October 15, 1995, carnegie newsletter by Carnegie Newsletter

NEWSLETTER 401 Main Street, Vancouver. V6A 217 (604) 665-2289

OCTOBER 15,1995

"Those who don 't remember the past are condemned to repeat it. "

to make work the better economic choice for people, where it is best to be part of the active workforce to recognize that some people are unable to become part of the workforce and their needs must be met that a growing percentage of income recipients are children and their relief from poverty and access to opportunities must not be curtailed due to their economic status. Questionslcomments/challenges Workfare is like slave labour, when people have to work for benefits and the working poor lose their jobs to welfare 'scabs' forced to take the worst jobs? -'What kind of response will the NDP have to calls for workfare in this province?" Proven welfare fraud is under 3%, while at least 25% of people cheat on their income tax. "Why is so much being spent on welfare fraud mvestigations when, on a cost-effective basis, hiring income tax investigators would provide for a much greater return?" Gordon Campbell has promised to "get tough" on

government spending, meaning social programs. "What is the difference between the NDP's recent changes and what is likely under a Gordon CampbellILiberal government'?" Increases in allowance for mentally disabled people is disallowed, while nlillions arc given to Giant Oak Mines after the creation of a provincial park deprived them of the opportunity to exploit mineral resources. "Who are the real welfare weasels, when a pittance is denied and millions are just given away to corporate coffers'?" Parents get a smaller amount of moncy to care for their children than a foster homc gets to provide for the same children. "Why is there a disparity in family support and foster care grants'?" Training often is no more than n job for the trainers, with no jobs for entq level individuals. "Why is training set up as a course in resumewriting'? What is bcing done to create decent jobs?.' Poor-bashing is running rampant in BC. Media and political mileage is made on the backs of poor people, who havc no protection from scapegoating, hatred promoted in the media, and discrimination due to their income status.

~ H # E ; 1 Sunlike , uttlcr- provinces in Canada, mch as Qu&m, Smkaiohewan, Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I., low income people have no protection under tho B.C.H u m a n w t e Aot from discrimlnathn on the basis of "social condition," "mwof lt~comc,"or being "in receipt of public a~dat~ncd';

W ! R t d S :as uf May 1995, a toial of 37S.502 pctople, indudin8 ~aniorsand people with disabilities, needed inwr~r:assistance in D.C.This flgurc ropreaents one in ten ~ritish

Colombians; WERIEAS, l i ~ ofllclal e umrnplaymtnt. rat^ for B.C., aa of September 1995, was 8.8% This f i ~ u r erepresents 153,000 pcople who cannot find paid work;.

WER&44 acco~dirlglo Statistics Canada, only 2%oCCanfldata debt/deficit is due to social program spending. In 1950,50% of dl federal revenues wcrc derived &om corporate income taxes. Over the past decade, tax revenues from profitable corporations, have declined from 25% of all federal revenues to ody 6.7%. In fact., uwllecled tax revcnutrr contniute dramatically to Cmdn's Jcbt, oot soda1 program spending; IHEREFORE I, TNAT I SHAU:

SOLEMNLY PLEDGE

NOrdlscriminate against low income people by stereotyping, patronizing, pityiry~or pro~rroting hatred against tlicl~l;

DEFEND low income people against those who dimwirninale and pron~otchatred (5g~11nst them; Nortry to win vuks in the uycomikrg provincial election by scapcgoating low inuorne people;.

NOTsupport policics or legislation that creates poverty rathe. ilrati de~mr; jobs; in particular, I will nut support workfarc progrmna.

Signed before me this

Witncss' signature

<Illy of

199-

"Will you sign this pledge People do what they can to survive. Social housing is urgently needed. Help in setting up communal land was requested; immediate and radical action was called for on drug dealing, crime related to drug addiction, the attitude and treatment received by recipients in local offices ... Unemployment Insurance eligibility is down to about 50% of those out of work; Income Assistance is being denied to anyone who quits or is fired, Hardship criteria is now much stricter.. what will become of people who have to leave unacceptable employment when they can't get UI, IA or (now) hardship? Ms. MacPhail responded in varying degrees to the queries and comments. She did make a clear distinction between the NDP and Campbell "Gordon Campbell thinks they have not gone far enough in Ontario. He idolises Harris (the new premier) and would do the same pro-big business. slam the poor sleaze as Harris (& Klein) do. There were a few commitments to "meeting with DERA's Board" with herself and staff on more specific items. Individual cases were presented but

MEETING NOTICE

couldn't be dealt with. There were many people who didn't get to speak due to time constraints. DERA will host a second meeting, with End Legislated Poverty and local residents, to both strategise on responses to the changes and to engage in public action that day. The meeting will be on Thursday, October 19th. at 1.00pm in Carnegie's theatre.

The NDP has a lot to answer for in the upcoming election. The bottom line for hundreds of thousands is whether they think it would be better under the NDP if the most recent changes are any indication. or will they just buy into Gordon Campbell's public relations campaign and 'hope for him to "be nice""? It's a matter of surviving or dying for many, with the numbers and moves being used to justi@ the destruction of Canada as we know it.

STRATHCONA COMMUNITY CENTRE 601 KEEFER STREET WEDESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1995 (7:OO-9:00 P.M.)

By PAULR TAYLOR

&! EVERYONE WELCOME ! Lfj g6

I I

ONE LINERS TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home. A flying saucer results when a nudist spills his coffee. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder ...

I can see clearly now, the brain is gone... The beatings will continue until morale improves. I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead.

3 kinds of people: those who can count & those who can't.

Mental Floss prevents Moral Decay Sign on baby's bib: SHlT HAPPENS. Madness takes it toll. Please have exact change. Why is "abbreviation" such a long word? ... Every

morning is the dawn of a new error ...

Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

For people who like peace and quiet: a phoneless cord.

Where is My ProZAC-ZAC-ZAC Work, Live, Die, Race, Win, Enter, Birth, End, Passage, Behind, Ahead, Never, ~ o i n gComing, , Moving, Nothing, Something, Empty, Turning, Straight, Stopping, Water, Air, Earth, Death, Passage, Inside, Young, Old, Passage, Edge, Middle, Line, In, Out, NEVER, Infinity, Start, End, Yellow Lnto Red Roger

There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full I'd explain it to you, but your brain would explode. Ever stop to think and forget to start again? A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking I don't have a solution but I admire the problem. Don't be so open-minded, your brains fall out. If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished! Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie"...till you can find a rock. Diplomacy--the art of letting someone have your way. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too? If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me.

If I want your opinion, I'll ask you to fill out the necessary forms

L' Air du Temps Flew du Present Lonne du Passez Qui droit &re Cassez Roger Due to budget cutbacks, the light at the end o f the tunnel is ternpporarily out o f order

Don't look back, they might be gaining on you. It's not hard to meet expenses, they're everywhere. Help Wanted: Telepath. You know where to apply.

In The Dumpster Greetings fellow binners & binnerettes. I would like to extend a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope you enjoyed it. I was able to pig out at Cafe Le Barn with roast turkey,carrots with garlic sauce and pumpkin pie. Afterwards I was so full I went home and fell asleep, then woke up early and had a peanut butter and salmon sandwich. Go figure. Binning has been crappy with all this rain but some of us are hanging in there. I have a new place to pick up now and would like to thank United We Can and Mary Wood for helping me.

The new depot hours at United We Can are Mon-Thur: 9:30-5:OO Fri: 9:30-6:00 Sat-Sun: 9:30-noon There is a Petition To Save The Bottle-Deposit at many locations in the city. Please sign it!!! As I write this I'm coming from Surrey. I only got approached by pushers but no hookers. One thought crosses my mind - if man had not taken the sponges out of the oceans, would we have bigger oceans? Tom Lewis's funeral was one I will never forget. His son and daughter-in-law were there. Thanks to Barry Morris. Mr. McBinner PS: The Vancouver Writer & Reader Festival is happening Oct.18-22. Call 681-6330 for info.

The Fight For The Carnegie Community Centre

Part 22

felt he could help in the process. (The Vancouver Free

Press, Jan.25-31/80 articles by Norman Nawtock on the Carnegie opening and Jim McDowell)

How to share power would be a major question at the Carnegie Centre for the next eight years. During the festivities of January 20th, Keisuke

"A CIRCLE OF SAFETY" After Libby Davies had spoken at the opening ceremonies of the Camegie Centre on January 20, 1980, Mayor Jack Volrich welcomed the hundreds of citizens who were in the Carnegie theatre. Unfortunately, in his list of thank-you's to the people bebind the Carnegie project, he made no mention of DERA or its president, Bruce Eriksen. Then Harry Rankin, Chair of the City's Community Services Committee, and Doug Purdy, Deputy Director of the Social Planning Department, spoke. After them came Jim McUowell, the new Director of the Caraegie Centre. He said that he thought it was appropriate that Carnegie was opening as a community centre where buman beings could renew the spirit of compassion. "This is an education centre, but education is a political act that can only be effective if it is grounded in compassion," McDowell said. "I say education is a political act because I know it involves people in learning about the relationships between power and powerlessness." He concluded his remarks with the hope that the Centre would eventually be self-governing. "I think this Centre should belong to the people who live and work in this part of the city so they can use it to improve the quality of their lives," he said. "As soon as possible, I think they should control this Centre themselves." Later, McDowell admitted it would be tough for the control of Carnegie to be transferred from City

Mori, the Centre's karate instructor, smashed two cement blocks with a staff. The blocks were sitting on Toshiaki Nomada's stomach. Near the end of the opening ceremonies, Libby Davies, the MC, announced that Oacy Young had won the one hundred dollar prize for his deign of the Carnegie logo. The residents of the Downtown Eastside knew that something of great significance had happened on January 20th 1980. It was not just that they had won a political battle DERA won many political battles in the 1970's it was the feeling that Carnegie would become a living symbol of all that was most positive in the Downtown Eastside, that it would rise above the despair in the streets and say, by its presence at the comer of Hastings and Main:

(to be continued)

(In a time when people are feeling forgotten and unloved, there still are a few "unsung" heroes, - yes, even in the midst of the inner city of Vancouver. Sister Hilda's "shoes" will never be filled but perhaps her faith and her love for people could be passed on to others, who will "make her memory proud!" There is hope in the Elizabeth Wall, Director ofMission Possible, 543 Powell Street inner city!

THE NEW HOPE CENTRE & SISTER HILDA This world is like a stage, and we all play a part. Sister Hilda accepted a role that was as tough and demanding as any play performed on Broadway. Her stage was called the New Hope Centre on Dunlevy. Her audience consisted mainly of bad actors trying to redefine themselves, in the stage play called life. The stage, performer and story are all real because that was Sister Hilda. She was a real person doing real things in the only manner she knew how, and made it her station in life. She talked the talk and walked the walk. She was never seen to waver. She was true to her God and beliefs. Her best quality was her remarkable spirit, with all the credit going to Jesus. Because Jesus Christ came fwst in Sister Hilda's life and she wouldn't have it any other way. The hungry she helped feed. The broken-hearted she helped console. The drug-addicted and the ladies of the street found her doors and heart open to all; the glory went first and foremost to Jesus. ... that was Sister Hilda. I was just one of the bad actors who witnessed her humanitarian ways. May God bless her and keep her.. she truly deserves a standing ovation in heaven.

Amen and Amen.

k r- : My tears drown the terror pain The lips of love never again My mother knows her God again A

Elizabeth Thorpe

..;B- ,

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Kevin McNamee-Amett was a minister with the United Church in Port Alberni. He came from Toronto, where he'd had an urban post and had worked extensively with inner-city poor people. This background helped when he began in Port Alberni, and chose to work with that community's poor aboriginal people. An anti-poverty group, called Low Income Folks Together (LIFT) was enthusiastic about Kevin's red commitment and the hard work he was doing to get basic rights and decent treatment for the growing numbers of poverty-stricken people. In a town of 20,000, there are almost 7,000 on social assistance. Jobs, even employment opportunities, are mostly tied to forestry and some fishing.. .and a quote in another article has a Native person saying "I never saw a native working in any store in town 20 years ago and I still don't see any natives working in town today. That part of life here is pretty constant." McNamee-Amett worked to get landlords to do basic maintenance on rundown housing, taking legal action where possible, got a food bank going at the United Church, and encouraged people (native) to come to the church he worked out of. Some did come, but then the shit started to hit tbe fan. Seems that native people were not only not welcome by other (white) churchgoers, but a few were rabid in saying so to both McNamee-Amett (Either they go or we go!) and to the native people themselves ("We don't want you here. Get out!"). Kevin was fired. The Chwch admitted it was not because of anythmg he had done wrong, but was that they didn't like/supportlagree with the direction of his work ... his work with the poor, the Native people. A small clique of people pressured the church to dismiss him, threatening to withdraw their financial and social support if he wasn't

canned. Shortly after this, the food bank was shut down. The story didn't end here. As a minister, you have to be "released" by one church before you can go to work for another part of the same church (The United Church of Canada). The Port Alberni church refused to "release" Kevin after firing him. His non-acceptance of the ultimatums put to him to chase the Natives out of the congregation had righteously pissed off this small clique of people. Whether these people were the hiringfiring body or were just able to pressure others to do their dirty work for them is not known. HopefuUy it is the latter, but Kevin hasn't been able to work as a minister for the United Church for months. ('Kick him out, starve him out...') Maybe this part is off-the-wall but ... a native woman died in a hotel fire in the first week of September. The building was a rundown cockroach hotel in downtown Port Alberni. It had been visited many times by McNamee-Amett and the owner was well-known for the way he ran from doing proper maintenance. "It was atrocious what he was charging for what was there." Anyway the woman died because there was no handle on the door and she couldn't get out. Her son was there, unable to wrench the door open, and said she was finally carried out still screaming ...local authorities - fire chief: building inspector, police, all deny anything wrong. This is not just ranting and finding some tragedy to blame on the vested interests who got McNamee-Amett fired. Elizabeth Aird is doing a series of articles, other journalists have written on the gross injustice of the firing, and the racism in Port Alberni is ugly. Seems that the United Church there had better clean its house of this mall clique of rabid racists

By PAULR TAYLOR

TUA,

BETTER

IN THE

BAHAMAS

Can 750 hotel residents and 4,000 condominium owners co-exist in 8 city blocks? City planners think so. We're not sure. The planners are asking for community support for a "concept plan" for the "Victory Square" area. Victory Square is an area defmed by the planners, between C m d and Richards Streets on the east and west, and between Cordova and Pender on the north and south. What happens in "Victory Square" is important to everyone in the Downtown Eastside. If City Council approves the plan for Victory Square in January, the planners want to write similar plans for other parts of the Downtown Eastside. The planners want to: protect 750 residential hotel roams from demolition or condo conversion preserve the area's heritage buildings r bcrevitalize"the area with up to 4,000 new condominiums Planners have been asking for support from the community when the plan goes to City Council. They won't say so, but we think they're afiaid council will say "no" to protecting the area's hotel rooms.

that the City should "consider" these strong 11 measures. The NPA lint-heads on City Council (they're so deep in the developers' pockets, they've got lint in their hair!) will vote to "consider " them, then promptly forget all about it. The planners hands are tied by their political masters, and they h o w it. Their plan doesn't promise to protect hotel rooms, only to "discourage" demolition and conversion. The plan will try to prevent hotd owners from st"

Half-measures to protect hotel rooms It would be easy to stop demolitions of residential hotels, if the City wants to. We could: require one-for-one replacement of hotel rooms lost through demolition or condo conversion charge very high fees for demolition of hotel rooms, like $10,000 or $20,000 per room. Either one of these would be very effective. But landowners and speculators will fight tooth and nail against real protection for residential hotels. That's why the Victory Square plan only says

use. Under the d m , owners would have to e~nh~ualrc-~robf the building and provide parking before converting to tourist use. The planners also want to use "downzoning" to try to save both hotel rooms and heritage buildings. This means an owner who demolishes and wants to re-build will only be allowed to build 60% as much floor space in the new building as they could before. They can get back the other 40% if tbey build social housing units,or replace the hotel rooms with new r o w at the same rents. (This is called a "density bonus" in plan-speak.) The problem is, there's nothing to stop an owner from tearing down a hotel and rebuilding, if he can still make a profit at 60% of the old density. Why not downzone even more, to make sure no one tears down a residential hotel aud replaces it with condos? The planners won't say.

SlRO Hotels & Roomtng Houses

The future: community or homelessn&s? Even if residential hotel rooms are protected, the planners want ~ i c b r Square y to hold several thousand new residents living in condominiums. Low-rent units will only be built in the neighbourhood if the provincial government pays for them. The quick-profit approach will not help the community.If this is the best we can do, we'll end up with building after building patterned on Fama Holdings' plan for Woodward's: all condos, nothing for the neighbourhood. Why should new developments be allowed to cater only to condo buyers? We think it's time the City required developers to build a percentage of rentals, or family housing, or low-rent apartments.

This would bring a broad mix of new residents to the neighbourhood. New businesses would spring up to cater to a range of incomes, not just Gastown yuppies. If the developers get their way, the current residents of the area will become an underclass in a trendy, high-income enclave if they can keep their place at all! In many large American cities, demolition of residential hotels and construction of new housing only for the wealthy is a major cause of homelessness. City Council and City planners can do better for Vancouver.

By MIKE WALKER

ADDRESS MADE TO THE CITY PLANNERS OF VICTORY SQUARE (At Carnegie Community Centre, 9 October 1995) the victory square concept plan while expressing noble intentions regarding "protection of the existing low-income populationm amounts to just one more declaration of economic war upon the poorest and most afflicted urban community in canada I do not believe you are mean-spirited I believe you are well-intentioned and concerned and yet I also believe you know exactly what all this is really about if this plan declared 2500 new units of low-income housing with a faint hope to retain existing upscale accommodations it would be worth considering but a real community is involved here and this cormnunity is located in a specific geographical area community by the way means 'in common' and what is most in common down here is shared poverty shared poverty which is a hell of a lot better than poverty lived in isolation amidst demoralizing wealth the downtown eastside community is primarily about mutual aid that is how we survive down here by helping each other and when we die here we attend memorials for each other and here we also share critical information by word-of-mouth which enables us to live in poverty down here we know each other we care for each other and the social services and religious organizations are completely committed to tasks of daily preservation of our lives in this community where there is also tremendous and unique creativity but this is a community in crisis in extremis and I believe you know this so I suggest to you a new general principle to guide your findings and deliberations strengthening this community first and most of all by responding to its needs by making a new general principle a demand for an increase in low-income housing

and social services in the victory square and downtown eastside area as city planners please help this city respond to the call of the city's own health department for a dramatic increase in this kind of housing and these services you are city planners defend this community you know what is at stake the demolition of another skid row area? no this is a real live community a community already developed towards low-income housing and social services a commitment has already been made by the city by virtue of the existing low-income housing and sc so follow this development up don't destroy it honour this commitment before you plan for upscale invasions Iive up to what has already been started here strengthen this area for the existing population be visionary city planners help us plan a community primarily but not exclusi~ for the poor and disabled and afflicted there are after all increasing numbers of marginalized human beings not fewer with no end to this ghastly production in sight and there is nowhere else in vancouver clamouring for group homes detox centres treatment centres recreational and educational facilities for the poorest and most troubled of our citizens but here here is their here is our community design a plan that sees ahead to the displacement the suffering the grief the that plans like this if implemented will unleash down here substitute another kind of vision plan for this community plan for these lives don't make plans against us making a civic colnmitment like I am talking about would distinguish you as city planners and vancouver as a city from virtually every other city in north arnerica in its response to this sane kind of situation I am pleading with you

I am crying out to you do not simply purvey best wishes fsr's densities and revitalization schemes the downtown eastside doesn't need revitalization it is a live and vital community but it is under siege and it does need help so-called revitalization means a serious spiritual devitalization for this city it means hurt hopelessness and dislocation don't do it don't make the mistakes other cities have made be city planners of hope and compassion and vision plan these qualities into your plan plan wisdom in you we all of us as acity need this area of the poor strengthened recently the financial post magazine announced that the downtown eastside has "15,000 people with no place else to go" 15,000 hoping dreaming breathing suffering living 1 but if you do not abandon your perspective the victory square concept plan will become a monument to defeat defeat of what it means to all of us to be a human being defeat of hope defeat of community defeat of possibility defeat of courage in our public life and capitulating to the market and money and powa that is wreaking havoc and hell in millions of lives throughout north america let us stop this disgraceful process here let another word be spoken respond emphatically compassionately to this c q ~ this plea this call or your victory square concept plan will become a monument of shame for this city make a really new plan your plan declares "the woodward's site...would once again play a key in the life of the area... it would be... the centre of activity, would define its role and image" your words are true only if woodward's is developed essentially

for the needs of the poor down here -if woodward's goes the way of upscale development it would be a death-blow for this community and you are here today -but not delivering a plan for the improvement of a city destruction of a community

I cannot emphasize enough that this is what is at stake so don't do it -Ithataskbefore you submit your plan -you you will search your hearts will look into your very souls and declare a commitment strengthen this community of the poor -toabove all else

The Neighbourhood Safety Office

Vickie of the Woods

It's on the first floor, next to TeUier Tower, at 12 Leopold Pocklin visited Vickie Silva quite often. E.Hastings. Deb Mearns is the coordinator and has He thought her a great sounding board. "I had this friend, Latimer," Leopold began, "and been doing multi things to make this project shine. "Neighbourhood safety" is a crazy name when a few weeks ago I decided not to be his friend you're in the Downtown Eastside, so Deb has anymore. What a liberating resolution!" "Every time he was losing an argument he'd done the thing that most people say is obviously make a personal attack; if that didn't work, he'd right only when they look over their shoulder. She has a 'steering committee' with local people from $ raise his voice and if that didn't work he'd start swinging," said Leopold. DERA, DEYAS, Ray-Cam, Carnegie, Native Health and others meeting to look at both subtle "Sometimes insidious creeps will try to impose and gross examples of danger or threat to residents some persona onto you that has nothing at all to do with who you are but turns out to be a One of the prime concerns is people buying kids for sex. Another is dealing. Another is asssault and projection of their fkk-ups. I I "Latimer lived through an early life where he lost murder of working women. II one of his parents at a young age, but then you can Dave Dickson, a well-known and respected constable, is now working out of the projat's only milk something like that for so long. More office and will be part of the steering committee as noncommittal testosterone stuff." !" ? For a few moments, Vickie looked away and said well. Deb is always on the lookout for volunteers, nothing. She folded her hands, seeming to weigh all that had been spoken. anyone interested in learning and helping can call Then she said, "It's a long walk back to Eden, so her at 687-1772 or drop in during the day from don't sweat the small stuff." Monday to Friday. PRT By DEAN KO

Messy Epiphany Past Midnight

Forest Action Network

Sitting here mindlessly chewing extra-crunchy peanut butter sandwich

There will be a rally at Smithe and Homby Streets, October 16th at noon in support of the Nuxalk Nation, the hereditary chiefs and their supporters who will be appearing in court to face contempt of court charges for defending unceded Nuxalk land from destruction by International Forest Products (INTERFOR). Twenty-one people were arrested September 26 at Ista (Fogg Creek) on King bland, approximately 50 km west of Bella Coola. The chiefs and an Ojibway supporter rehsed to sign terms af release which did not recognize the Nuxalk sovereignty over their unceded lands and have been in jail since September 27, 1995. For more information call F.A.N. at 251-2477

sudden realization that god (shehelit) is nuts ja douglas

Positively Refreshing A coward, they say, dies 1,000 times.

A hero, they say, dies but once. But a poet, one who is neither coward nor hero transcends duality transcends the black and white and is reborn 1,000 times once for each new poem.

'. edge of Vancouver? It has happened in India. The

ja douglas

Ms Hanoi She doesn't attend trendy musi doesn't watch television doesn't listen to radio. Instead writes poetry makes friends takes walks feeds stray birds reflects a lot and smiles like a sunbeam on a gentle lake ja douglas

When the condominium owners insist that the poor be kept out of sight, will City Hall ask the Sally Ann and other churches that serve meals to the poor to move away too? It seems possible - the way things are going, that trucks will begin to appear in the poor areas and the ragged and homeless will be forced into them. Who knows what the condo owners will do with the drug dealers or prostitutes though. Maybe, since they have money, the condo owners might allow them to stay, and be of some use (to them).

(In 1 MY86 I was still playing music for a living. I had played most of the bars in the area - Brandiz, Balmoral, etc. Thefollowing was from musings jotted down while playing a d o at the Columbia Hotel inn '86,where I appeared replarlyjor a few months.)

"I peer out on the crowd as it sort of gazes at me. I don't think anybody really sees very much. Most are trying to find someone who owes them money or someone willing to lend them money. Even the very poorest seem to have some supply of cash even as long as three weeks after welfare Wednesday. I get everythrng set up, tune my guitar, check the P.A., say hello to the ones who recognize me, go get a beer.. .a common ritual that puts you in touch with the bar staff that's vital for a reasonable, hassle-free gig. It seems that most people in the crowd are scarred on the face and new scars show up regularly. Some are fiom accidents but most, I think, are fiom fighting and violence. Lots of times an innocent victim gets the worst of it; flying glass, falling bodies & thrown beer are often leading to more unanticipated aggression. The hardest part for me is that most of the inhabitants are heartfelt people and for one reason or another have let alcohol or drugs (or both) bring them to the point of total uncaring.. especially for themselves. For the most part they are fiercely loyal, but that loyalty shifts like the four winds. It's true they are protective of the weaker lights, but unfortunately

don't recognize themselves as needing help. As an entertainer it's hard to be passive about the damage being done right in front of you eyes, and my wish each night is that more kindness be shown, one to another. But, after seeing the goings on night and day, it seems obvious that the only thing that will change is the weather.. faces don't go away but just get replaced by other faces from other places.. the action never changes. As the last night of a long week draws to a sad close, half the crowd is passed out and the other half is ready to party or fight, which is sometimes the same thing. I wonder at the value of the job, other than the not over-abundant amount of pay. Were it not for welfare these people for the most part would not be able to drink like they do which may be fine but the hotels & bars would all go belly up. The system has deemed that each month the assistance cheques of the patrons not only go into the booze coffers of the bars but most

incomes. In effect the welfare system supports these hotels and they never have to put anytlung back other than minimal maintenance. Each month a huge amount of cash goes into the accounts of the landlords they also supply the booze and things like food are usually last on any list of priorities that the poor 'consumer' has."

..... appears not much has changed since then. By JOHN FERGUSON

The Slave Ship In 1840, a famous English painter by the name of William Turner painted a large picture called "The Slave Ship" which now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It is a picture of a ship in a terrible storm, and the ship is in danger of sinking. To save themselves, the masters of the ship are throwing the cargo overboard. The cargo in this case happens to be human beings black people brought fiom Africa to work as slaves in America. You can see them bobbing around in the sea, abandoned to &om. Turner got the idea for his painting from a true story about a slave ship ravaged by plague. The captain ordered the sick and dying Afkicans to be thrown into the sea because he could claim insurance for them if they were lost at sea, but not if they died on his ship. When he painted this picture, Turner was not only making a statement about slavery. He was also commenting on the relationship between the rich and poor of England in the nineteenth century. "The Slave Ship" was a powerfbl political, as well as artistic, creation. Turner's statement is as true today as it was in 1840. In these stormy "Scrooge-had-it-right" times of corporate mastery, governments and corporations are throwing human beings into the sea of unemployment, poverty, and homelessness so that those who have much can have even more.

By SANDY CAMERON

One Lost Soul I was lost, nowhere to go I found a light in the dark This must be the way So I wonder, on and on Soon I became happy All the pain left behind Now I see blue skies again It's life once more

.. !I*

>,\ .A-

I was a lost and lonely soul But I found my way home With hearts that were there k, , for me. I Love blooms, like a bird spreading its wings Feeling happy now All the pain is gone...

/.._

.I-;

.. ,-

Marie Lands

Grandma,

I m i s s you..-

Since I was young You've taught me right fiom wrong, Learning what life is about taught me how to love and be kind to every living kind... Look at me now, with the loss of you. I hurt everyone who reached out for me The pain and fear I live with, Losing everything I cherish... How can I be so foolish? Now I cany shame and want to end it all. Please Grandma, bring me home once again. Marie Lands

The Incarcerations of Poverty

It's been two weeks since I moved out of the Ford building and into the Dera Co-op. It's like night and day. There is a heavy atmosphere of suspicion around the Ford. Two years ago people told me who to watch out for in the building and on the streets. It didn't take long to figure out who to trust. The negative side of the &them attitude is forced on everyone. That part of Main & Hastings was fairly easy to adapt to. What wasn't is the incessant noise waves of vehicles around the clock, people moving in and out of the bars or hovering abouf, and the wail of sirem always ending downstairs, next door, across the street and the black hole of fear many live in as this wail closes in on them. The Ford Building isn't my house any more and I look upon the last two years as doing a sentence. I said this to three people around a table and asked them about the worst place they'd ever lived in.

One of June Rose's experiences was a onebedroom in the 1900-block of Triumph, when her eldest daughter was 11 months old. It was just before Christmas and everything was set for Virginia's first one. June took her daughter to visit fiiends the weekend before the holidays. When she got home her bedroom was soaked "stinking and smelling" the ceiling was laying on the mattress and everything was ruined. She couldn't salvage the f'urniture because it had spent four days in water; she didn't have the money to dry and clean the clothes. Thirteen years ago Welfare wouldn't even give her the few bucks needed to salvage the baby's stuff. The landlord denied her any assistance, other than fixing the pipe and ceiling. That year she and Virginia slept under the Christmas tree.

Ray, now 59, lived in the Ford Building for 7 months when it first opened. For him the noise came from within the walls. At 8 am daily, his neighbour would play "Can't Get Enough of Your Lovin'" after spending the night getting high. There was music blaring, fighting in suites and in the halls... "You name it, day in and out," Ray recalled. Not long after Ray moved in he was hospitalized for a few days. Arriving home he opened his door to emptiness, just as if he didn't live there, "Gone was the TV, converter, furniture, $5,000 worth of enlarged photos, books, dishes, shirts and jackets." He found the TV in someone else's locker and got it back. The thief was the assistant manager.

Christmas time proved to be a common thread. Georgina ~ilson-andher partner Jack lived in the Regal Hotel on Hastings Street 3 years ago. They had a unit on the 5th floor. A month after moving in a neighbour assaulted Jack in the hallway. Police laid charges and the courts let the guy walk. Two weeks before the jolly season, Jack got up to take his 4:30am medication and yelled "Get the hell out of here! The junkies are bombing the building!" They rushed down the fue escape and halfway down met an elderly man having a heart attack. The old guy didn't have boots or a jacket on. It took four hours for the police and fire department to finish their work; meanwhile people looted suites and rooms. Georgina and Jack immediately moved into the Argyle Hotel. "That night the media came and wanted to know all about the Regal," remembered Georgina. The TV journalists rushed in to film

Jack carrying a box and reported it was all he had, but that wasn't accurate. It took the pair of them 3 hours to move all their belongings, walking up and down five flights of stairs. In the Argyle they had a tiny room infested with mice. Georgian recalled that the maintenance guy was a slob and the building manager hated women. It took another year before Georgina and Jack could move out of the Argyle; Ray found himself another place 2 months later; Welfare immediately moved June & Virginia out to a place in Oakridge. In comparison to these stories my 25 month sentence in the Ford was a piece of cake.

Bv ALISON CAMERON

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD I stopped to watch the dumptrucks today There goes the neighbourhood By the truckfull, it's hauled away Fill for some other place Scarring for the face Of a familiar old space

I feel like a kid again I stand in awe, but in horror too They're soooo big I used to dance there, fifteen years ago I made love there I saw so much art there That my head would spin Now, it's just a pile of dirt and dust Memories are left to rust In the back of some truck They traded our heritage For "Heritage Style" And look There goes another load There goes the neighbourhood

Pat Innes

ACCOUNTABILITY Those people at City Hall who want to change the Downtown Eastside should be held accountable to the Seniors here who are being thrown out in the streets with nowhere to go. Why not insist that these politicians have to take tours of the area where these old men find themselves during the day and hunt through at night to find places to sleep'? Those who helped Vancouver get where it is today by hard work. The condominiun~builders should see the rcsults of their efforts to force the low income people out so they can have a nice view for their clients as they come and go from their condos. Some of the condo owners are already complaining about those poor ; seniors spoiling their view; before their condos are even built. They should bc shown the results of their tampering with the area they want to change before they move into it Of course, the rich don't give a shit, but it's heartrending when you live right in the middle of it. Accountability has to happen before the poor are shifted into the streets.

By DORA SANDERS

Liars Have you ever noticed the various qualities of lies? We all, of course, know the basic defmition of a lie. But to refresh conditional memories and jog a bias or two back fiom the camaradic lemming jumps of a Walt Disney feature, (I'll explain that one later), here's a definition according to Webster: LIE (lying, lied) 'To utter falsehood with deceitful intentions. -N. A falsehood; an intentional violation of the truth. Those are a couple of definitions; there are others as in "To be incumbent" - but the other defintions are not the type of lies I am referring to. No, it's deliberate falsehoods or purposely misleading others or... you get the drift. So, according to Webster, a lie is deliberate, yet

harmless lying. (So much for giving one's will over to the influence and control of others.) Oh yeah, that "lemming" thing. I was watching a CBC 20th anniversary for The 5th Estate the other night. (Yeah, I broke down a month ago and got a $79 TV.) Anyway, one of the segments was on deception in the media, as in Disney's documentary on the life cycles of lemmings.. Apparently lemmings don't or wouldn't just placidly "jump", as popular mythology has it. (Yes Virginia, lemmings don't actually commit mass suicide). But because the script of the Disney documentary said lemmingsjump, something had to be done. To make a long story, and act of animal cruelty short: They were pushed off the cliff by the Disney crew, who fdmed the whole

lies can also be "perceived and not be deliberate. Like, have you ever seen a Raveen show? Those under the "mestnerist's" sway apparently believe they are going through these walls of fire, these pools of crocodiles, these.. . whatever whimsic and entertaining "experience" good old Raveen wishes his subjects to endure. Of course we, the audience, know it's not really happening that it's a lie yet enjoy watching others squirm as we are assured that no actual harm can come .From it. Except, the subjects aren't lying. Hmm... a par dox of a subjective nature. So those who are hypnotized'are, in actual fact, lying, yet subjectively act aB'if they are reacting to reality and/or telling the Wth. Fortunately we, in the audience, know it's edertainment and

thing from below and just out of sight of those shoving the poor helpless creatures over the precipice. Needless to say, Disney was not too happy with the nosy Canadians of the CBC exposing this deception, fraud, slaughter. Lie! Here's another type or quality of lie. It's found withn an exercise in logic. Some might call it a lesson, or even a brainteaser. Here goes You arrive on an island where there are two different tribes of natives. One tribe only tells the truth and the other tribe only tells lies. Other than this one difference, both tribes are indistinguishable fiom one anotber. So you walk down a path looking for the truthtelling tribe and come upon a guy who's sitting at a fork in the road - one path goes to the truth

r tellers and one goes to the lie tellers. At this point you are told you may ask only one question of the native in front of you. So, what do you ask? personally I like this IittIe brainteaser because, as well as giving a small entertainment and exercise in logic, it is also a lesson in ethical conduct; as in "When faced with an unthratening situation, or even a threatening one within reason, one should always try to be straight forward and as truthfkl as need be." (Oh yeah, the correct question on our fictitious island is "Where is y o u tribe?" the liar would point away from hidher tribe and the truth-teller would tell the truth.) Unfortunately, even when dealing exclusively with one or the other variety of people, if liars refuse to answer your questions at all it leaves you to wander down many roads 'ti1 you've mapped out the place in your mind, nor to mention wasting a lot of time. Hmm... I'm looking at TV right now.. .there's a

She Was Loved

Like many, she had a family who had no tears because they didn't know that their daughter, sister, mother, niece had died. This is so true of many wymin in our community. They come to the big city only to find the streets streets that only drain them of their dignity and self and pride. Home is where the love is, but if abuse is part of the problem then where's the solution? Many wymin try to find it working the streets but this just turns into more abuse. They try, once again, to leave this cycle only to run into a deadly alternative - using drugs like heroin and cocaine or escaping into a bottle. With this comes crime, to support a habit or an addiction. All of this leads people to look down on our wymin, seeing only what they want... The person on the comer is a person; she could be a mother, a sister... To survive they have to

little expo& on Toronto's Regent Park area and what's going on as the right-wingers slash knds from the poorest of society. You know what bugs me most about these people, these politicians, and all their talk about debt and high finance they're imitating Reagan's "trickle-down" economics of the early eighties... remember, before the last recession/depression? What bugs me most about these liars (economists and high-flying pundits/politicos) is Don't they all look so well fed? They piss me off almost as much as people who keep telling me about breaks, jobs, or mysterious help from unnamed genies in unnamed bottles. (Don't ask, it's too f-ing weird) Either way, don't let the assholes get to you and remember that liars have to live within their decqtion's consequences. I keep waiting to hear the sound of that other shoe hitting the floor. ...oh well.

work and for some, prostitution is a way of life. Death is a very difficult issue. It's hard to cry or think, my body is overcome with anger, then frustration and finally a feeling of hopelessness. At school no one ever talked about death and at home it was never mentioned. Nothing explains what or how I'm supposed to be feeling. At least a guideline, something... The one-liner I like is "When a person dies it's their body that dies; the Spirit lives on just as it entered when we were born." If you have a sister here in Vancouver, I am asking you to phone me, Margaret, 688-75 12, and leave the name of your sister along with her birthdate, the year she died and the cause of death. We hope to include and place the names all our wymin who died a wrongful death on a canvass; that will be carried in our memorial march on Valentine's Day in February. By MARGARET PREVOST

OUR GOALS

NEIGHBOURHOOD HEEFhRS

To provide a nlcans for people to talk together about issues in our community To provide resources for peoplc to get organised to take action on their issues To help build mutual support networks in Downtown Eastside hotels so we can have a stronger community.