Category Archives: Municipal

Homeless, Municipal

Dear Gordon Campbell:

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I have spent the last several years working on recovering my mental health after mental illness literally consumed my life. With hard work my recovery has progressed to the point that I enjoy the best mental health and balance of my life.

Imagine then my dismay and alarm at your government’s assault on my mental health. Words are inadequate to express fully my feelings concerning this assault on common sense and thought – but I will strive to convey to some understanding.

Having been forced to deal with the mind numbing, irrational bureaucracy, the immense waste of taxpayer dollars and the insanity of repeating over and over actions and programs that clearly fail to help people in need, rather than adopting best practices demonstrated to reduce homelessness and other social ills during my recovery – I was able to cope with the stupidity and waste by sharing the insanity through my written words.

But your government’s new and increasing offensive against good governance, fiscal responsibility and plain common sense poses a severe threat to my hard won mental health.

The government’s desire to prevent the international story of the Vancouver Winter Olympics from being the contrast of the shinny new facilities for rich citizens games and entertainment with the squalor of the increasing numbers of the poor (many with jobs providing service to the rich), mentally ill and addicted homeless living on the winter streets of the lower mainland is OK.

It matters not that it is fear of bad press and disturbing images flowing around the world as the world focuses on the Winter Olympics that causes desperately needed funds to flow, rather than caring.

What matters is that there are funds available to begin to end homelessness and associated social ills.

What is unacceptable is that it appears that the government intends to spend these funds in the same ineffective, wasteful and pointless manner of current programs and behaviours whose only accomplishment is to have increased homelessness and poverty and.

What rational sane person could possibly imagine that if a program is doing nothing to decrease homelessness, that running that program more hours a day, even all day long, is going to do anything but spend more money to accomplish the same failure? Only a government bureaucrat or politician could believe thus.

If a program or behaviour does nothing, then doing more of the same behaviour will accomplish nothing but to waste money better spent on practices that have demonstrated their effectiveness elsewhere. We need to embrace change, to accept the risks that come with making changes and act with deliberation and rational thought.

What next? Reach back into history for other failed government responses to problems with a specific class or group of people? Plans for the internment camps for the Japanese people still exist. The government could build camps out in the Fraser valley and ship the homeless et al out to interment for the period leading up to and during the 2010 Winter Games.

If we want to avoid the story and images of BC and the Winter Olympics that people around the world get from being the poor, mentally ill and addicted suffering and wandering winter streets of Vancouver, Whistler, Abbotsford and throughout the province the rational approach is to end homelessness, not to attempt paper over or hide the problem.

We need to champion an end to homelessness. We need to provide leadership to bring about the changes in policies and behaviours necessary to end homelessness.

I want to close by sharing the story that caused me to sit down and write this plea for my sanity, the end to the insane behaviour of our government and a change to rational behaviour on homelessness.

There was a call placed from an agency Vancouver inquiring if there were emergency shelter beds available for a woman client – in Abbotsford. They were going to ship her out of Vancouver to a city where she had no support and would in a matter of days be back out on the streets.

We have a problem of homelessness. Rather than continuing to ignore it, to hide it or dump it on someone else we could try a very novel approach – ending homelessness.

Homeless, Municipal

Recovery House Policy

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First let me make it clear we do need a recovery house policy that makes sure any place called a “recovery house” provides an environment that helps, not hinders or endangers, the recovery of its residents – in the same manner that homes for mental health provide an mentally healthy environment for residents mental health recovery. I have seen the damage that going to a bad recovery house can cause someone seeking actual recovery, putting them right back into their addiction.

Second remember that recovery houses as they exist now are as much about the market response to the demand for affordable (within welfare housing allowances) housing as they are to the demand for “recovery” spaces. Thus it is that you have many houses that are full of people still in their addictions – the “bad” recovery houses.

Finally understand that based on conversation, observation and experience I believe that if we really want to be effective in “recovery” from addiction we need to view addiction recovery much more along the lines of recovery from mental illness – a much longer term (years) process requiring more support and programs. Economics means that recovery houses do not have the cash flow to provide these supports and services. Psalm 23 is along those lines but it survives only through fund raising and if you had all the recovery houses fund raising ….. We need to seriously overhaul the system we currently use to deliver “recovery” in the addiction field.

So I do think we need a policy so a “recovery house” is just that, it also needs to be formulated on sound economics and reality.

In fact the type of system I envision would need “recovery houses” as part of the delivery system of recovery.

However from the beginning I have stated that we need to face reality – many if not most recovery beds are flop house beds. Clean up those beds/houses and shut them down and you put the people on the streets – do it quickly and you flood the streets.

Currently we have new faces hitting the streets every day, and old faces are not disappearing fast enough – in fact many old faces keep returning again and again even through/after treatment. So it looks like it is going to be a miserable winter with demand far exceeding resources or available spaces. Dump all those in closed recovery houses on the street and you go from very bad to ?? – I do not know what you would call it chaos, disaster?

So ever since this question was first addressed I have stated fine close them down – but be sensible/face reality and figure out where you will put them once you close them or all you are really doing is making a very bad situation worse.

I would say the first thing council needs to do is take its head out of the sand (or where ever they have stuck it) and see/face reality. Mr. Smith and council have been told from the first that they need to have in place a plan AND A PLACE for handling/putting those they displace from the closed houses. I remember writing this same comment about the closure of the Fraser Inn, to the same deaf ears – and many if not most of the residents of the Inn are still on the streets – in Abbotsford. The streets of Abbotsford are much more crowded these days and Mr Smith and council seem happy just to toss more people onto the streets.

Council has to accept that this is not a nice neat situation (after all it is a people problem and involves people) with no fast, neat, easy solutions. There is no easy, nobody screaming at you magic solution for them to use. The Provincial and Federal government need to get real about this as well. Or you end up with “hide the problem and pretend to be doing something” polices such as the recent shelter open 24 hour policy announcement. All that does is have man homeless stay inside all day, out of sight out of mind – until the growing ranks of homeless numbers increase so that even if everyone with a bed stays in – you cannot tell because so many homeless are on the streets.

We have to reduce the numbers which means new ideas, new approaches, using the knowledge out there – and we have the know how to do a much better/successful job of getting people off the street, into recovery and back onto their feet, it means accepting that it is not going to be nice neat and tidy or painless.

The biggest lack at any level of government on homelessness is leadership. But no politician wants to deal with such a complex messy problem – could cause re-election problems and re-election is what it is all about – not solving anything. If you just do the same you can always blame the party in power before you – if you take the needed new actions and approaches, you take ownership of the situation – and what politician wants to do that, no badly how needed. Talk is far cheaper and easier and you do not have to have any faith in your ability to handle complex, chaotic situations.

The city profligate spending has left them little money for even such a pressing problem. Unfortunately they seem as lacking in leadership as they are in funds.

The city needs to show leadership. Take the lead. Say to the province and federal governments “this is what we need, this is what we are going to do – show us the money. And go after politicians at the higher levels to put in place and develop the needed programs and resources. And it needs to make some unpopular decisions such as where and what building (school? old hospital?) to use for sheltering the homeless and those still their addiction. That way you have the recovery houses for those seeking/in recovery

I have a lot of experience with programs/resources in Abbotsford and I think with leadership and innovation we have great and solid base to begin to address this/these issues. Triangle resources, Communitas, Fraser Mental Health, church and charity programs, people. We can accomplish a lot – we just have to start. And government has to get out of denial, out of the way, become part of the solution instead of worsening the situation and senior levels need to provide funding, resources and the political will to put a ten year plan to end homelessness into action. Ten years form now we can have a solution (very little homelessness) or a bigger problem.

Municipal

A Mad Hatter’s tea party Garden

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I love to read and my curiosity is always driving me to look up information, so it should come as no surprise that the Clearbrook library has been my favourite civic building in Abbotsford.

I say has been because of the appearance of the billboard sized sign touting Councillor John Smith’s million dollar garden.

Parents and other citizens know first hand of the playing fields, parks and green spaces that are overgrown and unusable because Parks and Recreation says it does not have the money for maintenance.

A recent study highlighted the fact Abbotsford does not have a single playground accessible to handicapped and disabled children or to permit disabled parents to take their children to a playground. Not one. A proposal was made to council to spend $50,000 to make one playground accessible, but council said NO, stating the city has no money.

But building a councillor’s million dollar garden? That’s a go.

In a City with proper priorities, if Councillor John Smith wanted a garden, the City’s reply and only contribution would be to hand Councillor Smith a shovel.

Municipal

Why is Abbotsford anti high-tech business?

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What is it that Abbotsford City Hall has against attracting high paying jobs to the city?

One can only conclude that the city has, for some unfathomable reason, an aversion to attracting high paying jobs to our area in light of their behaviour towards Mr. Raymond Szabada.

I thought it an excellent idea when, over a year ago, I read in the paper that Mr. Szabada had proposed to council the creation of an association to attract high paying high tech sector jobs to Abbotsford – adding significantly to the tax base and lessening the burden on homeowners.

Outside of a supportive statement from Moe Gill council’s reaction was, from news reports, Yawn. A man with solid experience and connections in high tech has a vision of attracting this industry to Abbotsford and councils reaction is Yawn?

Fortunately for the future of Abbotsford and its citizens pocketbooks Mr. Szabada, in the same manner as any citizen with brains, vision and wishing to better Abbotsford doesn’t listen to city hall’s can’t do that attitude, did not let city hall’s negativity stop him. He founded the Sumas Regional Consortium for High Tech and put together the plans to develop and attract business to a high tech business park.

He recently returned to council seeking their support in turning Abbotsford into a high tech haven with the high paying jobs and other benefits that flow from that. He had done all the leg work, made all the contacts, lined up his dominos and came to council simply for their verbal support.

And Abbotsford City Hall’s response was once again, Yawn. Apparently even verbal support is too much effort for City Hall to make to attract a plum industry and jobs such as high tech.

Leaving one wondering what Abbotsford council and staff have against attracting high paying jobs to the city?



What is it that Abbotsford City Hall has against attracting high paying jobs to the city?

One can only conclude that the city has, for some unfathomable reason, an aversion to attracting high paying jobs to our area in light of their behaviour towards Mr. Raymond Szabada.

I thought it an excellent idea when, over a year ago, I read in the paper that Mr. Szabada had proposed to council the creation of an association to attract high paying high tech sector jobs to Abbotsford – adding significantly to the tax base and lessening the burden on homeowners.

Outside of a supportive statement from Moe Gill council’s reaction was, from news reports, Yawn. A man with solid experience and connections in high tech has a vision of attracting this industry to Abbotsford and councils reaction is Yawn?

Fortunately for the future of Abbotsford and its citizens pocketbooks Mr. Szabada, in the same manner as any citizen with brains, vision and wishing to better Abbotsford doesn’t listen to city hall’s can’t do that attitude, did not let city hall’s negativity stop him. He founded the Sumas Regional Consortium for High Tech and put together the plans to develop and attract business to a high tech business park.

He recently returned to council seeking their support in turning Abbotsford into a high tech haven with the high paying jobs and other benefits that flow from that. He had done all the leg work, made all the contacts, lined up his dominos and came to council simply for their verbal support.

And Abbotsford City Hall’s response was once again, Yawn. Apparently even verbal support is too much effort for City Hall to make to attract a plum industry and jobs such as high tech.

Leaving one wondering what Abbotsford council and staff have against attracting high paying jobs to the city?

Consider, Municipal

Community is about sharing, participation and fellowship

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Community is about Sharing, participation, and Fellowship.

Reading the letters to the editor from Andrea Mikulan and others over recent weeks serves to explain the city’s tagline “city in the country” as these letters underline the fact that while Abbotsford is a city, it is not a community.

A quick check of a dictionary shows that community is not just about a group of people having common interests it also involves/requires sharing, participation, and fellowship.

Sharing, participation and fellowship. Community is not about every citizen having an account and all these accounts balancing out so that what you put in is exactly what you get out. Trying to achieve such a balance is not only unrealistic, it is impossible.

Community is about compromise, about meeting the important needs of people or groups of people within the community. Sharing, participation and fellowship.

Are our Sikh citizens an important part of the community of Abbotsford? Is this crematorium important to that Sikh sub-community? Is there a reason they are seeking to build in/on cemetery Land? (My understanding is that a tenet of their faith requires that such a crematorium be built on cemetery land.)

If you (we) answer yes to these questions, then as a Community Abbotsford must facilitate the process of bringing the crematorium into being and not get bogged down in beguiling, irrelevant arguments.

What do I mean by beguiling, irrelevant arguments? Arguments such as:

“… and have never expected any public funds to meet our private needs.” is an erroneous statement. One of the reasons to get together in a city is to spend public funds on meeting private needs for roads, water and sewage systems, swimming pools, schools etc.

Or perhaps Ms. Mikulan’s point is that with only 20% (Sikh) vs. 80% (non-Sikh) there is not a large enough private need, enough people with a private need for a crematorium for this private need to be become or be considered a public need?

Now there is a dangerous precedent since that logic leads to a quagmire. Following that train of thought since I voted No to Plan A, actively campaigned against Plan A and will never use any of the Plan A facilities I should be exempt from any tax levy to pay for Plan A. Then there are the schools I have never used, the baseball and soccer fields I have never used, the Friendship Garden I will never use and so on and so on and so on ….

“… would negate the principle of separation of church and state, …” I had not realized that this proposal would make the Sikh faith the official religion of Abbotsford and that our laws would now be based on the Sikh faith. The principle or separation refers to preserving the secularity of government and freedom of religious exercise, not to forbidding transactions between government and religious institutions.

Following the logic behind Ms Mikulan’s separation of church and state argument all the churches in Abbotsford would have to relocate in some other jurisdiction since transactions such as property taxes, water and sewage fees etc. would be prohibited. While an interesting concept it is an irrelevant argument.

“… compete head to head with the private funerary businesses …” Yes, so what? We have long, proud tradition in Canada of forming co-operatives to deliver services at reasonable rates. I draw the reader’s attention to our Health Care system, particularly what happened with the private health facility that was opened last year in Vancouver.

“… attract private enterprise …” This is really reaching for straws. Faced with the reputation and behaviours of Abbotsford city hall and council I have grave doubts that the fact the city transferred a piece of the only current property in Abbotsford upon which the crematorium could be built to the Sikh community to build on would ever be a consideration on which a decision would be made on whether or not to locate in Abbotsford would be made.

“ … purchase suitably zoned land, raise the funds and build it.” We are running out of burial plots because of a lack of any other “suitably zoned land”. Perhaps we should suggest they purchase a magic lamp and use the genie to solve this dilemma?

The Sikh community has raised the money to build the crematorium and as I understand it have changed the original proposal so that they will now form a society to be responsible for operations and any losses.

The Abbotsford Ratepayers have suggested that the Sikh community purchase land and have the city turn it into a cemetery. Now assuming that this could (at least in theory) be done in an acceptable time frame this seems pretty reasonable … except for the “…city turn it into a cemetery.” requirement.

As those who have dealt with city hall and council without benefit of friends in the right place can tell you the words reasonable and reasonable time frames have little or nothing to do with city hall and council. If you have any doubts about this I refer you to the people attempting to build a Sandman Inn in Abbotsford.

I can well understand why the Sikh community would prefer the “bird in hand” land of the existing cemetery rather than chance dealing with city hall and council on rezoning and creation of a new cemetery.

This reluctance to rely on the mayor or councillors is made even more understandable by their failure to provide what is most needed on what has become a divisive matter in our city – leadership. Although this lack is not a surprise given the lack of leadership on poverty, hunger, homelessness, mentally illness, addiction and other pressing issues in Abbotsford by council. Indeed the mayor and council’s main goal in dealing with the crematorium issue appears to be to avoid having to stand up and be counted.

The crematorium is important to the Sikh community; the Sikh community is an important part of the community that is (or at least should be) Abbotsford; therefore the crematorium is (or at least should be) important to the Community of Abbotsford.

For our COMMUNITY we must facilitate bringing into being the crematorium. If the only way to achieve this goal in a timely manner is through the use of land in Hazelwood Cemetery, then that is what should, must be done.