25981 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

People without homes are still crammed into Central Park near Crystal Pool, more than two months after Victoria council adopted new rules aimed at dispersing homeless encampments across the city.

 

 

As of Monday, the North Park Neighbourhood Association counted 73 structures in the park. That’s down from a high of about 120 in early October, but still five to six times the number allowed by the city’s parks bylaw.

 

https://www.timescol...ents-1.24239304

 

Some of the remaining people have more complex needs and others are reluctant to move to more isolated areas, farther away from the services they require.

 

 

“So we’re seeing what happens when you concentrate social services in the downtown core,” Murray said. “We’re seeing what happens when the only option for showers is on Pandora. We’re seeing what happens when meals are hard to come by and they’re going where the most number of people are [living].”

 

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North Park residents say the number of structures in the park has ticked upwards again in recent days, even though the park is considered full and nobody else is supposed to be arriving.

 

“The thing is, people were moved out of the park, but it’s filling up faster than people are leaving,” said Sean Kahil, who lives across from Central Park and sits on the neighbourhood association’s board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

our place is literally an 11-minute walk away.   and people with (very) complex needs are not living in tents they have been placed indoors.  it's such rubbish we hear from all the people making excuses for the terrible humans that many of these campers are.

 

i'm not surprised it's filling up again.  people are hearing rumours of free apartments for everyone - from city hall.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 November 2020 - 08:19 AM.

[Nparker]

 

As of Monday, the North Park Neighbourhood Association counted 73 structures in the park. That’s down from a high of about 120 in early October, but still five to six times the number allowed by the city’s parks bylaw.

This is VERY easy to remedy: enforce the city's bylaws.

[Mike K.]

Last month Central Park was too far from services, we were told. This months it’s a park people want to camp in, because it’s close to services.

[Victoria Watcher]

Some of the remaining people have more complex needs and others are reluctant to move to more isolated areas, farther away from the services they require.

 

 

“So we’re seeing what happens when you concentrate social services in the downtown core,” Murray said. “We’re seeing what happens when the only option for showers is on Pandora. We’re seeing what happens when meals are hard to come by and they’re going where the most number of people are [living].”

 

 

 

11 minutes away:

 

 

Our Place serves over 1,200 nourishing meals and 1,350 snacks per day, 7 days per week.

 

 

https://www.ourplace...w-we-help/meals

 

 

 

so from monday to friday between 7am to 6:30pm the only time you CAN'T just walk in (11 minutes walk) and get food is from 11:30am to noon and 4:30pm to 5pm. 

 

on weekends from noon until 6:30pm the only time you CAN'T just walk in (11 minutes walk) and get food is 4:30pm to 5pm.

 

 

 

 

that does not seem all that "hard to come by".

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 November 2020 - 09:06 AM.

[A Girl is No one]

And that’s just one of the service providers... I still see the food deliveries at BHP and the community care tent has some food too I think.

[aastra]

 

Last month Central Park was too far from services, we were told. This months it’s a park people want to camp in, because it’s close to services.

 

Big deal, so you found an inconsistency in the narrative. I challenge you to find 2,000 other inconsistencies. I bet you can't do it in less than 10 minutes.

 

 

...we’re seeing what happens when you concentrate social services in the downtown core...

 

I suppose it was inevitable that we would start to see some negative impacts eventually. Let the record show that negative impacts were first observed in mid-November, 2020 (just in case we want to argue about it later)

[Nparker]

Big deal, so you found an inconsistency in the narrative. ..

I now refer to these sort of inconsistences as "aastraisms".

[On the Level]

 

North Park residents say the number of structures in the park has ticked upwards again in recent days, even though the park is considered full and nobody else is supposed to be arriving.

 

“The thing is, people were moved out of the park, but it’s filling up faster than people are leaving,” said Sean Kahil, who lives across from Central Park and sits on the neighbourhood association’s board.

 

That's the Together Victoria plan for Beacon Hill.  We'll buy housing for all of those that are there....and more as it fills up.  We won't need to follow through with emptying the park next year as it is always filling.  We can then extend the deadline and keep the cycle going.

[Victoria Watcher]

That's the Together Victoria plan for Beacon Hill.  We'll buy housing for all of those that are there....and more as it fills up.  We won't need to follow through with emptying the park next year as it is always filling.  We can then extend the deadline and keep the cycle going.

 

as i have said before.  very recently.

 

what single canadian that's on welfare would turn down a $375/mo. furnished bachelor apartment that includes at least 2 free meals per day?  remarkably very few would actually.

 

in bc alone we have more than 43,000 welfare recipients with no disability and another 106,000 classified with a disability*.

 

and while i say it's $375 it sort of is zero - as they can't get that $375 in cash without a home (technically).  so it's a straight pass-thru.

 

 

* and while standard (employable persons) numbers have gone up and down over the years usually with the economy, the number of disabled people is on a continual increasing trajectory for the last 20+ years.  so either British Columbians are becoming more disabled year after year for some reason, or more people are gaming the system or more doctors are willing to sign off on an increasing number or severity of disabilities.  and/or of course there are an ever-increasing number of "advocates" helping everyone sign up for everything.

 

 

 

it's quite remarkable how the number of disability recipients has more than tripled in BC in just the past 20 years.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 November 2020 - 10:46 AM.

[kitty surprise]

 

“So we’re seeing what happens when you concentrate social services in the downtown core,” Murray said. “We’re seeing what happens when the only option for showers is on Pandora. We’re seeing what happens when meals are hard to come by and they’re going where the most number of people are [living].”

 

our place is literally an 11-minute walk away.   and people with (very) complex needs are not living in tents they have been placed indoors.  it's such rubbish we hear from all the people making excuses for the terrible humans that many of these campers are.

 

i'm not surprised it's filling up again.  people are hearing rumours of free apartments for everyone - from city hall.

 

 

If people are complaining about an 11 minute walk from free services,

And free transit passes are now being offered,

And there are rumours of free apartments,

Then how are free transit passes and free apartments going to help?

None of this will be good enough - we will still hear complaints!

 

At what point do we declare we're being overrun? At what point do we declare that drastic action is needed?

It seems everything we've offered here is not good enough. When do we declare that nothing will ever be good enough here?

I know I go on about our taxes, but honestly would it not be cheaper and more helpful to all, if housing and services were consolidated somewhere outside the city?

They say the definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same things, expecting a different outcome - we are beyond insanity here - this is more Trumpish - sorry.

We are just throwing good money after bad - sigh!

[JimV]

I really believe the government and agencies think we're a bunch of idiots.

 

Electoral results give them every reason to make that assumption.

[mbjj]

Last night at 10:40 I heard what sounded like a large explosion. My first thought was something had blown up in Beacon Hill Park. Anyone know what it was? We're in Fairfield and it sounded like it was coming from the park or downtown area. 

[A Girl is No one]

I heard it... fireworks?

[mbjj]

It didn't sound like fireworks, just one almighty boom! I was sure something had blown up from the sound of it, not that I've ever heard anything blow up before. 

[Tom Braybrook]

oaklands ... 7 "shelters" (our permanent residents) plus one new ond, blowndown, plus two illegal van overnighters... 

 

is lisa helps(less) plan working?

[Rob Randall]

It didn't sound like fireworks, just one almighty boom! I was sure something had blown up from the sound of it, not that I've ever heard anything blow up before. 

 

Sounds like a hydro transformer blew. They sound like a bomb going off.

 

Not that I've actually heard a bomb going off. 

[DavidC]

I heard that also, seemed to me more of an explosion than a gun shot.

[Victoria Watcher]

But at both the Oppenheimer and Strathcona  camps, there have been disturbing crimes perpetrated against camp  residents, including a killing, a horrific sexual assault, multiple stabbings and physical assaults. 

On Sept. 23, Carl Sinclair was seriously assaulted and left lying on the ground in Strathcona Park for 12 hours before someone called 911. His leg has since been amputated as a result of the attack.

On Oct. 16, a man was found with serious stab wounds at Raymur Avenue and Venables Street near the park; police said they  believed he had been stabbed in his tent, and it was eight hours before  anyone called for help.

On Oct. 17, a Strathcona neighbourhood  resident who has been one of the tent city’s most vocal critics was hit  on the head with a pipe near her home after walking past the park. Katie  Lewis, the vice-president of the Strathcona Residents’ Association, was  left with a concussion and 13 stitches. She told the Vancouver Sun she believed she was targeted. 

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Speaking to city council on Oct. 8, Lewis  said she was skeptical about several GoFundMe campaigns camp organizers  have set up to pay for laundry, a shower trailer and medical supplies.  Lewis accused camp organizers of profiting from poverty.

“Where is this money going? I have a guess,  and let me tell you there is no shower trailer sitting there,” Lewis  said. “There is no laundry.”

York said camp organizers are raising money  for a shower trailer that costs $25,000. The trailer is not at the site  yet because they haven’t raised all the money required to buy it, York  said. (A GoFundMe for the shower trailer had raised $17,363 by this week.)

The fund for laundry, which has raised $10,770 so far, is so that volunteers can collect and wash laundry from  tent city residents every week. Another $11,990 has been raised for a  “health and wellness” fund, exceeding its $5,000 goal, according to GoFundMe page.

York said the money raised for the health  and wellness fund has been spent equipping a medic tent with harm  reduction supplies and basic first aid items like Band-Aids, gauze and  disinfectant. 

Another GoFundMe fundraiser begun in March raised $35,000 to help the Downtown Eastside respond to COVID-19. York said around  half of that funding has gone to a food security and community kitchen  program in the Downtown Eastside and has also funded the distribution of  hygiene and sanitation supplies.

York said camp organizers are accountable  to donors and have been tracking donations through a spreadsheet. But  Ward said that’s not good enough.

“There’s no accountability. Are they a non-profit? Do they submit annual financial reports, anything like that?” Ward asked.

 

https://www.castanet...mare-or-refuge-

[aastra]

 

...she was skeptical about several GoFundMe campaigns...

 

Next thing you know the skeptics will be claiming additional funding shouldn't even be necessary on top of the bottomless fortune that taxpayers are already contributing to the noble cause:

 

 

A Vancouver Sun report from 2014

 

suggested more than $360 million in annual funding was going into the DTES — roughly $1 million per day. Of that money, $265 million came from all three levels of government. The same report suggested there were close to 300 agencies operating in the neighbourhood at that time.

[A Girl is No one]

Next thing you know the skeptics will be claiming additional funding shouldn't even be necessary on top of the bottomless fortune that taxpayers are already contributing to the noble cause:

And that was several years ago... way before Covid and it’s great reset kicked in...