WTF? Have we Vancouverites lost our minds?

I just wrote this message to all the folks listed above as well as the Vancouver Police Department

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I just read this post on ChangeEverything.ca and I have to say I shook my head and my shoulders slumped at the thought that this is going on in our city. Please guys, open your hearts. Violence and disruption is not the way to deal with anyone especially folks who are clearly hurting in ways that you or I never have, or probably ever will.

The thing in us that knows that people sleeping in parks at 4:30 am doesn't feel quite right is a very wise part, but the way we seem to be interpreting that information and acting on it is not actually helping to shift things. If we choose to spend our resources going around trying to annihilate the things we don't like, we will always be at war with something. But there is another way. We can stand beside the things that make us feel scared and see if we can find a place of humanity in them and in ourselves.

These are not bad or faulty people, they are hurt and lost and alone. And I am guessing that partly, they scare us because they represent the possibility that that kind of pain could happen to us and rather than allow ourselves to acknowledge that fear we jump into action and try to destroy them and thus any possibility that we might become that.

We have the capacity to co-create solutions...together. Why not actively involve healthier members of our community like your family friends, Nancy and myself to work together with some of the folks who are living on the streets to come up with ways to support a shift in our homeless situations.

And lets acknowledge together that bullying didn't work in grade 8, and it doesn't seem to be working now either.

Thanks, Nancy, for blogging this and Kate for bringing the community's attention to it. I took the #4 bus and passed by this park on Sunday, and I was curious as to the gatherings I saw there. I was on my way to the Folk Festival over on Jericho beach and found myself ill at ease at the festival that afternoon, and I think it is because the that the beauty we know and celebrate at Jericho is not available to everyone, and there are forces in society which aim to keep it that way.

While I agree that it's terrible these people even have to exist in these conditions without the opportunity for proper housing. I don't agree that we should be taking this out on the Vancouver Police Department, who were merely trying to do their jobs.

Maybe like Nancy, I don't want to use the park at 4:30 a.m. But having been by that park at various hours of the day, I've noted it is always full and I wouldn't want to use this particular park at any given time. It is unsafe, and as Nancy mentioned, there are needles to be careful of. If it's a public area, shouldn't it be made to feel safe enough for anyone to use? We as a city can't smoke within six meters of a building entrance, but we can allow a public park to be degraded to the point where we won't even visit it? There are children who live in this area who aren't afforded the opportunity to play there because of this.

Further, just because I don't want to use the park at 4:30 a.m., does not mean that somebody else wouldn't. Somebody who works a night shift and needs to walk there dog, perhaps? Where are they to go?

So yes, while I feel bad that these people don't have proper housing, etc. Their presence and habits in this park are putting a community at risk, time to move along.

I am very torn over this situation, but felt a little devil's advocacy was required here.

Public spaces should serve the needs of the local community and in this park, in the heart of the downtown eastside, the community needs a place where people can congregate, socialize and sleep.

I live three blocks from this park and also three blocks from three other parks that meet other needs that we in this community have. There are other parks nearby where our kids can play, parks where our dogs can run and parks where we can sunbathe and socialize.

Oppenheimer Park meets the needs of an important group in our community well. The cops need to leave these people alone. We need support to help us integrate as a community, not separate.

Living la vida fearless! www.tobeyourbest.net

This same thing has been going on in Victoria for some time now. My daughter participated in a sleep in protest on Father's Day weekend for exactly the same reasons. The point here is, whether people like it or not, some people just do not want to be inside and/or do not want help and/or have made a choice to live outside. It's not good or bad: it just is. My perspective is that it's presumptuous of society in general to assume that the rules must apply to everybody, sounds anarchistic for sure, and that if you don't comply somehow you are perceived to be "bad." If you look this issue up in Victoria you'll probably find out more on how it's being, or not being, handled. There has been a documentary made from this group, again not sure of the title but it has the words "fearless and heart" in it. I just "googled" it and didn't come up with anything. I have just finished reading a fantastic book, my perspective, called "The Soloist" which is based on a true story. The premise is a writer decides he needs new material and is intrigued by a man he often sees playing a scratchy violin in the streets of LA. The man is obviously homeless: the story is brilliant and opens the reader's eyes to a different way of seeing people who are "not like the rest of us." Do the sleep in  in the park but be prepared: you might get arrested....what are you willing to do and how far will you take it? That's the BIG question. Thanks for bringing this to the attention of your readers. Living la vida fearless, Jan

@kate - thank you! your letter is well-crafted and thoughtful . I deeply hope the recipients are open and consider your constructive comments.

@countablyinfinite - think how much more wholeheartedly we could indeed celebrate all that is so wonderful about vancouver, if we knew that those among us who struggle are given a space in which to fully come into their own. Sometimes I wonder if there is a genius or two, a brilliant artist maybe, who is among those who sleep outside on a regular basis.

@akina e - completely agreed re: VPD. They are simply doing what our politicians think (operative word) we as a society want them to do. I'm sorry if the post wasn't clear enough that this isn't a critique of the police, but of actions sanctioned by our politicians.

@Amanda - we are sooo on the same page. Hi, neighbour! And like you, I seek solutions and actions that integrate us, not separate us.

@Jan - wow, you are wonderfully non judgmental. I would at least like the *option* for people living outside to be able to live inside if they choose. Right now, there are multiple barriers (eg. can't get on a waitlist for social housing unless you are on welfare. Can't get on welfare without an address.) and I'd like to see those eliminated. After that, I agree, some people may still opt to live outside, and in that case, I hope we can be open minded enough to allow space for them too.

Thanks, all, for participating in this vital conversation.
Any city councilors who care to speak to this, in this space?

What Nancy witnessed and the resulting conversation here is a result of Project Civil Society championed by Mayor Sullivan and passed last year by Vancouver Council. Once laws are in place it takes 10x the effort to change them as compared to the effort of opposing them in the first place. The tools are now in place to sweep aside Vancouver’s less attractive side for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

I too have seen this ‘civility’ in practice. One late afternoon in May/08, I witnessed the police handing out fines to two homeless First Nation men who were sitting on the sidewalk in front of London Drugs at 655 West Broadway. One of the men had his leg in cast and needed crutches to walk. In addition to the fines, they were also ordered to pick up their belongings and move. Sitting, lying down, sleeping and panhandling in public places is no longer permissible under the by-laws of Project Civil City.

Our stories here are only two examples of dozens of occurrence that likely happen each day in Vancouver. Each day from now until February 2010, the scale and level of aggression from the police is likely to increase as they match the increased level of resistance from people who oppose to be summarily displaced. Have you seen the Riot 2010 graffiti messages around town? It’s about this issue and the darker side of Vancouver.

Such a future hasn’t happened yet. It’s only the probable outcome if nothing changes. It’s possible to collective imagine the future we desire and to co-create its manifestation. Is such a shift possible?

Excerpt From Vancouver Sun
December 9, 2006

Achieving a civil society hinges on humane treatment for its lost souls

Public disorder is not new in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, nor are attempts to eliminate it. Successive mayors, from Philip Owen to Larry Campbell, and now Sam Sullivan, have all called attention to the problem, and have offered various solutions.

This is something we need to keep in mind in assessing the value of Sullivan's latest initiative, Project Civil City. According to the project's official document, Sullivan wants to achieve a 50-per-cent reduction in homelessness, the open drug market, aggressive pandhandling and public nuisance and annoyance complaints by 2010.

These are ambitious and worthy goals, but goals alone are not enough. The real issue centres on how these goals will be achieved, and to that end, Project Civil Society includes a 10-point plan.

Quote from Project Civil Sociey:

“We have a tremendous opportunity to use the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games as a catalyst to solve the public disorder problems that affect our city.”

Link to Project Civil Society:

http://www.mayorsamsullivan.ca/pdf/project-civil-city.pdf