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PIVOT Legal Newswire – Call 911 on “beggars, says VPD
| Call 911 on “beggars”, says VPD
Vancouver, April 23, 2009 – The Vancouver Police Department is instructing Dunbar residents to call 911 whenever they see “beggars” on Dunbar Street. “The Vancouver Police Department has instructed Dunbar Community Patrollers to call 911 when they see beggars on Dunbar Street and I would urge you to do so too,” wrote Linda MacAdam, Chair of the Dunbar Community Patrol, in an email to residents. MacAdam noted that these instructions were confirmed by Sergeant Randy Regush of the Vancouver Police Department. Vancouver ranked last among 13 North American cities surveyed in terms of police response times, according to a 2007 report to Vancouver city council. The report called for increased funding for police officers to address the slow response times, which for a 911 break and enter call stretch to 34 minutes on average. The current yearly VPD budget is over $195 million, almost one-quarter of the City’s total budget. “In 2008 Vancouver police spent thousands of hours ticketing Downtown Eastside residents for minor bylaw infractions, and in the West Side they treat legal panhandling as a 911 emergency,” says Laura Track, Pivot’s housing campaign lawyer. “Every year the VPD asks for more funding, but people need to ask if harassing poor people is how they should be spending that money.” “This is just another example of a broader pattern of criminalizing poverty and restricting poor people’s lawful access to public space.” “I was shocked to see this message advocating that we call 911 when we see a beggar” syas Randy Puder, a West Side resident. “What a waste of tax money. The homeless need compassion and assistance, not police making their lives even more difficult.” |
A Pictorial Review of Chill Winston restaurant in Gastown, Vancouver
AHA MEDIA had lunch at Chill Winston Restaurant today to try out the new chef’s new menu 🙂
3 Alexander Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1B2, Canada
(604) 288-9575
Get directions
We opted to stay inside during the beautiful day due the slightly chilly breezy winds swirling around Maple Leaf Square in Gastown, Vancouver.
The atmosphere was excellent; no hockey game playing in the background, music was set a pleasant level to have a conversation by.
We looked forward to sampling old favorites done by the new chef of two months. We were glad to see that they brought back Tuna Tartare, one of our favorites! 🙂
After ordering our selections, we felt at ease in our comfortable seats and did some people watching as they went about their day in Gastown, Vancouver. Chill Winston also has a FREE Wifi connection though NOT very strong.
Our two appetizers came quickly:
( The below picture of the description was photographed from Chill Winston’s menu )
Our Pomme Frites, as requested came with No Pepper. They weren’t as crisp or as hot as we normally have had them, but still were quite good.
( The below picture of the description was photographed from Chill Winston’s menu )
Our second Appetizer was surprisingly exceptional! 🙂
This was a much welcomed surprise! The slices of cranberry-olive bread were slightly warmed, and tasted fresh! Combined with the herbed butter, it was a a very satisfying introduction to our anticipated “New Menu” entrees 🙂
( The below picture of the description was photographed from Chill Winston’s menu )
Peter remarked that his burger was a little dry, but had good taste. Hand formed beef patty smothered in cheese and topped with fried onions, lettuce, and a thick slice of Canadian Bacon.
My entree however:
( The below picture of the description was photographed from Chill Winston’s menu )
While the ” New Menu” Tuna Tartare was beautiful in presentation, was a mixture of contrasting tastes. I found that there was too many minced serrano pepper and cilantro, overpowering the delicate taste of the tuna tartare. I found it hard to finish and I definitely prefer the “Old Menu” Tuna Tartare.
Peter had to wait quite a long time for a refill of his Coke despite our section only having 3 tables to be looked after. Luckily another Chill Winston staff person came by and notified our server who eventually came by with Peter’s refreshed drink.
Our server, didn’t offer us the dessert menu, which we had to ask for, but we were delighted to see some new additions.
One dessert we found interesting was the Orange, Grapefruit and Chocolate Salad.
Our bill came to $42 with taxes.
Foodline – a map of 2009 Vancouver Downtown East Side locations to eat free and cheap food
Foodline is a map of 2009 Downtown East Side Locations to eat free and cheap food.
Feel free to print it out and distribute it.
It was prepared by the Good Eats peer researchers and artists from the LifeSkills Centre.
[ View Foodline ]
GOOD EATS! 2008
What is it? , What happened? & Who participated?
Was a participatory workshop series about food security in the context of HIV in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver (DTES). After a community mapping meeting with stakeholders on March 19th, 2008 a series of 10 workshops with DTES HIV+ participants generated much knowledge. Participants and facilitators engaged in open and frank guided conversations and mapping of the DTES – what, where and how is possible to find sustenance in the area and related issues (e.g. nutritional value, cost, etc.). The participants – who were offered a gradually ascendant stipend scale – also cooked fresh, inexpensive and highly nutritional meals with local nutritionists and community based cooks and sat to eat as a group. Also, they visited the Quest food exchange www.questoutreach.org, a community garden and a local non-commercial radio show in Coop radio. The group dynamics of a widely varied number of people from rough paths of life attending the Good Eats! workshops was successful; this shows that food is a great socializing agent. To close the series, a final stakeholders/participants meeting was scheduled for June 2008 at the LifeSkills Centre.
What we found out?
Some preliminary findings: women and transgendered persons male to female living with HIV seem to be able to find more food resources available and less sleeping/shelter resources than men. When food is available, participants often do not have the basic facilities to cook and refrigerate/freeze. Individually, eating is difficult to organize in the presence of drug use or poor health conditions (e.g. lack of teeth). The nutrition value per se may take a second place to personal preferences such as convenience of location, how well a person is treated in a free food delivery place, and the value of comfort food (the emotional component of food). Tellingly, one participant told us “they say one cannot live on bread and water, but we do in the DTES”. In many ways, HIV+ persons in the DTES behave much like any regular “consumer” even if there is a cultural expectation that they behave as docile charity recipients. When there is money, HIV+ persons do use low-paid food places that offer good choices. When there is no money to buy food, stealing, “binning” and lining up for food is necessary, sometimes in places where they are “red zoned” by the local police and pulled from the queue if identified. “Binning” is good when food outlets (especially upscale ones) turn a blind eye to city regulations and pack expensive leftovers and leave them strategically to be picked up. Participants identified a few faith-based places they must pray for their meal; coercion may still be a part of social food delivery. Also, participants told us that if they had a chance, most of them would rather work for their food either legally or under the table.
Who worked on this project?
Our Community Based Research (CBR) team: Shane Turner, the LifeSkills Centre Coordinator, Christiana Miewald, Food Researcher at SFU, Tanya Palazzo, Volunteer BCPWA (podcasts and notes) and Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco HIV/AIDS Community Based Research Facilitator (BCPWA). This activity is funded through in-kind work of volunteers, the CBR program, the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at SFU and a Community Based Research grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
AHA MEDIA is pleased to introduce Rockin’ Randy, a Cree Native and Guitarist from Victoria, B.C.
In this video, while visiting his uncle in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Rockin’ Randy, a Cree Native living in Victoria, B.C., talks about himself, his music and his life! Randy has a great welcoming personality and an engaging smile! 🙂 You can find out more about Rockin’ Randy on Facebook
This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N77 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter
AHA MEDIA is pleased to be Media Sponsors of Vic Bender – A man living in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside and his gig as a pianist on Carnival Destiny Cruise Line
AHA MEDIA is very pleased to introduce Vic Bender – a man living in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside, who is preparing to go on his 6 month journey on the high seas as a Pianist for Carnival Destiny Cruise Line 🙂
Among the fabulous exotic tropical islands, Vic will be traveling to will be the Bahamas and Jamaica! 🙂
Vic Bender, is preparing a wide assortment of music including Bob Marley and Santana to play for his audiences on the cruise ship 🙂
AHA MEDIA is pleased to give Media Sponsorship to Vic Bender! We will be documenting his 6 month Cruise Ship journey and helping to build his own site at http://www.vicbender.wordpress.com
. In this way, we may all enjoy his tunes and follow him through his tropical work/vacation! 🙂
Bon Voyage Vic! 🙂 We wish we could come with you! 🙂
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