Thursday 14 June 2012

DNC Board Meeting Minutes - June 14, 2012

DNC Board meeting
June 14 2012

NEXT STEPS:
  • PALACE & WONDER
      • Push the city to collect the fines Wolsey (and other slumlords) owes them
      • Write simple demands to stop real estate speculation and organize actions, maybe at 925 W Georgia.
      • Organize more actions targeting BC Housing to put social housing on the table
  • STREET MARKET
      • Support vendors to make decisions about the governance of the market, including who can vend and with what conditions.
      • Politicize the market more with banners, calls to action, stop ticketing.
  • PEDESTRIAN SAFETY
      • Dave H will liaise with the VANDU board on whether we can take joint action to get police to enforce the 30/kph speed limits on Hastings.
  • POW WOW SUNDAY
      • Wendy will contact the organizers of the Pow Wow (meeting at Pigeon Park at noon Sunday and marching to Oppenheimer) to find out what they need from us to start at the street market.
  • SHELTERS
      • Roland will work with Robert H to issue a complaint to the Yukon over Robert's eviction
  • DRUG PROHIBITION
      • Ivan to liaise with VANDU, the End Drug Prohibition coalition and others to organize a joint event and news conference in response to the recent overdose (and other) deaths in the neighbourhood. To call for an end to the drug war; violence from the police, between users, overdoses, and lack of access to detox and treatment as systems that kill oppressed people.



Present: Tami, Kelvin, Roland,
Guests: Greg (ally), Richard (West Hotel), Ben (Asia Hotel), Bill and Maxine (Regent Hotel)

Agenda
  • Anti-Lippification fight
  • Committee reports
  • Committee discussions
  • New business

ANTI-LIPPIFICATION FIGHT
Ivan
  • What happened and why we acted
Harold
  • We had a successful picket line in front of Lippman's house. It was a spirited action, kids involved. Good media coverage.
Greg
  • We were able to set up a camp site right under the police's nose because they don't know how to handle protesters.
  • I was woken up by someone yelling through a megaphone, “Go home freak, go home freak! West Vancouver doesn't want you!”
  • There were some professionals and rich people who were semi-friendly, but awkward
  • The most friendly people were the servants, and a postie who wanted to know who the slumlord was. It was good to talk with those people.
  • Some people also came by who did not live in the area but who saw it on the news and wanted to know what it's about
  • I did a lot of media interviews too. It was pretty successful
Dave H
  • On Tuesday we had a demonstration in front of BC Housing
  • It was not huge but the spirit was really high, really unified and strong.
  • Richard C sang a song from the VANDU choir and it brought people together
  • We also carried banners and signs and communicated well with the people in cars.
Harold
  • It was a good action. The message was really strong and consistent.
  • We were able to get a meeting with BC Housing, they were under pressure.
  • We should continue to target BC Housing.
Wendy
  • When we target private developers we also put pressure on the government, so we don't always have to target just BC Housing
  • Also, two people from the community told me that they were happy that we were doing what we were doing.
Ivan
  • Four residents from the buildings came along with us for the march and got in for the meeting with the BC Housing executive. It was good.
  • Through our actions we put these buildings on the map for the city and the province. They both sent lawyers to the court case.
Roland
  • I want to bring up again that if BC Housing capped shelter spending at $50/per bed they would save $15M a year.
Wendy
  • Better to not target low-income peoples' services
Ivan
  • What happened at court: Wolsey got his buildings back through finding another bank to finance him.
Robert
  • Can we do something to stop him?
Dave
  • He owes the city so much money for fines, we could try to get them to go after him for the fines he owes them.
NEXT STEPS:
  • Push the city to collect the fines Wolsey (and other slumlords) owes them
  • Write simple demands to stop real estate speculation and organize actions, maybe at 925 W Georgia.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

LAPP
Wendy
  • We have the LAPP because the city feels bad for wiping out our neighbourhood.
  • We have twin timelines happening:
      • LAPP planning schedule, including our outreach and discussions work
      • And at the same time there are, outside the committee, many terrible things happening that are hurting the community.
  • The bad things are the Wonder and Palace threatened with gentrification; the Argle upscaling; the Asia facing renovation; the Pantages development driving up the investment value of the community; 767 new condo units planned or proposed; the viaduct happening outside of our purview; city interfering with the dynamics in the LAPP committee.
  • Michael C and I met with the city manager and asked her to help with these problems.
  • She agreed that if the committee agrees then Ivan could stay on the committee.
  • She also said that she would put together a housing action group outside of the LAPP
  • She did call Shane Ramsay about BC Housing buying the Pantages

STREET MARKET COMMITTEE
Dave
  • The street market volunteer meeting will now be 9am Saturday mornings at Jacob's Well
  • We had a good meeting at the Dodson, more than 30 people attended.
  • We'll make sure we have DNC memberships here for the vendors meeting
  • The vendors decided that they want any one who wants to vend at the market to be a member of the DNC. That way they can be sure that anyone who vends there is part of the community. They are feeling pressured from some others from outside the community who are buying things in bulk and undercutting our community vendors.
  • The market is becoming stronger as vendors are taking more control over its operations.
  • If anyone wants to volunteer for the street market you have to come to the meeting
Wendy
  • We are also trying to get $10,000 from the city to keep the market going
Jean
  • Please pass it on to vendors that there is a welfare earnings exemption coming; $200 for regular welfare and $800 for disability.
Dave
  • Some vendors are saying maybe to charge a fee to people from out of the neighbourhood
  • There is a class thing happening at the street market. The binners and people with used goods are feeling like they are in a different camp, lower status than people with new goods.
  • We said that we want to give them ownership on it and make decisions. We have to support them for that.
Ivan
  • One thing we could do to take control over the market is to politicize it. We could put up banners and distribute information.
Dave
  • Could invite people to join my constitutional challenge in August
Jim
  • When I was a bike courier the cops would give me tons of tickets and I would appeal everything. They finally gave up ticketing us because we fought everything.
Robert
  • I go every Saturday to the North Shore and grab donated stuff from the Salvation Army. They let me back on the seabus because they don't want me on the North Shore. I stay up all night guarding my stuff. I do that every week.
Dave
  • You have a right to make a living, and we don't have yards or garages so we need the street.
Jim
  • The street is our backyard.
Sparrow
  • You'll never get a general bylaw lifted because then they'll have vending in Yaletown and Granville and they'll never stand for that. They don't let you panhandle in other areas.

TASKFORCES
Ivan
  • The next meeting of the SRO taskforce will be this Monday the 18th. We'll go and try to organize four dinner-meetings in four hotels to work on conditions and housing security.
  • Our group with seats on the taskforce includes Herb, Roland, DJ, Ivan.

DTES NOT FOR DEVELOPERS
Ivan
  • Still doing the Pantages pledge
  • Planning a rubble action at the next council meeting

SHELTERS
Robert
  • I got thrown out of the Yukon shelter today. They said I hadn't shown up for four days, which wasn't true.
Roland had said that he will work on sending a statement about this.

NEW BUSINESS

TRAFFIC ON HASTINGS
Ben
  • I almost got hit by a bus crossing Hastings last week. I looked in each direction because I was wearing headphones but this bus snuck up on me and blew its horn at the last minute
  • I wonder if there's anything we can do
  • The buses that come in from the suburbs are the worst.
Dave
  • VANDU did a pedestrian safety project that the city claimed to be so proud of but they're not enforcing it.
  • There must be some way to enforce it.
  • VANDU has been meaning to monitor the speeds but we've been busy with other things.
Sparrow
  • My friend was killed at Hastings and Jackson by a speeding driver
  • Maybe we could get a speed gun from the city to help measure the speeds people are actually going
Dave
  • That's what we did with the Pedestrian Safety Project. We had speed guns for that and made our report based on our findings.
NEXT STEPS:
  • Liaise with VANDU on Pedestrian Safety next steps

POW WOW THIS WEEKEND
Kelvin
  • There will be treatment referral this Sunday at the Pow Wow at Oppenheimer. If you go to the Pow Wow and want to enter treatment you can go straight from the Pow Wow, by bus.
  • AFD is supporting this event
  • Starts at noon at Pigeon Park and marches on to Oppenheimer.
  • The treatment centres will have tables at the event.
NEXT STEPS: Wendy will contact the organizers of the Pow Wow to find out what they need from us to start at the street market.

END THE WAR ON DRUGS
Ivan
  • There have been a lot of deaths by overdose.
  • I think we should organize a discussion and news conference event to call for an end to the drug war; violence from the police, between users, and overdoses as systems that kill oppressed people.
  • That we should organize with other groups like VANDU and the end drug prohibition coalition
Harold
  • Make sure we work with others on this
Wendy
  • Make sure 'treatment' is part of the discussion too.
(AGREED)

Closing; Kelvin.



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