Category Archives: Municipal

Consider, Federal, Municipal

I voted – did you?

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I went and voted today. As I wrote earlier having become one of the “undesirables” I have a vested interest in protecting the Charter of Rights. This seems to be particularly important in light of the city government’s current war on the underclass to which I belong. I was allowed to cast my vote. It appears that in the eyes of the Federal government I still have citizenship rights and the right to cast my ballot. In fact it appears that the Federal government considers me a citizen of Abbotsford, in spite of what the city government may claim, as they accepted my right to vote in a downtown Abbotsford poll.

A tip of the hat to Elections Canada with regards to voting. Although they had to look up the procedure for a homeless person to vote, the people at the poll were courteous and unfazed by my homelessness. I needed ID and to swear an oath but that was to be expected and reasonable. Nice to see that at least one level of government is in touch with reality with respect to the existence of the homeless.

Homeless, Municipal

Fellow Business People? Citizens? BLEEP ‘em!!!

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This is what the downtown business people and association has to say to both the other business people in the city and their fellow citizens of Abbotsford. Street Hope is closing as a result of being evicted from their location at 2467 Pauline Street as part of the effort to drive the homeless and poor away from the downtown area. Since it was related to me second hand (no not by a street person, one of the homed who appreciate their blessings enough to want to help the less fortunate) I will not point a finger but this individual, when it was pointed out that the homeless were not going to just disappear (as discussed previously in “an unsightly sight”), but move elsewhere in Abbotsford replied “I don’t care where they go as long as it is not here”. Not In My Backyard appears alive and well, yet people complain that society is much less civil than it use to be in “the good old days”. Yes, those days when people (including business people) helped those less fortunate and people considered the affect their actions would have on their fellow citizens. Seeing as Abbotsford is well known as a Christian community I suspect that many of those business people will be found in churches on Sundays saying the words while the rest of the week they fail to walk the walk. In fact their actions add to the general misery of their fellow residents – not just the homeless. With “enemies” like these “good christians” evil certainly does not need any friends in order to spread suffering in this city.

The irony is that it is the other business people and citizens who have paid for this turn of events. The gentrification of the downtown is a result of the large tax breaks and advantages that the property owners and business people receive for being located downtown. All of which everyone else in the city pays for. And pays for, and pays for ……. They also are contributing large sums of money through the use of city resources in driving (or attempting to drive) the “unwanted element” out of the downtown and into their own neighbourhoods. In “you are already paying” I wrote about the large number of your tax $$$ the city wastes dealing with the homeless. Now they are going to waste more taxpayer dollars – to drive the homeless into the taxpayers own neighbourhoods. How Truly Ironic. And a true waste of resources. As has been seen and demonstrated in Vancouver all that happens is that you move them from one area of the city to another. When the citizens of that area get upset they are moved along to another are, and another …. Until they arrive back at the area where they started out. In the end what does all the money spent on this process accomplish? Nothing!

There are more homeless every day. It seems to me that the intelligent way to approach the problem is not to continue to try to sweep it under the rug (as it were) but to put in place programs that address the causes, to reform our assistance system so that it in fact it assists those who want to find work and get on their feet to do so (as opposed to the way it currently hinders becoming employed), to reform the social assistance system to assist the “clients” and society in dealing with the root causes and effects of homelessness and poverty. The City needs to wake up and see reality. Moving people from area to area within the city is a pointless waste of money. Stop wasting it and spend it on things such as coordinating the many charities and programs so that the effects are maximized. Take the lead in organizing the citizens’ response so that it address issues such as shelter, training and finding work. Get together with the other municipalities in getting the provincial government to reform the system and implement programs that the addresses problems instead of contributing to enlarging those problems. Look to see what federal employment programs could be used. Coordinate, take proactive actions and show some leadership. Think instead of reacting and stop wasting large amounts of taxpayers dollars.

Of course I do get a laugh from the thought of all those self-righteous business people and citizens of Abbotsford who look down on and ignore the plight of the homeless are paying to drive the homeless out of downtown, on behalf of the downtown business people they subsidize so heavily, into their neighbourhoods.

A few thoughts on the cities, citizens and business peoples actions in addressing homelessness in Abbotsford:

Insanity is doing the same thin over and over and expecting a
different result.
AA, Al-anon

Only two things are infinite,
the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein

Never underestimate
the power of human stupidity.
Robert A.
Heinlein

Hmmm, Municipal, Provincial

a Strange look

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I fell into a discussion about ‘bait’ cars the other evening. How to recognize a bait car, precautions to take just in case you judged wrong and the car you stole turned out to be a bait car and you needed to be able to escape the car.

It was a simple straightforward and interesting discussion I was having with a fellow homeless person. Now I was not, nor do I believe was my conversational partner, planning to run out and steal a car. It was just an interesting conversation on a wet night, taking place where a local church was providing food and clothing to the homeless – as they do every week on that evening. One of their newer members was sitting where he could listen and when I glanced his way he had a rather strange look on his face. I suppose it sounded like we were planning to go out and steal cars. His look suggested he could not quite believe what he was hearing, that the thought that people who needed money for food and/or shelter would consider stealing had never occurred to him. It did give me a chuckle at the time.

It also made me wonder what politicians or the public are thinking sometimes. OK – I concede that getting politicians to think is probably a forlorn hope, but I still have hopes the public can think on this subject if one can get in front of them information such as this blog. Just recently a rumour (true or not I cannot say) had the government planning to start to kick a large number of people off the welfare rolls. Which I suppose they spin to get public applause and in hopes that by pulling out this old tattered ploy they could get voters to forget all the idiocy the current government is and has embraced.

I have had some cold hungry days and it is still early winter. I know that get me cold, hungry and desperate enough – morals and honesty be damned. Even a warm cell and 3 meals a day beats cold starvation “free” on the streets. Could that be the provincial government plan? Starve the homeless and the poor enough to commit crimes, arrest them, lock them in jail and voila! The streets are free of homeless. Well until government policy causes more unfortunates to fall into the clutches of the system. Or those in jail are freed for lack of jail space or the end of their sentences. Then you have more homeless than you started with. But, the government does gain a bogeyman to spook the electorate with at the next election (and avoid running on what they actually did). It is an extremely expensive course of action and when you look at what it would accomplish – NOTHING – it is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. But as recent news reminds us, this is a government that has no hesitation in wasting tax dollars gain political advantage or in pursuit of their ideology.

Homeless, Municipal, Provincial

Stop wasting $$$…

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… and there will be more than enough $$$!!

While writing the article concerning the fact that the City of Abbotsford currently wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs associated with the homeless to accomplish nothing, rather than spend money in a manner that would benefit both the city and the homeless, a thought occurred to me. Should the city try to get the provincial government to fund programs that are actually designed to address homelessness in a positive and effective manner, the province would undoubtedly cry “No money.” This seems a favorite response, unless the money is directed into the pockets of the well off, big corporations or the politicians pockets.

  • To help those who are in need of help – “No money.”
  • To fund programs to address the many different facets and aspects of homelessness and poverty? “No money.”
  • To deal with the reality of homelessness – “No money.”
  • To have the system actually render aid and help to those who need the help to get back on their feet – even if it means accepting that some freeloaders will get to freeload, but that those trying to find work and get back on their economic feet will get a helping hand? “No money.”
  • To serve the ideology of the government and embarrass the opposition? Millions, hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars to waste.

As has been all over the news recently, a company is proposing a service between Vancouver and the Island. Where did the ferries for this proposed service come from? Why these are the same ferries that the provincial Liberal government rushed to sell at sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub- sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-basement sale prices to make sure they could blame the NDP (who are themselves not without blame in the ferry fiasco). The ferries the government claimed ere no good, although it appears all that is needed to get use out of the ferries is so competence. Say, are we not currently spending hundreds of millions more providing jobs and benefits in a foreign country to purchase 3 ferries? Plus, just how much did the current government waste on P3’s? Evidently enough that the new Abbotsford hospital is a profitable investment for trading among foreign banks (Foreign? Again?).

How would I propose that we fund changes to the current system? Changes based on what is needed to address the varied needs of the diverse homeless people. Fund experimental programs to see what works, what does not and which are the most effective approaches. To actually begin to address homelessness rather than use it as a distraction or bogey man for the voters.

Funding is not a problem – if we can just get the provincial government to stop wasting all those hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Homeless, Municipal

Are they waiting for a corpsesicle?

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You may have noticed it is more than a little nippy outside these days. And while the bright moon and stars are a very pretty sight, that clearness of the air means the temperature plummets overnight. Factor in the wind chill and you have conditions threatening to life and limb. The one question on the lips of the homeless these days is “are they going to open extra space for shelter at night”? Rumours run rampant through the homeless community, but at the time this is written there are only the (inadequate) beds at the Salvation Army. With bright sunny days perhaps those with shelter do not realize just how dangerous these clear, freezing nights are to those unwillingly consigned to residing on the mean streets of Abbotsford. I have heard of one of the local churches that has regular contact with the homeless community whose attempts to open their (church) doors to these cold people is tied up in red tape thrown up by the city. If the politicians are hoping that the cold will drive the homeless out of town, where they do they expect the homeless to go? That person snoring sitting there in the Library may well have spent the night walking around to keep warm enough to see the dawn and need to get enough sleep in order that they can have the energy to spend this evening moving about so that they can survive to tomorrows dawn.

One can only hope that it does not require someone to freeze to death to get a warm(er) shelter open.