August 1, 2011, carnegie newsletter

AUGUST 1, 2011

NEWSLETTER 401 Main Streel, Vancouver. V6A 2TI C6D4t 665-2289

http:J/harvestors.sfu.calchodarr [Index]

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Canada's Expanding P rison Industrial Complex

PRISON JUSTICE DAY, August 10. events: Prison Justice Day Benefit for The Word is Out -Women in prison news service.

Friday August 5th 8PM Rhizome Ca fe 317 East Broadway Th e Word is Out is a news service that provides a link between women in prison and the communi ty. It features writing & artwork from women in prison and in formation pertaining to the changing realities of prison and the community. TWO is distri buted free of charge to women in prison and by subscription in the community. Published by Joint Effort and Strength In Sisterhood.

Prison Justice Day Rally: Wednesday Aug ust lOth 6PM Trout Lake- Gather at the Claire Culhane Memorial Bench- SE corner of the lake by the snackbar Speakers include ex-prisoners and prisoners' rights activist Coast Salish Welcome Cease Wyss National Prison Justice Day was started in 1976 by prisoners in Canada to remember all of the people who have died unnatural deaths inside prison.

"Prison Industrial Complex" (PIC) is a term used to anributc the rapid expansion of prisoner populations to the political influence of private prison companies and businesses that supply goods and services to government prison agencies. The promotion of prison bui ld ing as a job creator and the use of prison labour arc also cited as elements of the prison industrial complex. " Its twofold purpose is profit and social control. Its public rationale is the fight against crime."The Prison -Industrial Complex and the Global Economy by Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans According to EPIC (End the Prison Industrial Complex a group out of Kingston Ontario): While private contractors arc a major aspect of the Prison Industrial Complex this issue is about more than privatization.

It's about an ideology of"Law and Order" driven by fear, racism, and moral panic. It's about the extent to which the logic of prison is being extended into society generally, through increased surveillance and heavier-handed policing in the name of"public safety."

In her article 'Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex' Angela Davis shares: 路'Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of the social problems that burden people who are ensconced in poverty. These problems often are veiled by being conveniently g rouped together under the category "crime" ...

Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that d isappear from public view when the human beings contend ing with them are relegated to cages. Prisons thus perform a feat of magic. Or rather the people who continually vote in new prison bonds and tacitly assent to a prol i fcrating network of prisons and j ai ls have been tricked into believing in the magic of imprisonment. But prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings. And the practice of disappearing vast numbers of people from poor, immigrant, and racially marginalized communities has literally become big business. Goods and services must be provided to keep imprisoned populatio ns alive. The dividends that accrue from investment in the punishment industry, like those that accrue from investment in weapons production, only amount to social destruction."

The Canadian Prison Industrial Complex is still miles behind when compared to the U.S. when it comes to the outright privatization of prisons, but the Canadian government is speeding to catch up with their '¡Roadmap to Public Sa fety". The Roadmap calls for a strengthening of so-called Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) in superprison construction. While it falls short of advocating for full private management, which was the case in Penetanguishene, it advocates for the p rivatization of every other part of the process: financing, construction, mainten_ance, and . service delivery. EPIC points out that: th1s process IS called backdoor privatization; when carried out to its logical endpoint, it results in a weak, toke1_1 publi~ agency charged with overseeing an oper~t1on en_llrely carried out by a far more robust profit-dnven pnvate sector.

In July 20 I 0 Statistics Canada reported that"both the volume and severity of police-reported cnme fell in 2009," three per cent from 2008 and 17 per cent from 1999.

Despite declining crime rates the Government continues to introduce new 'tough on crime' legislation designed to increase prisoner populations and ~he length of time spent behind bars, thereby creatmg a need for more prison cells. Numerous government press releases drive home the point that cost is not an issue when it comes to expanding the prison system.

Between August 20 I 0 and January 20 I I, the government announced that they would be expanding 30 federa l prisons to add a tota l of2,552 new fed~r~l prisoner beds at a construction cost ?f$60 I m1l~1on. on average $235,000.00 per bed. Th1s does not mclude the cost staffing, operating or maintain ing these new units once they are built.

In BC $ 15 million is allocated to increase capacity within Mission Penitentiary This expansion will involve the construction of a new 96-bed living unit in 20 12-13 plus an additional $77.5-million expansi?n will involve the construction of one new 96-bed living unit at Kent, o ne new 96-bed living unit at Matsqui, one new 96-bed chronic care unit at Pacific Institution/Regional Treatment Centre, one new 50~bed living unit at Ferndale, and 24 new 'accommo_datwn spaces' at f-raser Valley Prison for Women. Timeline: to be completed in 2013-2014.

The effects of the government's tough on crime agenda and prison expansion are not limited to the federal prison system. According to Ottawa re-

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searcher Justin Piche: "Provinces are spending $2.7 billion to expand or replace aging and overcrowded jails across Canada. He says at least 22 new "bigg~r and better¡• provincial-territorial prisons are at vanous stages of completion, some still in the planning or early tendering stages. If all arc built, he says, they will increase the capacity of provincial adult jails by at least 5,788 beds."

BC is in the midst of phase one of a $ 185-million capital expans ion- the largest capital investment in BC Corrections' history- they have installed temporary cells at several existing faci li ties to meet demand in the interim. The plan includes: The addition of20 cells for women at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre; The addition of I04 cells at Alouettc Correctional Centre for Women, to be complete in 20 II; Plus a 180-cell expansion of the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre, expected to be complete by 2013.

It is worth noting that in 2002, in response to declining crime rates and a decrease in the numb~r of remand and sentenced prisoners, BC Corrections announced the closure of 8 jails. While the crime rate has not increased since these closures the number of prisoners in BC certainly has: North Fraser ~re-Trial Centre built in 2000 to house 300 remand pnsoners, on average holds 650. Fraser Regional Correctional Centre was built as a maximum-security prison to hold 254 prisoners; with the addition of the Tamil migrants the current count is over 800. The Kamloops jail was built to hold 168 prisoners_ but a~e~ages in excess of 300 and the maximum secunty Wilkmson Road jail in Victoria is an example of a jail that was built for 206 prisoners and now ho lds 350-400 prisoners. . .

While overcrowding with double and tnple bunkmg, and the impact it has on supply and services of is one of the major concerns of prisoners, all of this prison expansion should not be confused with any reasonable attempt by the state to deal with the countries overcrowded prisons. The upsurge in expansion is to make room for the vast numbers of new prisoners that are on their way to jail, for longer periods of time, as a direct result of the government's recent legislative actions.

Defending the DTES by any Legal and Moral Means Necessary Part v

A Quotable Ode to the Carnegie Newsletter and her readers (Happy 25th anniversary) ··It is a tr:1gic thing when the (Nation) spends

$500,000 for every enemy soldier killed and only $53 annually on th e victims of pover ty."

Martin Luther King Junior '·(the world ca n be so empty) but to know someone wh o thini<S and feels with us, and who, though distant is close t o us in spirit, this makes the ea rth for us an inhabited garden.'"

J. W. Goethe A nyway, in th is pl ay W aiting for Godot ~ the four vagabonds arc waitng for Codot to show up, and an Oppenheime•· regular drops in, as we've already said.

H e's Codot, don't you know, b ut th e char acters can't see hi m.

The actors d o sec him, of course, and th ey respect him enough to leave him alone.

H e improved the play something fierce, and maybe Sam Beckett would agree, he who had f ought in the French underground du ring th e Second World War .

Such is the p ower of Oppenheimer Park • Such is th e p ower of th e Downtown Eastside.

Excerpt from: "Ifyou're waiting/or Godot, Go to Oppenheimer Park" by Sandy Cameron

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we over come because we live differently th an the sys t em intends for us we live in cooperation and compassion and we have arisen and we have come alive and we ar e r esistin g Excerpt from: '·No matter how vicious the system is"

by Bud Osborn "Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation" Kahil Gibran Love, Anonymous Zero and homeless dave

SNEAK PREVIEW CHARLIE: A HOCKEY STORY Monday, Aug. 29, 7:00pm Carnegie Theatre 'You may be behind and you may be exhausted and you may feel discouraged, but you should keep plugging all the way: (Charlie Sands) Spalding Gray meets Don Cherry and William Shakespeare faces off against Stompin' Tom Connors for 60 minutes of rock 'em sock 'em theatre!

In Charlie: A Hockey Story, Jim ~ands uses mus1c, storyu:llling and acting to tell the story of his uncle, Charlie Sands, who played in the National Hockey league from 1933-43 for the Leafs, Bruins, Canadiens, and Rangers.

Jim Sands 1s known by many for his portrayal of Hansel, the four-year-old German boy who wants to go home to Hamburg. For th1s performance, Jim hangs up the Lederhosen and takes on the role of a storyteller with tales from a forgotten decade in hockey history.

This free preview is in preparation for the opening of the play at the Vancouver lntemational Fringe Festival where it will play at Havana Theatre from September 8-18. For more information see www.jim-sands.ca.

Jim Sands has lived in Strathcona for 18 years. Many know him as an East Vancouver based storyteller, songwriter, actor. musician and occasional clown who has performed both as a solo artist and with a variety of musical groups.

He shows how he learned an important lesson- forgiveness by exploring lhe myth and meaning of lhe life of an uncle he never met.

From 1933-43 Jim's uncle, Charlie Sands, played NHL hockey for During his 12-season career, Charlie met many of hockey's greatest legends including Foster Hewitt, King Clancy, Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey. He was involved in many events during a formative decade in hockey history.

These included one of the longest games ever played and one of lhe most violent incidents in all of hockey.

He has appeared as an actor and storyteller in plays and events such as the Downtown Eastside Romeo and Juliet, the Alice in Wonderland Festival, Heart of a City Festival and We Are the People!

Missing We miss you the posters say gone missing disappeared turned or ran away your mother wants to know Where did my baby go?

Sucked up by sidewalks under the boardwalk out of their mind and no one can find whatever happened to the ones we have loved and lost gone somewhere new but at what cost into what garbage can has my baby been tossed?

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}I Congratulations V ANDU! A trial 30 km/h speed zone will be established along a six-block stretch of Hastings Street in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The new speed limit, w hich was opposed by the Vancouver Police Department, aims to reduce traffic fatalities-at Main and Hastings streets, the city's most dangerous intersection.

The speed zone, which will be located between Jackson Avenue and Abbott Street, was part of a package of initiatives approved by Vancouver city council yesterday that are aimed at increasing pedestrian safety in the city.

Between 2005 and 2009 there were 32 pedestrian collisions at Main and Hastings, 10 (or 46 per cent) more than Broadway and Commercial, the city's second-worst intersection fo r pedestrian collisions. "(Main and Hastings) is a hotspot for injuries in the city," said Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, who spoke in s upport of the speed zone. She said the Vancouver Coastal Health trauma team identified the streets as having the highest rate of severe and fatal pedestrian injuries in the city.

WASHROOMS: Because the City hasn't or won't, this is notification that the washrooms at Main&Hastings & Victory Square are now open to midnight for a 3-month trial. (If they don't tell anyone no one will use them late and the trial will be over.)

There is a 24/7 public washroom on the ground floor of the UGM apartment building at Hastings & Jackson. The one at Pigeon Park, contracted to CBS Defaux, NEVER works. Tell City Hall.

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Mom moves in the dark, sadness sweeps the kitchen like a thin film of loss: Where is my baby?

Has she eaten? Is she warm?

Oh dear God keep her from harm!!!

Mom leaves the dishes pile up in the sink Leftovers in the fridge starting to stink Called the cops already twice today Where will my baby stay?

Now she's gone and run away Oh whatever have I done?! to lose my son he was so young no point in turning the lights on no life left here now that they' re gone I keep waiting but for how long...

Dear God let me be strong let me be strong soft murmurs in a long night that never seems to end Anonymous

Whether or not you climb from here to eternity only to end halfway up your hollow existence with both hands as empty as when you started is of no consequence.

That you write is.

Rolf Aucr

We are looking for volunteers (once or twice a month) to help out with our monthly Roving Community Kitchen (Mobile Smoothies) and Banana Beat for August.

Dear readers, I am going to go to university! No one is ever too old for higher learning. I wi ll be taking classes.at UBC and will keep you informed about the trail.

Marlene Wuttunee

Tuesday, August 23 • Roving Community Kitchen Wednesday, August 24- Banana Beat

Hello All! from HUMANITIES 101

Hello from the DTES Neighbourhood House,

About the Roving Community Kitchen: We travel to different organizations across the Downtown Eastside making smoothies and sharing the nutritional wonders of the humble blender.

Available shifts are: 9:30am - 1:30pm; 1:30- 4:30pm Meet at the Neighbourhood House (573 East Hastings@ Princess) at the beginning of your shift. If you wish you may join us for the whole day!

•• NOTE: Self-identified women only from 1:30pm · 3:00pm (we go to the DTES Women's Centre during this time) About the Banana Beat: We meet bright and early to hand out hundreds of bananas to our neighbours on the streets and in line for social assistance cheques. Some potassium to start the day. Meet at the Neighbourhood House at 6:30am: 2 teams head down Hastings and Powell with our shopping carts full of bananas from 7:00am - 8:00am and back to the NH for breakfast and coffee. We're done by 8:30/9am.

Please contact Melanie Spence (our Food Activist) either by email (dtesfoodnetwork@gmail.com) or at 6041215.2030.

spinning Go all I do is have conversations with you in my head, in my head all I do is have conversations with you in my head, in my head . I'm in love w ith the sound o f your voice on the phone all l do is have conversations with you in my head in my head

Anita Stevens

HAPPY BLRTIIDA Y! Kelly called at almost the last minute to ask if it was too late to get in a birthday greeting to a good friend.

Happy Birthday, Bud Osborn ! (It's August 4'h!)

If you would like to apply for any of the Humanities I0 I courses- llum I 0 I, 20 I and Writing- or you know of anybody who is interested, please come to one of the follow ing intake sess ions in August: -Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, 302 Columbia St Tuesday August 2nd at J.30p.m for Humanities 101 ,201 , and Writing -Carnegie Centre, Main & Hastings Wednesday August 3rd at II a.m for Humanities I 0 I & 201 Wednesday August 3rd at 1.30p.m for Writing -The Gathering Place, 609 Ilelmcken St Thursday August 4th at lla.m for Humanities 101 & 201 Thursday August 4th at 1.30p.m for Writing -Crabtree Corner , 533 East Hastings St Tuesday August 9th at I :30p.m for Humanities I 0 I, 20 I, and Writing -Vancouver Recovery C lub, 2775 Sophia St Wednesday August I Oth at 11.30a.m for Humanities 101,201, and Writing To apply for a course you must attend the intake session and complete an application. Humanities I 0 I and 20 1 (only alumni of Hum 101 are eligible to take Hum201) will run from September to April, with two c lasses a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7-9.30p.m. Writing is a 3 month course running from September to December, with one class a week on T uesday evenings from 7-9.30p.m. All classes take place at UBC West Point Grey campus .

blue mist frost glass strobing light elixir ensure my regeneration Hara

Dante I'd live my li fe in eternity just 2 press I little key.

Anita Stevens

.TRAFFIC JAMS Fire, ambulance, pol ice sirens wail as if on cue; users dealers, white noise a ll round barricades us and them in a claustrophobic fre nzy, street walkers whirl, trying to sight tight on uppers, downers, skunk & cigarette smoke hits you hard, like a smack in the face. Yikes!

What's on your mind sister could you use a hug about now? no offense .. no ne taken mavin' on your mascara is runn in' you got tears in your eyes .. oh well pardon me No no your swearing doesn't bother me. But your pimp-type friend, way over there lurking in the more than seems to deserve it.

I've got no strength, can't seem to move, stuck here like a potted plant, just can't get in the groove with will power cunning on empty. This ain ' t by happenstance, I got predicaments too ya know where the h ell does it encf? I've been on a way too long losing, can't seem to catch a break as bad tripys keep piling on me like clockwork.

Get lost buddy boy, don ' t start peddling your j unk 'round me; clean up your act or hit the road besides there's mothers a nd children kickin' around here too don't ya know?! Don't you have any morality whatso ever! ?! This ain't no roadhouse so disappear -hot day hot comer hot people .. just a speck of dust on the map of our world, crowded, populated by expanding minds

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desperate like a pot with a rolling boil witches but 1 not a lid in sight, no nothing w ith wh ich to cap this 1 human hurricane.

Nobody seems to have come up with a remedy as far as I can see, and I can see for miles as I finally make a focused move to split the scene some poor sad sack girl hits on me for a date.. 1 say no thanks 1 don' t know who you are we've never been introduced or become acquainted (1 figure I'm bitterly jaded or just an o ld-fashioned relic of betr times long ago gone by) Again and again 1 say No Thanks for the umpteenth time, I'm just not into 1-hour-stands any more, where is the love in that (and JJyou/we can definitely take that o ne to the bank). I'm still trying to make a quick escape, better yet a vanishing act o n a one-way ticket out to the edge of this dark side of town o n a quite bright day .. go fi gure And yet on this particular day I've had my share of the blues, bad news, of the loud and shrill - Get Out of my way please fo lks, scatter, 1 gotta lay me down to sleep, just gotta find a bunk somewhere 'cause I'm on the brink of a maj or nervous breakdown; too weak to go o n my own gotta catch a break, flag down a ribecause it' s my li fe ' n san ity at stake and, in the end I've got no safe and secure place where I cou ld run, no place to hide ..

ROBYN LIVINGSTONE.

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Ads may be submitted by hand or email to carnnews@shaw.ca The Carnegie Newsletter is a 16-28 page, twice-monthly publication with 1200 copies per issue and a readership of likely twice that Depending on how much easier stereotypes make your perceptions of this community, contents are "By, For and About the Bad and Dishonest people of the Downtown Eastside." This description is to counter an uninformed declaration that "all that's needed to ' revitalise' that area are good, honest people."

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Carnegie Jazz Band to Victoria On the morning of Thursday July 14th, the Carnegie Jazz Band climbed into their luxurious tour bus (actually the Centre's new 15-seater van) a.nd .h e~ded to glamourous Victoria on the personalmv1tauon of the llonourable Stephen L. Point. Lieutenant Governor of BC. The tour included band leader Brad Mui rhead, a dozen or so musicians, producer (and pianist) Terry llunter, roadie Rika, and myself, a groupie. Not really.

1 actually went to represent the Carnegie Association and to present I lis llonour with a commemorative book from the Heart of the City Festival.

I lis Honour first heard the Carnegie Jazz Band here in the theatre in October at the launch of the 7th Annual Heart ofthe City Festival. He was impressed with the band's rendition of the Vice-Regal Salute (a mashup of 0 Canada and God Save the Queen that protocol demands be played for him) and said in his speech that he would li ke the band to come and play at Government House. Being card-carrying members of the Downtown Eastside community, band members and others thought, "We'll believe that when we see it."

ut His Honour was indeed honourable, and the invitation came in writing this spring.

Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor, is a huge mansion in a swank neighbourhood of Victoria set on lush public gardens, but in one way it is a lot like Carnegie: it is known as the '路ceremonial home of all British Columbians." (hnp://www.ltgov.bc.ca/) That sounds a bit like "the living room of the Downtown Eastside", doesn't it?

And, though no doubt much more expensive, I have to say the building is no more beautiful and welcoming than ours.

In the summer, Government House hosts Music 011 the Lawn, a series of concerts in the garden band shell that is well attended by local Victoria music lovers. This time, however, the crazy weather forced the concert to be moved indoors. The stage was set up in a huge ballroom with blue walls and crystal chandeliers and 2-storey windows looking out on the gardens.

After setting up their equipment and doi ng sound check while diva singer Rosanne made herself look fabulo us, the band and hangers-on enjoyed a buffet dinner while awaiting their tum on stage.

ArtfUl sundays

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An outdoor, visual arts market in East Vancouver Hosted by Britannia Community Centre, each Sunday features the work of local artists, special events, I workshops, community groups, live music and more!

Napier St @ Commercial Drive Aug 7-Sept 4 12-Spm 5 Sundays more info: tel: (604)718-5800 www.britanniaccntrc.org

There was not an empty seat in the house! At fi rst we thought the aud ience was there to see the Dal Richards Orchestra (a well known o ld-time swing band), but everyone was still there when the Carnegie Jazz Band took the stage, including g uitarist Ken Tabata's parents, and a gaggle of enthusiast ically dancing chil dren. The set sounded amazing, the audience was pleased, and there was a group photo and a round of handshakes wi th His Honour at the end of the nig ht.

Glowing with excitement, nobody wanted to return to the luxurious accommodations at the UVic donns, so some of the group went to a club to hear more jazz, while o thers adjourned to the UVic student pub.

Guess what? It was karaoke night!

It was a thrill ing night of music in our province's capital. And now Carnegie officially has a touring band! Can g lobal stardom be far behind?

By Gena Thompson

Faulty Theologies --"":"~, Why, for heaven's sake, should there only be one God? If, there can be one God, why can' t there more such Gods?

If we are created in God's image, shouldn' t there be a Red God, a Yellow God, a White and Black God? Who thought up the concept of God, anyway?

The bible claims that certain people heard the voice of God in their heads .

Is Judaism and C hristianity based o n the ramblings of untreated schizophrenics?

Is it possible for a soul to bum endlessly in Hell?

A soul is merely a spi ritual co llection o f experience and knowledge, what kind of God would burn a lifetime of study?

Could I sell my soul on ebay?

Garry Gust

MONDO CONDOS !lEY, HEY , HEY! It's condomania time again in the Downtown Eastside!

So, c'mon all you rich and well-to-do folks and swarm on down to the DTES to snap up all the bargain-basement deals!

On the auction block today are the new condominiums at the Pantages Theatre.

Don't mind the mass exodus of the newly homeless you've evicted as a result ofJhe rising rents in the area because. of your real estate sel fishness: just step over their bodiesdon't worry: they're too weak from hunger to inflict any real, lasting damage on you, unlike what you're doing to them.

Then, once you've moved in, be sure to open plenty of high-end businesses in what is now YOUR area in the DTES, designed to push the old businesses targeted to low-income people out, so that you won't have to put up with those pesky poor anymore.

Don't forget to put lots of security guards in your stores to keep the poor out.

Yes, mondo condos at the Pantages is the latest gentrification bomb lobbed right into the heart of the Downtown Eastside.

A giant stink bomb, that is, one that can be smelled all the way up to City Hall.

To the Pantages developer and architect: Did you ask the Coast Salish People if you could build condos on their land?

Don't you think you are adding to the displacement of First Nations & Coast Sal ish People by developing their land? , By doing this you're going to be adding to the poverty of First Nations people of the DTES by pushing them to another area.

Jen Allen

re: Socia l Housing in th e Dow

Eastside

As the elected representatives for the provincial and federal constituencies that include the Downtown Eastside (DTES), we would like to add our names in support of the DTES Community Resolution to save the Pantages for low-income people.

Residents of the I 00 block of East Hastings Street and the surround ing neighbourhood have voiced understandable concern over what would happen if a private-market development featuring primari ly market-priced condominiums were introduced to this block. We echo their concerns that such a development will significantly impact the affordability of nearby housing, as well as the abil ity to provide cruc ia l front-line services in the area.

We encourage the municipal, provincial and federal governments to work in coordination with the residents of the DTES community to determine the nature of the development and fund it accordingly. Members of the community are the experts in the needs of the community, and we urge you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to create a resident-driven facility featuring low-income com-munity space and social housing.

Sincerely, Jenny Kwan, MLA Libby Davies, MP Vancouver MI. Pleasant Vancouver East

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)

Newsletter Coast Salish Territories

ccapvancouver.wordpress.com

Aug I, 2011

DTES community works to stop condos at Pantages and to get 1 00% social housing These groups have endorsed the community resolution calling for 100% social housing at the Pantages site: Coalition organizers:

Aboriginal Front Door Carnegie Community Action Project DTES Neighbourhood Council DTES Power of Women Group Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users Gallery Cachet Streams ofJust ice Endorsers: I. Indigenous Action :vlovcment 2. Latin-American Collective Vancouver 3. ACCESS (Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society) 4. Harmony of 'ations Drum Group 5. Longhousc :vlinistry Church 6. PllS Community Sen ices Society 7. Lookout Emergency Aid Society 8. City ..vide Housing Coalition

9. Purple Thistle I 0. Pivot Legal Society II . Vancouver Catholic Worker 12. Teaching Support Staff Union Social Justice Committee 13. Mosaic@ the Space 14. DTES Neighbourhood Helpers Project 15. Council of Senior Citizens Organization of BC 16. f-irst United Church 17. Oppenheimer Park Ladies Tea Party 18. Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter 19. Vancouver Transgender Day of Remembrance Society 20. Spmiacus Books 21. Carnegie Community Centre Association 22. Interfaith Institute for .Justice, Peace and Social Movements 23. Women Elders In Action Society 24. Vancouver Action 25. St. James' Anglican Church Social Justice Group 26. end Prohibition Committee (Cont. on page 2)

3 1. .len's Ki tchen 32. Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society 33 . Solidarity otes Labour Choir

(Cont. from page I) 27. DTES 'eighbourhood House 28. Jacob"s We ll 29. PACE Society 30. Impact on Communities Coali tion

We've had a mini victory!

It's day 27 si nce we shut down the unsa fe demolition site at the Pantages.

Thanks to the DTES :--Jeighbourhood Counci l and CCAP, inspectors ordered the owner to put up mesh to protect residents ofthc Regent and Brandiz fi路om contaminated dust to put in better hoarding to protect pedestrians and to

implement better safety equipment and procedures tor the workers. The owner's di sregard for the safety of our community does not bode well for the futu re. Every day that goes by without demolition is one step closer to winning I 00% social housing at that site. - wp

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Campaign for 1 OOo/o social housing at Pantages site is growing! down the demol ition of the buildings on the site because it was being done unsafely, formi ng a coalition to organize the campaign, getting groups to endorse the community resolution to stop the condos and build l 00% social housing, and getting petitions signed by neighbourhood residents (so far about 1200 signatures have been collected).

The coalition also organized a news conference with about 40 supporters at the office of Studio One architects, the architect for the condo project.

Right now the coalition is urging everyone concerned to email

So far 40 groups have signed a community resolution calling for 100% social housing and no condos at 138 E. I lastings. Sec the list of the groups on page 1 of this newsletter. These are the groups that are organizing the campaign for 100% social housing: Aboriginal Front Door. Carnegie Community Action Project, DTES Neighbourhood Council. DTES Power of Women Group, Gallery Gachct, Streams of Justice.

Vancouver Area 1 etwork of Drug Users.

Worthington Properties has proposed to build 79 condos and 18 social housing units at the site. They want the bottom floor to be an art space run by a group that includes David Duprey who is involved with the Rickshaw.

The Director of Planning may try to ok the project as soon as August or September. But planners have told the Carnegie Action Project that if the project is "contentious:路 it may go to the appointed Development Permit Board instead. This would take a bit longer and the Development Permit Board hears members of the public.

So far the actio ns taken to preserve the site for I 00% social housing include painting the building \vith the community"s vision for the site. shutting

al icc. kwan@vancouver.ca, brent.toderian@vancouver.ca, scott.barker@vancouver.ca and mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca .

Writing the letter is simple and only takes a few minutes!

- State your firm opposition to the developer's proposal for 79 condos at 138 E. Hastings.

-State the low income community in the DTES is against this project and condo development - List some of the reasons for opposition.

(Cont. on page~) for example: 3

(Cont. fro m page 3) • People in the DTES need social housing and can't afford condos; • Condos cause gentrification which pushes up rents in hotels and brings in businesses that exclude low income residents with high prices and security guards • Condos in the I 00 block of E. llastings are especiall y bad because nearly 400 SRO residents live in that block and could be pushed out if gentrification pushes up their rents; • Building more social housing as well as defending and preserving our DTES community are more

important - and more Iil'e saving than letting developers make millions in the DTES. For more infonnation, check out this website: http://dtcsnotfordevelopcrs. word prcss.co m/aboutpantages/ More actions arc planned for August and September. - js

Stop condo project say DTES residents condos," said Sandra Pronteau, another social housing resident and member of the Carnegie Community Action Project.

Studio One Architects has submitted a development proposal to the city for 79 condos, 18 more condos that would be sold to a non-profit group, and commercial space on the bottom floor.

The development wou ld be at 138 E. Hastings, bringing gentrification to the heart of the DTES. Forty (40) groups support a community resolution calling on the Pantages developer to sell his lots at this site to the city for the 2010 assessed value of$3.7 million. The resolution calls for I 00% community controlled social housing at the Pantages site. Over II 00 additional people have signed a petition calling on the owner to sell the Pantages site to the cit) for the 20 I 0 assessed value. At the action today DTES residents and groups called on the architects

f-or Immediate Release to all media: (Vancouver Coast Salish Tenitory) Stop condos in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) until we have decent housing for the low income residents who live there now. That .,,路as the message that low-income DTES residents and their supporters brought to Studio One Architects today at l l am.

"Housing first for the people who need it," said Anne Marie Monks, social housing resident who was recently homeless and board member of the DTES l'\eighbourhood Council. "The rich can bu} somewhere else.

They can go up to Whistler. D J'ES belongs to the people.路路 ..1 onl} know one person who lives in a condo and she lives in Winnipeg.

Their world is totally different than mine. We need social housing here. not

(Cont. on page 6)

5

(Cont. from page 5) to withdraw their proposed development.

"Condos displace low income residents by pushing up land values and hotel rents," said Fraser Stuart, SRO resident who was recently homeless and board member of the DTCS

and 5000 SROs that need to be replaced with decent housing low income people can afford."

"We have a right and a responsibility to protect our neighbourhood from changing into a rich neighbourhood. Most people don't know what is happening at these demolition sites and by the time they do, it will be too late," said Kim Pacquette, social housing resident and member of the Carnegie Community Action Project.

Dave Diewcrt ofthe interfaith social justice group Streams of Justice said: ·'The utter disregard for the health and safety of workers. adjacent residents and pedestrians during demolition. and the architects' poor-bashing rhetoric of social mix that '1 ""'-l..:..t.a:......'~~., accompanied the visual of won't be displaced but they arc ignoring Sequel 138 on their website, reveal the that promise. We still have hundreds of developer's distain and contempt for the homeless people in our neighbourhood, current residents of this communi!), and

-

rJf:1 ~fl ·, _';:!i~PANTAGES ..._; · ,,.J ~~

-

01'1 1Hf . -

confirms the conviction that the project will only bring harm not benefit to the neighbourhood." '·We have al ready stopped the demolition at the site," said Beatrice Starr, of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre Power of Women. ·r his community will use whatever ways we can to stop this project. It won't be easy for the developer to put condos here."

Jo·

"

6

City Council sets up Task Force on SRO Maintenance

On July 14 City Council voted to set up a Task Force on maintenance standards in hotels. The motion came two weeks af1er the Carnegie Community Action Project, DTES 1\eighbourhood Council. V /\1 DU and tenants of the Wonder and Palace llotels spoke to council about deplorable conditions in those two buildings and others.

At the Counci l meeting DNC volunteer Richard Marquez, who has

been helping Wonder tenants lind decent housing, spoke about the Code Enforcement Outreach Program in San Francisco. With that program hotel tenants get stipends to work with community groups and city property use inspectors to keep building maintenance standards up to par.

AI Fowler, a former Wonder Rooms tenant, told Council that tenants should be o n the Task rorce and about (Cont. page 8)

7

(Cont. from page 7) hov.. hard it is to find an affordable place to stay.

Jean Swanson of CCAP put forward recommendations of the DNC, CCAP and VA0!DU that the Task Force should include these groups: Power of Women, DNC, VANDU, CCAP, Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction.

TRAC, Aboriginal Front Door, Pivot, Native Health. and SRO tenants. She also said that it should recommend procedures, policies and bylaws the city will implement to upgrade living standards in SROs. Councillor Ellen Woodsworth amended the motion to include these points and they were accepted.

So .... soon we should have a Task Force on SRO maintenance and maybe it could have some good results.

Council also passed another resolution on the same day to set up a working group with a number of professional groups and "other stakeholders" to address alleged abuses at the Wonder and Palace Hotels.

Vivienne Bessette ofVANDU

told Council that the methadone treatment system has failed because no consumer groups have been there to talk about the abuses. '路lf the [working group] doesn't include users it could do more harm than good." She added, ''V AI DU is expert in addictions.

Doctors arc not always experts in addiction.''

Charlie Boyle of the BC Association of People on Methadone also argued that methadone users should be included in the methadone working group.

Dave Murray said there were 2000 Downtown Eastside residents on methadone and II ,000 in the province. l ie said that VANDU and BC APOM have to be on the working group. This time, however, the motion was not changed to add in the two groups.

Although Councillor Kerr)' Jang said in his remarks that the] would be consulted. So, the city is now going to have a working group on methadone maintenance abuses that is dominated by professionals and where user groups will hopefully be consulted. - js

Th is task .force wouldn 't ltave happened without tlte work of I van of CCAP and residents of tlze Wonder am/ Palace Hotels wlt o, at a previous council meeting, spoke out at council and launched a class actiou suit against the lam/lords.

8

LORDS OF LIES AND LANDS Go?d morning Vancouver how are we feeling today, while all the bullies whine & shout because school is temporarily out even the sun has been out several times to make your day, now that gratuities are over it's time to get back into shape, unfortunately for us we're told we are making progress as another facelift hits us and worse there is no escape, like a WWJ lawn that dew avoids every dawn no smoking pets yet oxygen is free this morning, some days the stench & heal take the fun right out of your parkbench you crash on the night before ya barely remember crashing through all those invisible signs that say Warning! have you ever been ripped off by your landlord, lied to face to face, there are so many scumlords in this lopsided city St Minus tells me if llell had a flavour this is how it'd taste, like a get rid of the poor layfaraway plan is only as strong as its weakest link, I way to end homelessn_ess would be a Jonestown Kool-Aid Fountain in every smk, now we all know life is never going to be fair, a fistful of pennies is your bank you know who to thank those Selfishist bastards do you really think they care, when the Downtown Eastside is bulldozed to the ground one extremely silent night how many will perish or at least be out of their sight and wi ll it be enough, has tearing down or boarding up the past become therapeutic or an addiction you can't shake that must be rough, like being promised your damage deposit but time is so fast that before you know it a year has passed & you still haven 't got it, all those possessions that have been lost misplaced or simply thrown away in haste & when the cops arrive you're the bad guy good ~ye bass guitar why do the Evil ones keep treating us ltke we're useless good for nothing yet disposable bits of shit, befriend then betray because that is the Selfishi~t ~楼ay always has been and left up to them anyone l1vmg below the poverty line will and must be ki lled.

I can see them now taking off from work a few hours early to get home to their 6 or 7-digit wife & mistress l'_m sure bot_h wi ll be equally thrilled, li ke going to a not and see mg a hockey game break out just like land lords who are in constant need for someone down on their luck to cheer about is what I'm writing for real. li~e ~very future smashed to perfection so positively bnlltant 111 a kaleidoscope of delays with shattered mirrors to reflect for the first lime how we truly feel, some of us can't even have a decent dream to many

wrongs yet enough lies to continue this inhumane scheme compared to you Darth Vader & his Storm Elves would be man's newest best friend, now I have begged on beller knees Please Please let this day be the one where someone else starts and I end, St Minus says indifference is in the eyehole of the beholder either that or you've got to the end of the month like being in a war or a movie theatre it is always go~d posture to sit down in front, they've made it clear we are not wanted here FEAR is quite powerful when used often enough, intimidation and extortion are used to cleanse themselves li ke a pre-planned abortion it is a scary thing to say but if we let it one day soon there will be no more us! By the way they have now abolished the word trust so good luck.

By ROBERT McGILLTVRA Y

q路

Mr Wonderfulllimsclf ),路1.

Fat Cat I know call him Bluto J li kes to run down folks, seems like . only way to feel good about being who he is is to put down someone else -say Iike the Chinese anybody is a target; makes his obesity less obvious must be wonderful to be so wonderful!

Why do you need to step on someone else's toes?

Why do you need to be better than anyone?

Why the constant put down, the run down on anyone not you?

Maybe if you weren't deflecting insults on to others people might turn to scrutinize you, and speculate exactly what is it makes you so damn wonderful?

Mr Wonderful - tell me, I'd really like to know ...

Richard Rydman

What's changed or It Sure is a Long Haul In 1988, No Way to Live was published. I asked women who were poor like me what their solutions to poverty were. Women said: -"elimi nate the obscene amount Canada spends on military defense ...

-"make the corporations pay back the loans and tax breaks they get, ... the n you w ill find some money fo r decent wages and to raise welfare rates.

-"respect and nurture the elderly; Many of us, especially the elder women, have a sense of being thrown away by society, after (and still) being labelled lazy, dumb, stupid, etc .....

-"we arc just mothers a nd children; Don 't callus welfare mothers, nor our c hildren welfare kids.

-" raise minimum wage, provide meaningful job training; affordable housing; a welfare housing a llowance that's relevant to real rental costs..

-" free day care, bus passes, hot lunch programs in schools, a fter school chi ldcare for working moms.

-some said we need a better government... ...

Have things gotten better 24 years later, did any one listen??? No, no and no. We knew what was needed. .. so many mo re women are homeless .. fam ilies are home less, rents a re impossible: welfare is not enough.

In 1991 Under the Viaduct was published. I asked men who were poor what would make a change in poverty? The responses were very similar to the women: housing, real jobs, real training, more detox and rehab... ... One guy said the free food is all sugar - left over donuts, cupcakes, bread .. sugar sugar sugar. We need beans, lots of beans, healthy beans & corn & rice!!!

In 1997 Still Raising Hell was published. Libby Davies said to me while corporations go untaxed 700,000 children and their families are forced into poverty. Every tax break or loophole for the rich & wealthy makes poverty worse, as the things that those ungotten millions would have paid for are just cut.

She won the electio n but there are even more poor famili es today -poor men, poor women, many more homeless.

My books were used in social work classes at Universities, but d id that change anything,?? .. very little.

They read my books and did so little.. Who listens to us, who have the problems and know the solutions?

It starts with a po litical will and it sure aint there

By Sheila Baxter

The Pain that humans cannot bear is borne somehow by animals.

The Pain that animals cannot bear is borne by plants obscurely.

The pain that plants cannot bear is carried by the wind to Stone.

There is no pain Stone cannot bear.

~,-- _

tl.f.

, S"bm;ttod by Hm"

Allow me to be Perfectly Frank Doncha just hate the babbling foo ls Who won't take a hint who never shut up, no matter what..

You'll avoid eye contact and not say a word, but Biddy starts to babble about stuff you don ' t wanna hear on and on til you o utright ignore this boring ass but buddy g rabs your coat, forces him self on you endlessly on and on about nothing Punctuating every sentence, every irrelevant utterance with "know what I mean?!" " know what I'm saying?!" to the point you gotta go and as you damn near run buddy don't stop for breath as you hustle quickly down the strip you can hear in the distance: " know what I mean?!" "know what I'm saying?!"

Block away safe in the silence of roa ring tra ffi c and honking cars you scratch your head trying to think about how you can gently te ll buddy 'just keep it to yourselr ' quit forcing yourself on innocent bystanders whose only wish is that you shut up.'

Know what I mean?!!

Know what I'm saying?! !!

Tony Bamman

"Making tbe Invisible Visible" Poornogr.tphy: Slick &/or obscene media that lets tbe economically well-to-do be voyeurs; to see, but not touch or feel, poor and disadvantaged people as objects.

Poor-Bashing: Half-truths and outright lies told and re-told to blame poor people for their poverty.

Media Manipulation Class-Conscious Ignorance

The foUowing article is an excellent report on the efforts taken and needed to break through. The most exceUent local(!) source is at www.povnet.org (604) 876-8638 An example: President Bush and Cohn Powell are s itting in a bar.

A guy walks over and says, "Wow, this is a real honor. What are you guys doing in here?'' Bush says, " We're planning WW Ill " . And the guy says, "Really? What's going to happen?"

Bush says, "Well, we're going to kill 14 million Iraqis this time, and Brittney Spears."

The guy exclaims, " Brittney Spears? Why kill her?"

Bush turns to Powell, and says, " See?! I told you no one would worry about the 14 million Iraqis!"

Poverty activists working to make their own media "We'd like to thank the mainstream media for showing up," quipped Cheri Honkala, adjusting her baby son on her jeans-clad lap. The executive director of the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a multiracial organ ization of, by and for poor and homeless people, Honkala was opening a Saturday press conference last October in a claustrophobic classroom at Temple University. The Occasion: "Break the Media Blackout: A Conference on Media Democracy and the Struggle to End Poverty," of which KWRU was a cospon sor. The absence of mainstream reporters on ly rl!inforced one reason the meeting was taking place: to address and remedy what organizers saw as a lack of meaningful coverage of poverty.

Honkala, 39, a former teenage single parent who has been homeless and on welfure, is no stranger to dealing with the press. Since helping start KWRU in 199 1, she's become a local celebrity and gad[)y, treated as a 路figurehead by the city's press. (Philadelphia Inquirer has called her "the queen of civil disobedience"S/9/00.)

It's a typical problem, she told Extra!: "The press don't talk about life-and-death issues the poor deal with every day. They don't talk about the poor as a group, they'd rather do individual profiles to sell papers."

But while 1-lonkala and other grassroots antipoverty activists, along with members of the independent media from coast to coast, convened in part to share techniques for working more effectively with established news outlets, that goal took a backseat to a more proactive focus: developing and expanding their own media "infrastructure" to convey the untold stories of the some 33 million people living in poverty in the United States. [6 million in Canada.]

With technical training and advice from more experienced independent media makers, poor people's groups composed of struggling citizens, immigrants and their allies are becoming reporters, video producers, radio hosts and Web spinners, using old and new media in innovative yet inexpensive ways.

Wby media, wby now?

The conference coincided with huge changes on the horizon for both the news media and government social services. On one hand, there's the proposed slackening of Federal Communications Commission rules on concentration of media ownership. [Canada has lzzy Asper Thomson and Southam Press] On the other, a question of whether Congress [Parliament]will reauthorize funding for Temporary Aid to Needy Families, and the still unfo lding effects of dropping unknown numbers from welfare rolls due to time limits. ''It's not an option to be media savvy if you want to make socia l cha nge," maintains Jay Sand, a volunteer with the Lndependent Media Center of Philadelphia, another conference co-sponsor. Ubiqu itous as it is, mass media content "defin es reality," declared Honkala. "The rich communicate across borders. We need to as well."

Participants concurred that the first hurdle to gaining a bigger voice in the public discussion is visibility. But, they say, the media monopoly and demographics-driven news values have "disappeared" the needy from the news.

Joy Butts, a mother ofthree who still receives some forms of public assistance, said she daily scans the papers of record, local publications, and cable news for economics and poverty-related stories. In any given week, she says, she can count them on her hands. "The board members of ABC, CBS and NBC sit on other corporate boards," she adds. "They don't want this story out because people would demand change."

The KWRU, which now claims several hundred members, has direct experience with being rebuffed. In 1996, some members met with the Inquirer's editorial board to discuss d ismissive coverage of their attempts to bring attention to the plight of the city's poor--which have included HUD housing takeovers and setting up a tent city at the Liberty Bell. According to Chris Caruso, a computer media skills trainer, the group was told, "We refuse to a llow KWRU to manipulate the press."

Honkala maintains the incident represents a typical Catch-22: "The only way we get any coverage whatsoever is by doing actions, yet they call us media hogs!"

At times even demonstrations aren't enough: A February, 2002 sit-in by KWRU and a variety of antipoverty activists at the Olympics f!], she recalls, "got more international coverage than local press."

When they are covered, antipoverty activists are frequently portrayed as troublemakers. In 2000 when marchers were refused a permit to march down the city's main drag to bring attention to poverty issues during the Republican National Convention, reporters focused more on whether there would be Seattle-style trouble than on why they were marching. When the demonstration went off without incident, said Honka la, it was framed as "'both sides cooperated.' But the real story is that our First Amendment rights were denied. " Moreover, she said, the Inquirer's pre-convention coverage sought to generate fear of economic human rights demonstrators by running her photo ( 12/2199) with an article about 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization. The headline: "Are We Next?"

Missing pieces Besides lim ited or slanted coverage, conference attendees said they see a disconnect between their actual experiences and what is portrayed in the news Butts, who lost her educational funding due to welfare revision, says the "vicious cycle" of obstacles to getting on one's feet has not been addressed. Commenting on recent articles in the New York Times on welfare and homelessness ( 10/6, 13,14/02), Butts said they were "OK but didn't go far enough .. They need to take the case of a woman with small children and do a budget on a day路 to-day basis." She added, "No one talks about women in poverty in rural areas, who are very isolated."

Glenda Adams, whose grandson died after being unable to receive medical treatment because he was on welfare fa prospect if/when Health Care is given to private, for-profit business in Canada f, says the indigent's struggle with health care costs also get short shrift. "The mainstream media don't care," Adams, a member of the Atlantic City, N.J.-based Poor Voices United, told Extra!, "If a tragedy happens, they will bring [cameras], but as soon as that day is over, they're gone."

Conference participants concurred that reporters often ask the wrong questions, based on cliches and assumptions about welfare recipients and other groups of poor people .. For example, a participant at one workshop described questions she is commonly asked when arguing for the need for a better government safety net "You talk about your rights, but what about your responsibilities?" and "Come on, aren't you grateful to be in a country with a standard of living so much higher than in the rest of the world?"

Honkala is convinced that "there are lots of good writers who want to do content, but they can't,"- because higher-ups won't a llow it. She cited a demonstration by KWRU last fa ll at the local housing department at which children spoke about what it's like not to have safe, permanent homes. "One reporter told us he would lose his job if he went forward with the story."

The biggest critique echoed by antipoverty and media democracy activists a li ke was the media monopoly itself. Media giants are "like chain stores," commented Liza Dichter of Media Channel, a website focused on global media issues. "They try to take over all communication so people can't ta lk to each other or speak with a collective voice." Many participants noted that Philadelphia is headquarters ofComCast Corporation, the country's third largest provider of cable services (currently merging with AT&T, the first largest), yet also the only major U.S city without public-access television. And participants feared that, as such companies rush to control cable, broadband and Internet portals, their voices will be completely pushed out.

Grow your own Antipoverty activists, determined to "make the invisible visible," have turned to homegrown magazines, video, Internet sites and more. In this way, they intend to "break the isolation" and communicate directly with one another and the general publ ic. Explained Terry Maguire, chair ofKWRU's Media Committee "We need to take our small scattered voices and collect them into one powerful voice that people have to listen to," uniting the poor into a mass that will "force the issue" into public policy debates.

Among the most promising chan nels for such a project are relatively high-tech media like computers or television . "Experience is not necessary if you have vision and commitment," said Butts, who began producing and hosting Marching O n, a ha lf- hour local interview show focusing on economic human rights issues, in 1999. "Walked throug h" the basics by the station manager of DUTY, the Drexel University cable station that carries it, she runs the show on a budget of zero.(!)

College interns and volunteers serve as camera people and stagehands, using the university's studio and equipment. Recent segm ents have ranged from healthcare for the elderly to finding employment after prison.

With technical assistance from award-winni ng fil mmaker Peter Kinoy, about 20 KWRU-affiliated volunteers shot and edited Copy This Tape, an IS-minute video on how mass media affect public perceptions, for about $100. The short was cobbled together from talk-

ing-head interviews and found images, from TV screen captures to book and magazine illustrations.

Kinoy works with the web-based Media College of the University of the Poor, which provides a free virtual meeting place and live training in sophisticated media techniques to anti poverty activists. He and partner Pamela Yates have made numerous documentaries through his Manhattan-based Skylight Films wh ich these groups in tum use as educationa l tools. He believes films like his- including 1991 's Takeover, about homeless people moving into abandoned HUD housing- have helped these issues "break into the national news.. It was the first time I heard the term 'economic human rights' used by the media."

Then there's good old print, like Survival News, a biannual Boston-area newspaper written and read by poor women. Put out by Survivors Tnc., which focu ses on wet fare rights and economic justice, it costs about $4,000 per issue to publish, raised from grants and subscriptions. Copies in both English and Spanish are handed out at welfare offices. The Autumn/ 02 issue, themed "We Are a Movement," includes "Survival Tips" for dealing with bureaucracy; "Dispatches from the Front Lines," a journal documenting people's strugg les to obtain social ser vices; and a discussion of "What We Want from a Welfare Bill," such as childcare and access to education.

Survival News was spearheaded by Sharron Tetrault, a s ingle mother who said she once believed it was easy to get off welfare--until s he herself was forced to tum to public assistance. The paper, she told conference attendees, requires "meetings, meetings, meetings" and "never gets out on time," but is worth the effort because of reader response. Tetrault said that when women see these stories, they realize, "'Oh my god, it's not just me!'"

Internet as information backbone The Internet is the format that seems to most excite these media activists. For those needing to reach a global audience on a shoestring, it's the most accessible and efficient means of disseminating their own news and commentary. It's also a way of correcting or augmenting the reporting of maj or media outlets. As Chris Caruso put it, "the Internet is an information backbone for other media."

Poverty activist-journalists at the Blackout conference told of reading web pages and other digital data at the library, then printing out useful information and stapling it into booklets. Or using donated (or discarded)

computers to start a multimedia and link-filled website, pur chasing Internet service from discount servers.

One popular use of websites is to chronicle ongoing activities, providing frequently updated, even daily, dispatches. That's proving effective for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), an organization of mostly Latino and Haitian farm-workers in southwest Florida wbo're battling exploitative labor conditions. Working with Human Rights Tech, which trains activists in computer technology, they decided to use the Web to chronicle a "Taco Bell Truth Tour" they staged in March 2002. The goal: establish a boycott of Mexican restaurant chain Taco Bell, whose major tomato supplier is the company whose crops they pick.

C IW decided to target the fast food giant's favorite demogTaphic, 18-to-24-year-olds--who also happen to be the most common users of the Internet. Trainers followed Truth Tour buses with a van that became a rolling Internet and media newsroom for the farm workers, who learned web design and digital video editing software as they went along.

A new site called economichumanrights.org plans to highlight "tribunals," featuring personal accounts of economic human rights violations from activists and other citizens. "Jurists"-movement leaders, legal experts and, they hope, celebrities such as Michael Moore--will have an opportunity to weigh in on the charges and consequences. This may sound one-sided, admitted Willie Bishop, KWRU's education director, but "it's meant to be more of a mock trial or moot court to encourage discussion and debate."

Reframing the issues As the invention of econom ichumanrigbts.org suggests, one of the fundamental goals in creating these new outlets is refram ing poverty as a human rights violation. As conference attendees emphasized, food , clothing, shelter, education and healthcare are guaranteed by the 1948 Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, to which the U.S. is a party. So is a right to commun ication--the "freedom to hold opin ions wi thout interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." As Honkala explained, it's important to "usc those terms. A homeless ch ild is a human rights violation!"

Such concepts are not so accessible to the public in a country that often portrays poor people as undeserving. So these activists have made it their mission to collect a critical mass of real- life stories of effects of

budget cuts and lack of services by interviewing neighbors and, say, people in shelters.

Such stories are designed to "get past people's defenses, people's sleepwalking" by presenting images that are as "moving, striking and outrageous" as anything broadcast on the six o'clock news, said Greg Asbed of the CIW.Said the KWRU Media Committee's Maguire, "You can't end poverty without winning the hearts and minds of people. It's a battle of ideas, a battle of images and ultimately a battle of stories." Added Galen Tyler, a form erly homeless futher of four, "The secret is, people don't respond to statistics, they respond to human beings who could be them." - A family that's just been evicted from a rat-infested building.-Workers stooping to pick produce in blazing heat. -An exhausted but determined phalanx of marchers.

Besides using a human rights fram e and vivid testimo -nials, another benefit activists see in homegrown media is the context omitted from the mainstream the connections between issues typically viewed as di;tinct social problems: globalization, disability and healthcare, for example. As Jay Sand ofiMC told Extra!, anti-poverty efforts and the g lobalization movement are "inextricable." Both question the fairness of "billions in poverty simultaneous with great wealth."

As Tyler put it, "Every question is summed up in the poor.. The power of these stories is in [making) the connections. " Eyeing the future These people believe there is a demand for these stories, however harsh, especially in a tanking economy. Said Chris Caruso, "People.don't believe Dan Rather at six o'clock anymore. They're looking for something else."

And if they wish, mainstream news outlets can use poor people's media as reference material for their own work--if only when they stumble upon an economic human rights website while doing a keyword search for a business and technology story.

Kinoy, though a self-described "high-end filmmaker,' maintains that even those who work for powerful media companies feel stym ied by corporate control. He believes the economic human rights movement, through gathering support by reporting its own news, will ultimately help ignite a "cultural explosion," in much the same way the civil rights movement did som1 40 years ago. ''The last thing you really have is your voice."

By M IRANDA SPENCER

Ca r neg·~ e FREE

NEWSLETTER

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Mondays & Thursdays: 10am-4pm (Lunch brk 12-1) Tuesdays: 2pm-8pm

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provides a lot of how-to information that would be useful to both those who are keen to take up smallfarming whole-hog (no pun intended), as well as those who j ust want to know how to preserve their blackberries.

News From -the Library

Help the Library choose books Are you the type of person who always has a mental list going of which books the library should have in their collection? Are you interested in helping us improve the selection in the library? If so, we'd like you to help us choose our books. We ' re planning on going on a buyin~ trip to Chapters downtown on Thursday, A ugust 18' at 2:30. We'll be selecting books for the non-fiction co llecti on on topics like History, Science or Social Issues. If you would like to be a part of this, and choose some of the library's books yourself, please e-mail elizabeth.bryan@vpl.ca, or come into the library and talk to the librarian.

New Books It's been over 40 years since CBC infamously cancelled Don Messer's Jubilee, but that decision is still ci ted as one of the greatest programming gaffes in the history of Canadia n television. For Canadians of a certain vintage, gathering around the TV to watch -From Randy, your librarian for the summer Don Messer on a Monday night was an unquestioned part of weekly life (only Hockey N ight in Canada go bette r ratings). Fo r anyone curious about this iconic Canadian, Johanna Bertin 's Don i11esser: The Man Behind tile Music (784.49) tells the whole story. _ _......,~~< From the favourite of Rural Canadians of the I 960s, we go to the glam rock scene of the 1970s. C herie As the city of Vancouver, begins to look into what to Currie was the lead singer of The Runaways, one of do with the Georgia Viaduct, that was Tom Campthe great rock bands of the '70s. Her memoir Neon bell's (the worst mayor ever) nightmare come true, Angel (92 I CUR) tells the story of her life growing now we can wake up and get rid of that monster free way going nowhere for less than a mile thru Canada's up in Encino, California, her wild years with the Runaways and her subsequent battle with cocaine addicmost important town.

Let's put a proper memorial to Hogan's Alley w ith tion. It also served as the source material for the 20 I0 biopic T he Runaways. special tribute to Nora llendrix and her famous g randAnd then from the rock and roll highs of the 70s, we son and Louis Armstrong who ate spagheti in Hogan's come down to the c hilly political and social landscape Alley, and jammed ... they/you be on the East side of of the '80s. David Sirota's Back to Our Future: How the Georgia and Dunsmuir ramps of the Canucksduct. tire 1980s Explains tire World we Live in Now Talk about poverty, homeless, social upheaval, Jimi (973.92) takes a look at how the 'greed is good' cultHendrix lived it all from his birth in Seanle with lots ure of'80s icons like Ronald Reagan, Alex P. Keaton of visits with his paternal grandma Nora. Jimi needed and Ivan Boesky has cast its shadow all the way into care because his family was poor and dysfunctional, the present day. plus the racial problems. Sure he's in a better space Speaking of the present day- the sustai nability nowadays, digging the scene. movement has emerged as a reaction (of sorts) to our We sould call for the City to build a canal to join up consumption-drive n economy. Chicken Poop for tire the False Creek with the Gastown Shore, with a big Soul (630.9711 D74c), in addition to having a great Salt Water Pool like Kits Pool, and a War and Peace title, chronicles Kristeva Dowling's quest to become Canoe Wharf, Iike it ought to' have been in the first I 00% self-sufficient on a small farm near Bella place!!

Bud Coola. In addition to documenting her quest, the book

Design a Carnegie Button!

*The Carnegie Centre & Library has a table at this year's Word on the Street Festival on Sundav, September 25. As part of our table, we're going to be giving away up to 250 buttons to people who visit our table. And we need your help to design them. *Your design can be anything that represents the Carnegie Centre for you: a picture, a slogan, or something else. *We' ll choose up to 5 designs to make buttons. The winners will get a small prize as well as the chance to see your buttons on people all over Vancouver! *Please pick up an entry form at the library, and drop off your entry in the box at the Library by Fridav, August 26.

We'll let winners know by Sept 2.

HEY!!! The August 15, 20 I I ed ition of the 25 111

Carnegie Newsletter will mark thi s paper's Anniversarv.

An event will take place on Sunday, August 21 ", from 2 - 4pm in Carnegie's Theatre to celebrate & see what's been done and what this publication has meant and contributed to the Downtown Eastside. As always it's free and everyone is invited. Donations accepted!

to anyone interested.

Next issue, August 15 20 II, will mark 25 years that the Carnegie Newsletter has been around. The City of Vancouver is 125 this year & gave a thousand dollars for "a celebration of another anniversary that can, in 1 some way, be tied to the City's 125 h Anniversary... " so it took Vancouver a hundred years to get ready for it and us!

It will have more pages. stuff from over the years and maybe even colour on the cover. Anyone who can and wants to may sponsor a page with a $100 donation, be included with something written about the paper and those who have he lped make it & us a firm voice to be heard. Predators and speculators co-opt phrases like " for the community" "in everyone's best interest" and '路a better mix'' to cloud the reality of gentrification, of displacing thousands of current residents for Yuppie boutiques, high priced shoppes and expensive homes.

The most heard phrase is "All that area needs to be revitalized are some good, honest people."

The Carnegie Newsletter is by, for and about the bad and dishonest people o f the Downtown Eastside!

PAULR TAYLOR, volunteer editor.

MORE THAN 8 YEAR'S AFTER WOODSQUAT, W2 MEDIA CAFE IS OPEN IN THE WOODWARD'S ATRIUM Come visit the new 10,000 sq community space with cafe employing DTES residents, public washrooms, meeting room, performance space and community radio, TV, and internet t raining rooms. From July 30 to Aug 7, W2's 2nd annual Surge Festival of Urban Digital Culture highlights the cultural heritage of our DTES neighbourhood through the growing, preparing and eating of food. Nine days of daily offerings connects food and community with digital storytellers & artists. All e vents at W2 Media Cafe. Come by for a free coffee & muffin, on us!

Just Beyond Hope Artist talk & multi channel v1deo presentatio n by Pia Massie.

August 5, Bpm. Optional Japanese long table dinner at 7pm Usmg personal archival photos, letters and newspapers, Just Beyond Hope creates a dialogue between White and Japanese, Canadian and Amencan, first, second and thud generation women. The historical issues tnggered by war-of racism, nationalism, incarceration, enforced servitude. repatriation, reparations and land claims I occupation arc brought forward through the details of the women's daily lives.

A presentation of W2's Vancouver 125 Redress Series, w1th support from the City of Vancouver's 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

City as Spectacle Panel discussion on rhe Vancouver Riots August4, Bpm

W2 presents a panel discussmg the Vancouver Riots and the Society of the Spectacle and inv1tes your participation.

A community of writers, analysts and organizers will reflect on the riots in hindsight and address the uses and abuses of social media, as well as the roles played in creating some of Vancouver's shameful histories.

Beating Homelessness A /Jve Ed11ing ond Production Workshop Augusr6, 10om-6pm

Learn the principles of sports broi!dcastlng, hve ed111ng and the "beating homelessness thru football movement." Using Final Cut Pro, dig1tal cameras and mobile phones you can produce your own livecast sports production. Participants will be inv1ted to participate 1n a friendly street soccer game and mako new friends. Presented by W2 and Vancouver Street Soccer League.

W2 Media Cafe (in Woodward's Atrium) 111 W Hastings ph: 604 689 9896 more events online www.creativetechnology.org

Soul Gardens Soul Gardens is a W2 community engaged public art project that Investigates the cultural history of the Downtown Eastside through stories of food, gardenmg and commun1ty. A collaboration between five muralists and fi ve artist researchers. the prOJCCt d raws heav1ly on 1nd1v1dual and shared narratives embedded w1thin DTES cultural groups, such as the Squamish, Tsleii-Waututh and Musqueam Nations. and African, Chinese, Japanese and European settlers.

In addition to a large public mural, the Soul Gardens project will include a dynamic online interface where ind1v1duals are invited to share recipes, stories, photos and other information about how food has played a role in shaping their experience of Vancouver. The mteractlve program 1s being animated by DTES children in W2's Creative Tech Summer Camp, as well as documentation by AHA Media.

Long Table Dinners 7pm daily, W2 Media Cafe Found111g DTES commu11111es shared thelf gardens, ingredients and stories through Soul Gardens-now taste the recipes and flavours from Vancouver's early settlers on the Unceded Territories of the Squamish Nation, Tsleii-Waututh Nation and Musqeam Nation. Guests chef Mark Sm1th (Vancouver/Toronto) works w1th art1sts Cease Wyss, lnd1go, Anne Marie Slater, Wayde Compton and Lani Russwurm to craft nightly menus centred around a single heritage. with storytelling and sharing encouraged.

Tickets are W2 or online Sl-20 by donation/sliding scale. www.w21ongtables.eventbrite.com Max. 40 per dinner.

European Dinner, August 1 Coast Salish Dinner,Augusr 2 African-American Dinner, August 3 Chinese Dinner, August 4 Japanese Dinner, AugustS

Soul Gardens Pie Competition August 6, 4- Gpm, Woodward's Atrium What's Vancouver's best p1e? Taste the history of Vancouver through the unique ingredients we grow in our gardens and put in our summer f ruit pies and savoury dinner pies.

Entries accepted in 3 categories: Savoury, Sweet and Artistic. Get baking-and get creative I To enter, reg1ster at W2 Med1a Cafe or online www.creativetechnology.org/ple

Bring in this Carnegie Newsletter & get a

FREE ORGANIC COFFEE & MUFFIN IS4 va ue exp res Aug 141