About 100 protesters stormed Vancouver City Hall on Tuesday, concerned about gentrification in the Downtown Eastside and disruption of the local drug trade. Only in Canada.
I'm all for free speech and lawful assembly. I also support democracy and sanity. VANDU are a bunch of spoilt brats that has held Vancouver hostage for far too long. Vancouver Drug Users Association. A bunch of freaks from Xanadu. They are complaining new developments in East Vancouver will disrupt the drug trade. Just how is that supposed to be a bad thing? Homelessness is one thing, enabling the drug trade is another.
Are we going to cater to the Association of Thieves and Muggers as well as the Coalition of people engaged in Break and Enters as wel land any other criminal activity? The drug problem in East Vancouver is a problem. It's out of control and anyone with a heart would want to help the situation improve not continue to perpetuate the horror and abuse forever.
------------------------------------------------
Looks like I'm not the only one that feels this way. The Vancouver Province just ran a follow up called "The sooner the DTES is fixed up the better."
------------------------------------------------
I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial that cleaning up Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is a must. I have travelled to many lovely cities around the world, but still find Vancouver to be the loveliest. The idyllic setting, with the ocean, Stanley Park and mountains just cannot be beaten.
That being said, those of us brave enough to wander onto East Hastings Street get a rude awakening. There just is no way that area should be allowed to continue in its deplorable state. Visitors should not have to run a gauntlet of beggars and drug pushers.
Larry Comeau, Ottawa
--------------------------------------------------
See what happens when you give crackheads an Insite centre for them to shoot up in for free.
Now they occupy Vancouver City Hall because a new condo development will disrupt their illegal drug trade. What a joke!
Shawn Storey, Surrey
---------------------------------------------------
The Downtown Eastside has had decades to sort out its problems with drug addiction. If gentrification is the only way to rid this area of the scourge of drugs, so be it. Everything else hasn't worked.
John Clench, Vancouver
Dude, no bad mouthing Xanadu. A much younger, hotter Olivia Newton John and music by ELO. What's not to like. OK the whole movie was kinda cheesy. But ELO and I go way back, & Jeff Lynne is a musical genius.
ReplyDeleteZandu not so much. Just junkies.
Xanadu was ELO? The ELO has been remixed into the Trans siberian Orchestra. We've seen them a few times at BC Place. Xanadu was a bit cheesy if I recall. I never actually saw it. My metaphor was implying that Vandu were freaks from a fantasy world that the public shouldn't be taking seriously.
ReplyDeleteYeah no harm, it WAS a cheesy movie. That still pic you posted caused a bit of a shudder....
ReplyDeleteOlivia Newton John sang the first 5 songs on the soundtrack, one of them a duet with Gene Kelly. ELO did the second 5 songs, very disco-ish (it was 1980 after all) with the exception of "Don't Walk Away" which was more like their normal sound. Even the other 4 were very easily identifiable as them. ELO did well with "Time" which was released in 1981 with 5 singles on the charts but after that it was all downhill.
Yeah I thought it was disco. Like I said, somewhere out in the Twilight Zone.
DeleteWow, do I have a VANDU story for ya:
ReplyDeleteI can complete my valium deals openly, inside there, and;
Last time I bought $50 worth, my dealer Ross & I couldn't meet up, I was phoning him from VANDU and he says, "Just give the cash to the Staff, and I'll be by to pick it up later."
Now, I don't like giving $50 to a 3rd party over anything, but...I gave the VANDU Staff my $50, they put it in an envelope w/Ross' name on it; and threw it in the safe, 'till he could come by and pick up the cash!
Even I was boggled over that!
That's kind of what I suspected. I wonder how many members of the Vancouver Drug Users Network actually sell drugs to support their habit. That would clearly make their objections to improvements in the DTES affecting drug dealers as being a conflict of interest.
DeleteAll of them?
DeleteVANDU is also the preferred meeting place for Vancouver Cop Watch- a group of idiots who track and harass the police with video cameras. The best way to understand Cop Watch is to watch this video of their head- Jennifer Allan - swearing and yelling racist abuse at a couple of cops.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owo-9SVy5Ew
There was a recent article in the paper about how Vandu got special treatment from City Hall in that they skipped the requirement to get a building permit. Vandu has absolutely nothing to do with harm reduction. Their goal and mandate is drug promotion. It has absolutely nothing to do with health. It simply feeds the gang war by creating more addicts: http://www.theprovince.com/technology/VANDU+dope+network+allowed+skip+city+regulations/8263790/story.html
ReplyDelete