November 1, 1998, carnegie newsletter

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NEWSLETTER 401 Main Street, Vancouver V6A 2T7 (604) 665-2289

NOVEMBER 1,1998

Do you feel obscene? Does having a TV camera scoping you from top to bottom while searching for any obvious signs of degeneration turn you on or give the "millions of viewers" a good look at the entirety of the Downtown Eastside? Is television journalism fair when you are a 1-second image or a 30-second story to be the best drug addict available?

A two hour special on CBC, with spots all day on how this community was going to 'degenerate before your eyes as these low-life's get money and get drugged up and despicable on welfare Wednes day'. .. There was little new or exciting. Police seemed to be participants, although the cuts to two people using on camera probably wasn't the highlight of their night. There were several incidents of calls to ambulances, scooping adolescents from near Pigeon Park, referrals to counselling and detox, that were just ignored as not part of this 'unplanned and spontaneous portrayal', but willing or unwilling it came across as the priority view of our neighbourhood - and if you weren't a drug user you weren't news.

Reaction to this show has been swift and caustic.

People in the community who work and live here have been asked by friends from elsewhere what it was for.. what the CBC was rambling about.. why nothing good or positive was shown. Only if you looked poor (stonecUdrunk/weird) did you become newsworthy. It was enlightening to hear that the quick fix solution of fibre-optic cable for 5km along Hastings would change everything, or that

the violence is everywhere all the time, or the BC Coroner saying it was a health problem while the voyeur behind the caniera scoped a working girl for the edification of all those 'millions of viewers at home'. Ian Hanamansing was confronted by a local trench-worker as a "media jackal", which he got all bent out of shape about, and proceeded to do and be exactly that with his poornc-agraphy.

Co~nmunityRelations heard from Sergeant Ken

Call CBC Newsworld and Susan Anthony at 662-6825 or 619-2052

Frail on the police presence at Pigeon Park.

The scope was set as a block in 4 directions from the park with the drug trade, problem premises, garbagelgraffiti, adolescents, rice alcohol, pawn shops, and street traffic all being worked on. Local residents were 95% supportive/complimentary and city engineering and building inspection both assisted with flushing, trash removal and quick visits to several 'problem premises.' Two hote are under investigation for receiving several w farc cheques for one room. Officers at both

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connecting - lanes and areas.

Members responded with observations that most people just move away while the police are there; that activity from Pigeon Park relocated in front of Carnegie and further east; that hotels close by had an influx of dealers and users aln~oststorming the door when cops show up; that the Chinatown and Gastown cops have to be strict with rent-acops pretending to be police and rousting people who aren't 'up to standard'. 'Deconcentration' is the latest term for dispersal. To say that the police or civic workers or land use task forces have no political agendas is misleading.. self-delusional. ... curiouser and curiouser!

PRT

President's Report After being elected I knew I had a task before me and I want to thank everyone for the opportunity to do what I do best - talk, listen, learn and action Our Carnegie Centre is a place where volunteers have made it the success it is. The board has many active members who contribute. For me, communication is the most important part of everyday life, but like most people I don't read minds. Camegie holds meetings of all kinds where you and I can express views and ~deas.All members're welcome to join every committee meeting times and place are posted on bulletin boards. A staff member is there to take minutes for the board as this is our process - everythingpes t h u g h a committee for discussion, then comes to the board. Minutes are read both for the benefit of those who couldn't attend at the committee and for those who have difficulty reading.

Goals for the future include bettering communic-

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ation, protecting the cmstitutional ideals, ~mproving working relationships with the director, board, staff and volunteers, and keeping in contact with agencies and groups in our community. Knowing what is going on outside Carnegie is a huge part of committee work, and working as a team builds trust & honesty. Knowing who the team players: are is also crucial to playing the game successfully To me, working as part of a team makes things simpler.. people who won't or can't are usually asked to leave!

Everyone has ideas and has a voice; everyone is looking for a leader. You needn't look any farther than inside yourself, If you need to get hoId of me leave a message at the front desk in Carnegie. There is a bv-election at the next board meeting on Thursday. Nov 5th and a board workshop will happen shortly.

CrCTmthe-!

Margaret Prevost

Dear Friends, The Community campaign called "Downtown Eastside Women Break the Silence Against Violence" has planned a series of events during the month of October to raise awareness about the ongoing violence against women in this community and to propose solutions toward Zero Tolerance for violence. We are asking that all people who live and work in this community take some action, such as having discussions with friends, inviting speakers, viewing films or participating in one of the organized events below.

The media is constantly portraying this as a violent community. We can begin to take steps to prevent the violence that occurs within our community and to fight the violence that outsiders, including mass media, do to us. Please get involved!

November events: At the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre Friday, November. 6, 5:30 - S:00 P M

Community Forum - Talcnt Night!

At RayCam Centre

Monday, November 9, 12 - 3 PM \ workshop

Racism as a Folm of Violence

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At Loon Lake

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November 13 -15 Women's Retreat at Loon Lake to stsategize on the ongoing campaign to fight violence * * * Please call 682-3269 #8319 and sign up, or call Rika or Lucy at 665-3003 for information on the retreat.

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Look for updated notices as more events are organized.

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How

Hope lies in the dark When I'm most afraid curls up and rolls to and fro y ~ o is~daytime e opening to new times when I can maybe Be maybe Be who I am Not some shadow following me as I wander if I must sleep illegally again, no walls If the police don't get me

Who th~nksI am fair game because I am female?

Will they- get - me again?

Laughing with their power over me Ldughing the 1way the elite do saying "We rule."

"You are just a woman, to be used for our gain." ...will they?

Jane

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Inheritance

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Oh, my fierce, gentle father who faced in his dream the terrors of Passchendaele and the Somme.

Crouched on the stairs as a sniall boy, I entered those dreams.

I saw men standing.

I saw them leaving the trenches and walking form and I went forward with them.

Some fell gently, and lay still.

Others screamed and rolled on the ground.

They reached toward me in fear and pain.

One line of soldiers disappeared Then another line came forward and it, too, disappeared.

Line after line walked slow and straight into the fire of the machine guns.

I heard the sound of weeping, and gazed in the green night with eyes of stone.

Sandy Cameron

McDowell

1928- 1998

A fine actor may touch different people in as many glimmering ways as a diamond may reflect ouor days.

I remember Saturday afternoon Late 1980's winter my lifelove lisette and I ready to snuggle into unseen engli& supernatural film on TV. Standing there by a desolate train track before the main titles were ready was roddy, shafts of lighjt and dark flashing onto his hagard face like the soul of cinema.

No matter he played a maverick occultist (brilliantly, we may add) No matter the film first rate hokum.

That naked face was a light dark. dark light light dark map of sheer venture.

Never met you, but for lighting up our love uniquely, thank you, Roddy. . . john alan douglas A

hold please . . . most of my life's bin suicide on "hold" hovering around my thoughhts my overall plan... the rationale's flawless but my heart foils the scheme with its longing for beating "life's longing for itself' I'm rendered pretty useless perpetually on the verge no plans, no dreams, no cornmil just whatever's doin' today suicide on "hold" doin' it slow and unsure ing deep from the moment d in my little self jericho

It's not Rice Wine, since wine is under 10% alcohol by volu~ne.This stuff is almost 40% and the salt was added (2%) to make it too awful to drink. Didn't work, but that was just a way to keep it on grocery store shelves and out of liquor stores where it belongs.

At the DERA C'- neral Meeting on 0 3 . 2 3 , three people provided irst-hand infortnation on aspects of the drive to get Rice liquor regulated as an alcohol product and stop the epicle~nicof death and destruction anlongst users. The fmstration over lack of controls came through loud and clear from Paul Teichroeb of Pennits & Licenses. 'It takes ~nonthsto get enough evidence of a store selling to people who are going to drink this stuff, then they inay get closed after a "Show Cause" hearing only to re-open under a new name or a different location and it's back to square one.'

Ken Frail of the police department boiled away the contents of a single bottle to show how much salt is in it, and spoke of the violence and victimization associated with drinkers. 'Every day there is an enonnous amount of colnmunity resources police, ambulance, paramedics, emergency and hospital procedures, traffic, robbery, jail, detox, the results of psychological trauma - associated with rice liquor. Its use leads to a perception of lawlessness as drinkers fight, pass out in public places, are robbed or just stagger into the street.'

Dr. John Blatherwick gave a history going back twenty-some years and doctors saying then that

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the abuse of this product was exploding. He gave insight into how it affects the body, but at the same time voiced his frustration at the political response to calls for regulation. An example was how Council banned the sale of tu~tles(!) when three people got sick fioln sal~nonella(carried by turtles). Over the years the only response to this poison and the death and destnlction associated with it has been to add salt. More people have died and been disabled by consutninn rice liquor than have died from drug overdoses.

Libby Davies, MP for our neighhourhood, spoke strongly in favour of the efforts to get laws passed to get this stuff regulated as alcohol and will again bring it to the attention of the Attorney-General.

One resident got to the heart of the matter when he said that rice wine is the current drink because other booze costs too much. Poverty, bad housing, unemployment and discritninxtion all contribute to people usiiig this stuff - i n a k i i ~it harder to get is lust treating it as a symptom, not the cause.

Ian MscRae, president of DEW!, thanked the mover and shaker in this rice wine campaign, who had "of coursr." left by then. bLarglre1: Prevtst has made us sit up and si~eaaku p Slit: s p ~ l i eJi-d s ;i demonstration at Carrall Foods beside the Dodson last week that made the frcxt page and TV, gettifig a clerk to admit he'd soid it to someone for drinking. It was in the same win that DERA had s n~archthat day and after the Rice Wine meeting io demonstrate that residents also want a say in rcduciiig and stopping the sele of aiidictive driigs on the streets and in stores.

PAULR TAYIJOR

* By the way, aside from the no-brainer last issue, Pri~rcessMargaret Provost is the new President of the Carnegie Community Centre Association! She is also the president of Vancouver Native Health and volunteers at the Neighbourhood Safety Office. Margaret was vice-president of BEKA as well but had to choose when nominated for the Carnegie position. D E W S loss is Carnegie's gain Fair warning: Margaret is hell on wheels!! ( u n t i l

i t used t o b e nightmare km 7. it used to be just winos tires through rainwater slept in doorways thick heavy mist the howery boys the horrible screaniing starts o must see on the tour bus route "let go of me" now I see aU types - fiom all walks "let go of as they say me let go people who short pace ago held jobs of me let go of me!" paid bills, ascribed to the popular mythologies loud shrieks niy heart of hard work, and reward leaps but I naked k ~worst t of dl are the children in bed have no choice forced living for n time in the never never land of comradeship; to listen nothing I can do must la a world as ephemeral as the day and listen arid remember it used to be just older I n a l and know look again "rape!" why is a destitute woman a somer sight "rraaaaaape oh On Davie Street this summer I saw a young womanmy god!" belongings p s h e d along in a Safe Way cartI imagine a dark spot in cdlino . a tn her tired dniioht~r -..-,,. "".tn h ~ i miin Uy the alley across the street another night on Sunset Reach long moments grate across my skin 'ti1 quiet the same woman \ wmm then chatter under my window screaming "get out "what's all that about?" fl "bitch took the guy's murder!" jeans had rocks" I spring to the bathroom window i can tell nothing the I am still as a board screams've stopped eyes wide ears wide peer down reflecting on runlours outre remember women hysterical round the corner paddy wagon the seniors lounge alone screaming "rape" cops flashing no sirens "kill the bitch" another starlet around a girl on the sidewalk I pour a bath... slashed for the media eye hysterical hallucinating no slrens... sexist old boys' rape deliriums wonder if my maybe more hysterics club stewing in their farts imagination's been led some dramatic something else minutes pass apathetic ignorance doesn't breed women's' voices sink i men I'm something about 'should've known in for a few uneasy hours here now there's no toilet up there' anyways I guess still or something . .. more quiet moments no sirens... jepicho suddenly again "get out!"

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In a recent issue, I told how I was criminally assaulted, cut up and robbed on two different occasions in the past few years. As a result of the first, more minor incident, I was awarded $500 in "criminal injury compensation" and, as a result of the second incident, a total of $2,700.

If you are the victim of criminal violence, go to the police office at Carrall and Pender and report it. Do it right away. 'They will even fill out all the papers for your signature. Even if you weren't physically injured, you can still be compensated for psychological trauma. In either case you have to go to a hospital or your own doctor and make the medical aspect a matter of record.

My friend (no name, no repercussions) was attacked, robbed, and had a bunch of hair pulled out as he was wending his way home from a bar.

He was so shakenBy this that he hid out at home for a week. When he then went to c h i n criminal injury compensation, he was told that he had waited too long.

A hooker of whom I am very fond was assaulted when she tried to stop two young men from beating and robbing a pensioner. She got a broken bone in her forearm and went to the pill-rollers but failed to do the other crucial thing - she didn't report her injury or its circumstances to the police If you are a junkie, a hooker, a drunk or even the editor of the Carnegie Newsletter, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act stands ready to give you - o holiest of holies - a gob of money. There are rules: You must go to the police and seek medical aid for a good reason - the Criminal Injuries people don't want to pay money to people who got smashed and fell down some stairs. Your actions and behaviour will reveal your trauma and both the police and medical people will be interviewed; processing your claim i n c h &% , sure that you are telling the truth a victim of criminal violence. You m police know you have been hurt. You m "

whatever medical aid is required. You must file a claim and then you must keep in touch with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Section of the BC Workers' Conapensatio~~ Board. Their telephone number is 244-6400.

Imnrediately after the incident every minute and hour is important. Right away tell the police, tell a doctor and file a claim. Then sit back and wait for about six months for a cheque, because that is how long it takes.

If you want some help, give y o u name and phone number to the Newsletter and I will check regularly to see if anyone needs it. I can tell you no imxe than this except to say that a non-taxable $500 cheque and a non-taxable $2700 cheque hoked mighty fine to me, as they well might

By E R E ERICKSON

Guinea Pigs

Another Bottle of Vodka, Teacher???

N e w Item (Oct. '98):Russia witches to Barter System re Economy: Teachers being paid with bottles of vodka Have another swig comrade.. don't be a capitalist pig westerners drink a glass at a time we down bottles and even better yet in the glorious plan to build socialism beyond the rosy millenium, pass on such sparkling skills to our students: like how to hold bottles of vodka in stoinach why drinking is better than food better than money better than clothes how to carry many vodka bottles under winter coats in sub-zero weather and generally why being perpetually drunk is not only better for a dying economy but better for future and present sober citizens!

Have another bottle, young student comrades! john alan doughs

Anongst popular pets, the guinea pig has not had much attention. They are rodents, not pigs, shaped like miniature loaves of bread. Europeans first exposed to them thought the aniiual came lioin the Dutch port of Guyana, and in England each was sold for a guinea - a considerable sum in those days for a small beastie.

In fact, they are native to Peru. J. von Tschudi, an: explorer/biologist, observed these creatures in the huts of native Peruvians running across the bodies and faces of those sleeping all night long. These animals were brought lo Europe to the delight of royalty and everyday people alike.

In my opinion these creatures were a treasure equal to all the gold hauled on the ships. The Spanish call them cor~ejillode Im?ja.s (little rabbit of India); the Dutch name is meevczwiji~(sea-pig).

Guinea pigs are strictly vegetarian and have a 2month gestation period (unlike rats who take just 14 days). Infants can walk niinutes after birth and eat grass a day later. They are not, like hamsters and gerbils, hell-bent to get out of a cage, and can be housed in a shallow box with no grille. They can be obtained at the SPCA for $5 and it costs about $2.50 a wk for wood chips and pellets (but give them vegetables as a treat).

I have 3 females: an Abyssinian named Herbessa, a Sheltie named Lori and a smooth-haired named Jennifer. Think about perhaps adopting a 'baby' a guinea pig - this Christmas.

Dean Ko -~

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TWO-TIERED DEMOCRACY

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You can be the biggest scum bag on earth.

You could have ordered the deaths of over 20,000 East Timor citizens. But i f your name is Suharto, and c a p i t a h is your game, then Big Brother Chretien will take good care of you. ' h e supposed denxratic rights of every citizen in the area of the APK: e t h g in Vancouver l a s t year here ccmpletely sus pended as Suharto and Chretien scurried around in their limousines like shadowy figures with sanethug t o hide.

'Ihe tyrant, Chretien, turned Vancouver into a Police State that proved its terror

W a t U E where highly principled activists wre assaulted and denied the basic demr cratic right t o demonstrke against the presence of the butcher Suharto in their country.

Rut the biggest horror of a l l is that the dumb m s e s of this country don't seem too concerned that Chretien used the RCMP like it ms his own personal army, and that the RCMP obeyed him like good l i t t l e Gestapo soldiers.

(Iretien h a s shown that he and Suharto and a handful of other elitists have more democratic rights than the ccmnon citizen.

What kind of Democracy is that?

u Imagine

November 1, 1998

this

is the BIG loser I m p o r t a n t conference i n Oppenheimer Park, November 2 0 [details on back side1

CCAP discovers why community benefits are so low from the convention centre development.

It was all decided in 1994 Earlier this summer CCAP filed a Freedom of Information request with the City over any information related to the 1994 agreement that $5.3 million be paid out for off-site community benefits. The money is meant to mitigate the impacts that a mega-project like the convention centre will have on the surrounding neighbourhood. CCAP filed thfFOI because we couldn't understand how this dollar figure was determined and why it is so low. The convention centre and East Land developments total over 2.5 million sqlft, yet the contribution for affordable housing only equals to about $2.12 per sqlft (5.3 /2.5=2.12). This is a levy much lower than what is paid by other developments in the city.

One of the reports received by CCAP (dated

January 24, 1994) is from the Major Projects Technical Committee. This committee performed the analysis from which the decision to negotiate a dollar value for off- and on-site community benefits was based upon. Under "Summary of findings" the following is written: - assuming the best case scenario, up to $30M could be generated as a surplus after costs and profit; probably about $1020M will be generated (these figures could be higher if certain extraordinary uses were developed); - other mega-projects contribute approximately $5.00per sqfi of revenue generating development for public goods; using thisfigure, this would generate over $1OM on the Port Lands; - using the Downtown South Development

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Cosr Levy rate, at least $13M would be generated on the Port Lands; in terms of providing facilities, contributions by the developer appear to become meanin@ and allow flexibility when the total contribution reaches about $]OM; part of the total contribution includes on-site community facility requirements at a cost of about $3.4M [like daycare]; the remaining could be divided equally between social housing and off-site community facility needs; i f a total contribution of $lOM were made for all public goods, about $3.3M would be allocated for social housing; this amount is similar to a 20% contribution ifabout 500,000 sqft of residential were built on the site.

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We can see that the City's negotiating position with the Vancouver Port Corporation was to acquire in the range of $IOM for on-site and offsite community benefits. When the City released its community impacts study last winter, it became blatantly obvious that the community benefits package negotiated in 1994 was grossly inadequate to deal any negative impacts the convention centre would have on the Downtown Eastside. However, CCAP has been repeatedly told by the City and Greystone (the developer) that the 1994 agreement is not open for negotiation.

So, we're stuck with a benefits package that will have little or no effect on shielding the Downtown Eastside from gentrification resulting from the convention centre development.

Community Contribution based only on residential development, not the entire 2.5 million sqlft development !

What is clear from the documents obtained by CCAP is that the off-site community benefits

package was calculated against the amount of residential not against the amount of convention or hotel development proposed for the Portlands.

At least two thirds of the total Portands development is made up of convention and hotel development. No wonders the $5.6 million is so low compared to the scale of this project. So there are at least two (2) serious errors committed by the City: 1) Community impact statement released four (4) years after the community benefits package had been finalized. This is not good planning.

2) Off-site community contribution calculated against only the residential component of the Portlands development. What happen to mitigation against impacts related to the convention centre as a whole? Not open for discussion.

Note: CCAP also filed a Freedom of Information request for the Vancouver Port Corporation, but discovered that the federal government had exempted VPC from the FOI requests.

a t home

vagabonded 'poor boy lookin for a home' dad's pet song for me an alien alone walkitlg

'nd tho the walls 'round old quebec can make me cry

the downtown eastside is my refuge large red balmoral neon lights the way the hundred block with all these windows to all those rooms housing people much like me for whatever reasons outside of the stampeding herd

and it looks rough 'nd tumble but it's always looked rough and tumble down in the valley down this little hill down to the sunrise orange and yellow sunrlse the walk of this corridor 're the heart's walls of vancouver where the voices of challenge have always echo'd up the tyrants of capitslism've iio way out of our questions want to tear us down .want us not to be strong so pour on and on and on adversary the empress seems to be losing s brick or two but aqua marine green 'KI white marble breiithc! with new Iife cross the street washington and roosevelt revitalized like we're ready to begin another round from my niche inn our castle carnegie's side I w t c h the light on o x llrres 'nci it's all ours here it's all ours here thfijugh the legves "11 rjm trees on our sidewalks we win like water finding its level jericho

Voting and Class War We have been invaded by an array of marketeers.

Sure, we should vote when there are people who would fight for us. Some brave and caring people are in traditional party politics. However, the main political parties no longer work for ordinary citizens. Corporate money controls them. Corporate language dehumanizes them. Even a number of politicians in the New Democratic Party appear to believe that social democracy has lost the fight with the corporate global economy; RC Benefits reflects the NDP's contribution to the creation of a cheap layour force to satisfy the competitive impoverishment of the new world order.

Politicians and Chief Executive Officers take note: there is an enonnous rage in Canada that

you ignore at your peril. The men and women who fought in the Second World War, and who took pride in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, have been betrayed. Canadians today are being betrayed by government that su~rendersto business blacknrail, and we feel we are losing control of our lives. '"The trauma of recent layoffs and the pain of long-tenn unemployment are causing suffering which cannot be tolerated in a wealthy society," said a Canadian Mental Health Association press release from Newfoundland on Dec.20, 1995.

"The chasm that is being created between rich and poor is turning the clock back to Victorian times...

Some have reached the point of desperation and despair... Depression and suicidal thoughts are

common... In schools.. .many young people are feeling they have no future...The system is breaking down... There is more wealth in Canada than ever before... Who can ure believe anymore? We are in an age of DCXJE3LESPEAK... What has happened to the society based on equity and l'airness'?Has no one figured out that there is a connection between the well-being of people and the health of the economy? Has compassion gone to the wall with the poor and the sick?It will take more than casting a vote every few years to address this level of alienation.

A vicious class war is going on throughout the world and none of our major political parties, or the corporate media, spec& of it. In his book Class Warfare, Noam Chomsky writes that today "(corporate) business tastes blood. They think they can roll back the entire social contract that's been developed over the past century...labour rights, human rights.. .anything other than making profit tomorrow." 03.50) "We (in Canada) are occupied the way the Frencfl and the Nonvegians were occupied by the Nazis during World War Two, but this time by an array of marketeers," wrote the eminent Canadian educator Dr. Ursula Franklin (CCPA Monitor; J/A '97).

"We have to reclaim our country from those who occupy it on behalf of their global masters."

Dissolving the corporate oligarchy that runs Canada will take more than simply voting, but voting will be an important part of the task if we are to avoid widespread violence.

By SANDY CAMERON (to be continued)

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DOWNTOWN STD CLINIC 219 Main; Monday Frlday, 10 a.m. 6 p.m.

EASTSIDE NEEDLE EXCHANGE 221 Main; 8:30 a.m. 8 p.m. every day YOUTH NEEDLE EXCHANGE VAN 3 Routes City 5:45 p.m. 11:45 p.m.

ACTIVITIES l2:3O a.m. 8:30 a.m.

Overnight SOCIETY Val A,-$50 Downtown Eastside - 5:30 p.m. 1:30 a.m.

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5 $ 1998 DONATIONS 8 F.

2 Paula

R.-$10

Wm. B.-$32 I

Joy T.-$18

,-.C l ~ a r l e y8.-$15

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t l h b y 0.-$50 Sam R.-$40 Rlck Y.-$45 Sharon 5.-$30 BCCW - $ 2 5

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Ray-Cam -$I0 Harold U.-$20 S o n y a S.-$80 Vancy 11.-$35 J e ~ w l f e rM.-$15 S r e t ~ J aP.$IO

Agnes - $9

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Neil N . 4 2 0

Helene S.-$18 Jenny K.-$18 Tim S.-$18 Thomas 8.-$14 Beth L.-$18 13ill G.-!$I00 1 Rolf A.-$25 Bruce 5.-$14 $1 2 BCTF Sabltra -$I5 Susan S.-$7 Margaret D.-$20 DEYAS -S I50 PRIDE -$50 Pam 8.- 20 CEEIS 5"

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Nancy W. -$lo0

THE NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of contributors end not of the Association.

Submission Deadline for next issue I'l~ursday,November 12.

Every veteran is plagued with his own ccsmciefice. Myths from the past rise to luunt lhim. Over the years he grows impatient and tired of imbecilities. madness, the outworn dispensations. As one old vet put it to me: "If we can't beat our swords into ploughshare, let's punch holes in our helmets, fill the helmets with earth and plant them full of poppies."

In our society, the rituals of destruction die hard. Today we can only grieve that man is the only species who I methodically sets out to destroy his own kind.

Sam Roddan

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Look into illy eyes And tell me what you see And tell me no more ltes And keep me company

A concert by the 20-voices of the

My soul, it crles

Vivaldi Chamber Choir

And my heart weeps As my inner rose dles My outer rose sleeps And the wannlng smile You know ~ t ' sfake Ac,we reconc~le Be careful, d m~ghtbreak

ilh piano accompaniament, performing recent choral works by Canadian composers.

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The feeling feels hke death And the tears just keep pour1 The hurt's In every breath And I can't stop t h ~ iuouml s My heart sounds hke d r u m My breath like the wlnd When m y w~ntercoat comes Your favourite colour is still pinned

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3 pm in the theatre -

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All Welcome!

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-arrhhopper

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Read all about ~ t Clar~fy ! your imnd and walk forward with calm assurance, knowing you've gained some insight lnto all the great confusion m today's sometmes dreadful yet wonderful world

1. Accorhlg to VIDUS (Varlcouver Ir?jectiotiDmg Usess Study) 32% of IV dnig users in the Dowritowri Eastside live IV users in the D.E. live outside the Lower Mainland.

2. 'Iliere are an estimated 14,000 IV dmg users in the HC Lower Mair~lancl.

3. VIDUS identifies unstable housing and injected cocaine as particular risk fiitctorsfor spreadhg HIV and Hepatitis C'.

The $10 enhy and guest fees charged byflnny local hotels place people at lisk as they either keep people congregated on the street or tum roorns into de facto shooting galleries.

4. Over 23% of study participants have a cliagnosed mental &less. A decade ago there were about 5000 places in the Lower Mairlland for people with cliagnosecl rnentil ibess. Today there are 800 spaces.

5. More than 25% of VIDUS paiticiparits are Native. 32% of the stwly's HIV+ palticipants are Native.

6. Approxirrlately 90% of VIDUS participants are positive fox Hepatitis C. 7. For every 1000 persons infected with I-IIV, the cost will be at least $150 million.

8. The BC Centre for Disease Conhol f o ~ ut~l ~l tin, the last quarter of 1997, newly diagnosed HIV infections outside Vancouver exceeded those in Vancower tbr the h s t t h e . (The majolity of these people clearly would be IV irivolvecl.)

9. Paramedics report that dnig use ancl ovestlose is "not a disease of the down-and-out." Overdose calls are also irl the corntnunity, 68% live outside; 27% of

b

North American premier of 'EH Onkar', by Peter Dent

attended in Shauglulessy and Victoiia, as well as nlost other pasts of the province.

10. BC: Coroner's stats, iis of Sep.14 '98, show overdose deilths at 153 in Vancouver and 272 provincially.

11. From 1988 to 1993, dhcit drug ovedose was the leading cause of death (M&F) in the 30 - 44 age group.

12. A total of 256 detox and treatment spaces are available for the entire province of BC. 13. A press release tiom the BC Coroner and the <:lief Constable of Vancouver's Police puts the cost of dealing with illicit clmg use at $209 rtdlion annually. It costs ordy $20,000 for il year of fidl treatment for an injection cl111g usel; inclucling detox, residential care mcl counsellug.

14. The current BC: budget for Alcohol and Drug sewices is approx. $60 initlion, ududuzg hnds spenl on detox and treatment of alcohol related conditions. Not included is money spent on methadone treatment.

15. Of the estimated 14,000 IV users in the Lower Mainland, 4000 are ensolled i11 neth ha clone htattnent.

The local arnbdance sewice esti~natesthat 90% of theis calls in the Downtown Eastside are related to iilcohol consumption, not IV diug use.

16. For the first lime ever, more diug users are overdosing fiom a mixhire of cocaine and alcohol than are overdosing floin heroin.

Service Statistics of IIEYAS (Doww~toww~ Eastside Youtlh Activities Sociee) Alcohol and Drug Workers: (monthly) 20 clients to treatment, 18 to detox, 25 to recovely.

Youth Detox (monthly) 20 to 22 youth receive detox services. 1 10 yout-11serviced flom Apr-Oct '98. In Sep. '98, 190 youth were turned clown for detox because no space was available.

Youth Actiou Centre(ope11daily, 9-5): (daily) 300 to 500 meals served; out-tiiys inclucling camping and recreation; over 100 youth helped including services of Slulls and Transition workers.

Youth Project - Street outreach, Reconnect, HIVIAIDS, Transilio~lworkers (tnonttly) HIV/AIDS transition workers support 20 to 30 youth through stabilization; street youth workers and reconnect workers provide service to 100-150 youth with repntliation of 15-20 to thek home communities.

Neeclle Excbamge * Syringe volume per year: 1989-127,805; 1993-816,589; 1997-2,503,318; 1998 (9 1110)-1,850,474 * The exchange provides bleach, water bottles and alcohol wipes to IV drug users, as well as condoms to users and sex trade workers. Duuing 1997, 737,000 condoms were distlibuted. * 'I'he Neeclle Exchange h i t s not only the transmission of HIV, but also hepatitis, syphhs, gonol~heaarid other infections transmitted ttwough body fluids. * Direct prevention of HIV infection through the provision of clean syringes is extremely cost ef'fective ibr the Ministry of Health. 'l'he average cost of treating an HIVt person is $150,000. Preventing just five people ft.0111becoming infected saves more than the requested budget of the Needle Exchange. * The Needle Excllange provicles a window for referral of clients to other selvices, such as alcol~oland cln~gcounseh~g, vein maintenance and medical care. Exchange workers make hundreds of refessals per month. * In the Exchange's annual budget, 27% goes to personnel. In comparable services, Toronto'sThe Works uses 68% and Montreal's CACTUS uses 71% for personnel. Illis was the lowest propo~tionspent on persorule1 out of 16 exchanges in t many of these exclmges had supplies clonated. ltle US and C:anacia, despite the f i ~that

Carnegie Community Discussion Series Presents:

What Is Harm Reduction?

Mon. Nov. 2 10:30 - .- - am --...

-

Carnegie 3rd Floor Classroom 2 L'

5

NEW HABITS The Kung fu guy is just in the sword part Of this ballet he does every morning in The plaza of Chinatown free tai chi You watch transfixed because it's all so beautiful, never the same move A master to watch, high culture on Hawks Today the dog was different in a different mood Blue eyed brown haired sheep dog that Loved her morning massage Today she's less demaniling, not 3 belly rubs Like yesterday when we met, imagine Animal friends being the only people You know, soon she's tripping over herself Her sugar daddy arrives with his biscuits And she really knows this guy I notice the lady with the rottweiller The simple pattern5 of our lives ~hrivelidoid men snmking their eternal Marlboro Stroll toward the garden when I see A guy on a bike snatch this lady's purse Swift as a hawk he's gone on her Leaves her screaming in Cantonese Thief bastard whatever, a lone gentleman Helps her chase the hawk but Before they blink, he's gone.

R.Loewen

0

0

Find Out About the Dutch Experience With Liberalizing Drug Laws

Speaker: Dr. Bruce Alexander [*as a reminder to all and sundry...]

Dear Paul, Thanks for - what can I call it - your very diplolnatic note regarding my carnegie newsletter subscription. I can't believe it has been 12 years 12 YEARS - since I made a payment for it. Good God. I have received every issue and read them cover to cover. Periodically 1pass the newsletter on to other ex-library staffers. I hope you're proud of what you've done with it over the years, PRT from coverage of political issues to printing real poetry, the newsletter is quality all the way. J always look forward to reading your editorials, and poetry particularly by Bud Osborn and Anita Stevens. I remember Anita froin when she used to come into the library and raise hell. She is a genuine artist and would not have a venue were it not for the newsletter. I'm also grateful to hear of those I knew who have passed. There are so many.

This is all I can spare for the time being, but 1 promise to send in the same amount nest year and the next until I have made up for the past 12 years.

I wish you all the best. Keep up the good work.

Nancv

[On October 22 Cit'~Council held npublic meeting to be able to say that they heard from the people. A notable revelation on n~inrlsels came when Gordon Price proceeded with an airheaded attack on Libby Davies, refusing to acce~~t that treatment of drug addiction is part of any conlyrehensive approach to the problem. He denlanded n (yes' answer to safe-fming sites as the only nmke-or-break issue of concerti. He had obviously bear practicing irt .front of his little mirror on how to attack such nn "idiotic NDP(?) i(leal'... Puil got in his narrow stupidity with Iramnguing the NDP government for causing the loss of Woodwa~ds!?.A srrtall fact tltd it was the owner, in collusion with hint and Council and the City Manager who engineered the rlebncle was irrelevant, since Georgie had an audience. Anyway, one brave and innocent Honteownwji-ont Gastown attacked Ye Olde Cnrnegie Newsletter as this scunmy rag not fit -for ass-wipe.. . yours humbly was scheduled to speak next but was asked to defer to the / r a t spenker because 'sonteone else ponl Carnegie had ahend))yoken ' Jennifer Clnrke, still ncting as the chnirperson, was miffed thal she couldn't pretend to be interested when her boredom and fiustrdion at the wry idea of citizens havitzg anything to say wirs tarnishing ha. coiffed intage NOTWlTHSTA NDZNG - I have the enviable opportunity to bore or enrage or give sonte contic relief through thepc~gesof this sante scuntny rag.] *'voulis City Council T h s is a political body so lets start with politics.

A little history and we have vested interests working vehemently to gentrify the Downtown Eastside with the behind-the-scenes backing of this Council.. Development plans talk glibly of adding 2500 condominiums to the Victory Square area, while somehow "preserving" or "ttiaintaining" the existing SRO stock. The impacts on lowincome residents will be enonnous, but current

senior city staff lie about it or refuse to go beyond generalities. One senior planner, with his guard down, commented that "the voters of Vancouver colrld easily Live with 20 to 25,000 homeless people and not even notice. " The struggle with the disposition of the old Woodwards building and its future use goes to the heart of the matter.

It was purchased for $16.7million, the parking garage was sold to the City of Vancouver the next day for $1 0 million, the owner spent about $300K over the course of the faked negotiations with the province on the co-op aspect, then he just pulls out, gets permission from y ~ tou go with all market condos and now sits on the property, asking $25 nill lion and adding this economic pressure to the political lobbying to get you to rubber-stamp the wholesale bulldozing of the area. This won't fly in the face of public outcry as the citizenry will erupt if dispersal is undertaken in such a blatant way. Imagine headlines saying 'Council is sending drug dealing to your neighbourhood."

The media is very much a part of this as the recent Qday spread in the VancouverSun attests.

Ian Mulgrew seemed detennined to give much credence to the views of individuals who put their agenda in terms that are the current buzzwords.

The Carrall Street Corridor is a classic exatnple many people were invited to come to the table and

discuss concerns and issues. Most from the local com~~iunity did not come, not trusting tnuch of that the business interests supposedly spoken for by the Chinatown Merchants AssocSociety are so eager about. Carnegie and D E W started, initially, and saw that the sane people

from Gastown, calling themselves Heritage or Safety or Residents or Honleowners or the Moral Majority or whatever all wanted seats, a say, while having membership in each other's group and totalling maybe 20 people altogether. Comn~unity people heard the idea quickly become a gross attempt to ban residents from their own streets, and Pigeon Park especially, withyzero tolerance" for anything as minor as spitting on the sidewalk or dropping a cigarette butt.. reason for planned patrols of vigilante rent-a-cops to drive people off this corridor. We put issues of poverty, homelessness, unemployinent, decent housing, safety and treatment programs for abuse of various kinds - all things that cannot be dismissed or ignored by any thinking person. The Gastown and Chinatown interests, or at least those claiining to speak for them, thereupon wrote an open letter to you condemning virtually everyone and everything that we deal with every day. They didn't want to give credence or even recognition to the whole picture.

"Drug users are not stakeholders" was spoken and given as a stark fact of life at a press conference by a woman who is herself active in a drug addiction. The only difference is that hers is supported by any number of medical people and sanctioned

by the laws governing prescription drugs.

I mention this to go directly to the Revitalization Strategy and the huge amount of money being allotted to mediation and intense cotnmunity development. There is not much point in costly mediation when the stated reasotzjor Being of signatories to that open letter is to disperse the resident population under the guise of' media claims that there are anywhere from 6000 to 1 1,000 drug addicts in the Downtown Eastside.

(Fully two-thirds of the drug-using population resides elsewhere.) It's a concerted effort to stereotype every resident as a problem, as an abuser of some norm - be it drugs, alcohol, mental health, unemployment, family, residential school survivor, illiterate, or just the all-encompassing "trash" or even "scum." This is not idle rambling when a body like the Gastown Heritage Area Planning Committee, whose members are appointed by you, vehemently damn anything that the community needs - Bridge Housing for Battered Women at Columbia and Cordova, Probation Services in the Pigeon Park area, a Resource Centre for Drug Users anywhere in the Downtown Eastside; GHAPC gets into things as ludicrous as pressuring the Downtown East Education Centre to change its name because it iinplies that the Downtown Eastside is somehow viable as a community. They wanted it renamed the Gastown Education Centre. Again, you appoint this body.

Revitalization is a buzzword - and the use of it to mean a juggernaut of pro-business development

w t h the local population being an inconvenience is telling in the attitudes of the people claiming to speak for both Gastown and Chinatown.

Chinatown has a 15,000 name petition blaming everything on the hotel residents one block over, but they are just as strongly opposed to any kind of treatment facilities. The needs for treatment, street programs and decent housing are related and obvious. If the Urban Development Agreement referred to in the report is going to be based only on the opinions or politics of those who have money to invest, then it's skewed from the start. If the various steering committees, administrative systems and planning are all populated with highly paid consultants and middle-class professionals, then the thousands of residents in the neighlbourhood living on less than $8000 a year are just not in it. Please apply for the federal money, but re-examine howk is allocated. It has every aspect now of being a mutual back-scratching exercise for 4-5 years while the forces of business and class go full bore with the real agenda behind all these nice words - the buzzword being "cleaning up" and its meaning being sweeping the streets of anyone even remotely perceived as 'under the

standard'. Your panhandling bylaw comes to mind in its w e to demand that individuals 'under the standard' of Gastown and Chinatown business owners must leave those streets, cannot sit or stand in public plaes, cannot even pause lest they be descended upon by self-righteous goons in rent-a-cop unifoms I'll finish this with a suggestion that the Canadian Forces Rase at Mission be looked at, when talking to the federal and provincial governments, as a possible drug rehab centre for the entire province. The demand by some that rehab or treatment be outside the Downtown Eastside is unrealistic, but for those who would choose this, it is a possibility. Other suggestions on land use might involve doubling or quadrupling the tax levies on owners who leave their buildings empty for months or years as a form of speculation, waiting for some magical shoe to drop.

Only if they enter into public/privatelcommunity partnerships would they be exempt from this increase. And if you get confused or overwhelmed by it all, pick a col>yof the Camegie Newsletter and read about the horror of it all, all the time.

By PAULR TAYLOR

SPEC Demands Investigation After Military Monitoring embers of Vancouver's oldest environmental organizationthe Society Promoting Environmental Conservation-want to know how and why Canadian military officials monitored a private meeting on their Kitsilano premises in Se~tember1997. In an October 1997 memb recently released to the APEC inquiry, Canadian Forces Major R. J. McCutcheon described a meeting at which the Nanoose Conversion Campaign, End the Arms Race, and UBC political-

president Bob White, Sierra Club executive director Elizabeth May, and Joan GrantCummings of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women-signed the letter. Eggleton's office did not respond to an inquiry from the Straight by deadline.

CHARLIE SMITH

The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) was listed as one of the subversive groups in Vancouver that the RCMP 'monitored' during APEC. Holding workshops in hotels i!pretty radical..'roniwas honoured.

MAYBE YOU HAVE NOTICED THE CBC TV TRUCK ON THE 100 EAST HASTINGS LATELY. IT SEEMS THAT THROUGH A JOINT EFFORT OF SHITTY HALL, VANCOUVER POLICE AND CBC THEY ARE INSTALLING LITTLE CAMERAS ON THE TELEPHONE LINES. AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT I HEARD. PAUL REVERED. footsoldier@yahoo.com