The Province newspaper began today's editorial by calling Mayor Gregor Robertson, Gregor "Robinson". But after that stumble, they quoted Robertson admitting on his trip to China that he finds democracy frustrating:
"You can be critical of lots of regimes around the world and you can question how worthwhile democracy is in a lot of countries right now which frankly are ignoring the biggest crisis in the history of our species with climate."
Robertson commended the Chinese government for taking "dramatic action" on the environment", unlike "Western governments right now, democratically elected, because they're afraid."
This is not the first time Robertson has revealed that the messiness of democracy does not appeal to him. Earlier this year, we heard him dismiss citizens turning out to a City Council meeting to provide input as "hacks". And we are still waiting for him to lift the barring of democratically-elected Board member William Simpson from Carnegie Centre. Simpson has served a three year sentence. What does the Mayor feel would be an adequate sentence for daring to get elected? And we're still waiting for the Mayor to fire Ethel Whitty for abusing civil liberties and then covering her tracks with misinformation.
Mayor Robertson is afraid.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
An Ellen Sighting
I spotted City Counselor Ellen Woodsworth looking snazzy this afternoon in her black and white knit jacket and black pants, with her galpal, as I darted into Carnegie.
Crossed my mind that Woodsworth may have taken time out from her schedule to work on the damage control strategy being used by Ethel Whitty and Skip Everall as they continue their undemocratic barring policy at Carnegie. It's a strategy that no doubt needs to be tweaked now that they've been exposed as far away as China for allegedly manufacturing evidence to justify banning political critics from City services at Carnegie.
It's a fraud scandal that has been weighing like an iron rice bowl on Mayor Robertson's head as he tries to pass himself off in China as an upstanding business broker.
Crossed my mind that Woodsworth may have taken time out from her schedule to work on the damage control strategy being used by Ethel Whitty and Skip Everall as they continue their undemocratic barring policy at Carnegie. It's a strategy that no doubt needs to be tweaked now that they've been exposed as far away as China for allegedly manufacturing evidence to justify banning political critics from City services at Carnegie.
It's a fraud scandal that has been weighing like an iron rice bowl on Mayor Robertson's head as he tries to pass himself off in China as an upstanding business broker.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Marilyn WhiskeyJack's Murderer Could be Back on Downtown Eastside Streets Soon
Terry Allan Herman had 67 previous convictions before he murdered Marily WhiskeyJack at Main Rooms at 117 Main St. (next to the old UBC Learning Exchange) on Sept. 14, 2007. Herman, 38, was found guilty of manslaughter in June, 2010 at his trial for WhiskeyJack's death.
Herman, a big man with short dark hair and glasses, represented himself today at his sentencing hearing in New Westminster Supreme Court. "I have nothing to say," he told the judge.
Herman and WhiskeyJack, 42, had lived together briefly at Main Rooms when they had a fight and he stabbed her in the back of the leg three times. He cut a major artery, then took off, leaving her calling out for help. It took just minutes for her to bleed to death.
You may see this guy on the streets of the Downtown Eastside soon. Crown prosecutor Joanna Medjuck recommended a ten year sentence, minus 68 months credit for time served.
Seventeen of his previous offences were violent.
Members of WhiskeyJack’s family -- she had five children -- including her son and mother came to the sentencing hearing. Her oldest son Jerry told the court that his mother's death had been hard on the family, plunging it into grief.
Herman will be sentenced on Sept. 21.
I used to see the name WhiskeyJack on the list of people who had mail waiting for them at the front desk of Carnegie Centre.
Last May, as the trial was about to begin, Marilyn WhiskeyJack's son, Jerry, sent us a post recalling the day he learned of his mother's death:
Dear Judge,
It has been a very hard couple years. Our family is trying to deal with this tragedy. I remember when the phone call came in, it felt like a movie. I was in my room watching tv. when the phone rang, I knew something was wrong, the whole house was silent, You could hear a pin drop, My grandmother let out a scream, that gave me goosebumps, my throat swelled up as I ran upstairs. She fell into the couch, clutching the phone. I picked it up to hear and officer telling me that " my mother had passed away". Marilyn Whiskeyjack was a mother of 5 children. I as the oldest had to tell all my siblings, that our mother had been taken away from us. We never lived with her, cause of her addiction, but we all had close contact with her. At our awake, in native tradition, we sit with the body for three days before. Remembering her. The looks on all my brothers and sisters faces, was excruciating. We baried her, in the cemetary. I still remember when I shovelled dirt onto her coffin, I felt empty. This tragedy has been very painful on our whole family. Marilyn was not a rich person. She was not even an important person in most peoples eyes. But she was very Important to us. I never want anyone to feel the way our family feels. We lost someone, that had alot of years ahead of her. She didn't die, from a freak accident, she was taken away from us by someones hands. Someone that didnt know that she had children. Today, Marilyn would of been a grandmother of two babys. One was born two weeks ago, the other was born a month ago. I leave it in your hands, I know that you will find it in you to come out with the right decision. Our family doesn't want this to happen to another family.
Thank you,
Jerry WhiskeyJack (son)
Herman, a big man with short dark hair and glasses, represented himself today at his sentencing hearing in New Westminster Supreme Court. "I have nothing to say," he told the judge.
Herman and WhiskeyJack, 42, had lived together briefly at Main Rooms when they had a fight and he stabbed her in the back of the leg three times. He cut a major artery, then took off, leaving her calling out for help. It took just minutes for her to bleed to death.
You may see this guy on the streets of the Downtown Eastside soon. Crown prosecutor Joanna Medjuck recommended a ten year sentence, minus 68 months credit for time served.
Seventeen of his previous offences were violent.
Members of WhiskeyJack’s family -- she had five children -- including her son and mother came to the sentencing hearing. Her oldest son Jerry told the court that his mother's death had been hard on the family, plunging it into grief.
Herman will be sentenced on Sept. 21.
I used to see the name WhiskeyJack on the list of people who had mail waiting for them at the front desk of Carnegie Centre.
Last May, as the trial was about to begin, Marilyn WhiskeyJack's son, Jerry, sent us a post recalling the day he learned of his mother's death:
Dear Judge,
It has been a very hard couple years. Our family is trying to deal with this tragedy. I remember when the phone call came in, it felt like a movie. I was in my room watching tv. when the phone rang, I knew something was wrong, the whole house was silent, You could hear a pin drop, My grandmother let out a scream, that gave me goosebumps, my throat swelled up as I ran upstairs. She fell into the couch, clutching the phone. I picked it up to hear and officer telling me that " my mother had passed away". Marilyn Whiskeyjack was a mother of 5 children. I as the oldest had to tell all my siblings, that our mother had been taken away from us. We never lived with her, cause of her addiction, but we all had close contact with her. At our awake, in native tradition, we sit with the body for three days before. Remembering her. The looks on all my brothers and sisters faces, was excruciating. We baried her, in the cemetary. I still remember when I shovelled dirt onto her coffin, I felt empty. This tragedy has been very painful on our whole family. Marilyn was not a rich person. She was not even an important person in most peoples eyes. But she was very Important to us. I never want anyone to feel the way our family feels. We lost someone, that had alot of years ahead of her. She didn't die, from a freak accident, she was taken away from us by someones hands. Someone that didnt know that she had children. Today, Marilyn would of been a grandmother of two babys. One was born two weeks ago, the other was born a month ago. I leave it in your hands, I know that you will find it in you to come out with the right decision. Our family doesn't want this to happen to another family.
Thank you,
Jerry WhiskeyJack (son)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
VPD Assault 65 yr. old Woman Over Eight Cent Tomato
Years ago, a native guy told me, "People think the police are goody goody but they're not, you know." After living for years on the Downtown Eastside, I do know. I have seen enough to know that the police are abusive with Downtown Eastsiders. Here's a message we got from Audrey Laferriere, a Downtown Eastsider who ran in the last civic election and got a lot of votes for an independent:
"You might want to write up about what happened to me on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. But first phone Sunrise-Soya to confirm. I was beat up by the security guard for Sunrise and the VPD for alledgedly stealing a eight cent tomato. I might have just forgotten what happened if it wasn't for the fact that I am still in pain from the use of excessive force by the authorities. After the police harmed me, charged me for theft, then after they searched me they found the receipt for eight cents. I am an old woman (65) and I do not appreciate being treated like a rag doll being flung in a backroom against a mountain of produce boxes over a eight cent tomato. And the worse part was no one apologized after the incident."
"You might want to write up about what happened to me on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. But first phone Sunrise-Soya to confirm. I was beat up by the security guard for Sunrise and the VPD for alledgedly stealing a eight cent tomato. I might have just forgotten what happened if it wasn't for the fact that I am still in pain from the use of excessive force by the authorities. After the police harmed me, charged me for theft, then after they searched me they found the receipt for eight cents. I am an old woman (65) and I do not appreciate being treated like a rag doll being flung in a backroom against a mountain of produce boxes over a eight cent tomato. And the worse part was no one apologized after the incident."
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
For 57 Days City Hall has Avoided Giving Barred Carnegie Member Reason "in writing"
A witness who has spoken up about the use of the City of Vancouver "security" database at Carnegie to make fraudulent entries about critics, has found herself barred from Carnegie Centre for 57 days now, with no end in sight. She is not allowed to enter the building, not even the Vancouver Public Library branch there. She was notified of the barring on April 25, 2010 and immediately asked to be given the reason "in writing". Her request was instantly refused by the security guard who informed her that she was "barred", a guard who identified himself as "Ty" only after she asked his name.
There is evidence that the ban was pre-meditated and politically-motivated. From the beginning of the process of being informed that she was barred, the fact that she had been one of the Carnegie members who made complaints to Penny Ballem was referred to by Ty as the "problem." [If I obtain a copy of the statement she submitted to police, I will quote Ty's alleged comments more completely.] A few minutes later, when Ballem's name came up again, Ty reportedly claimed he didn't know who she was. Toward the end of the barring, after he had followed the woman to the bathroom, Ty revealed that the barring was a result of pressure from Penny Ballem and Gregor Robertson to clear her out of the building. "I guess, they don't want witnesses around", says the barred woman.
Police have been made aware of everything from verbal abuse to assault experienced by this woman since coming forward as a witness to fraud and other abuses involving the City's "security" database at Carnegie. A male Carnegie member recalls eating dinner with this woman at Carnegie in the spring, when a volunteer took her photograph, using a flash, without her permission -- she would later be told that the photo had been taken on instructions from Tio, a City staff cashier on duty, a fact she says Tio did not deny when she asked him about it -- and then stood yelling insults at her at the top of his lungs, grabbing the attention of the crowd of diners in the cafeteria. "Why isn't security doing anything!" the witness demanded to know. A security guard stood beside the yelling man, just inches away.
She was also at Carnegie having dinner -- she had just finished -- on the evening in April when Ty told her she was now barred from the entire building and refused her request to "put it in writing". At a later point, she asked that he at least allow her to read the "Incident Report" so that she could counter false statements. He refused. He told her that he did not need input from her. She told him she wished to sit down and write her own incident report about what she was experiencing, but he refused, ordering her out of the building. Such biased practices -- including outright fraud -- had been previously brought to the attention of Penny Ballem, once during a meeting in January at City Hall. The Mayor was also made aware of these practices.
Shortly after being barred, the barred woman mailed a request to City Hall and requested, under the Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy Act, a copy of the incident report and a copy of entries made in the City's electronic "security" database. She then telephoned the Freedom of Information office twice to see if they had received it. She spoke to a male assistant to manager Paul Hancock. The assistant told her on April 29th that he had finally received her letter. She explained that she needed a copy of the incident report quickly so that she could appeal the barring; she asked him to keep in mind that for every day that passed without this Incident Report, she was denied access to City Services in her neighbourhood, such as the public library at Carnegie. She told him that there should be no reason for extensive delay in getting the incident report to her, as it was easily retrievable from the Incident Report binder which sits on the front reception desk at Carnegie for all staff to review. The assistant reviewed her request letter and said it seemed straight forward to him and he didn't anticipate it taking long. He said he would "send it out" that day.
Shortly after speaking to the assistant, the banned woman received a letter dated April 30th from Paul Hancock, Manager, Corporate Information & Privacy, City Clerk's Office. Hancock wrote:
"This will acknowledge receipt of your request dated April 26, 2010. . . for a copy of an incident report written about you by Ty, a security person at Carnegie Centre at approximately 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 25, 2010."
"Under the Act, we have thirty (30) business days to respond to freedom of information requests. The City received your request on April 29, 2010 so we are required to respond by June 11. 2010 at the latest."
I ran into her on Sunday, June 20th, at Sunrise market and she said she had not received it. Even if the City had mailed the Incident Report on the last possible day, June 11th, she would have had it last week as Vancouver has over night delivery.
Hancock ended his April 30th letter to her with,
"We understand that this is an urgent matter for you so we will do our best to expedite this request for you."
That was 52 days ago, as of Sunday.
There is evidence that the ban was pre-meditated and politically-motivated. From the beginning of the process of being informed that she was barred, the fact that she had been one of the Carnegie members who made complaints to Penny Ballem was referred to by Ty as the "problem." [If I obtain a copy of the statement she submitted to police, I will quote Ty's alleged comments more completely.] A few minutes later, when Ballem's name came up again, Ty reportedly claimed he didn't know who she was. Toward the end of the barring, after he had followed the woman to the bathroom, Ty revealed that the barring was a result of pressure from Penny Ballem and Gregor Robertson to clear her out of the building. "I guess, they don't want witnesses around", says the barred woman.
Police have been made aware of everything from verbal abuse to assault experienced by this woman since coming forward as a witness to fraud and other abuses involving the City's "security" database at Carnegie. A male Carnegie member recalls eating dinner with this woman at Carnegie in the spring, when a volunteer took her photograph, using a flash, without her permission -- she would later be told that the photo had been taken on instructions from Tio, a City staff cashier on duty, a fact she says Tio did not deny when she asked him about it -- and then stood yelling insults at her at the top of his lungs, grabbing the attention of the crowd of diners in the cafeteria. "Why isn't security doing anything!" the witness demanded to know. A security guard stood beside the yelling man, just inches away.
She was also at Carnegie having dinner -- she had just finished -- on the evening in April when Ty told her she was now barred from the entire building and refused her request to "put it in writing". At a later point, she asked that he at least allow her to read the "Incident Report" so that she could counter false statements. He refused. He told her that he did not need input from her. She told him she wished to sit down and write her own incident report about what she was experiencing, but he refused, ordering her out of the building. Such biased practices -- including outright fraud -- had been previously brought to the attention of Penny Ballem, once during a meeting in January at City Hall. The Mayor was also made aware of these practices.
Shortly after being barred, the barred woman mailed a request to City Hall and requested, under the Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy Act, a copy of the incident report and a copy of entries made in the City's electronic "security" database. She then telephoned the Freedom of Information office twice to see if they had received it. She spoke to a male assistant to manager Paul Hancock. The assistant told her on April 29th that he had finally received her letter. She explained that she needed a copy of the incident report quickly so that she could appeal the barring; she asked him to keep in mind that for every day that passed without this Incident Report, she was denied access to City Services in her neighbourhood, such as the public library at Carnegie. She told him that there should be no reason for extensive delay in getting the incident report to her, as it was easily retrievable from the Incident Report binder which sits on the front reception desk at Carnegie for all staff to review. The assistant reviewed her request letter and said it seemed straight forward to him and he didn't anticipate it taking long. He said he would "send it out" that day.
Shortly after speaking to the assistant, the banned woman received a letter dated April 30th from Paul Hancock, Manager, Corporate Information & Privacy, City Clerk's Office. Hancock wrote:
"This will acknowledge receipt of your request dated April 26, 2010. . . for a copy of an incident report written about you by Ty, a security person at Carnegie Centre at approximately 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 25, 2010."
"Under the Act, we have thirty (30) business days to respond to freedom of information requests. The City received your request on April 29, 2010 so we are required to respond by June 11. 2010 at the latest."
I ran into her on Sunday, June 20th, at Sunrise market and she said she had not received it. Even if the City had mailed the Incident Report on the last possible day, June 11th, she would have had it last week as Vancouver has over night delivery.
Hancock ended his April 30th letter to her with,
"We understand that this is an urgent matter for you so we will do our best to expedite this request for you."
That was 52 days ago, as of Sunday.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Vancouver Library Eliminates Public Computers for Seniors at Carnegie
A million dollars worth of City management staff put their heads together and decided that the popular public computers in the Carnegie Seniors Lounge that had been going full tilt 13 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the past 15 years, were best eliminated.
Those computers were one of the most in-demand services in the Centre. People would sign up and sit and wait for half an hour or more for their turn. Ever notice the crowd on the front steps of Carnegie in the morning when you drive by on your way to work? They're not all buying drugs; some are waiting for a security guard to swing the doors open at 9 a.m., so they can rush past him and dash downstairs to the basement Seniors Lounge and get onto a computer, ahead of the next guy. People use those computers to check email and to look for jobs on sites such as Craig's list.
But those computers had become a source of embarrassment to the million dollars worth of City Hall and Carnegie management staff, from Carnegie Director Ethel Whitty to City Manager Penny Ballem, who have been exposed for allowing security to block access to them as punishment for free speech. This harassment of people who speak up has been previously documented on this blog so I won't go over it again. But the VPL librarian, Beth Davies, and her supervisors in the VPL administration have colluded with this withholding of library services -- often it involves blocking access to the entire VPL branch at Carnegie for months or years -- and this removal of VPL computers looks like an extension of that collusion.
Now that the internet-surfing poor will have little reason to show up at the Lounge, the poor who operate more within the comfort zone of CUPE and City management will have the lounge to themselves. You can find them sitting in there any afternoon staring at the big tv, filling in the gaps between welfare cheques and staff pay cheques. Movies made available in this City government Lounge generally fall into the range of cowboys, gangsters, and that new federal government category, "busty hookers."
Now that VPL computer access in the Lounge has been eliminated in favor of allowing big screen TV access to predominate, it's important that the savings be passed on to taxpayers. The computers and the steady stream of people who came to the Centre to use them were under the supervision of Seniors Co-ordinator, Marlene Trick (formerly exposed for supervising the City's now defunct "Teddy Bear Picnics" for full grown functional adults.)
The computer program in the Seniors Lounge was also a rich source of make-work projects for Security guards who would be called to infantalize computer users who stood up to the belligerant coffee-seller, a ritual which involved security guards writing "incident reports" and executing barrings as punishments, and holding follow-up meetings. All of this will be gone now, meaning that less labour hours will be needed for the co-ordinator to co-ordinate and security guards to punish.
The cramped computer room by the bathroom at the back of the third floor at Carnegie remains open. In fact the computers in there have been replaced with new ones. But Seniors have to compete with other age groups to get onto a computer there, increasing the number of people on the waiting list. People sitting in the waiting area for their name be called to get onto a computer can sometimes get frustrated and ask the monitor questions like, "How much longer do you think I'll have to wait?," and some monitors -- not all -- get annoyed at the ongoing pressure and if a disagreement ensues, security may be called.
This tension can be expected to increase with the elimination of Seniors' computers by the million dollar management, which of course includes CUPE's Dan Tetrault who is Assistant Manager at Carnegie and, like BP CEO Tony Hayward, has a yacht which can be helpful for clearing the head of the problems of the "small people".
Those computers were one of the most in-demand services in the Centre. People would sign up and sit and wait for half an hour or more for their turn. Ever notice the crowd on the front steps of Carnegie in the morning when you drive by on your way to work? They're not all buying drugs; some are waiting for a security guard to swing the doors open at 9 a.m., so they can rush past him and dash downstairs to the basement Seniors Lounge and get onto a computer, ahead of the next guy. People use those computers to check email and to look for jobs on sites such as Craig's list.
But those computers had become a source of embarrassment to the million dollars worth of City Hall and Carnegie management staff, from Carnegie Director Ethel Whitty to City Manager Penny Ballem, who have been exposed for allowing security to block access to them as punishment for free speech. This harassment of people who speak up has been previously documented on this blog so I won't go over it again. But the VPL librarian, Beth Davies, and her supervisors in the VPL administration have colluded with this withholding of library services -- often it involves blocking access to the entire VPL branch at Carnegie for months or years -- and this removal of VPL computers looks like an extension of that collusion.
Now that the internet-surfing poor will have little reason to show up at the Lounge, the poor who operate more within the comfort zone of CUPE and City management will have the lounge to themselves. You can find them sitting in there any afternoon staring at the big tv, filling in the gaps between welfare cheques and staff pay cheques. Movies made available in this City government Lounge generally fall into the range of cowboys, gangsters, and that new federal government category, "busty hookers."
Now that VPL computer access in the Lounge has been eliminated in favor of allowing big screen TV access to predominate, it's important that the savings be passed on to taxpayers. The computers and the steady stream of people who came to the Centre to use them were under the supervision of Seniors Co-ordinator, Marlene Trick (formerly exposed for supervising the City's now defunct "Teddy Bear Picnics" for full grown functional adults.)
The computer program in the Seniors Lounge was also a rich source of make-work projects for Security guards who would be called to infantalize computer users who stood up to the belligerant coffee-seller, a ritual which involved security guards writing "incident reports" and executing barrings as punishments, and holding follow-up meetings. All of this will be gone now, meaning that less labour hours will be needed for the co-ordinator to co-ordinate and security guards to punish.
The cramped computer room by the bathroom at the back of the third floor at Carnegie remains open. In fact the computers in there have been replaced with new ones. But Seniors have to compete with other age groups to get onto a computer there, increasing the number of people on the waiting list. People sitting in the waiting area for their name be called to get onto a computer can sometimes get frustrated and ask the monitor questions like, "How much longer do you think I'll have to wait?," and some monitors -- not all -- get annoyed at the ongoing pressure and if a disagreement ensues, security may be called.
This tension can be expected to increase with the elimination of Seniors' computers by the million dollar management, which of course includes CUPE's Dan Tetrault who is Assistant Manager at Carnegie and, like BP CEO Tony Hayward, has a yacht which can be helpful for clearing the head of the problems of the "small people".
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