Municipal

Another empty Abbotsford city council promise

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Another empty Abbotsford city council promise.

City council assured us that fees at Abbotsford Recreation Centre would not take a large jump to cover the additional operating costs of the Plan A addition at ARC.

I now find myself paying a 13.1% fee increase to use ARC. To council, habituated to just reaching into taxpayers pockets for more, a 13.1% increase may not seem like a large jump in fees, but to me, coming as it does out of my pocket, it is a large jump.

I am not really surprised by the double digit price increases given council’s record of promises made and broken, along with their misleading or incorrect statements on City financial matters. Particularly in light of what was revealed about council promises made and not kept with respect to the crematorium issue.

I have no doubt that the City will have an excuse for the 13.1% raise; excusing making being the one thing the City and council excel at.

Actually, I am not really interested in whatever excuse they come up with for this double digit increase. The real excuse I am interested is the one they will come up with as the cost overrun on Plan A closes in on 50% ($42.5 million).

It’s bound to be a whopper.

Homeless

It is not that easy.

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This quote is from Joey Thompson’s column in the Province of Friday June 20, 2008.

“In the meantime, I’m with Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu: Send them off to jail, and make sure facilities offer them plenty of treatment and recovery options.”

So neat, so tidy, so simple why have we not solved these problems this way? Because Reality, as it so often does, intrudes.

Faced with the suggestion that we begin locking all these people up for long terms I thought it prudent to check the number of spaces available in our prisons. According to the research I did on the web our prisons currently runneth over with inmates.

These repeat offenders are released time after time due to a lack of space in the prison system. So where are we to put all the new prisoners resulting from this “…purging Vancouver streets of 379 prolific offenders…”?

We could raise the $$$ billions needed to build more prison spaces and the $$$ millions needed yearly to operate the new prisons through tax increases or by redirecting current funds spent on law enforcement into prison building and operating.

I wonder what percentage of the Vancouver Police budget Chief Chu is prepared to forgo so it can be spent on prison construction and operation? Just how much more is Ms. Thompson willing to pay in taxes to fund the major expansion in prison spaces to incarcerate these criminals?

Alternatively we could lock these prolific offenders away and let others who have committed lesser numbers of crimes free.

Of course currently priority is given to locking up those who are violent and dangerous, resulting in those who commit property crimes, even repeated and multiple offences, getting little or no jail time. A policy of releasing those who commit property crimes and locking up those who assault people seems an intelligent choice to me.

However if we would rather protect property rather than people by changing our incarceration policies we can. I just wonder what killers, rapists, child pornographers and other violent criminals Ms. Thompson and Chief Chu want to release from prison in order to make room to lock up those dare steal our precious stuff.

The problem with the Vancouver Police Department report is it fails to address the underlining complex reality of a statement as simple as “Send them off to jail”, much less the far more complex problems connected with “…and make sure facilities offer them plenty of treatment and recovery options.”

It misleads the public into thinking that the solution is simple, straight forward and easy when that is not the reality.

The public perception of simple, straight forward and easy answers becomes another barrier to our ability to get on with the hard, messy and complex tasks required to put in place the recovery based systems and supports to address addiction and help addicts get into recovery.

If we seek to address the social ills associated with addiction, such as property crime, we need to address getting addicts into recovery and the complexities of addiction recovery systems and supports.

While this will not be as easy as “Send them off to jail …” it is the only approach that will, if we are patient, persistent, creative and focused on the goal of recovery, achieve the results we want

Consider

Personal Devaluation lies not in Evolution – but in Oneself

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If it truly pains Paula Brown to see the debate between evolution and creation deteriorate into mudslinging why did she proceed to label those with knowledge and an understanding of evolution as like Hitler? In casting these false aspersions, Ms. Brown goes past the mudslinging she decried.

Ignorance is far more likely to get Ms. Brown killed than is evolution. Ignorance of the kind revealed in her statement “Evolution only values life if it is strong” or her statements implying that evolution in some way devalues her or is likely to get her killed. All these statements reveal a lack of understanding of what evolution is.

Evolution values biodiversity. The only devaluation of Ms. Brown in evidence is the devaluation she herself makes. Ms. Brown should take a lesson from evolution and focus on her strengths and abilities, since a positive attitude promotes personal growth and survival and is in keeping with evolutionary behaviour.

One can only hope that a more positive attitude would result in Ms. Brown being less judgmental and insulting.

It is highly insulting to suggest that knowledge and understanding of evolution cause one to devalue life. Rather, it brings about an appreciation for the complexity and beauty of life. An appreciation that led to advocating for and working with those with addictions, mental illnesses, physical and mental challenges; valuing those individuals as people and friends.

As to being less than charitable with those less than perfect, I again point out that evolution has nothing to do with your ideas of what is perfection and what constitutes less than perfect or drags down the gene pool.

If you truly want to contemplate a lack of charity towards those who are less than perfect: the next time you hold a Sunday get-together with your fellow creationists, look around at the big building that cost so much to build and sits mostly empty; consider the money that goes to maintain and equip it; finally, consider how much those funds could do to house and help those in need.

Evolution ultimately has nothing to do with tearing me down or building me up. Evolution is not about something so narrow as my mental illness or your deafness, it is about the whole. Mental illness has caused me to learn and to grow; it is not the negative your attitude implies but a positive. My mental illness also goes with the territory, the mental processes that are advantageous.

Building up is done by society, family, people around us most of all ourselves, evolution has nothing to do with it.

Homeless, Provincial

Torn

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As I drive along listening to my car radio I repeatedly hear the provincial government’s radio advertisement to inform people of the rent subsidy program for families whose income falls under $35,000.

Listening to these ads I am torn.

I am glad for those the Province chooses to help and that the government has recognized at least this limited acknowledgement of the cost of housing and the level of need/poverty in British Columbia.

Unfortunately the government continues burying its head in denial of the reality of the higher levels of poverty and need their ideology denies.

Worse is that this denial appears to be driving the few provincial Liberals who have removed their ideological blinders and opened their minds and eyes, enabling them to see the desperate levels of need, to leave the government in frustration over party leaderships blind insistence on continuing to deny a Reality they have no wish to see.

Perhaps Mr. Campbell could explain what makes some BC residents worthy of his governments aid and others unworthy of help in recovering their lives?

Homeless

What a treat!

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I do not have all the details involved in the preparing and serving of the New Year’s Day feast at the Abbotsford Salvation Army, so if I get details wrong I apologize.

My understanding is that sisters, members of our Sikh community, wanted to serve a meal for the hungry. They were looking at Christmas, but Andy Kwak, the new man in charge at the Salvation Army suggested New Year’s Day would be better. Great suggestion Mr. Kwak and thank you for allowing the use of the meal centre.

Family and friends of the sisters pitched in to help and from all the people who were there preparing and serving the food, the sisters have a lot of family and friends.

They served up lots of great East Indian fare. Enough so that people were waddling out the door unable to eat a single bite more. Many left with sandwiches and/or ‘takeout” for supper that night.

Keeping it simple I will merely say that I heard from many people how much they enjoyed and appreciated the food, expressing their Thanks.

What a great way to start out the New Year; and the food wasn’t bad either.

This is the kind of spirit and community initiative we need to make a start at ending homelessness, addiction and hunger in Abbotsford.

Truly a great, an energizing beginning for the New Year.

Thank you all very much. For the food, the thoughtfulness, your company and your generosity.

Thank you.