i t s - t h e Royal w a s over $950 m i l l i o n - d u r i n g t h e w o r s t economic woes s i n c e t h e D e p r e s s i o n of 1929. I n 1992, a t e l l e r working a t Y e Olde Royal and making $25,000 p a i d $5,732 i n t a x e s .

A low income p e r s o n , making $9,000 a y e a r ( a b o u t $6,000 below t h e povert y l i n e ) p a i d a b o u t $800 i n t a x e s .

While m a j o r economic growth h a s happened i n Canada i n t h e l a s t f o r t y y e a r s , and c o r p o r a t i o n s h a v e b e n e f i t ed f r i n t g u s growth, t h e y h a v e b e e n paying less and less i n t a x e s .

Between 1961 and 1992, t h e p e r c e n t age of t a x d o l l a r s t h e government r e c e i v e d from i n d i v i d u a l s jumped from 32% t o 48%; d u r i n g t h e same p e r i o d , t h e p e r c e n t a g e of r e v e n u e from corpo r a t i o n s dropped from 21% t o 7%.

I n 1992, 93,405 c o r p o r a t i o n s made $27 b i l l i o n i n p r o f i t s , y e t aid n o taxes.

By n o t p a y i n g t h e i r f a i r s h a r e of t a x e s , c o r p o r a t i o n s are p u t t i n g o u r s o c i a l programs, o u r j o b s and o u r country a t r i s k .

CASINO CONTROVERSY Why n o t do something good b y p l a c g t h e c a s i n o on Reserve l a n d ? Nate s who a l r e a d y h a v e a Bingo P a l a c e d t h e P r o v i n c i a l government s h o u l d t t o g e t h e r and do something r i g h t . . t i v e s h a v e b e e n wronged f o r 300 lars. T h i s would g i v e n a t i v e s a l o t employment.

J o s e p h Boucher

It ' s r e a l l y amazing what g e t t i n g e l e c t e d can do t o someone's s e n s e of f a i r n e s s . When i n o p p o s i t i o n , P a u l M a r t i n d e c r i e d t h e g o v ' t of Mulroney f o r s a y i n g t h a t we c a n "no l o n g e r a f f o r d t o b e compassionate" and i s now g u t t i n g s o c i a l programs even f a s t e r t h a n Lying B r i a n . The l e a k e d r e p o r t s from Ottawa ( l i k e l y l e a k e d by t h e Lib e r a l s themselves, but t h a t ' s another s t o r y ) h a v e Mart i n s q u e e z i n g some $7 b i l l i o n from s o c i a l programs o v e r t h e next 3 y e a r s , while allowing over $27 b i l l i o n a y e a r i n c o r p o r a t e p r o f i t s t o b e tax-free. Martin himself i s w o r t h o v e r $30 m i l l i o n and owns enough companies t o t a k e 2% pages t o l i s t them a l l .

It i s n o t f a i r .

On May 2nd, from 12-12:45, members of A c t i o n Canada Network (BC) w i l l b e h o l d i n g ''FAIR TAX RALLY" a t 1166 W.Pender h e r e i n Vancouver. P l e a s e come down. T h e r e i s s o much propagand a on t h e news and t h r o u g h o u t t h e media a b o u t t h e hype of s l a s h i n g soci a l programs b e i n g t h e o n l y way t o reduce t h i s ' d e f i c i t ' t h a t a statement of t r u t h n e e d s t o b e l o u d and c l e a r . T h a t ' s MONDAY, MAY 2nd!

FAIR TAX DAY RALLY MONDAY, MAY 2 L 0CAUON:

COMPOUND lNTml3T CHA ROES

1 166 WEST PENDER STREET VANCOUVER, BC

TlME:

\

50%

12 NOON TO 12:45 P.M.

JOIN US W E R E ALONG W I W - - -

THE RAGING GRANNIES

TAX BREAKS UPPER INCOME EARNERS 81 CORPORATIONS

SPENDINCh,

SPEAKERS FROM THE ACTION CANADA NETWORK THE PUBLIC SERVICE ALLIANCE OF CANADA AND MORE

GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES

STREET THEATRE BRING --YOUR LUNCH, YOUR FRIENDS, RELATIVES, COLLEAGUES, YOUR NOISEMAKERS AND SIGNS GS

AND

HOLDINGS, ETC.

YOUR .biNGm AND IF"]WUSmmON!!!

GOVERNMENT REVENUE

THE FEDERAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS NEED TO KNOW THAT WE WANT FAIR TAXATION, NOT FAVOURED TAXATION. BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ACTION CANADA NETWORK END LEGISLATED POVERTY

WOMEN TO WOMEN GLOBAL STRATEGIES PUBLIC SERVICE ALLIANCE OF CANADA