CCAP bulletin -- upcoming events, some of them today

[David Mivasair]

From: ccap_su...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ccap_su...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of wendy pedersen
Sent: June-14-12 12:37 AM
To: ccap_su...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [ccap_supporters] CCAP bulletin -- upcoming events, some of them tomorrow

Hello out there to people on CCAP's email list:

A few events coming up related to housing and gentrification, 2 of them tomorrow (Thursday), the 3rd event next Tuesday.

1)  Debrief with Dtes Neighbourhood Council Board on next steps for Wonder and Palace:  5:30 food; 6 pm meeting on Thursday, June 14th at Jacob's Well, 239 Main Street.

 

2)  Open house for "yet another" condo development in Chinatown.  No social housing requirements, no social impact analysis.  OPEN HOUSE SCHEDULED:  Thursday, June 14, 2012 5 - 8 pm; Chinese Cultural Centre 

3)  Panel June 16th 1-3 pm Douglas Park Community Centre -- on future of social housing with Jean Swanson, Elvin Wyly, Richard Marquez, Maria Wallstam, Nathan Crompton organized by the Vancouver Renters' Union   

See more details below….keep up your spirit.  

From: dnc-memb...@povnet.org [mailto:dnc-memb...@povnet.org] On
Behalf Of DTES Neighbourhood Council
Sent: June-13-12 6:25 PM
To: DNC Members; DNC Steering Ctte
Subject: [dnc-members] Lippman's out... but Wonder & Palace tenants still in
danger (Discussion meeting Thurs evening)

Thursday June 14, 5:30pm (for food) and 6pm (meeting) at
Jacob's Well, 239 Main St.

Come to a discussion session about the emergency struggle to save the Wonder
and Palace including our face-off against Lippman in West Van, building
pressure on BC Housing to protect, buy and build low-income and social
housing, and next steps in the fight for SRO resident rights and security
against slumlords like Wolsey. Many people and groups got involved in this
last minute campaign to save the Wonder and Palace - and were part of the
pressure that pushed Lippman back - so the DNC board is inviting all DTES
residents and allies to join us at our board meeting for a debriefing and
next-step planning, Thursday June 14, 5:30pm (for food) and 6pm (meeting) at
Jacob's Well, 239 Main St.

Lippman's out... but Wonder Rooms & Palace Hotel residents are still in
danger
http://dnchome.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/wp2-2/

The Wonder Rooms and Palace hotels had their day in court again on Wednesday
June 13th. A court-ordered sale was supposed to approve or refuse a bid to
buy the buildings by notorious gentrifier Stephen Lippman. But on Tuesday,
less than 24 hour before the court date, Lippman's offer stalled, and then
failed. The Wonder and Palace hotels have been saved from the clutches of an
investor who has a record of raising rents and bringing in a higher income
group of renters... but the 72 rooms are not safe, healthy, or secure yet.

This past Friday CCAP discovered that notorious SRO hotel investor Stephen
Lippman had made the leading bid in the court ordered sale of the Wonder and
Palace hotels. The DTES Neighbourhood Council, VANDU and allies flew into
emergency action when they discovered that the sale would be confirmed
before a supreme-court judge on Wednesday June 13.

On Monday they held a picket line in front of Lippman's privateWest
Vancouvermansion and set up a protest camp down the street. Lippman's
business partner Jeffrey Howes complained that protesting in front of his
"private home is inappropriate." One of his neighbours even swore at one of
the children colouring Lippman's driveway with chalk. Tami Starlight, DNC
president, responded, "They're confused. Lippman is the one displacing
people from their homes. We are just visitingWest Vancouverto let his
community know what he has been doing in the DTES."

The protester set up a camp, strung up information signs, distributed
pamphlets and held discussions with Lippman's neighbours. Greg Williams, one
of the campers in the green space steps from Lippman's place, said, "No
matter what happens we feel like we have won something important if Lippman
doesn't take over these two hotels. I met a lot of his neighbours and most
of them don't know him at all. Maybe his lack of relationships with his
neighbours explains why he's such a bad neighbour in the DTES."

On Tuesday more than 50 residents marched to BC Housing to stop the
gentrification of 72 low-income housing units in the targeted hotels. As the
crowd rallied and chanted for social housing outside three Palace hotel
residents met with Dale McMann, a member of the BC Housing executive board.
Lorne, who has lived in the Palace for 5 years said, "My room is lousy but
if I lose it I'll be on the street." And Linda, a recent resident who
doesn't want to lose the room she settled into after being homeless, said,
"We get treated like dirt by these big landlords, that's why we need BC
Housing to help. Please save our homes." McMann promised to look into
acquiring the buildings and the residents left, pledging to return if BC
Housing continues to do nothing.

Finally, on Wednesday morning a group of DTES residents gathered at Supreme
Court for a confusing verdict. Lippman's offer to buy the buildings is off.
But someone else, a mysterious company, bought the mortgage. It means that
George Wolsey is still the owner. It means the future of the 72 low-income
affordable hotel rooms and the people who live in them hinge on a secret
arrangement between Wolsey - the subject of tens of RTB complaints and
hundreds of city bylaw violation notices - and a company willing to break
bread with him: "Laurelwood and Southwood Ventures."

Wonder and Palace residents deserve healthy, safe and secure housing, not
tenancy on a Monopoly board. To get it, BC Housing should buy the buildings
and the city should finally enforce their laws and collect the bylaw
violation fines Wolsey owes them.

 

 

2*2*2*2*2*2

2*2*2*2*2*2

2*2*2*2*2*2

 

 

City's website for this new Chinatown rezoning proposal:  http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/633main/index.htm

 

OPEN HOUSE SCHEDULED:

Thursday, June 14, 2012

5 - 8 pm

Chinese Cultural Centre

50 East Pender Street

 

 

 

3*3*3*3*3*3

3*3*3*3*3*3

3*3*3*3*3*3

 

The Future of Social Housing in Vancouver:
Struggles from Little Mountain to Heather Place

1- 3 PM, June 16th, 2012
Douglas Park Community Centre, 801 West 22nd Avenue
Wheelchair accessible, childcare provided on-site

Panelists:

• Maria Wallstam: “Present Crisis: Expiry of Public Funding in BC”

• Elvin Wyly: “The Gentrification of Social Housing”

• Jean Swanson: “The Need for a BC Social Housing Coalition”

• Nathan Crompton: “Unpacking Heather Place”

• Richard Marquez: “Learning from the Grassroots: Tenant Organizing in San Francisco”

Organized by:  The Vancouver Renters' Union

Facilitated by Barry Growe, Community Advocates for Little Mountain (CALM)

 

In the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis, Vancouver is at risk of losing Heather Place, a community in central Vancouver housing more than two hundred residents and families. To quote a long-time resident, “Heather Place is a community to be proud of, an example of how people can and should live.”

Unfortunately, instead of investing in needed repairs, the municipal government has identified Heather Place as a site for condo development. New “replacement” housing will cost more than twice the current rents. Project leaders like Geoff Meggs and Don Littleford have been vocal advocates for the path of gentrification, despite continual lip service paid to Vancouver’s housing crisis.

Luckily, it is not too late to stop the destruction of the Heather Place community. The goal of this roundtable is to provide some of the background facts and context needed to help save Heather Place:

• Unpack the unfolding situation at Heather Place, especially the impact of gentrification and redevelopment on low-income tenants.
• Draw lessons from the recent past: the destruction of the Little Mountain community and the false promises at the Olympic Village.
• Provide an overview of how old lines of public funding, won through the housing struggles of previous generations, are rapidly disappearing.
• Look to models in other parts of the world with robust public housing programs.

To save Heather Place and develop new alternatives, tenants cannot sit back and rely on the goodwill of governments and planners. We’ve gone two decades without a national housing program, while other levels of government have succeeded in a game of “passing the buck.” Local governments have taken the withdrawal of federal funding as a license for a reckless agenda of further privatization and neoliberal entrenchment. Politicians from all parties have pursued the demolition of public housing, using a war chest of planning tools to encourage the gentrification of Vancouver’s most affordable neighbourhoods. In the face of the dramatic failure of private partnerships, broken promises, ineffective advocacy and timid lobbying, the alternative is found in renters themselves, the only group capable of organizing against the exploitative rent economy and its endless corrupt governments. Tenant empowerment and education is the starting point for a new step in the collective struggle for housing justice in the 21st century.

Panelists:

• Maria Wallstam: “Present Crisis: Expiry of Public Funding in BC”

• Elvin Wyly: “The Gentrification of Social Housing”

• Jean Swanson: “The Need for a BC Social Housing Coalition”

• Nathan Crompton: “Unpacking Heather Place”

• Richard Marquez: “Learning from the Grassroots: Tenant Organizing in San Francisco”

Facilitated by Barry Growe, Community Advocates for Little Mountain (CALM)

 

 

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