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Victoria homelessness and street-related issues


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#16661 spanky123

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 03:10 PM

^ I don't know the reasons why Don left and I don't want to speculate, but I agree with Mike that leaving during the holiday season with no notice is extremely unusual. Even if your doctor told you to quit then you would at least hang around to provide proper succession planning unless your time was limited. 



#16662 Rob Randall

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 03:12 PM

Yes, a good non-profit has a succession plan in place. Ideally, the leader is up front with the board about their future and says something like, I plan to move on within the next year or so, then the board creates a sub-committee that goes over the qualities they'd like in a successor. Then when they get the final quitting date they are up to speed and are already thinking about applicants and you don't have to scramble with interim managers.



#16663 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 04:42 PM

the job could not have been that stressful. funding was pretty much guaranteed and the shareholders demanded no success metrics. and serving 1000 free meals a day - big deal. the McDonald’s across the street has more staff and volume.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2019 - 04:44 PM.


#16664 Sparky

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 04:49 PM

^^ & ^^^ Rob and Spanky while your points are very valid, everybody is as unique as their fingerprint.

 

**** happens. Life happens. Life changes. People change.

 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that a person made a decision to change. We have all thought about that at one point or another.

 

This gentleman that we are talking about made a personal decision about his past ....and his future..

 

Bless him for making that decision...as hard as it might have been.

 

Most of the caretakers of the less fortunate that I have known (and I know more than most of you) of the homeless/mentally challenged/ addicted have been there themselves and have grown out of it one way or another.

 

Some rise from those ashes to accomplish great things.

 

There is a time to come and a time to go.

 

I would like to take my hat off to this gentleman that has more insight into the struggles that people face that you and I would find difficult to comprehend.

 

He decided to go. Bless him for having the strength.

 

"Grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

 

Narcotics Anonymous Prayer


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#16665 AllseeingEye

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 05:45 PM

^ Post of the week; all the $, prestige, title, the corner office, media visibility - even community service - doesn't mean jack if they have to haul you away stiff as a board and toss you six feet under. 

 

We all know people who've been in that exact position, I know a few folks that "got out" and lived to tell the tale another day. I also sadly know more than one who didn't make it even after they quit one pressure cooker or another; one dropped dead cycling and the other at home doing nothing more strenuous than watching a hockey game.

 

Getting out with your physical (and ideally mental) health both being intact (not to mention your dignity and integrity) - and before stress from whatever the source irrevocably beats you up and breaks you down - 'hands down' beats all the money, notoriety or community recognition in the world.



#16666 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 05:50 PM

evans was never a down and out homeless heroin user.

he was in finance and did lots of recreational cocaine. I’m not sure he ever hit rock bottom at all. his rock bottom was placing his daughter in private school.



At 26, he became the single father of a three-year-old girl after a relationship ended. In 1990, he moved to Vancouver — “for love” — and became a successful stockbroker with a waterfront home, a couple of Jaguars and a powerboat.

Evans loved the fast pace and the intensity of his work. But cocaine was part of the lifestyle, and addiction almost destroyed him.

“It took everything from me — except my daughter.”

In 1998, the 36-year-old enrolled his daughter in private school and went into recovery.


https://www.timescol...thers-1.2162279



he found a new way to make a high 6-figure salary courtesy of taxpayers. big deal.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2019 - 05:56 PM.


#16667 AllseeingEye

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 06:55 PM

Got into quite the tussle with a street critter today - in broad daylight - coming out of the View Street parkade onto View. Yet another reminder to keep your internal radar always on in the d/t core. It was unprovoked and I didn't see it coming initially. Unfortunately for the other guy, who was about half my size, I'm pretty certain tonight he's wishing he'd kept walking and above all his hands to himself and his mouth shut. 

 

Since our office is on Yates I'm pretty familiar with the usual street faces in that area who for the most part mind their own business and are perfectly harmless, even polite if you look them in the eye, acknowledge them and say "hello". This dood was an altogether new face to me, and higher than a kite on some substance or another. Be careful other there folks.


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#16668 Mike K.

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:02 PM

Holy smokes, ASE, what happened?

Know it all.
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#16669 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:13 PM

that guy will be eating well on your dime at our place tomorrow.
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#16670 AllseeingEye

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:15 PM

I was following him out of the parkade intending to cut left; he stopped directly in front of me to light up a smoke so I attempted to cut right and then go around him and go left to my destination which was St Andrew's Square. As I did that he decided to to go right on a 90 angle and ran smack into me.

 

No problem, I nodded and said "sorry...no worries" at which point something snapped and he muttered something like "watch it....a******!" and while I would've been happy to keep going, I saw the fist coming so took a step back, grabbed that arm and pinned it behind him.

 

At that point he tried to clobber me with his backpack which was in his other hand. I blocked it, grabbed it and slammed it over his head then grabbed him by the throat and frog marched him up against the parkade. Then he tried to bring a knee up at which point I'd had enough and just picked him up physically and tossed him hard into the structure.

 

I told him to settle down unless he wanted to go another round, by which point he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Fortunately a buddy of his who was very reasonable and polite, and I imagine a bit scared. stepped forward apologized to me, and grabbed his pal guiding him away, all the while "Buddy" was yelling incoherently all the way down the street. You never do know....


Edited by AllseeingEye, 11 December 2019 - 09:39 PM.

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#16671 North Shore

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:21 PM

the job could not have been that stressful. funding was pretty much guaranteed and the shareholders demanded no success metrics. and serving 1000 free meals a day - big deal. the McDonald’s across the street has more staff and volume.


Perhaps not to you...depends on your investment in the position, though, methinks. I think that a person who’s almost been there himself would find the never-ending stream of sad human stories streaming in through the front door; the constant battle for funding and help, very stressful indeed..
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Say, what's that mountain goat doing up here in the mist?

#16672 Sparky

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:27 PM

“Frogged marched” ....priceless.

#16673 LJ

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:28 PM

Hope you disinfected yourself after that encounter.


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Life's a journey......so roll down the window and enjoy the breeze.

#16674 Sparky

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:29 PM

^^^ you “liked” your own post?
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#16675 Rob Randall

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 07:36 PM

That's one hell of a story. Normally I don't condone violence or vigilantism but this not only sounds like self-defense but a case where a capable person is setting clear boundaries for civilized behaviour to someone with anger issues. 

 

I'm downtown every day and am familiar with a lot of the characters but even the local homeless are wary of violent newcomers.

 

As for Don Evans, that is also one hell of a story from the TC. It clearly states Evans set 2019 as a probable retirement date so I take it back and say this is no surprise.



#16676 AllseeingEye

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Posted 11 December 2019 - 09:06 PM

^ Well you can understand why lots of folks won't go downtown; I can only imagine how seniors or women would feel in that situation.

 

Normally you'd counsel them to simply walk away but guys like this don't have an Off switch: if its me as in this case, well I'm 280 pounds so I'll just smoke the dufus but what is a senior or woman supposed to do if being actively pursued and/or manhandled or assaulted? About all they could do is yell for help and pray someone is around to come to their aid. 

 

Lisa and the Ben & Jeremy Show et al., should venture forth IMO out of the ivory tower on Douglas Street, get into the trenches and have a damn good look around at the state of the core cuz it ain't pretty. And bear in mind this is in the middle of the day in the middle of the business week. One can only imagine the shenanigans going on after midnight on a weekend....


Edited by AllseeingEye, 11 December 2019 - 10:22 PM.

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#16677 spanky123

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 04:16 AM

^^ & ^^^ Rob and Spanky while your points are very valid, everybody is as unique as their fingerprint.

 

There may be completely valid reasons why Don left as he did. I am only suggesting that it is highly unusual and unless one of those reasons existed, I would expected that a CEO in a role for 7 years and earning a $200K plus salary has a responsibility to his or her board and team to provide proper notice and see through succession. Maybe that did happen but the various articles don't read that way.



#16678 Rob Randall

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Posted 12 December 2019 - 09:15 AM

^Except that 2016 article said at the time he was committed to staying for three more years. That took us to January 2019. He initially promised only one year. 



#16679 Nparker

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Posted 13 December 2019 - 09:16 AM

I realize this is about Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver, but if anyone thinks the very same thing wasn't happening in Victoria's tent city during its nasty prime, then they need to give their heads a shake.

Vancouver Police is investigating a shooting that sent one man to hospital at a homeless camp on the city's Downtown Eastside...police were called to Oppenheimer Park around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound...The Vancouver Police Department is warning of a significant increase in weapons, violence and calls for service at the campsite as gangs compete for territory in the park. Police say they recently thwarted a murder plot by arresting three street gang members who were allegedly planning to kill a rival drug trafficker who operates in the area.


https://www.iheartra...camp-1.10342200

Bring it on indeed.  :whyme:


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#16680 rmpeers

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Posted 13 December 2019 - 10:07 AM

I realize this is about Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver, but if anyone thinks the very same thing wasn't happening in Victoria's tent city during its nasty prime, then they need to give their heads a shake.
Bring it on indeed. :whyme:


No question that our mayor and council's complete bungling of the tent city here set the stage for problems that will continue for a long time. By (reportedly) instructing police and fire officials to take a hands-off approach, they sent out a clear message that assault, gangs dealing drugs (and helping to get the next generation of customers addicted), stolen bike chop shops, B&E's, sexual assaults, and god knows what else were totally cool in Victoria. "We're open for business! Don't worry about the cops."
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