A Dumpsterless Vancouver?

There has been talk in Vancouver lately about removing the dumpsters that line the city’s alleyway’s in an attempt to beautify and clean up the city. Local businesses are on board with the idea claiming it would create a crime free environment. The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association found that the majority of dumpsters in Vancouver were vandalized, filthy and filled with needles.

Hmmm… lets think about that for a moment. Don’t you think the City if Vancouver has far more pressing issues to be dealing with right now than the removal of dumpsters from the alleyway’s? How about the situation of the Downtown Eastside and the people who inhabit that area on a daily basis? What will happen to them? Where does the DVBIA think all these needles will end up? Will they just disappear? I think not. Take a browse at Matthew Good’s view of the area… a area in which he lives. People suffering from mental illnesses, unable to “legally” treat their illness and forced out on the street to fend for themselves. What will happen to the people who rely on these dumpsters to earn a living and find a meal. As “gross” as that may sound to some… that is reality. I am sure that Mr Sam Sullivan has more important things to be thinking about… and if you ask him…. he would probably end up saying…. ummm “The Olympics”?

I Just Don’t Have The Heart….

I haven’t been here in quite sometime. I have stopped by… here and there…. but most days I just can’t find the time. I have comtemplated just deleting this blog…. but I just don’t have the heart to do it. I put so much time, thought, effort into the writings … that to kill it so easily, with just a couple click of a mouse, seems wrong.

I have now made a vow to myself to take a little time out of a day to come here to write…. and I will try to do that. It will most likely not be everyday… but atleast a few days out of the week.

Oust Mayor Scott Young

Yesterday I attended a petition signing to oust the Mayor of Port Coquitlam…… Scott Young. The mayor was recently charged with assault after he went to his former girlfriends house…. after getting drunk at a local pub…. and assaulted both her and her new boyfriend. This is not the first time that he has been in trouble with the law. He has on another separate occasion been charged with assault… involving the same ex-girlfriend. She had a restraining order against him….. which he violated.

The mayor has vowed that he would return to his mayoral duties…. and is still planning to attend this Monday’s council meeting.

Saturday at City Hall in Port Coquitlam, a group of residents held a petition signing to try to convince the Mayor that he is not welcome as the Mayor of our city anymore. Why the hell should he be? He committed an offense. I have been a victim of spousal abuse.. and I sure as hell do not approve of a man who does the same…. but is allowed to perform as Mayor of the city. Who the hell does this man think he is? Above everyone else? What sort of example does this set? That you can go ahead and beat a woman… but still secure your place as Mayor?

Every single woman who lives in Port Coquitlam should have taken the one minute out of their day to go down to City Hall to sign that petition…. and I sure as hell hope they did.

The Loop & Swap

This past weekend was a long weekend in Canada…. it was Victoria Day. We drove to Kamloops and spent the weekend there. Neil, my bf, has a couple of friends who live there so we were able to stay with them. They have two kids…. Kayla and Austin, who seemed to be fascinated with Lukas… our little son.

We also went to Shuswap Lake. Neil’s friends parents have a house there, so we spent Saturday night on the Shuswap. It’s so nice there! The houses are cheap. A lot cheaper than here in the lower mainland.

The only bad part of the whole trip was seeing the devastation that Mountain Pine Beetle has created. There are so many dead trees…. it’s really a serious problem. When we were first driving into town we could see all the trees that had turned a red/orange colour… my first thought was that they must be affected by the beetle…. and sure enough. It’s quite sad.

We are thinking of possibly moving to Kamloops in the future. The real estate prices are far cheaper than anything you could find here in Vancouver. Maybe one day I will actually have the pleasure of owning my own home!

Only In America?

Why does this not surprise me?

A ten month old baby now has a firearm ownership identification card and a big old gun to go along with it. And the parents and grand parents think it’s “cute.”  What the fuck is this world coming to?

Recycle Me This…

In this day and age with “global warming” and the state of the environment…. you would think that our community would support recycling. Well not the City of Port Coquitlam.

We live in a townhouse complex that has absolutely no recycling program. I called City Hall’s Engineering and Operations Department to find out about getting a recycling container for our unit. The lady that lives next door to us has one that she leaves outside her unit, so I figured that it wouldn’t be a problem. Occasionally I put some newspapers in her container… but I don’t want to keep using hers as once they are full thats it… the city will not take any extra… so I don’t want to fill her container up.. that just wouldn’t be fair to her. City Hall informed me that they do not supply containers and pick up from most townhouses. I told them that one of the tenants in another unit has a bin and gets hers picked up every week… so they told me to talk to the landlord. But they also informed me that I would most likely not be able to get one. When I called the landlord he told me that he does not know how she got her container but would call to see if he could get a container for us. I have not heard back from him… so I am assuming it didn’t go over to well.

I don’t understand. Wouldn’t the City of Port Coquitlam want the residents to recycle? Do they not give a shit about the environment? Would they rather I throw all of my garbage into our dumpster? I can’t believe that I am having such a problem trying to get a recycling container and pick up service where the service already exists…. I have even offered to pay for one and still no luck. This goes to show that much more awareness is needed when it comes to protecting our planet.