Statement from Vancouver police regarding Critical Mass protest - Vancouver Sun

Gnarled but glorious - National Post

Of course there is plenty of beauty left in Vancouver. Which is why I am so determined to draw a line in the sand against the spreading decay. One such bright spot is a most unusual tree located directly in front of my residence. So unique, that the National Post decided to run an article about it today.

Walking home one night last week, we paused beside our favourite tree. A strange and gnarled beast.

It's hard not to stop and stare. The tree is an anomaly; there's not another like it in the neighbourhood, not even in tree-haven Stanley Park next door. Continued....

False Creek North man alleges attack by shelter users - MetroNews Vancouver

Magnet for mayhem in False Creek North - Vancouver Sun

Mayor Robertson's homeless shelters are an ill-considered failure that has left a neighbourhood in chaos

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson's bold social experiment to open two no-barrier shelters in False Creek North is a prime example of how not to approach the homeless problem. Not only did the mayor fail to inform residents that the shelters were opening, but he situated the shelters within metres of a pre-school, daycare and seniors' residence with little regard for the consequences.

In months, the shelters transformed the once peaceful neighbourhood into chaos. Instead of these "no-barrier" shelters bringing in homeless people with shopping carts and pets not allowed in conventional shelters, the facilities have become a magnet for drug dealers, prostitutes and petty criminals.

False Creek North residents routinely witness people using and dealing illegal drugs (crack-cocaine and heroin) and carrying weapons. Residents have been intimidated, threatened and assaulted. We've seen prostitution, public sex acts, malicious vandalism, theft, and our properties used as dumping grounds for used syringes, condoms and human excrement requiring that the shelter alley be hosed down nightly.

In 12 years of living in False Creek North, I have never seen such disturbing sights. Residents no longer feel safe in their own neighbourhood.

Gallery: Life by the HEAT shelter on Howe - Vancouver Sun

A series of photos taken on July 16, 2009 around the Howe Street HEAT shelters.



























A homeless individual uses the sidewalk as a toilet in this, one of a series of photos taken on July 16, 2009 around the Howe Street HEAT shelters.














A man smokes from a crack pipe in this, one of a series of photos taken on July 16, 2009 around the Howe Street HEAT shelters.

Helter shelter - 24 Hours Vancouver

Another good article by the Rebel with a Cause, this time about the hastly opened and closed homeless shelters that are hurting residents in the Granville Street bridge area. I love it when someone sticks up for the underdogs.

BRIDGE TO NOWHERE - Vancouver 24 hours

(Excerpt from July 9th issue: "From the big chair" by Alex Tsakumis (Rebel with a clause))

A mayor of Vancouver so wholly unable to process the damage he is doing; that his bovine defiance has destroyed any goodwill he brought into office; a man who will not consult on major projects with key city staff and cannot control the wing-nuts in his party to the detriment of the taxpayer; a man who does not know the embarrassment he is causing to the people of Vancouver by offering up initiatives that cannot work and the irreparable damage he is causing neighbourhoods en route.

Sound familiar?

Sam, you say?

No, my darlings: It’s St. Gregor, the sweaty huckster, who now wants you to believe an ill-conceived bridge across False Creek, to satisfy the cycling fascists, will only cost you $45 million (and not one call to planning or engineering ahead of time). Try at least $100 million. But remember how he said through the election that $30 million was too much? So, why the foolhardy Burrard Bridge trials then? Another wasted $1.5 million.

Your money is being thoroughly flushed into the Tidy Bowl surf, while the NPA sleeps straight to a Suzanne Anton mayoral run in 2011 (thanks to the collusion of the NPA Board) that will surely kill what’s left of the party after they are annihilated.

Just dig the hole now.

Excellent letter to the Editor today - Vancouver Sun

Jeremy Bentham would weep

The decline of a city following counterproductive practices is an unpleasant spectacle.

Recently, in addition to a startling upsurge in gangland killings, Vancouver has suffered from faulty management. The assuming of a billion dollars of debt to build housing for Olympic athletes who will occupy the structures for two weeks is one example. The decision to plant shelters for the homeless in residential areas, which then degenerate into cesspools of criminal and anti-social behaviour, is another. Depriving the congested and logistically vital Burrard Bridge of one lane for the benefit of a few cyclists is a further instance.

Perhaps the inspiration for City Hall entails an inversion of the Hedonic Calculus devised in the 18th century by Jeremy Bentham: Social policy aims to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number. In Vancouver, the inversion results in the greatest misery for the greatest number, at the greatest expense.

Eric P. Levy

Vancouver

(Thank you Eric for this excellent letter!)

One bridge too many -- and too expensive - Vancouver Sun

A dedicated cycling-pedestrian bridge across Burrard Inlet has little hope of attracting traffic

Vancouver model shopping cart - real Beauty, Eh?

Homeless Hell Hole Below Science World - The Tyee

Judy Graves has spent the past dozen years touring Vancouver's dark parks, garbage-strewn alleys, and mouldy abandoned buildings. Graves, who co-ordinates the city's pioneering street outreach program, said the roughest place she's found yet is located directly beneath the glistening dome at Telus World of Science.

"This is the worst," Graves said as she led The Tyee on a tour of the murky labyrinth at the eastern edge of False Creek. "This is the place that scares me the most."

Resist 2010: Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics. (LOW RES) from BurningFist Media on Vimeo.

Thinking outside the blue box

Alas, one man's music is another man's racket. Last month, Vancouver's engineering-services department asked city council to consider a bylaw amendment that would order businesses to put locks on commercial-waste containers to keep the binners out. Proponents of the measure say they are sick and tired of the noise and mess created by having so many people tramping through the alleys behind their homes and businesses at all hours.

Binners seek shop for cart repairs - (Victoria) Times Columnist

Article about how they want a repair shop for (stolen) shopping carts used by "binners" in Victoria. The legitimizing of illegal and disturbing behaviour. Great. Of course nobody even thinks about what the residents want. Nobody seems to wonder if residents actually WANT people trashing their neighbourhoods day and night...duh!

P.S.: There are some interesting comments by readers below the article.