http://www.2010homelessness.ca/
Day 7 was tougher. It definitely caught up with me; I was light headed and very sleepy by the late afternoon. Quite glad it was Saturday, after a meeting during the day I did have a nap.
Interesting information gathered at the meeting though. No matter what your attitude about the Olympics is (and you might guess about mine) there are some sobering and inescapable facts to consider. The $1 billion (and climbing) budget for security is going to provide quite a few new 'toys' to the Vancouver Police Department, RCMP and Canadian Forces that they might never otherwise have been able to acquire. High tech spy gadgets and large scale riot gear. $1 billion. That's our money folks, spent on an event that lasts 2 weeks. It also would pay for a quarter of what is proposed in the One Percent Solution .
This hyper security atmosphere is already making life difficult in my neighbourhood. It is documented that the Olympic games causes involuntary displacement of people wherever it is held. Somehow we understand and accept that this is going to happen. Why? Why do those who are going to profit monetarily from this event, either immediately or possibly in the future from the increased tourism, count more than those struggling to survive in their own neighbourhoods? It is a neighbourhood, despite some of the sensational news coverage of the Downtown Eastside. People here look out for one another, keep tabs on their health and safety. And already they are being criminalized and pushed out because of their poverty status. Groups like the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre have already documented and drawn attention to the sharp increase in ticketing for things like jaywalking, vending on the street and sleeping on the street.
Yesterday we found out it happened to a friend of ours. She doesn't live on the street. She's had a rough road in life and been a junkie in recovery for over 12 years, with the accompanying health issues. She's a writer, a good writer. Due to her health she looks kind of rough and rides her bicycle around town, without a helmet. There are a lot of people who ride without a helmet. She was ticketed once, didn't pay the fine. She was stopped again this week and since she hadn't paid the fine, they took her to jail. What else can I say? Your tax dollars hard at work. And she's not homeless. But she fits the stereotype. We are creating a police state atmosphere and it sounds like that's going to be needed so that we don't notice how oppressive the security measures will be in February 2010. Truly the money currently being spent on this kind of behaviour along with the other expenses of the Olympics has higher collective value being spent on real needs in Canada. An expensive lost opportunity.
Day 7 was tougher. It definitely caught up with me; I was light headed and very sleepy by the late afternoon. Quite glad it was Saturday, after a meeting during the day I did have a nap.
Interesting information gathered at the meeting though. No matter what your attitude about the Olympics is (and you might guess about mine) there are some sobering and inescapable facts to consider. The $1 billion (and climbing) budget for security is going to provide quite a few new 'toys' to the Vancouver Police Department, RCMP and Canadian Forces that they might never otherwise have been able to acquire. High tech spy gadgets and large scale riot gear. $1 billion. That's our money folks, spent on an event that lasts 2 weeks. It also would pay for a quarter of what is proposed in the One Percent Solution .
This hyper security atmosphere is already making life difficult in my neighbourhood. It is documented that the Olympic games causes involuntary displacement of people wherever it is held. Somehow we understand and accept that this is going to happen. Why? Why do those who are going to profit monetarily from this event, either immediately or possibly in the future from the increased tourism, count more than those struggling to survive in their own neighbourhoods? It is a neighbourhood, despite some of the sensational news coverage of the Downtown Eastside. People here look out for one another, keep tabs on their health and safety. And already they are being criminalized and pushed out because of their poverty status. Groups like the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre have already documented and drawn attention to the sharp increase in ticketing for things like jaywalking, vending on the street and sleeping on the street.
Yesterday we found out it happened to a friend of ours. She doesn't live on the street. She's had a rough road in life and been a junkie in recovery for over 12 years, with the accompanying health issues. She's a writer, a good writer. Due to her health she looks kind of rough and rides her bicycle around town, without a helmet. There are a lot of people who ride without a helmet. She was ticketed once, didn't pay the fine. She was stopped again this week and since she hadn't paid the fine, they took her to jail. What else can I say? Your tax dollars hard at work. And she's not homeless. But she fits the stereotype. We are creating a police state atmosphere and it sounds like that's going to be needed so that we don't notice how oppressive the security measures will be in February 2010. Truly the money currently being spent on this kind of behaviour along with the other expenses of the Olympics has higher collective value being spent on real needs in Canada. An expensive lost opportunity.
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