401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7 (604) 665-2289 Email: carnnews@shaw.ca
Website/Catalogue:
carnegienewslerter.org
on the side of SOCIAL JUSTICE a concert and silent auction for the Carnegie Newsletter
Saturday July 28. 2018 St. James Anglican Church. Parish Hall 303 E Cordova Street Doors: 7:00 pm. Show: 7:30 pm Suggested donation: $20 (cash or cheque) No one turned away for lack of funds Teaiurirup 1Jalannah gail130wen
Earte Peach. CihJ 'Opera. lIcuu:otWer and
I1UllUJ
more!
On the Side of Social Justice A Fundraiser for the Carnegie Newsletter A variety of talent, featuring the inimitable Dalannah Gail Bowen, the multi-talented Earle Peach, a Tenor from City Opera Vancouver, Bluegrass with 2Boots & A Groove Brother, Michelle Richard with Mike Richtor, and the Raging Grannies!!
When: Saturday, July 28, 2018 7:30 - 9:45pm Where: Parish Hall, St James Anglican, Gore & E Cordova This promises to be a great show. Cost is suggested at $20 per person but no one turned away for lack of funds. Refreshments will be by donation and there will be a unique SILENTAUCTION.
Free. Donations accepted. This will be in the newsletter for awhile. Funds cannot be garnered through channels like grants or corefunding withont being beholden to the source, often meaning what can or cannot be printed gets decided by that source. The basics-no racism, no sexism, no personal attacks on community members may not be enough for some. It's kind oflike not accepting money from a mining company who then will freak out if we print anything about fracking. If you want your money to do some good, consider the Carnegie Newsletter.
To: CARNEGIE
COMMUNITY
401 Main St, Vancouver Amount:
BC
CENTRE ASSOCIATION
Date:
_
V6A 2T7
--------------------------~--
Your name:
-----------------------------
Address to send tax-receipt:
_
Hum: University Set Free
3
Humanities 101 Community Programme offers four free university-level courses for low-income people who live in and around the Downtown Eastside and Downtown South. The courses are for people who have encountered financial and other barriers to university education and who wish to expand their intellectual horizons in an accessible, challenging and respectful environment. Applicants must have a love oflearning, basic literacy skills and be willing to attend classes, complete assignments and participate in group discussions. Applications for these non-credit courses are accepted not on the basis of past academic history, but on the applicants' desire and ability to be part of the Hum Programme. Classes take place at UBC Point Grey campus on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, beginning early September. HumlOl and Hum20l: Eight-month courses covering a different subject in the arts or social sciences every week, including history & politics, art, music, architecture, philosophy, literature, sociology, first nation studies, gender studies, economics, popular culture, creative and critical thinking and more. WritinglOl and Writing201: Three-month hands on writing courses covering a new genre and style of writing every week, including creative fiction and non-fiction, life writing, short stories, poetry, song lyrics, journaling, manifesto writing and more. Participants receive school supplies, UBC student cards, bus tickets to get to and from class, meals, and childcare ifneeded. Please attend an upcoming information/application session for more details on how to participate in the programme. Carnegie Centre, Main and Hastings St. (top floor classroom) Saturday August 18th at 11 a.m, for HumlOl & 201 Monday August 20th at 2 p.m, for Writing 10 1 & 201 Wednesday August 22nd at 2 p.m, for HumlOl & 201 + WritinglOl & 201 Gathering Place Community Centre, 609 Helmcken St. (meeting room) Saturday August 18th at 2 p.m, for HumlOl & 201 Wednesday August 22nd at 11 a.m, for Writing 101 & 201 • Crabtree Corner, 533 East Hastings St. (third floor room) Monday August 20th at 11 a.m, for HumlOl & 201 + Writing101 & 201 Vancouver Recovery Club, 2775 Sophia St. Tuesday August 21s1 at 5 p.m, for HumlOl & 201 + Writing101 & 201 Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, 302 Columbia St. (women only) Tuesday August 21 at 11 a.m, for Hum 10 1 & 201 + Writing 101 & 201 S
Calmness and kindness and of course compassion to set the bar for the new generation so we can live in peace and harmony and deal with the challenges of life as we live it. The support of others is quite lovely and beautiful So maybe we can all get together and make this world a better and blessed place to live in, united as one. Amen Maria Teixeira
Appreciate and have gratitude for what you have, my dear brothers and sisters. Live and learn for you never know when your time may come. Maria Teixeira
EAST HASTINGS & MAIN This area of town is very difficult for decades. The people need pride and hope. Drug and alcohol treatment (Fast track) I hope that these people get help ASAP. Drug dealers deserve jail no question. These days there are too many deaths. I hope that things change. Michelle Catharina
-
An Effective Poverty Reduction Plan: It's as simple as ABC First Steps for an Accountable, Bold and Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Plan for BC Over half a million British Columbians live in poverty: from youth aging out of care to sleeping streets to seniors struggling to buy food; from low-wage workers having to commute hours every people on income assistance trying to survive day by day; from newcomers to indigenous people welcome and acknowledge with words but not with enough financial support; from the homeless living one paycheque away from joining them; and from people with disabilities facing a lifetime to families trying to give their children the lives they never had.
on the day to who we to those of poverty
In a wealthy province like BC, we can do better. And the good news is that British Columbians want to do better. The majority of voters in BC's 2017 provincial election voted for bold action on poverty; and with all three major political parties now publicly committed to a poverty reduction plan, British Columbians can finally look forward to action to tackle poverty and the increasing levels of homelessness and inequality that we see in our communities. This is a crisis that requires urgent action. 4 people are dying every day in BC due to the opioid epidemic that the Provincial Health Officer of BC has declared a Public Health Emergency. Many more are sick from poverty with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression or other health issue; and the health of all of us is worse from living in such an unequal society.
A poverty reduction plan will save lives. It will also save money. It's an economic investment in our province. Initial funding should be provided by restoring tax fairness. Then, over the long term, a poverty reduction plan that puts in place strong, preventative measures to tackle both the depth and breadth of poverty costs far less than the cost of poverty, at $8 to 9 billion per year for health & criminal justice costs, as well as lost tax revenue. Let's stop mopping the floor & fix the roof
An Accountable, Bold and Comprehensive and promote equality.
poverty reduction plan for BC is the solution to save lives
So far, the government has undertaken a poverty reduction consultation from October 2017 to March 2018. They visited communities throughout the province and heard consistent themes about the issues and the necessary solutions. They now plan to table legislation in the fall and launch the full plan in February 2019. Now British Columbians expect action with an accountable, bold and comprehensive poverty reduction plan that reflects those themes. A plan needs to tackle immediate affordability challenges but, more importantly, go upstream to enhance our universal basic services to prevent these challenges in the first place and ensure healthy people and healthy communities throughout our province.
First Steps for an Accountable, Bold and Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Plan for BC The over-arching vision and first steps matter in leading in the right direction. That is why the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition with over 400 supporting organizations recommend the following first steps for the government's legislation and plan:
A is for Accountable. Embed strong accountability
measures
Ensure long-term sustainability through legislated targets, timelines and accountability measures: Reduce BC's poverty rate by 30% within four years, and by 75% within 10 years. Recognize that poverty is concentrated in particular marginalized groups and ensure concurrent declines in the poverty rates for these groups by 30% in four years, and by 75% in ten years. Within two years, ensure that every British Columbian has an income that reaches at least 75% of the poverty line. Within two years, ensure no one has to sleep outside, and end all homelessness within eight years (ensuring all homeless people have good quality, appropriate housing). Commit to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal # 1: "End poverty in all its forms everywhere" by 2030. Create an independent, funded Office/Advocate to monitor the plan's implementation. Make sure all Ministries are working together, including: Legislate a PovertylEquity Lens at Treasury Board to ensure no Ministry can make decisions that will hurt people in poverty. The Minister of Social
Development and Poverty Reduction should present mandatory annual reports (including reports from all relevant Ministries) to the Legislature and to the public about actions taken, outcomes and advocacy to other levels of government. Embed strong fundamental principles in the legislation and plan: Respect the human rights of people living in poverty. Upstream approach focusing on the social determinants of health. Poverty reduction as a social and economic investment for our province. B is for Bold. Take bold, immediate action Increase income supports, including raising welfare and disability rates to 75% of the poverty line (Market Basket Measure) immediately and to 100% of the MBM in 2 years. The first step would cost $365 million while lifting everyone on income assistance to the poverty line would cost $1.16 billion, only 2% of the provincial budget Tie rent control to the unit (not the tenant), and build and protect affordable social and rental housing. Affordable is defined as 30% of income. An appropriate percentage ofthe housing to be built should be at welfare shelter rates and another set target should be tied to the senior shelter level. C is for Comprehensive. Develop a comprehensive poverty reduction plan with short, medium and long-term actions in 7 policy areas: Income assistance: Provide adequate and accessible income support for the non-employed. Increase and index income and disability assistance. Increase earnings exemptions, and remove clawbacks and arbitrary barriers that discourage, delay and deny people in need. Employment: Improve the earnings & working conditions of those in the low-wage workforce. Increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour for all workers with no exemptions and index it to the cost ofliving. Enhance and restore the coverage and enforcement of employment standards. Em!.i!Y: Address the needs of those most likely to be living in poverty, including: Restructure federal and provincial funding to better address the needs of all Indigenous people, including the large off-reserve population. Guarantee access to income assistance for all regardless of citizenship status. Provide free transit for children 0-18 years of age and a low-income transit pass for adults. • Housing: End homelessness and adopt a comprehensive affordable housing and supportive housing plan. Build 10,000 new social & co-op housing units per year that low income people can afford. Introduce stronger tenant protections, including rent control on the unit (not the tenant), tighter limits on annual rent ! increases, adequately enforcing the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) and the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, and extending tenant rights to include all non-profit social housing currently exempt from the RTA. Child care: Provide universal, high quality, publicly-funded child care. Improve the wages of early childhood educators. Continue to increase the number oflicensed spaces. Prioritize expanding the fee reduction program so that the affordable child care benefit can be reduced over time, and ensure that low income families have access to free, high quality child care. Education and training: Enhance support for training and education for low-income people. Reduce tuition fees by 50% and increase the availability of post-secondary grants for low-income students; allow welfare recipients to attend post-secondary education and get apprenticeships. Adequately fund K-12 education to mitigate inequalities and to ensure adequate library staff and resources, and special needs assessment and support Health and food security: Enhance community mental health and home support services, and expand integrated approaches to prevention and health promotion services. Expand essential health services in the public system, such as dental and optical care and community mental health services. More information and take action at ABeplan.ca
5
Unbearable Grief ...
What a Girl Wants i dream of having a Seashell Chandelier i long for its beauty au nature I Shells ....dripping tears cleansing my soul softening my heart. -Kesia Flores
. .is what i feel.. after hearing of the fall of a precious Young Woman in the DTES, Vancouver - in the Hood. I would have liked to have said to her: "Did you not realize how precious You are? I saw the fireworks tonight and none were as bright as you, my dear you were brighter than any Star - to me and to most who had met you. I couldn't help save you for i wasn't there during your greatest despair. If so, i would have tried to stop you. but, would i really have had the power to stop the ferris-wheel of emotions that you were feeling and this could happen at any time. I couldn't hold us both up, although i tried, How often does anyone really know when another is going to die? " We need more' Healers' - the Spiritual kind as like the Native Aboriginals know, for body, mind and soul. Three Basic Needs being: Food, Housing & 'Healing' This has to be done , before' one can 'energetically' take a run - toward a meaningful - Purpose in Life - in a work that would give one's days much more fun, versus rain. As long as there is life - there is hope . but we gotta hang on to life - to experience change. Grace
I look upon Kesia's poem above as being one of her beautiful gifts to each of us. Asked to write something for the bo'6k Seashells Au Naturel, she looked Jenny Kwan MP up at my Seashell Chandelier & wrote it in less Vancouver East NDP than 5 minutes Immigration, Refugee To me Kesia proved to be a 'star' in her own right and the brightest I've yet to see; for she fought against incredible odds to do her artwork and writing at a time when she had health issues and very little energy. She was a very courageous, talented and bright young woman who was and still is a heart-filled friend for so many. She is our loss and heaven's gain ... what an Angel she'll prove to be
and Citizenship Critic 2572 E Hastings St Vancouver,
BC V5K IZ3
T: 604-775-5800 F: 604-775-5811 Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca
The practice of indiscriminate carding is a violation of constitutional rights The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and British Columbia Union of Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) filed a complaint to the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Chief and brought to public attention what racialized communities have been saying for years: police unfairly target Black and Indigenous people for street checks, or carding, which refers to stopping individuals to gather information without a reasonable suspicion of an offence. Carnegie African Descent Group and Power of Women representatives spoke at the press conference panel to put into perspective how frequent police street checks are an infringement on people's basic human rights. "Based on the VPD's own data, it is indisputable that Indigenous and Black people are shockingly overrepresented in police stops in Vancouver," Josh Paterson, Executive Director of the BCCLA, said in the news release. "We are asking for an immediate, independent investigation to determine what is going on and how this can be fixed." In Ontario, where the Black population is significantly higher, the issue of carding has drawn a lot of media attention. Under pressure of protest and complaints that police were disproportionately targeting minorities, the Ontario provincial government finally issued regulations restricting street checks in the spring. Although the police claim that they serve and protect the public, Indigenous and racialized people often feel that, in fact, the police do not serve or protect them. Black and Indigenous people are taught that the primary role of police is to protect property. They learn this lesson when they enter department stores and are immediately seen as criminals, followed closely by security officers, and made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. The same lesson is reiterated when police pull you over for "driving while black," making you aware that a sudden movement or a wrong word could end your life. Based on a Freedom of Information request, the VPD released data on the number of street checks conducted between 2008 and 2017. Over that period, the VPD conducted 97,281 street checks. Between 2008 and 2017, approximately 4% (4,365) of all street checks were of Black people, despite this population making up less than 1% ofthe population of Vancouver over that time period. In 2017, I?lack people accounted for 5% of all checks (315), despite making up only 1% of the population.
Indigenous
a81%
African ancestry
Middle Eastern
Southeast Asian
2.24%
1.90%
i
!
Caucasian
1-r4% i
Hispanic
1.39i
Perce~tage hanc¡ of being stopped fQr a VfD street check I in 216, b~ ethnicity j
I
7
The other group that faces disproportionate police harassment is Indigenous people. Approximately street checks (14,536) were ofIndigenous people, despite this population making up approximately population of Vancouver.
15% of all 2% of the
According to Chief Bob Chamberlin, Vice-President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs: "The statistics on racial disparity in street carding demonstrate the lived reality of institutional racism that our people face despite the public rhetoric and celebrations around reconciliation. We can't be any clearer - the VPD must publicly apologize and make an immediate commitment to investigate and change their terribly discriminatory practices."
Racial profiling compounds racial discrimination "Black and Indigenous people have long complained of systemic racism by the Vancouver police," said June Francis, Chair of Hog an's Alley Society. "The figures released on Vancouver police targeting ofIndigenous and Black people for arbitrary 'street checks' and police stops are alarming. They should shed light on the daily reality of targeted populations who are far too frequently exposed to physical harm, humiliation and serious violations of their rights." In Ontario, civil rights activists have persistently resisted arbitrary street checks. In a report that was made public at the June 28th news conference, former Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin said, "Stopping citizens without reasonable basis is wrong and illegal." In a 25-page document that was submitted to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services on August 31 st, Marin recommends a number of changes, including: 1) Cautioning everyone who is carded that they have the right to walk away; 2) Province-wide training for officers to ensure consistent practices; 3) Conducting more research into the effectiveness of carding and consultation with human rights experts on the harm it causes; 4) Placing strict Iimits on the use of street checks and retention of any data gathered; 5) Enacting independent oversight, and; 6) Ban carding of anyone under 18 years of age. Marin concluded that he remains unconvinced that "there is a public interest purpose sufficient to override the infringement of the right to be free from the arbitrary detention that street checks represent." Compared to Ontario, we have limited information on carding in British Columbia. The Vancouver Police Department is the only municipal police that has released its statistics on street checks in British Columbia. The BCCLA has requested other municipalities to do the same.
Can the issue of carding be addressed through regulation? Some community rights activists argue that the practice of carding should be limited to public safety investigations. They advocate for laws that would require police officers to articulate how the contact information they collect through street checks serves a public safety purpose and to advise individuals of their right to refuse to cooperate. Law r forms such as this could prevent discrimination by requiring the police to provide training and track compliance. This perspective is not shared by those who work in law enforcement. Their views are diametrically opposed to the views of the community. What community members, lawyers, academics, journalists, judges, and others see as harassment, intimidation and racial profiling, the police see as essential to their exercise of arbitrary power over racialized and colonized communities. By LAMA MUG ABO Coordinator,
Carnegie African Descent Group
I
CARNEGIECOMMUNITY ACTIONPROJECT
TOWN
HALL: 58 DAYS OF RAGE TO TAKE BACK 58
Two years ago, we won 100% welfare- and pension-rate housing at 58 West Hastings. City council is trying to take it away from us. Together, we have the power to stop them. This Town Hall will announce the Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition's 58 Days of Rage to Take Back 58 campaign. What: Town Hall When: July 20, 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm Where: Carnegie Community Centre Theatre, 401 Main Street. Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territory Beginning on August 23, the Coalition will wage an insurgent 58 day campaign leading up to the October 20 municipal election to demand Vancouver City Council keeps its promise to deliver 100% welfare- and pensionrate housing at 58 West Hastings. We invite all those in solidarity with the poor and working people of the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown to join us in planning our strategy and actions. Food and drinks will be provided. The event venue is wheelchair accessible. Gender neutral washrooms available. If you have any questions or needs regarding accessibility, please email the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) at info@carnegieaction.org Town Hall: 58 Days of Rage to Take Back 58 is organized by the Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition. The Coalition recognizes that this event takes place on the stolen territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. The Our Homes Can't Wait campaign and the community vision for 58 W Hastings has so been endorsed by Carnegie Community Action Project. Carnegie Community Centre Association, The Drug Users Resource Centre, Gallery Gachet. Alliance Against Displacement. Carnegie African Descent Group, Vancouver IWW, COSCO Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations of B.C., Union Gospel Mission, Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, WAHRS - Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, First United - Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Pivot Legal Society, Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House, Chinatown Concern Group ~Aili~BJEI.. Chinatown Action Group ~~1j~/J\~E1.. Aboriginal Front Door, and Downtown Eastside SRO Collaborative Facebook: www.facebook.com/58WHastings/ Website: www.carnegieaction.org/ourhomescantwait/ Sign our petition at: you.leadnow.ca/p/58WHastings
REGENT HOTEL EVICTION A LOSS FOR LOW-INCOME DTES RESIDENTS AND A GAIN FOR SERIAL GENTRIFIER STEVEN LlPPMAN Jack Gates. long time resident of the Regent. outside the government news conference about the closure of the Regent Hotel. June 20. 2018.
BY LENEE SON Originally pUblished in The Volcano (thevolcano.org)
A YEAR AFTER THE BALMORAL HOTEL WAS SHUT DOWN.
the City of Vancouver has declared that its sister building. the Regent Hotel - just across the street from the Balmoral and owned by the same slumlord - is in unsafe condition for residents. The City issued a notice to vacate the building within 8 days. by Friday June 28. 2018. With this eviction. the City is closing 150 more units of low-income housing. after closing 188 in the Balmoral. which remain empty still. The City has dodged an election-year shaming by arranging the re-housing of tenants into existing rooms in other buildings. But fastracking Regent tenants into the Jubilee Rooms offloads the pain of losing a mass of low-income housing units onto the thousands of homeless people who. bumped down BC Housing wait lists. languish on the streets of the Downtown Eastside. outside and under the awning of these two hulking. empty. condemned buildings.
The ones who benefit from the City's condemning and eviction of the Balmoral and Regent hotels are the slumlord owners, who profited off rents for decades without spending on maintenance, and the predatory real estate investor Steven Lippman, who bought the Jubilee Rooms a year ago and flipped it to the Province for $4.Smillion more than what he paid for it. Landlord and investor profiteers are easy targets for blame, but the responsibility should rest not with these bottomfeeders, who will always exist when given the opportunity, but with the profit-seeking rental system, and the City, Provincial. and Federal governments that administer and feed it.
A BYLAW TO PROTECT TENANTS THAT DOES NOT PROTECT TENANTS As with the evacuation of the Balmoral last year, the City waited until the very last moment - when the building is literally on the verge of collapsing - to issue a notice to vacate the building. The safety hazards and disrepair of the building have been known to the City for years, if not decades. Only in the last few years has the City started paying some attention to the building. In September 2017, the City identified over 426 Standards of Maintenance violations and 67 Fire Bylaw violations for prosecution. Yet despite full knowledge of the unsafe living conditions, the City did not use their existing tool in their Standards of Maintenance by-law to fix dangerous and unlawful building conditions and fine the landlord. And as with the evacuation of the Balmoral Hotel, the City denies responsibility for the deteriorating conditions of the Regent. At a press conference with the Government of British Columbia, City of Vancouver, and RainCity Housing on June 20, Mayor Gregor Robertson blamed the closure on the "many years of deplorable negligence by the owners of the Regent Hotel."
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: NDP AND VISION STRAIN TO SPIN THE REGENT EVICTION Both the Provincial NDP and the Vision Vancouver city government tried to spin the mass eviction of the Regent as evidence of their aggressive and progressive action in defence of tenants. 'Today's announcement is good news for people who are moving from extremely unsafe conditions at the Regent." said Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. "The closure of the Regent follows years of health and safety violations that were not acted upon by the owners." Vision Vancouver's Mayor Gregor Robertson announced that he has directed staff to buy both Sahota-owned hotels, the Regent and Balmoral. and will expropriate if the Sahotas refuse to sell. But as Robinson and Robertson spoke, residents from the Regent who were barred from entering the press conference, stood outside shouting in anger. Despite Minister Robinson's claims, the closure of the Regent is not good news for the people moving out. Residentsare upset that the government refuses to take responsibility for the role they have played in allowing the Regent as well as other single room occupancy (SRO) buildings in the DTES to deteriorate. After years of fighting for safer and better housing, residents feel the government is acting far too late.
SAHOTAS AND THE CITY OF VANCOUVER: PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP OF TENANT ABUSE AND EVICTION "This has been going on with the Sahotas for years:' says Regent resident, Jack Gates. "The City knew all about it and did nothing to change or force the Sahotas to maintain the building. There have been so many options for the city to help tenants in the Regent and in other SRO buildings."
Marcella Jacob and Tia Maria, DTES residents and members outside the Jubilee Rooms, Wednesday, June 20th.
Gates says that SRO residents in the DTES and supporter have been calling on the city to enforce the city's standards of maintenance By-law section 23.8 for several years. Section 23.8 states that when a building does not comply with standards, City Council can order the landlord to remedy concerns, and if the landlord fails to do so within 60 days of the order, the City will carry out the work at the owner's expense. "If the city enforced section 23.8 along time ago, they could have fixed the SROs and billed the Sahotas," said Gates. "People would still have their homes: While activism, advocacy, and media coverage has forced the Province to promise all tenants
of Power of Women stand
of the Regent will be housed, the loss of the Regent impacts many others who are still waiting for housing. "My children are sleeping outside on the streets: says Marcella Jacob, a DTES community member. "Atira told us that everything has been frozen until people at the Regent are housed. Every Monday and Friday [my children and I] go to BC Housing and Atira to look for housing but we get turned down." The Atira-organized displacement of Regent tenants is happening within a common BC Housing technique of leaving social housing and residential hotel rooms empty for months in order to cut off public relations disasters like the Regent eviction.
Regent tenants are in the process of being moved to various SRO hotels and supportive housing buildings. Police told a CBC reporter that "the city has outreach workers inside who are working hard to convince those who don't want to go to leave: Many will be housed in the Jubilee Rooms, a 78-unit SRO hotel recently purchased by the Province through its Supportive Housing Fund. A title search shows that the Province bought the Jubilee Rooms for $12.5 million on May 31 st for close to twice its assessed value. The beneficiary of this windfall was 235 and 237 Main Street Holdings, a company owned by serial SRO hotel gentrifiers Steven Lippman and Danny Wong. According to mortgage assignment papers, Lippman and Wong bought Jubilee Rooms for $8 million in September 2017 from the long-term non-profit owner, Community Builders Benevolent Association. In May 2017, Community Builders evicted 26 tenants out of the Jubilee Rooms for renovations and by the fall, 235 and 237 Main Street Holdings had emptied the rest of the 52 rooms in the building. This means that the City and Province didn't move people into an empty building; they moved people into a building that had been cleared 9 months ago. In other words, tenants of the Jubilee Rooms were illegally renovicted to facilitate the sale of the building to the Province, which needed a place to shuffle Regent residents into. Steven Lippman is an investor who has a trackrecord of gentrifying SRO hotels. After selling off nearly th entire 100 block of West Hastings for massive profits with the opening of the Woodward's project in 2010, Lippman invested his returns in buying such hotels as the Golden Crown, the Lotus, the York Rooms, and the American, evicting the low-income residents, and rebranding the buildings as "micro-lofts" in order to rent them for 2-3 times the rents that low-income people can afford. Rather than adjusting rent controls so that landlords cannot raise rents between tenancies, the Province's purchase of the Jubilee Rooms has paidoff a predatory investor, padding Lippman's investment portfolio with an additional $4.5
million in capital. British Columbia's Residential Tenancy system works for landlords and investors while the poor are evicted to the streets.
INSTITUTIONAL HOUSING OR THE STREET: THE FUTURE OF LOWINCOME COMMUNITY EXISTENCE IN THE DTES Under the Province's ownership, the Jubilee Rooms will be managed by RainCity, with staff onsite 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tenants and activists have criticized the supportive housing model as the legal redefinition of housing that strips tenants of their rights and introduces surveillance into the homes of the poor, wrapping them in 24 hour staffing outside of any legal framework of accountability or rights. If the City makes good on its threat of expropriating the Regent and Balmoral. we can expect to see the same prison-like supportive housing that has become the default mode of controlling and monitoring poor people. Since Vision Vantouver was elected in 2008 on the promise to end homelessness, the city's homeless population has increased from 1,600 to over 2,200. In 2017 alone, 500 SRO units affordable to low-income people were lost in the DTES,with 168 lost at the Balmoral. Once the Regent shuts down, another 1SO rooms will be lost. Anyone with a basic knowledge of arithmetic can see through the Province's sickening declaration of "good news". The reality is that homelessness is growing without an end in sight. The rampant gentrification of low-income neighborhoods continues to displace poor, working class, and Indigenous people, and the government only offers false solutions: inclusionary zoning, racist foreign buyers taxes, partnerships with non-profit and for-profit corporations, and supportive housing complexes. These measures function to obscure the root causes of the housing crisis, justify the stigmatization and criminalization of the poor, and insist that desperate people accept their own death and marginalization as inevitable.
CARNEGIE COMMUNITY
ACTION PROJECT 111:15AM EVERY FRIDAY
The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is a project of the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works mostly on housing. income. and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver so that the area can remain a low income friendly community. CCAP works with english speaking and Chinese speaking DTES residents in speaking out on their own behalf for the changes they would like to see in their neighbourhood. Join us on Fridays 11:15 am for our weekly volunteer meetings' Downtown Eastside residents who want to work on getting better housing and incomes and stop gentrification are welcome to attend. Lunch is provided!
CARNEGIE AFRICAN
DESCENT GROUP
The Carnegie African Descent Group (CADG) has the same mandate as CCAP. but with particular focus on issues that Black and African Descent community members experience. For more information. contact: Imugab075@gmail.com
~A1ijrn~):±jgI CHINATOWN
CONCERN GROUP
-*5;I)(*mAjiH!¥f£JiS~ -:JJOIm¥t±~t:p/l,\t~~~TBiJtt:p-m -ft1r~~~U~±$mtE~1tjl:HR ~±$~*MFf1~~±$ , jffitE~±$Bi~Atl~~~f$:~~~1t pITN~1r~~m~-~ ' ~@~~ ' ~1~ffii;&1T!JJ*15Fo~mAili -ft~~~~±$~**~ •• tt;&~~ ~5;1~t&AFn~;&N~~tEmAili ffl~;:U§~§~~fffi~~~~/J\~.E!~*~1~ffii~1r~~Ijfj:E3 ' ~±$;~,1~tfD~rrft1r~lm±~$1tj:Bi~;fff ~1r~iXillllHM~· ~~~;:U.E!~A±*-~~~~~/J\~'§~ ~~'~~~&~~~ft1r~ /J\~'§~~~ffl~*~i5gHT ' ~Bif119<~ffl'il1f~gi5liirJ 0
0
0
0
~~
0
chinatownconcerngroup@gmail.com 401 ~iili lJ'~iili~~t§.!l
:JJO.ft¥t±~t:p/l,\ -
0
I chinatownconcerngroup.wordpress.com =11 ')1ffi.-m~
,~gif~'
V6A 2T7
:JJO~*
CONTACT US: Office: 2nd floor of the Carnegie. 401 Main Street. Vancouver Email: info@carnegieaction.org Website: www.carnegieaction.org
Vancity
Thank you to Vancity for supporting CCAP's work. Support for this project does not necessarily imply that funders endorse the findings or contents of this report.
THÂŁSANDYCAMERONMKMORlALWRflITN6CONTEST ENJTR)( FORM Please print as neatly as you are able to. Name of author
Today's date
Contact Info: Phone
_
_
Prizes will be awarded for each category. 1st, 2nd & 3rd will be $100, $75 & $50. Additional
prizes for entries deserving recognition.
Guidelines for Writing Contest 1. Writing must be the original work of the person submitting the contest entry & not fiction. If plagiarism is recognised the work will be returned. 2. Entry forms, for contact information, are available both at the Community Centre's front desk (Main floor) and from the Newsletter office (2nd floor). Contact information for the writer must be provided with each contest entry. 3. Essays: This means writing in sentences, with grammar and structure attempted. Poetry: All forms accepted. Must use the same typeface throughout. 4. Subject matter is open to the individual author. It can be about most anything relevant to readers. In the words of Sam Roddan: [It] must have a bite. It must create some kind of disturbance, a turmoil in the heart, a turbulence of memory and feeling. 5. The length of the essay can be 250-700 words, basically what can be printed on 1 page in the Newsletter. Poetry of whatever length, but no more than can be printed on 1 page. 6. Deadline for submissions is 12:00 noon on September 15,2018. Results will be announced at a special event during the Heart of the City Festival (late October or early November). 7. Each writer way submit only one essay entry and/or one poetry entry. Additional entries will be returned without being judged. 8. Do not include any photographs or illustrations with your entry.
fLj~ •.:.•.:.•~'0I •.:.•.:.• Carnegie Theatre Workshop ....Summertime ...
'Tweet, tweet, tweet" "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Birds on Parade /" Create an outdoor theatre troupe for one perform ance!
3 Saturday rehearsals July 28, Aug 11,18 1:30pm-4pm in the Carnegie Theatre N
1 Monday performance 2pm August 20 "Birds on Parade"
N
Coal Harbour No experience necessary Free, everyone welcome! For more info: call Teresa 604-255-9401 thirteenofhea rts@hotmail.com
from 'the Library It's summer. The fish are jumping on Hastings street. Pies are cooling on windowsills in the newly renovated kitchen. The days are laaaaaaaazy. So lazy I almost forgot to write this column and had to grab a bunch of books off the new books shelf at the last minute. Check these out! Undesirables: White Canada & the Komagata Maru by Ali Kazimi is a really interesting illustrated history of one of the most notorious incidents in the history of racism and immigration in Canada. Kazimi really did an amazing job digging up archival images, and also provides a really thorough social history of Sikh communities in Canada and the overt racism they faced. A sobering read, given the current climate for migrants around the world. Who doesn't love a good mystery? Philip Kerr, who passed away earlier this year, was best known for his 'Berlin-Noir' novels, featuring PI Bernie Guenther and set mostly just before and during the Second World War. Greeks Bearing Gifts is a sort of cod a to the series - set in Greece in 1957. The Europe Book, by Lonely Planet is a lavishly illustrated journey through every country on the cbntinent. Perfect for a little armchair travelling. Artists, aspiring or otherwise, might want to check out Thomas Thorspecken's Urban Sketching. Give it a quick read and then hit the streets with some paper and a couple pencils! We've got a couple summer events coming up as well. On July 25th, at 2:00, we'll be showing Alanis Obom-sawin's documentary Our People Will Be Healed, about an innovative schooling program in the Cree community of Norway House in northern Manitoba. On August 9, 16, and 23, we'll be offering a series of Mobile Device Essentials programs for Android phone users. If you'd like to know more about how to use your Android device, pop into the library to register. Happy Reading, Randy
DECA
Downtown Easfside Centre for the Arts www.dtescentreforthearts.com 1East Hastings St. Vancouver BC
V6A 1M9
The Downtown
Eastside Centre for the Arts is making plans for the 2018
IN VISIBLE COLOURS: WOMEN'S ART FESTIVAL We would like to invite female members of the community to attend a meeting to share our plans and receive feedback from the community IN VISIBLE COLOURS PLANNING MEETING JULY 25,20187:00
P.M. CARNEGIE HALL
â&#x20AC;¢
CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE
42ndAnnual Powell Street Festival BC Day Long weekend August 4+5, 2018 11:30am to 7:00pm Oppenheimer Park on the traditional unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations
Horns at the Atrium spacious sounds spanning several centuries selected for a sweet social space PERFORMERS Bill Runge, Saul Berson, Ben Henriques, Daniel Miles Kane - saxophones Vince Mai, John Korsrud - trumpets Ellen Marple, Andrew Broughton - trombones Jillian lebeck, Victor Noriega - keyboards
Sunday, July 22, 2018 The Atrium (lll West Hastings at Abbott) 5:00 - 6:00 pm - Performance 2:00 - 4:00 pm - Open Rehearsal
* FREE
*
The Hard Rubber New Music Society presents Horns at the Atrium, a free concert featuring music selected and commissioned for the reverberant interior courtyard at Woodward's (Hastings and Abbott) on Sunday, July 22,2018. This program features a veritable powerhouse collection of Vancouver's finest musicians. This program will feature recent music by John Korsrud and Bill Runge as well as Renaissance music arranged for horns. The Atrium, one of the most important indoor public spaces created in the city in the last decade, will reverberate with sounds performed by top Vancouver musicians and improvisers, including members of the amazing Hard Rubber Orchestra. Audience members will be uniquely immersed in vibrant music, sounds only possible in such a cavernous space. An open rehearsal (2-4pm) will be held before the performance (Spm) for those interested in seeing how the music is prepared and rehearsed within a large public space and within a short time frame.
Media contact: Diane Kadota Arts Management 604.683.8240 I mark@dkam.ca I www.hardrubber.com The Hard Rubber New Music Society gratejully City oj Vancouver
through
acknowledges
the support
aj the BC Arts Council, the Canada Council jar the Arts, the
Cultural Services and the Province aj British Columbia
through
Community
Gaming
Grants.
We acknowledge that Carnegie Community Centre, and this News/etter, are occurring on Coast Salish Territory . .:01 MaIn Street vercocver
ce-ece
\1'6A. 2T7 (004) 665-2269
THIS NEWSLETTER IS A PUBLICATION OF THE CARNEGIE COMMUNITY CENTRE ASSOCIATION Articles represent the views of individual contributors and not of the Association.
LSLAP (Law Students Legal Advice Program) DROP-IN
WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter -Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry. -Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6 'Y.')wide x 15cm(6')high. -Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered. -Black & White printing only. -Size restrictions apply (i.e. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit). -All artists will receive credit for their work. -Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication. -Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor. The editor can edit for clarity, format & brevity, but not at the expense of the writer's message.
Call 604-665-2220 for time
Next issue: SUBMISSION
FRIDAY, JULY 27 WEAPONS
401 Main Street, Vancouver V6A 2T7 604-665-2289 Website carnegienewsletter.org carnnews@vcn.bc.ca
DEADLINE
Catalogue
•
AIDS
•
POVERTY
•
HOMELESSNESS
•
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
•
ABORIGINAL GENOCIDE
•
TOTALITARIAN CAPITALISM IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR
*
OF MASS DESTRUCTION
carnnews@shaw.ca
DONATIONS 2018 In memory of Bud Osborn -$75 Kelly F. For Bob Sarti, pJayright for the DTES community, & all those whose lives have been hit by racism & prejudice -$1 OO(Jay) Craig H.-$500 Winnie T.-$200-Barbara M.-$1 00 Robert -$40 Elsie McG-$50 Robert McG.-$145 Laurie R.-$175 Michael C.-$100 Michele C.-$100 Vancouver Moving Theatre -$200 Christopher R.-$180 Laila B.-$100 Rose B.-$20 Elaine V.-$100 Anonymous -$165
"\'~
<. I <,
.~-
::,1"
~
,"'--V\ /"1 .;»:
Vancouver's non-commercial, listener-su pported community
station.
C~UNCH
N'
d:tes
Do
You
RAR.£ puR£ DRY
RARE PuR/FIE/) DAY
S£~VE
WAr! R E~rR.AcTs H5RE?
1'LEAS&
WArr
,0 .a£ [AT W),N
-----=
DCX::>1'sopen at TOO p.m.
Saturday, J~!y>.Z~~~018
-"-------
~.:@~.tt~... ,~.~'!ffl
".'C
~~
.... $I.!Iff!!.,.,.oo ..)~~·
.. ,··+ftff'j(!;S;¥+hi<;lM~1i:\~~:,::~~'; .«-_
Qil« ~
;mit$:
ACARsNE6IE NE S
~~.lETT£R
1-
"OnThe Side Of Souial Justiue" Concert· and Silent Auction concert starts at 7:30 p.m. inside Parish Hall at st. James' Anglican Church (Gore & East Cordova) . Admission is by donation -suggested $20 -- but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Cash (or cheque) only!
t
Concert featuring Dalannah Gail Bowen, Earle Peach, City Vancouver opera, and more! Join us.