The seminal Misfits cover of the Halloween theme...
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Save the PANTAGES THEATRE
First, some information on the Pantages Theatre to acquaint yourself with this historic Vancouver... nay, Western Canadian... nay, North American... landmark.
Future of Vancouver's Pantages Theatre in Doubt (CBC)
The Pantages in Vancouver (Chuck Davis' HMV)
Pantages Theatre (official)
And now, what you can do to support the effort to save the Pantages Theatre.
• IF YOU'RE ON FACEBOOK, join Steve Lee's group "Save the Pantages Theatre in Vancouver, BC, Canada" and invite all your friends. (FB GROUP)
• REGISTER YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE PANTAGES by writing to mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca, and COPY YOUR E-MAIL to the Pantages Theatre Arts Society at cb0bc@yahoo.com .
• SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION...
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.petitiononline.com%2Fpantages%2F
Thanks!
Future of Vancouver's Pantages Theatre in Doubt (CBC)
The Pantages in Vancouver (Chuck Davis' HMV)
Pantages Theatre (official)
And now, what you can do to support the effort to save the Pantages Theatre.
• IF YOU'RE ON FACEBOOK, join Steve Lee's group "Save the Pantages Theatre in Vancouver, BC, Canada" and invite all your friends. (FB GROUP)
• REGISTER YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE PANTAGES by writing to mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca, and COPY YOUR E-MAIL to the Pantages Theatre Arts Society at cb0bc@yahoo.com .
• SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION...
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?
Thanks!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Just say if i were in charge of short-term shelter
Affordable housing is currently a major issue in Vancouver. (CBC) And while what I suggest below is certainly nothing more than a band-aid to a wider major social issue, its implementation might buy time to find a more reasonable long-term strategy.
My left-field short-term solution is to allow those in need of shelter gated access into currently unoccupied city lots (those fenced-off former gas station lots come to mind), and build a planned tent-city, with "streets" and "house numbers."
We could get the outdoor supply companies, such as Mountain Equipment Co-op, to donate a variety of multi-person tents.
We could bring in festival-style portable sanitation facilities, for water and sewage, even showers, perhaps. And how about a central cooking area, with fire-pit grills, like at the beach or in parks?
Each "gated community" could be "managed" by a social-service organization, keeping track of who is utilizing the service, what their needs are, and offering advice and guidance into the civic social system.
There are, obviously, problems to be addressed and solved. Tents offer little protection from the elements, so cold and wet weather could be a problem. It would not be good for these areas to become mud-pits after a rainfall. The suggestion of utilizing former gas station lots brings to mind problems of soil toxicity. Monitoring access requires the participation of service organizations, as well as the coordination with the civic services. City services, such as garbage pick-up, would need to be considered. And my preference would be to limit this option to single individuals and couples. Hopefully this tactic would reduce the demand for other housing provisions, and increase their availability to families that include children.
My left-field short-term solution is to allow those in need of shelter gated access into currently unoccupied city lots (those fenced-off former gas station lots come to mind), and build a planned tent-city, with "streets" and "house numbers."
We could get the outdoor supply companies, such as Mountain Equipment Co-op, to donate a variety of multi-person tents.
We could bring in festival-style portable sanitation facilities, for water and sewage, even showers, perhaps. And how about a central cooking area, with fire-pit grills, like at the beach or in parks?
Each "gated community" could be "managed" by a social-service organization, keeping track of who is utilizing the service, what their needs are, and offering advice and guidance into the civic social system.
There are, obviously, problems to be addressed and solved. Tents offer little protection from the elements, so cold and wet weather could be a problem. It would not be good for these areas to become mud-pits after a rainfall. The suggestion of utilizing former gas station lots brings to mind problems of soil toxicity. Monitoring access requires the participation of service organizations, as well as the coordination with the civic services. City services, such as garbage pick-up, would need to be considered. And my preference would be to limit this option to single individuals and couples. Hopefully this tactic would reduce the demand for other housing provisions, and increase their availability to families that include children.
Just say if i were in charge of drug policy
I get a lot of crazy ideas, which is why I will never run for politics: too much fringe stuff to defend. I look at the situations and issues around me and wonder why we aren't outraged.
There are reports coming out of Mexico that the bodies are continuing to pile up in the national crisis they call "the drug trade." These are events that are straight out of the movies: bodies with tongues cut out; decapitated bodies; cardboard signs with crazy writings: "these are the bricklayer's people."
It echoes the explosive-action movies of Hollywood.
The report says Execution-style killings, beheadings and shootouts have increased across the country over the past two years since the army and federal police cranked up their efforts against the drug trade. (CBC)
Is this not a leading indicator that we should legalize a small portion of currently-illegal substances? We need to bring this criminal element into the corporate age. While I am not advocating this in the near term, think about this: drug-companies that are required by law to detox their clients. (At the very least, this murderous increase is a leading indicator to say the current drug-enforcement policies are beginning to fail due to economic pressure.)
A sister amendment to this drug policy would likely be the right to die. If someone signed an agreement stating they were ready to end their existence (and had funeral expenses taken care of, to be nice to society), I don't see why the state should be able to force medical attention onto a chronic and palliative drug user.
The balance to this is education of the issue, in the rawest of terms, from the earliest of ages, and lots of it.
There are reports coming out of Mexico that the bodies are continuing to pile up in the national crisis they call "the drug trade." These are events that are straight out of the movies: bodies with tongues cut out; decapitated bodies; cardboard signs with crazy writings: "these are the bricklayer's people."
It echoes the explosive-action movies of Hollywood.
The report says Execution-style killings, beheadings and shootouts have increased across the country over the past two years since the army and federal police cranked up their efforts against the drug trade. (CBC)
Is this not a leading indicator that we should legalize a small portion of currently-illegal substances? We need to bring this criminal element into the corporate age. While I am not advocating this in the near term, think about this: drug-companies that are required by law to detox their clients. (At the very least, this murderous increase is a leading indicator to say the current drug-enforcement policies are beginning to fail due to economic pressure.)
A sister amendment to this drug policy would likely be the right to die. If someone signed an agreement stating they were ready to end their existence (and had funeral expenses taken care of, to be nice to society), I don't see why the state should be able to force medical attention onto a chronic and palliative drug user.
The balance to this is education of the issue, in the rawest of terms, from the earliest of ages, and lots of it.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Vancouver Round-up!
If you haven't done this already, go to the City Reflections website and order a copy of the DVD produced by the Vancouver Historical Society! If you don't know what this is, a great description of the DVD contents is on the re:Place Magazine site, who also did a great article describing the project in depth.
In case you missed the Georgia Straight's annual Best of Vancouver awards, take a wander over to the kitsilano.ca blog for a great post about Kitsilano being voted the Best Neighbourhood... again. Plus lots of great links to businesses in Kits.
And in case you hadn't noticed (and we know you did!), the political mastermind John Turner
failed to jump the electoral hoops to run again as Vancouver Quadra's neorhino candidate. So NOW who do I vote for...? And I have to add, it's really too bad, because I think it was his year... after all, apparently more Canadians believe in the existence of Bigfoot than in promises made by politicians. If that doesn't spell "N-E-O-R-H-I-N-O-V-I-C-T-O-R-Y" then I don't know what will.
Ran across this and thought it might be a great time outdoors, if I ever went outdoors: the UBC Botanical Garden's Greenheart Canopy Walkway. A nice photo and write-up on the Tourism BC flickr stream.
In case you missed the Georgia Straight's annual Best of Vancouver awards, take a wander over to the kitsilano.ca blog for a great post about Kitsilano being voted the Best Neighbourhood... again. Plus lots of great links to businesses in Kits.
And in case you hadn't noticed (and we know you did!), the political mastermind John Turner
failed to jump the electoral hoops to run again as Vancouver Quadra's neorhino candidate. So NOW who do I vote for...? And I have to add, it's really too bad, because I think it was his year... after all, apparently more Canadians believe in the existence of Bigfoot than in promises made by politicians. If that doesn't spell "N-E-O-R-H-I-N-O-V-I-C-T-O-R-Y" then I don't know what will.
Ran across this and thought it might be a great time outdoors, if I ever went outdoors: the UBC Botanical Garden's Greenheart Canopy Walkway. A nice photo and write-up on the Tourism BC flickr stream.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
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