Category Archives: Issues

Leo Award for Abbotsford’s Mayor Banman

Mayor Banman’s Leo awaits signatures of two members of  the committee charged with awarding the Leo before it can be placed into the mayor’s hands.

The Leo committee agreed with the nominators of Mayor Banman [The League of Unhoused Citizens of Abbotsford] that standing at the microphone at Cascade Church during the discussion held there on Abbotsford Community Services housing first proposal and crying how poor the city was and how it was up to senior levels of government to step forward with funding while, as pointed out by a citizen, to his immediate right were three representatives of BC Housing with $2,500,000 in capital costs and ongoing yearly funding for programs on the table that the Mayor is seeking to spurn.

As Forrest Gump would say about Mayor Banman: “Stupid is as Stupid does.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jubilee Park – this could be Interesting.

This could be Interesting

When deputy city manager Jake Rudolph made the statement “I think we are at a stage now that it is going to have to end” about the camp in Jubilee Park you knew that the city, following its SOP [Standard Operating Procedure], would shortly issue 48 hour notice to the homeless in Jubilee Park to move somewhere else [hopefully somewhere far less public?] within the City of Abbotsford.

Under that SOP once the homeless have relocated from Jubilee Park to another location within Abbotsford the city will, at some point, turn up at the new camp and issue 48 hours notice to move.

Once the homeless have relocated elsewhere with Abbotsford the city will turn up at the new camp and issue 48 hours notice to move. Once the homeless have relocated elsewhere with Abbotsford the city will turn up at the new camp and issue 48 hours notice to move. Once the homeless have relocated elsewhere with Abbotsford the city will turn up at the new camp and issue 48 hours notice to move. Once the homeless have relocated elsewhere with Abbotsford the city will turn up at the new camp and issue 48 hours notice to move. Once the homeless have relocated elsewhere with Abbotsford the city will turn up at the new camp and issue 48 hours notice to move.

And so on and so on and…….

Until the city once again adds to its growing national and international reputation for uncaring incompetence and commits another amazing Stupid that attracts international press attention. Whereupon the city will go into damage control mode – burying its head in the sand hoping that, this time, the problem will go away.

Did you know that during hundreds of thousands of hours of research no Ostrich has ever been observed to bury its head in the sand when confronted with a problem? It turns out the myth about Ostriches burying their heads is just another example of humans anthropomorphizing.

Why it never occurs to the mayor or council or senior staff that repeating actions that experience demonstrated are pointless is …….well pointless, escapes me.

One would think any rational human being, having found themselves in a hole, would stop digging and adopt actions that have been shown to work in addressing homelessness around the world; such as rezoning Community Services housing first proposal.

But then we are speaking of Abbotsford’s mayor, council and staff.

As I said the city’s telling the homeless they had 48 hours to move elsewhere in Abbotsford is business as usual. Yawn.

Where things should get interesting is the city speaking of getting a court injunction.

Given the embarrassing amount of media coverage the city’s prior actions against the homeless have guaranteed will be present at the end of the 48 hours ‘move or else’, it is no surprise the city would try to turn this into a matter of the courts and the law instead of just another embarrassing example of the mayor, council and staffs intransigent incompetence in dealing with homelessness and other growing social issues.

Those who pay attention to history [it really does help avoid repeating mistakes, avoiding new errors and addressing issues] will recall the BC Court of Appeals ruling in December of 2009 on the appeal of a BC Supreme Court ruling where the Appeals Court held “B.C. homeless win right to camp in parks”.

Pivot legal society, the people working with the homeless in Abbotsford to protect the constantly violated charter rights and freedoms Abbotsford’s homeless have as Canadian citizens, are currently suing  Vancouver to assert the right of Vancouver’s homeless to camp in Vancouver city parks.

Vancouver at least can argue it is taking actions to provide housing alternatives.

But Abbotsford?

Well your honour, it is true that in the past year Abbotsford harassed the homeless until they congregated on Gladys Avenue and then used chicken feces as a poor man’s bio-weapon against the homeless. And it is true that council is currently stalling, stumbling and scrambling to find an excuse to refuse $2.5 million [plus hundreds of thousands of yearly dollars for services] from BC Housing, as it continues to claim – even with BC Housing present – that the city cannot afford to do anything about homeless housing crying that the provincial government needs to provide funds.

Pivot legal society has two issues to argue in challenging Abbotsford’s municipal government legal right to force the campers in Jubilee Park to leave the Park.

First: the Charter rights of Canadians to protest government actions – and inactions.

Second: that the ruling by the highest Courts in BC that the homeless, were municipal governments have failed to act on housing the homeless (or as is the case in Abbotsford blocked attempts to provide housing), have the right to camp in municipal parks grants the homeless-in-Abbotsford the right to camp in ANY park in Abbotsford including Jubilee.

Which means that mayor and council, with their zeal for ‘shooting themselves in the foot’, could well gain a pyrrhic victory in clearing the camp out of Jubilee Park.

After all why would the homeless camp in Jubilee Park when they have the Court of Appeals declared right to camp in any park in Abbotsford?

Mill Lake has not only lake front footage but plenty of space, gazebos to provide solid cover in the event of driving rain or snow, washrooms, running water……..

Earth to Mayor Banman

Abbotsford  Mayor Banman:

“I don’t normally comment on these things, but the John Howard Society runs a tight ship and makes sure rules are followed. My guess is there will not be any problems. Studies I have looked at say inmates do much better in homes like these than leaving them to fend for themselves. As a result the public is safer, and just as important the inmates have a support group, find jobs and return to jail far less often.” 

 

Reading Mayor Banman’s comments on the halfway house had a paraphrasing of Mark Twain coming to mind: “Reader, suppose you were an idiot; and suppose you were the mayor of Abbotsford; but I repeat myself”.

The reality of halfway houses:

Vernon’s Mayor Sean Harvey said that the community has tolerated Howard House in its midst long enough. Three parolees at the halfway house operated by the John Howard Society have been accused of murder in the past eight years in Vernon.

In the third incident, Eric Norman Fish was charged with the first-degree murder of 75 year old Bill Abramenko during a home invasion.

In Vancouver high risk sex offender Mervin Walkus walked away from his halfway house. Police advised that Mervin was a high risk to re-offend. Also going missing from halfway houses in Vancouver were high risk sex offenders Owen Joe and James Patrick Benson.

In Kelowna Phillip Lyons, 36 walked away from a halfway house. His criminal record included “attempt robbery, arson for fraudulent purposes, attempt escape, theft, fail to comply, possession of property obtained by crime, utter forged document, fail to appear, fraud, possession of break in instrument, driving while impaired, utter threats and possession of a scheduled substance.”

Mayor Banman is fine with a halfway house in downtown Abbotsford, but housing for Abbotsford’s homeless? Not in downtown Abbotsford!

Moreover, how is it Mayor Banman can read studies “Studies I have looked at…” about halfway houses but cannot be bothered to read studies on Housing First as an approach to ending homelessness?

In light of the reality of halfway houses, Mayor Banman’s statements concerning halfway houses and about housing for the homeless show a degree of ignorance and prejudices that is appalling and totally unacceptable in a mayor or city councillors.

 

For the Record:

I support the John Howard Society’s opening of a halfway house and their chosen location.

It would be hypocritical to advocate the need for effective support for those dealing with mental illness, substance use and homelessness – and deny the need for the same effective support to prisoners seeking to find wellness and life.

It would be easy to argue this is not the ‘right location’ for a halfway house, but the reality is that for a halfway house – or homeless housing –  ‘right location’ is simply a way of saying NIMBY.

Halfway houses are a critical component in risk management and the successful reintegration of a parolee back to the community.

The ‘failures’ and ‘problems’ that arise with halfway houses owe far more to the failure of the corrections system to provide meaningful, effective rehabilitation, life skills and education before prisoners are processed out to halfway houses; and the lack of community based support for those dealing with mental health and substance use issues.

Vote With Your Pocketbook

From the beginning of the ADBA’s ‘it is a good idea in someone else’s backyard’ reaction to Abbotsford Community Services proposal to use Housing First principles to begin to reduce the number of homeless on the streets of Abbotsford, people have spoken to me of not only no longer making the effort to shop downtown, but of not shopping downtown Abbotsford period.

They have also been urging family and friends to not shop downtown Abbotsford businesses; some have even spoken of publicly calling for a boycott of downtown businesses.

Given that the ADBA is using ‘bad for business’ as part of the rational for their NIMBYism there is….justice….involved in imposing a cost for their behaviour.

I did caution that they needed to remember that not all businesses or residents in downtown Abbotsford oppose the ACS housing proposal; pointing out that some have stated their opposition to the ADBA position while others have written thoughtful, compassionate letters in support of the housing ACS wants to build.

This past week several people speaking of calling for a boycott of downtown businesses responded that ‘you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette’ to justify harming the supportive businesses in their zeal to penalize those opposing this badly needed housing.

When I pointed out the ethical holes in that behaviour they stuck to ‘you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette’, challenging me to come up with a solution that would let people boycott the businesses that oppose the ACS proposal, but that would protect the businesses that support the ACS proposal..

Hmmmm. Interesting challenge, how do you go about separating wheat (those who support housing) from the chaff (the NIMBY faction)?

Two options came to mind as I considered how to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The anti-housing downtown businesses have the petition to signify where they stand; clearly those who support housing need a poster, such as above, that they can display to signify their support of the ACS housing proposal.

Another option, although there is nothing preventing both options being used together, is for those who support the ACS housing proposal to email the editor at Abbotsford Today which would permit the posting of a list of downtown businesses who support the ACS housing proposal.

These options would provide information to permit citizens to impose negative economic consequences on those downtown businesses opposing housing for the homeless and permitting citizens to shop those downtown businesses who support reducing the numbers of homeless on the streets of Abbotsford.

These options would also shine a light into the black hole of the ADBA, revealing just which businesses/businessmen are responsible for the ADBA NIMBY stance. Information that may prove quite enlightening.

Portent?

I found myself standing on Gladys Avenue pondering the reappearance of a radar unit that displays the speed you are driving beside a sign showing the posted speed limit.

 Folk lore contains many signs said to predict future occurances such as the native peoples woolly bear caterpillar….

 

…….. or this ditty from our British roots:

 Onion skins very thin

Mild winter coming in;

Onion skins thick and tough

Coming winter cold and rough

The last appearance of the radar unit on Gladys Avenue in this location foreshadowed the City of Abbotsford’s incursion and pillaging of the homeless camp on Gladys.

I suppose it was foolish to hope that given the unmitigated fiasco of the recent assault by the city on the homeless camping on Gladys, a fiasco beamed around the world by the Global uplink truck and wonderfully enhancing Abbotsford’s growing worldwide reputation as lackwits of the first order, that council would finally have reached a point were they would face the reality of homelessness in Abbotsford rather than continuing to insist that homelessness in Abbotsford conform to what they want it to be.

I admit to my wishful thinking and acknowledge that if city council were at last ready to stop doing the same pointless behaviours over and over and begin to address the reality of homelessness, council would have rezoned the Abbotsford Community Services property and allowed construction of first stage housing to commence.

The passage of time and the occurrence of events will, if we pay attention, teach us whether the radar unit is a sign of an imminent return to Gladys Avenue by city forces to once again set upon the homeless, or not.

Unfortunately, city council seem incapable of learning from the passage of time and the occurrence of events, remaining mired in repeating – over and over and over – actions and behaviours experience has demonstrated – time after time after time – to be pointless and ineffective.

Someone needs to explain to Council that that the adage is “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again” the adage is NOT “If at first you don’t succeed, keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.”

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.   Albert Einstein