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Vancouver Olympics and Social Sustainability

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yankee
Post Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 12:56 am

Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 5
Folks, sit back - sit a spell - how will the 2010 Olympics benefit you?

Unless you are the cherry on the upside of a sundae, my guess is; you will not. You will pay for it - your great grandkids will pay for it.

I will introduce myself, yankee. I was once yankeebythewater, but due to difficulties with dial up (oh and did the premier of this fine Olympic 2010 host - once say...everyone should have access to the internet). Trust me, high speed is a dream.

I do try to keep my blood pressure at bay, but when it comes to displaying people of any race/religion, I tend to rile up.

In Northern British Columbia - several people were displaced, families were ripped apart and that was due to mega mega dollars that would be made from building dams. I might add, most of the displaced people were of the First Nations.

I would love to have a public account audit of how many folks will be displayed by 2010 and of course, by the government of the day. I will be among the dead and gone with the bill for the Olympics, 2010, Vancouver.
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SharynS
Post Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 1:47 am

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 2939
Location: the 'puter
[ha] Nice to see you YBTW [/I knew it]. Smile

2010 will undoubtedly go down in history as biggest and most blatant cash grab associated with the games of all time.

Spectacle Vancouver (Shelter Saga)
Quote:
For our hubristic Olympic host city of Vancouver that so lives in and for the moment, the real story gets lost in all the political posturing: Nobody cares about planning for anything after April 2010. And nobody will have any money left after the taxpayer-funded blow-out party for the world’s elite.


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wm pasz
Post Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:27 am

Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 1219
Location: Toronto
Wow, welcome back YBTW/yankee. I've missed you. You were a big part of the old MFD watering hole so it's good to have you back.

Now, on the subject of the homeless - I don't believe that anything in the current bag of solutions (institutionalizing them, running them out of town, giving them a warm place to use drugs, or just assuming they like the way they live and forgetting about them) is going to help solve the problem.

Among the growing ranks of the homeless are people who have ended up on the street for a wide range of reasons. Some are mentally ill, some can't afford to live anywhere, some simply see it as the best of a number of undesirable options.

I don't believe that most homeless people like living on the street or "choose" to do so despite having other, better or more comfortable options. There may be a few who actually choose this way of life but they are very few.

The reality is that our society is so fucked up on so many different levels that growing numbers of people can no longer cope or function on the dysfunctional landscape and they end up kicked to the curb.

The causes of homelessness are complex and interconnected and the solutions are going to have to be like that as well.

Re: the olympic circus - yes, BC residents are going to pay and pay for this distraction.

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the doc
Post Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 1:35 pm

Joined: 27 Sep 2006
Posts: 121
I am really taking a beating here for saying what I feel. Do I care no, should I care no. I simply feel the way I wrote. I worked all my life in the supermarkets and I am retired. Did I make a pile of money or was I well off, no. I worked and paid my way raised my family, bought a home and did all the things people do, plus I didnot make really good pay. So what am I to think of someone on the street panhandling. I tell them to get a job, and like I said if they have an illness then get help. But don't expect me to have to step over where someone has defecated on the street and accept it, because I don't have to. We in Canada donot have to put up with people sleeping on the streets, there is no need for it, as there are alternatives. That is the point I have been trying to make. If I am working or retired and making do others can also. Did the last few years cause a lot of job losses yes, but sometimes other doors open, and that does not mean the streets. As for the Games in Vancouver we will all pay. I am not sure we need them to start with, as the only ones who seem to gain from them is a few gold medal winners who make a fortune from endorsements, or who move onto the pros. If that is the whole point then we are paying a fortune to showcase a select few. Are they probably nice people more than likely no doubt, but the costs sometimes far outweigh the result.
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yankee
Post Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:45 pm

Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 5
Doc - you are not taking a beating here - good grief, go live homeless and try to survive - go to the east end of Vancouver spend a few nights - that would be a beating.

If you did not care - you would never have posted - of course, you care - your opinion is different from mine. No need to tie up the shorts in a knot, right?

I will be visiting Vancouver in October - lah, dee, dah, - I am going to see John Prine. All I can say is I am glad he is concerting in Vancouver in 2009 because by 2010 a dumpster bucket in the lower drainland will cost you $500.00 per night.

wmp/ss - I have missed you too. I hope to obtain some sort sustainability like the 2010 Olympics will do for my lil bit of mountain side in rural British Columbia. Laughing
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SharynS
Post Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:16 pm

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 2939
Location: the 'puter
I don't think any part of the discussion should be taken personally doc. Obviously opinions differ but I defy anyone to show which of them are more valuable than another.

Openly discussing how each of us feel or don't feel about things that happen and/or what influences our opinions (however painful or uncomfortable that may be) I think is a big part of the big unraveling. Of finding real solutions as opposed to the temp fixes we're accustomed to and which simply get us a few yrs down the road with an additional layer on the same problem.

The reasons for homelessness are numerous, solutions should be too?

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atuuschaaw
Post Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 2:49 am

Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 781
Location: an ahwangan
Seems folks in Chicago are already concerned with the 2016 Olympic Games in their city.

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SharynS
Post Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:24 pm

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 2939
Location: the 'puter
O Canada, we stand on guard for private interest.

BCCLA demands policy for VPD Olympic sonic gun
Quote:
A representative for the Vancouver Police Department confirmed to the BCCLA last week that the VPD has acquired an LRAD (Long Range Acoustical Device) crowd control weapon for the 2010 Olympics. He advised that the VPD would be using the device to ensure that police instructions were clearly heard. The sonic gun fires a concentrated beam of sound at its targets that can cause hearing damage and temporarily disrupt vision.


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SharynS
Post Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 11:14 pm

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 2939
Location: the 'puter
...undercover officer spied on anti-Olympic protesters

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atuuschaaw
Post Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:17 am

Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 781
Location: an ahwangan
I guess you heard about the border guards detaining Amy Goodman eh? Wink

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SharynS
Post Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:41 am

Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 2939
Location: the 'puter
yeah that's something eh. Amy Goodman is detained and an alleged war criminal gets a free pass. Go figure.

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The Third Element
Post Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:05 am

Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Posts: 368
This outta be fun to watch unfold. I am a capitalist and even I am getting tired of listening to the bullshit cash grabs and manipulation of the system. I can't afford to leave town or I would be posting from anywhere but here.

While we are seeing a major increase in strikes and threatened work stoppages around the Olympics that pales to the money grabbing going on by the corporate greeders.

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