Thursday, March 11, 2010

Email from a former Downtown Eastsider

I've been out of touch with the happenings of DES and today I thought I would catch up on the [Carnegie] newsletter. Now, I haven't read it in a couple of years, but it was like looking back in time. Same people patting each other on the back. Looks like a mutual admiration society to me.
[...]

I suppose there was some good to Ms. Prevost, but I never got to see it because I wasn't in the circle. Whenever I saw her and if I happened to say Hi, I was ignored, but she was true to the circle! I'm so glad that my circumstances got me out of Dodge and away from these people. It's too bad too because Vancouver has a lot to offer, even in the DES. I belong to a community centre here that is partially funded by the city and private donations and I have yet to hear about a single banning or any left wing politics.

Tear the place down and start over with people who care about people not their pay cheques. Take care out there. It's not paranoia if they're really watching!

7 comments:

David said...

the dtes is a cesspool preyed upon by drug dealers and scum like the vampire libbie davies sucking the blood of the hapless losers who exist there.

Anonymous said...

You might want to read my blog voiceofgoneballistic.blogspot.com
I have started an action to get information from DERA and funders to find out what in hell is happening. Being a director has been a joke. A director is nothing more than a fiction.

Anonymous said...

I read that blog, Voiceofgoneballistic, and whew, that's some big time action. Audrey Leferriere was a director at DERA/DERAH, still is, except they don't think so after they illegally kicked her out because she was asking for the information about the organization that she was supposed to have. She told them that keeping this from her was illegal, and they said "So Sue Us!"

SHE HAS!!

She has sued them and the major players connected with them for the information she should have gotten in the first place. What a woman! Now there's a real unsung hero of the the DTES!
Wow did DERA ever underestimate her!
Now, the question is, will they do the right thing finally? Or will they spend more funders money hiring an expensive lawyer trying to prevent having to be transparent? What in the world are they trying to hide so badly?

reliable sources said...

I glanced at voiceofgoneballistic.blogspot.com the other day and my impression was, "Wow, what a great job Audrey's doing in trying to straighten out DERA."

We haven't been covering the situation at DERA because one of our main contributors moved back to Ottawa so we just don't post as often. But I ran into a long time DTES activist last week and asked what she thought of the situation with Audrey and DERA. She said that Audrey's account of the situation was credible in her view. She also said that it was her understanding that DERA hadn't done their books for three years and was at risk of losing their status under the Society's Act -- but I haven't verified that.

Audrey Laferriere said...

If anyone wants to read my 14 page Petition and Affidavit to court order DERA to grant me the right to DERA/DERAH information, email and I will send it to you as an attachment. audreylaferriere@yahoo.ca. It isn't only DERA/DERAH that plays the community, it is most of the non-profits in the DTES. Try asking the Portland Hotel Society for a list of their directors/officers and how you can become a member of the PHS. Try becoming a member of the Vancouver Food Bank. Remember all these societies are paid for by tax monies one way or the other and we the community should be policing them.

reliable sources said...

Audrey Laferriere,

You're right. Mark Townsend and Liz Evans were unwilling to tell the Courier newspaper how much they collected in salaries for running the Portland Hotel Society, even though they tell the public we should keep supporting them.

The Province should be ashamed for giving Evans a large space in the newspaper last week to argue for continued public funding -- without requiring that she address why she doesn't think we should know how much of that massive funding goes into her own pocket.

Ethel Whitty at Carnegie is bad too. She reportedly continually gave Board member Rachel Davis the run around when she asked where money had disappeared to. Then the operatives at Carnegie contacted all their friends and got them to show up at the next election to out number Davis supporters so that she wouldn't get elected.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the month after I raise issues about the newsletter, the current issue is not online. Maybe an oversight, but I don't know about that. Also, you used to be able to e-mail in your additions to the letter, but there isn't any link to that anymore. Snail-mail seems to be the only way or in person. I suppose this will make it easier to identify the contributor and censor their contributions. 'Nuff said.