Category Archives: Politics

behaviour, Homeless, Issues, Politics

Leo Award for Abbotsford’s Mayor Banman

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Mayor Banman’s Leo awaits signatures of two members of  the committee charged with awarding the Leo before it can be placed into the mayor’s hands.

The Leo committee agreed with the nominators of Mayor Banman [The League of Unhoused Citizens of Abbotsford] that standing at the microphone at Cascade Church during the discussion held there on Abbotsford Community Services housing first proposal and crying how poor the city was and how it was up to senior levels of government to step forward with funding while, as pointed out by a citizen, to his immediate right were three representatives of BC Housing with $2,500,000 in capital costs and ongoing yearly funding for programs on the table that the Mayor is seeking to spurn.

As Forrest Gump would say about Mayor Banman: “Stupid is as Stupid does.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homeless, Issues, Municipal, Politics

Earth to Mayor Banman

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Abbotsford  Mayor Banman:

“I don’t normally comment on these things, but the John Howard Society runs a tight ship and makes sure rules are followed. My guess is there will not be any problems. Studies I have looked at say inmates do much better in homes like these than leaving them to fend for themselves. As a result the public is safer, and just as important the inmates have a support group, find jobs and return to jail far less often.” 

 

Reading Mayor Banman’s comments on the halfway house had a paraphrasing of Mark Twain coming to mind: “Reader, suppose you were an idiot; and suppose you were the mayor of Abbotsford; but I repeat myself”.

The reality of halfway houses:

Vernon’s Mayor Sean Harvey said that the community has tolerated Howard House in its midst long enough. Three parolees at the halfway house operated by the John Howard Society have been accused of murder in the past eight years in Vernon.

In the third incident, Eric Norman Fish was charged with the first-degree murder of 75 year old Bill Abramenko during a home invasion.

In Vancouver high risk sex offender Mervin Walkus walked away from his halfway house. Police advised that Mervin was a high risk to re-offend. Also going missing from halfway houses in Vancouver were high risk sex offenders Owen Joe and James Patrick Benson.

In Kelowna Phillip Lyons, 36 walked away from a halfway house. His criminal record included “attempt robbery, arson for fraudulent purposes, attempt escape, theft, fail to comply, possession of property obtained by crime, utter forged document, fail to appear, fraud, possession of break in instrument, driving while impaired, utter threats and possession of a scheduled substance.”

Mayor Banman is fine with a halfway house in downtown Abbotsford, but housing for Abbotsford’s homeless? Not in downtown Abbotsford!

Moreover, how is it Mayor Banman can read studies “Studies I have looked at…” about halfway houses but cannot be bothered to read studies on Housing First as an approach to ending homelessness?

In light of the reality of halfway houses, Mayor Banman’s statements concerning halfway houses and about housing for the homeless show a degree of ignorance and prejudices that is appalling and totally unacceptable in a mayor or city councillors.

 

For the Record:

I support the John Howard Society’s opening of a halfway house and their chosen location.

It would be hypocritical to advocate the need for effective support for those dealing with mental illness, substance use and homelessness – and deny the need for the same effective support to prisoners seeking to find wellness and life.

It would be easy to argue this is not the ‘right location’ for a halfway house, but the reality is that for a halfway house – or homeless housing –  ‘right location’ is simply a way of saying NIMBY.

Halfway houses are a critical component in risk management and the successful reintegration of a parolee back to the community.

The ‘failures’ and ‘problems’ that arise with halfway houses owe far more to the failure of the corrections system to provide meaningful, effective rehabilitation, life skills and education before prisoners are processed out to halfway houses; and the lack of community based support for those dealing with mental health and substance use issues.

Business, Homeless, Issues, Municipal, Politics

Vote With Your Pocketbook

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From the beginning of the ADBA’s ‘it is a good idea in someone else’s backyard’ reaction to Abbotsford Community Services proposal to use Housing First principles to begin to reduce the number of homeless on the streets of Abbotsford, people have spoken to me of not only no longer making the effort to shop downtown, but of not shopping downtown Abbotsford period.

They have also been urging family and friends to not shop downtown Abbotsford businesses; some have even spoken of publicly calling for a boycott of downtown businesses.

Given that the ADBA is using ‘bad for business’ as part of the rational for their NIMBYism there is….justice….involved in imposing a cost for their behaviour.

I did caution that they needed to remember that not all businesses or residents in downtown Abbotsford oppose the ACS housing proposal; pointing out that some have stated their opposition to the ADBA position while others have written thoughtful, compassionate letters in support of the housing ACS wants to build.

This past week several people speaking of calling for a boycott of downtown businesses responded that ‘you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette’ to justify harming the supportive businesses in their zeal to penalize those opposing this badly needed housing.

When I pointed out the ethical holes in that behaviour they stuck to ‘you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette’, challenging me to come up with a solution that would let people boycott the businesses that oppose the ACS proposal, but that would protect the businesses that support the ACS proposal..

Hmmmm. Interesting challenge, how do you go about separating wheat (those who support housing) from the chaff (the NIMBY faction)?

Two options came to mind as I considered how to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The anti-housing downtown businesses have the petition to signify where they stand; clearly those who support housing need a poster, such as above, that they can display to signify their support of the ACS housing proposal.

Another option, although there is nothing preventing both options being used together, is for those who support the ACS housing proposal to email the editor at Abbotsford Today which would permit the posting of a list of downtown businesses who support the ACS housing proposal.

These options would provide information to permit citizens to impose negative economic consequences on those downtown businesses opposing housing for the homeless and permitting citizens to shop those downtown businesses who support reducing the numbers of homeless on the streets of Abbotsford.

These options would also shine a light into the black hole of the ADBA, revealing just which businesses/businessmen are responsible for the ADBA NIMBY stance. Information that may prove quite enlightening.