25925 replies to this topic

[rmpeers]

There doesn't seem to be any desire to really improve the situation or make people's lives better. The goal seems to be to keep the status quo, keep raising the alarm that we need more funding, and they take no visible steps to change anything. Certainly the current cov government has worsened the situation, but can you imagine how bad things will get after Mayor Isitt's coronation?

[Nparker]

...can you imagine how bad things will get after Mayor Isitt's coronation?

I can't be sure how things will be for the homeless with Comrade Ben at the helm, but life will most certainly be much worse for everyone else in the CoV.

[gstc84]

Are you able to elaborate?

 

But you're right, in that we have a hard time believing the experiences of someone else. It's human nature to question/suspect until we have a first-hand experience.

 

Well...the most unexpected and jarring was last weekend, passing by Cactus Club in the middle of the afternoon and being accosted by a very aggressive and drugged out guy with a bloody, infected open neck wound. Asked me if I wanted to see where he lived, I said no thanks I was busy, he tried to grab at me and started yelling that he wasn't going to hurt me, didn't want money, just wanted to show me his house. I said no again and kept walking while he continued to scream down the block at me that I need to do some heroin and calm the f*** down. It was charming. The people on the patio at Cactus Club looked...uncomfortable. Saturday of a long weekend, I imagine there were lots of tourists around and this guy had probably been harassing folks for a while.

[Mike K.]

[Nparker]

"Bring it on" "Messy". Nothing to see here folks.

[shoeflack]

Situations like this are why I always carry a can of silly string wherever I go. Not only does it sting the idiot's eyes, it also helps to sustain that messy vibe we're apparently going for.

[Nparker]

Situations like this are why I always carry a can of silly string wherever I go...

Although I suspect you're mostly kidding shoeflack, I'd take some caution in "silly-stringing" some of the more aggressive street community, especially if they come off as particularly incoherent and display infected wounds as described above. If a person shows minimal concern for their own well-being imagine how little they care about others? Their reaction to being confronted in this manner has a good chance of ending in even worse consequences for you. It's always best to ignore them as much as possible and walk away whenever you can.

[shoeflack]

Although I suspect you're mostly kidding shoeflack, I'd take some caution in "silly-stringing" some of the more aggressive street community, especially if they come off as particularly incoherent and display infected wounds as described above. If a person shows minimal concern for their own well-being imagine how little they care about others? Their reaction to being confronted in this manner has a good chance of ending in even worse consequences for you. It's always best to ignore them as much as possible and walk away whenever you can.

 

You're right. Hairspray would be better...would sting the open wounds and give you time to escape while they shriek in pain.

[mbjj]

I tried to park by Macs in Cook St. Village today. There was a free space but as I pulled in some guy came along doing the weird, jerky movement type of thing. He got right up to the vehicle parked in front of me, peering through the windows. Sorry, but I'm an older petite lady and he freaked me out, so I moved on and kept my doors locked.

[Sparky]

You did the right thing.

[Sparky]

We have lost control of our civility and safety in this city.

A chain is only as strong as the weakest link...and a law without a penalty is only a suggestion.

Please count me out of this inclusion bullshit when a lady (or a man for that matter) is afraid to get out of their car.

Millions of dollars in this city trade hands with drug dealers on welfare paydays. Until our administration stops turning a blind eye to that...we are doomed.

[rmpeers]

We have lost control of our civility and safety in this city.

A chain is only as strong as the weakest link...and a law without a penalty is only a suggestion.

Please count me out of this inclusion bullshit when a lady (or a man for that matter) is afraid to get out of their car.

Millions of dollars in this city trade hands with drug dealers on welfare paydays. Until our administration stops turning a blind eye to that...we are doomed.

I feel like the drug dealers are the only ones who benefit from the situation. An ever-increasing customer base crammed into a small area. A city council contingent saying we need less policing. Plenty of experts stressing the need for safe spaces to use, but hardly a word about helping get people clean. And so on...

[DavidL]

One of the management guys from Our Place was on CFAX and was spinning the idea that there's no real violence going on, that it's just perception and if you only knew the people...He talked about how he walked to work there every day and never had any problems so he couldn't understand why text after text and call after call was describing alarming incidents between the street population and civilians.  I honestly couldn't tell if he so deeply believed in what he was doing that he thought his perception was real or he was so deeply invested in the business that he's in that he's become willfully blind.

[martini]

One of the management guys from Our Place was on CFAX and was spinning the idea that there's no real violence going on, that it's just perception and if you only knew the people...He talked about how he walked to work there every day and never had any problems so he couldn't understand why text after text and call after call was describing alarming incidents between the street population and civilians. I honestly couldn't tell if he so deeply believed in what he was doing that he thought his perception was real or he was so deeply invested in the business that he's in that he's become willfully blind.

Are they trained in gaslighting? I experienced similar with someone connected to Our Place. It was a bit mindblowing to say the least.

[A Girl is No one]

One thing for sure is that for people who claim to have so much empathy, they fail to have any for people they are not paid to advocate for...

[Victoria Watcher]

Our focus on the Downtown Eastside didn’t come from some government announcement or press release. It came from observation.

In more than two decades covering the neighbourhood as a reporter, I’ve never seen it look worse. Or feel worse.

This first struck me when I was there in July to do an interview in front of the Balmoral Hotel about single-room occupancy (SRO) housing for The Early Edition.

I parked in front of 312 Main St. — the old police station — and got out to plug the meter. As I was feeding coins in, a woman in shorts stopped behind the car, stretched open a pant leg, and urinated on the road in front of me.

Then later, as I did the interview in front of the Balmoral at 159 East Hastings Street, a man settled in a doorway behind me and shot up.

 

 

https://newsinteract...form/new-normal

[DavidL]

Vancouver’s DTES should be for us a look at 10 years into the future of continuing to follow the same failed policies. These same approaches have failed in Portland and San Francisco and Seattle. When the 4 pillars strategy was launched in Vancouver it was supposed to be the start of a new era. Yet only one pillar, harm prevention, seems to get any attention and as the article points out, the DTES has never been worse. We’re obviously headed in that direction but no one seems interested in changing course.

[Nparker]

...We’re obviously headed in that direction but no one seems interested in changing course.

The only change of course being suggested is to decriminalize all illicit drugs, under the mistaken belief this will somehow make things better.

[Victoria Watcher]

When the 4 pillars strategy was launched in Vancouver it was supposed to be the start of a new era. Yet only one pillar, harm prevention, seems to get any attention 

 

right.  to review here are the 4 pillars:

 

prevention

treatment

harm reduction

enforcement

 

https://vancouver.ca...g-strategy.aspx

 

under enforcement:

 

The policy says that the VPD will continue to target street and middle-level drug traffickers and producers. Police will be guided by an individual’s behaviour in determining whether or not to lay drug or alcohol possession charges. Police will also target areas frequented by children, such as schools and parks, and other areas where possession or use of drugs could interfere with lawful use of the public areas by members of the community.

 

 

 

we know that here possession is not ever met with charges and drug possession in parks especially is not enforced against.  we have homeless users in overnight park camps.

 

on prevention:

 

The prevention pillar includes strategies and interventions that help prevent harmful use of alcohol, tobacco, and both illegal and prescription drugs.

 

 

Goals of the drug policy prevention plan

The plan will:

• Reduce individual, family, neighbourhood and community harm from substance use
• Delay onset of first substance use
• Reduce incidence (rate of new cases over a period of time) and prevalence (number of current cases at one time in a population) of problematic substance use and substance dependence
• Improve public health, safety and order.

 

we do not see anything that even resembles a plan to "delay onset of first substance use" or reduce incidence rates or to improve safety and order.

 

and i think we know treatment is non-existent unless the subject makes a clear sober and continued choice to become clean.  and that happens so very very rarely.

 

this was 2016:

 

Island Health spokeswoman Kellie Hudson said 45 people are on a wait-list for the 21-bed detox unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital. That is more than double the usual number, but isn’t out of the norm for the Christmas season, especially given the cold weather, she said.

 

 

Twenty of those on the wait-list are “active and ready for treatment.” The emergency department or mental-health care team would like to see the others attend detox, but the client might not be ready.

 

Wait times for a bed range from three to 11 days, with the average being six to seven days.

 

 

so if a 6 to 7 day wait jeopardizes so many chances i'm not sure many of the hundreds of addicts we have here are really interested in the commitment required for quitting.

 

https://www.timescol...lists-1.5216922

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 September 2019 - 08:56 AM.

[rmpeers]

Are they trained in gaslighting? I experienced similar with someone connected to Our Place. It was a bit mindblowing to say the least.

But if they took bold steps to help get people better, then bye bye funding. Not saying that's the reason they don't do a better job; it could just be they're not very good at it. You have to wonder what targets they have to hit to get their finding; the bar must be set very very low.

Either way, their approach and the whole set up here only aids one group: drug dealers.