The Shrill Shriek of the Abbotsford Shill – I of II.

Given the damage inflicted on Abbotsford’s taxpayers bank accounts as well as the negative outcomes and consequences for Abbotsford citizens that have occurred when the portion of our local Black Press flyer delivery service responsible for preparing and providing the printed wrapper that advertising flyers are contained in for delivery taken on the roll of cheerleading  – RAH! RAH! RAH! – and PR hack for a City of Abbotsford stratagem.

:Then: the HEAT shelter will result in the expenditure of a large number of taxpayer dollars and accomplish Nothing. Or at least nothing useful or effective.

A result that is not a surprise given that our local Black Press flyer delivery service never let facts get in the way of their cheerleading or PR efforts on behalf of the City Of Abbotsford, their large steady local client.

Should ignoring the facts not provide enough cheerleading and PR support our local Black Press outlet simply spins the facts to make the city look good; using innuendo, revision and the careful choice and presentation of facts to create an implication that blames the City’s ill-considered choices on someone else.

‘It’s not our fault, THEY made us do it.’

According to the City’s cheering section the fact this is only occurring now is the fault of the Drug War Survivors for suing the city, a process that took two years. Furthermore, those bad, bad Drug War Survivors forced the city to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on lawyers only to achieve little because the judge’s ruling was essentially a mirror of an earlier [BC Court of Appeals ruled on the appeal in 2009] Victoria case.

The mayors and councils are innocent victims of those terrible Drug War Survivors.

A spin that does not show the true situation [lies] through the omission of the fact that Abbotsford’s mayors and councils refused to acknowledge the Victoria ruling applied to Abbotsford and continued to enforce the Abbotsford bylaws against overnight camping in public parks.

The Abbotsford bylaws were of the same nature as the bylaws that were struck down by the BC Supreme Court, a decision upheld by the BC Court of Appeals, in the Victoria court case.

The refusal by the mayors and councillors of Abbotsford to amend the City’s bylaws to conform to BC law as set by the Victoria court decision left the homeless with no other option in protecting their rights but to ask the BC Supreme Court to force Abbotsford to bring its bylaws into compliance.

It also ignores the reality, clearly reflect in BC Supreme Court documents, that it was Abbotsford’s delaying and stalling tactics that were responsible for the length of time it took for the Court to rule. Court records also make it clear that the City continued to try to stall and delay the trial after the Court had set a trial date.

But the piece de résistance of omitting facts to transfer responsibility for the costs and consequences of the actions of the City of Abbotsford to someone – anyone – other than those responsible, the mayors and councillors of Abbotsford, is ignoring the statement of Mayor Braun at the city press conference when the decision was announced.

Mayor Braun stated that the ruling was in line with the City’s expectations.

Mayor Braun was quite correct. Given the decision by the BC Supreme Court in 2008 and the decision of the BC Court of Appeals in 2009 that the homeless won their case was only to be expected. It would only have been shocking if the Court had ruled for the City of Abbotsford.

A reality that makes the passage of time and the waste of hundreds of thousands [if not millions] of taxpayer dollars the sole responsibility of the Abbotsford mayors and councils who chose to ignore the court ruling on Victoria’s bylaws – and thus the laws of BC.