Category Archives: Consider

behaviour, Consider, Issues, Municipal, Politics

This is Abbotsford: Common Sense Overrated

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At the Abbotsford City Council meeting on Monday February 17, 2014 Bruce Banman stepped up and delivered yet another blow to democracy in Abbotsford.

When Simon Gibson was elected as a Liberal MLA in the provincial election of May 14, 2013 Mr. Gibson, mayor and council decided democracy for the citizens of Abbotsford was not worth the cost of a by-election.

If Mr. Gibson, mayor and council had not decided that saving a few thousand dollars was more important than the democratic rights of the citizens of Abbotsford, the citizens of Abbotsford would have been going to the polls to elect a new member of council last Fall [2013] as did every city where a city councillor had been elected a provincial MLA.

Every city except Abbotsford, where it was decided the cost of a by-election was to high a price to pay for democracy.

A by-election in the Fall of 2013, when the details of the Abbotsford Community Services housing proposal were before the public for their consideration; a by-election that would have permitted the citizens of Abbotsford to express their opinion on the housing proposal. But no, the cost of a by-election was to high a cost to allow the citizens of Abbotsford to express their will on the ACS housing proposal – or was it the cost to council and special interests that was to high to permit the citizens of Abbotsford to democratically express their views?

Keep in mind Abbotsford City Council was aware of the proposal and of the proposal being made public once all the Ts were crossed and all the Is dotted. Council knew that not holding a by-election would deny the citizens of Abbotsford the right to democratically express, through the ballot box, the citizen’s position on the ACS housing proposal. Council robbed voters of their right to vote, but hey – they saved taxpayers the cost of a by-election.

Ironic, coming from a council that willingly spends millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars every year to subsidize the ownership, by a few privileged business people,  of a professional hockey team.

A few thousand of taxpayer dollars? Far to high a price to grant taxpayers a democratic say in the actions, the governance, of city government.

Spend millions of taxpayer dollars to protect council’s ego by buying a tenant so council’s Great Folly [aka the Great White Elephant] did not sit there empty – no matter how many millions of dollars an empty Folly would have saved taxpayers? Council has no problem squandering however many millions of taxpayer dollars are required.

“It may be irrational, but that doesn’t matter,” said Councillor Smith. A statement that, while warped, makes perfect sense when you consider all the other irrational decisions made and/or supported by Councillors Smith, Barkman, MacGregor and Mr. Banman.

With a municipal election this November 2014, having run twice for council and lost one begins to wonder if the citizens, as mind-boggling as one may find it, want a council that is financially reckless and irresponsible.

What else would you call it when, after years of calling on BC housing for funding  and BC housing steps up with $2,5 million, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for support programs for residents, council tells them to take their housing and their money and shove it?

When council tells the Finance Minister to take his $$millions$$ to a community that wants to do something – besides whining – about homelessness in their community?

When the mayor, with visions of sugar–plums [or something] dancing in his head, expects Fraser Health to step up with millions of dollars to fund housing in Abbotsford; the same Fraser Health that is under scrutiny for its inability not to go $50 million over budget every year. Fraser Health, when Fraser Mental Health must make a special funding proposal to the provincial government for funding to undertake new, and needed, services.

Only reckless and irrational dreaming would have anyone thinking that the Finance Minister is going to give Fraser Health extra funds to spend on housing in Abbotsford after the mayor and council told BC Housing, the Finance Minister and the government to take their money and give it to a community that cares.

One begins to wonder if the citizens want a council that ignores reality, facts and experience and behaves irrationally when dealing with social issues such as homelessness.

A council that deployed chicken manure  in its war on the homeless. An action one Abbotsford citizen heard about when surrendering their passport as they checked into a hotel in Scandinavia where the front desk staff, upon seeing they were from Abbotsford BC informed them they were from the city that dumps chicken shit on its homeless citizens.

A council that chases the homeless around the city never answering the question “where are the homeless suppose to go?” A council that, as it pointlessly chases the homeless around Abbotsford, ensures there is no place for the homeless to go by voting not to permit ACS to use the housing first model to build housing to help the homeless transition off the streets.

A council whose action in rejecting homeless housing provide proof to the courts, for the ongoing homeless related litigation, that not only is the City of Abbotsford not doing anything about affordable housing and housing for the homeless, but that the City is actively preventing the building of homeless related housing projects.

But then Mr Banman stated “Council has to ensure that any changes made to our bylaws are made for the greater benefit of the entire community……. we also need to make sure the interests of all residents are considered in our decisions.”

A statement which brings to mind a notable prior assault on Abbotsford citizens by Mr. Banman and Councillor Smith when, after council voted not to approve the rezoning of the Mahogany at Mill Lake, Mr. Banman ambushed council and citizens by sneaking Mahogany at Mill Lake back before council at a time when one of the council members who had voted against the project could not attend the council meeting, allowing Mr. Banman and councillor Smith to have the project approved against the wishes and interests of the citizens living in the area.

An assault on democracy made worse as both Mr. Banman and Mr. Smith had accepted campaign contributions from the developer.

Mr. Banman is right, the citizens of Abbotsford need people on council who are concerned about building a community, people concerned about considering the interests of all residents not just the well connected and moneyed, in decisions; people who don’t make reckless, irresponsible, fear based or irrational decisions.

It is clear that the majority of the citizens of Abbotsford, those who are not among the well connected and/or the moneyed, need new blood on council to protect their interests from irrational, irresponsible actions such as Mr. Banman, councillors Smith, Barkman and McGregor rejecting the desperately needed housing proposed by ACS.

Consider, Municipal, Politics

Could it be so Simple?

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I have never really been able to understand Abbotsford City Council’s spendthrift ways, council’s well demonstrated ignoring of the basic infrastructure needs of the city, ignoring even the most basic fiscally responsible or prudent behaviours or council’s wastrel squandering of taxpayer dollars on vanity projects.

I can understand the temptation of ego and the temptation of it being ‘free money’ because it is coming out of someone else’s (the long suffering taxpayers of Abbotsford who will be suffering long into the future) pocket.

One would have thought [hoped, prayed] the novelty would wear off and a sense of responsibility, of ethical behaviour, would have city council acting more as if the money was coming from their own pockets and not as if they had just won the lottery.

Hoped and prayed that council might focus on actions that would address, not worsen, the growing social issues the city is facing or focus on basics like roadways that don’t try to throw you off the road; or roads that are not cratered with holes that like to swallow small automobiles; how about roads with lane markings you can see on the dark, illumination challenged roadways of Abbotsford?

But No; Abbotsford City Hall continued to play with taxpayers money as if taxpayer’s pockets were bottomless.

What is, or could be, going on within the confines of  Abbotsford City Hall ? Low oxygen content? Environment contamination?

And then, in a Thrift Store, I came across an item that would explain mayor, council and staff’s behaviours.

Until I found it in a Thrift Store I did not know the Game of Abbey-Opoly existed.

But The Game’s play within the confines of Abbotsford City Hall explains so much!

Mayor and city council spend taxpayer’s dollars as if they were play money because mayor and council cannot understand the difference between playing the Game of Abbey-Opoly and managing the City of Abbotsford.

Explaining why the mayor and council cannot grasp the value of taxpayer dollars, the needs – not wants – of the city and its citizens or the reality of homelessness.

Consider, Homeless, Issues, Municipal

The Homeless Two-step

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If it wasn’t so pathetic, watching the city’s ‘shock and awe’ closing of the homeless camp on Gladys avenue and the outcome would have been hilarious.

The expression on Mayor Banman’s face when the answer to the question he and council have been ignoring: “if you close the camp, where are the homeless suppose to go?” turned out to be 100 meters along Gladys back to the spot the city had spread with chicken feces must have been quite a sight to behold.

Ignoring reality does not change reality.

Although Abbotsford’s mayor and council appear convinced that if they keep doing the same thing over and over and over, year after year, decade after decade, they will eventually get a result they will like.

I have watched a decade of mayors and councils chase the homeless from camp to camp around and around and around and around Abbotsford. Mayors and councils apparently unable to grasp the simple concept that if the homeless have no option but to camp, the homeless will camp no matter how often the city forces them to move.

When asked by the media where the homeless were suppose to go Mayor Banman stated they were working with local agencies on that.

EXCEPT the local agency that has a funding agreement in place with BC Housing under which Abbotsford Community Services will receive funding to construct 20 units of first stage housing (using the Housing First model); the agreement provides additional funding for services to support the residents.

Pathways to Housing, Inc., of New York City, a program that created the Housing First model won the 2005 American Psychiatric Association Gold Achievement Award in the category of community-based programs.

Considering the reductions in chronic homelessness achieved in the United States using the Housing First approach, that countries in Europe are also using Housing First principles to reduce their chronic homelessness, Abbotsford’s use of chicken feces against the homeless and the spectacular fizzle of the ‘closing’ of the homeless camp across from the Salvation Army…….using Housing First to reduce homelessness in Abbotsford would seem to be so much of a ‘no brainer’, it should be right up council’s alley.

Instead we have the city muttering about ‘Right Location’ to excuse their failure to have rezoned the property proposed for ACS’s first stage housing.

Under Housing First principles the property ACS proposes to use, while it may not be the ‘Right Location’ [politically correct speak for NIMBY], is the Best location – in my opinion and the opinion of others who have advised council for years that Housing First is a best practice that has proven effective in reducing homelessness around the world.

Unfortunately, rather than re-zoning the ACS property, council remains committed to chasing the homeless from spot to spot around Abbotsford; apparently believing that if they chase the homeless long enough and hard enough, council will get a different outcome at some point.

Speaking of being committed, Albert Einstein defined Insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Come to think of it…….unsoundness of mind would certainly explain council’s decisions, actions and behaviours over the past decade.

Post Script:

I am sure that the new tenant at the camp on Gladys across from the Salvation Army is very appreciative of the city making the previous tenants move and the job done removing the debris and making the camp habitable.

behaviour, Consider, Homeless, Issues, Municipal, Politics

End Nigh for Gladys Camp?

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It was not a sign post……

 

 

 

 

 

 

….or a complicated system of divination………

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

………that leads me to predict the end is near for the homeless camp on Gladys Avenue across from the Salvation Army.

It was the appearance of the radar trailer unit that shows drivers their speed….

……..on Gladys Avenue in front of the house adjacent to the Salvation Army on Saturday [September 7, 2013] that foreshadows the intention of the mayor and city council to remove the homeless and their camp from Gladys.

 

 

From the moment the media descended on Abbotsford in response to the City’s crazed decision to weaponize and deploy chicken feces against the homeless, the mantra of those who wanted the camp in anyone else’s neighbourhood has been concern for the safety of the homeless vis-à-vis traffic.

A concern manifested when the city turned gun shy [chicken?] about dealing with such a public, media exposed camp.

As if prior to the camp the homeless were not crossing from one side of Gladys to the other.

Indeed, one could argue that the presence of the camp and the public awareness of the camp’s existence makes crossing the road in that section of Gladys safer than it has ever been or will be after the camp is gone.

What would you care to wager that once the camp is gone the expressions of concern about the homeless getting struck by traffic will be gone as well?

The most dangerous aspect of crossing Gladys is that it is a road in Abbotsford: poor or no lighting, meandering and/or invisible lane markings, pavement that threatens to toss your vehicle off the road and vehicle swallowing puddles; which makes mayor and council the leading threat to the homeless from traffic.

Whether on Monday, or a day shortly thereafter, the health department should be appearing at the camp, with the camp being declared a health hazard and the city ‘forced’ to close it for health reasons.

Other than all the dithering, the use of the wringing of hands over the safety of the homeless in traffic, the involvement of health inspectors and not using chicken feces what has changed since Abbotsford’s Day of International Infamy?

Admittedly, we now know the worth of an apology from Mayor Banman and council, giving us the measure of mayor and council.

I am not saying or in any way advocating that the homeless camp on Gladys should be left there.

While the use of chicken feces is unacceptable……

 

 

 

 

 

 

……the camp on Gladys is not much more acceptable, on a number of levels and for numerous reasons, than the use of chicken feces was.

 

The issue with what will occur with the camp on Gladys lies in the question of: what has changed?

 

 

When asked at the time of Mayor Banman’s [as of this point in time] non-apology what form I wanted the apology to take, I stated the city needed a changes in behaviour, attitudes, knowledge and understanding to achieve positive outcomes rather than continuing untold more years of negative consequences and harm to the homeless.

The city can have and use all the nice protocols it wants; have ‘concern for the risk posed to the homeless by traffic’; the use of health inspectors and health concerns; use all the politically correct language and buzzwords it wants; the bottom line remains: were are the homeless suppose to go? The Twilight zone? Down the rabbit hole to Wonderland?

Stripped down to its reality the city is back, however gently and slowly at this point, engaged once more in the futility of pointlessly chasing the homeless around Abbotsford from camp to camp.

It is not just that mayor and council have no ideas or strategies to address homelessness, but that mayor and council are actively refusing strategies demonstrated effective in reducing homelessness.

Given the wilful ignorance and callus disregard for the homeless in the mayor and council’s return to business as usual in its behaviours and actions towards the homeless and the atrocious behaviour of the mayor and council’s in evading the rezoning to permit Abbotsford Community Services to provide twenty units of first stage housing to the homeless……

……the use of chicken feces by city staff against the homeless is looking less and less offensive……

……while the behaviour of mayor and council is looking more and more offensive.

Consider, Life, Thoughts

Celebrate Literacy

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Whether in the Zone……

……or at Home.

 

 

 

 

At James W. Breckenridge.ca on a daily basis we practice, hone and strive to improve and enrich our language skills. Taking joy journeying to wondrous lands born of words and imagination. 

Parent’s actions, what parents give, have a profound effect on who their children become. Yet seldom do parents or their children consider this important reality.

I know that I never appreciated what a magnificent gift my parents gave to me when they gifted me with a love of reading.

Reading, all that flows from the ability to read and a love of reading (a love of words) may be both the most useful and most joyful gift parents can give to future generations of their offspring.

Raise a reader.