A Walk to the Supreme Court

I was going to write a piece on the Legislature Raids Court Case here as I had attended Court on April 14 2008. My second trip to this court in a year. Kevin McCullough the lawyer for Dave Basi said it well in court. Nothing has been done. Nothing. I don't think he would disagree with me that not only nothing has been done this year 2008 but nothing has been done since I was in that court a year ago. And quite a few people would agree that nothing has been done since December 26,2003. And BC Mary over at The Legislature Raids has quite a few pieces that covered everything that I wanted to say. Bill Tielleman and Robin Mathews have written a couple of good pieces.

So instead I'm going to write a little about my trip to the Courthouse on Smythe Street.

The trip started out fairly well as I left my daughters place and headed for the Sea-Bus in my little gas saver car but it soon turned to crap.
You see there is limited parking at my daughters place and at 11:00am I would have had a ticket if I had left the car there and walked the short trip to the boat. The previous evening I had scouted out a parkade that I could use for five dollars all day until 5pm. Good Deal? Not!. You see they have these little complicated machines that suck up your money and they got me good. Two times five dollars. That's right, ten dollars. Apparently if you make a mistake on these machines you should cancel. Which I did without reading the fine print.No change given if you cancel They saw me coming. Anyway after cursing a couple of four letter words at the top of my lungs I figured "oh well its only five extra dollars out of my limited income". Better to get the blood pressure down and not go for a coronary. So I headed for the sea-bus.
I walked up to the kiosk that sucks up more money and this time I took a little more care. I didn't have enough correct change so I had to put a bill in to it. This I did. Nothing. Maybe there is a certain way to put in the bill? I tried them all. Nothing. So I decided to read all the directions. Having a male ego sucks when you have to do this. Nothing. Not a word on how to insert the money. So I went to the next kiosk (moneysucker). Tried the same. Nothing. While I was standing there scratching my head I figured I would hit the 2-zone button. Jesus the thing lit up like a one arm bandit in Reno. So I put the money in. Bingo. Success. Got my ticket,got my change and headed for das bot. Got down the ramp with 3 seconds to spare. Didn't even have to run.

I love boats and spend a lot of time in them. So the trip was uneventful. Didn't get seasick or anything. Got off the other side and walked up to the street.

Now something happened that made the extra fiver at the parkade seem trivial. As I walked out into the street I was accosted by no less than three people handing out free newsrags. 24hrs Vancouver, something called Metro, and get this. A complimentary copy of The Province Well I almost fell over.

So to continue. There is a mess of construction to my right on Granville. And I mean a messSo I decided to walk up Seymour. Now some people may wonder why I would walk instead of taking a bus. The first reason is I hate buses. Boat buses are okay. But ones with wheels. Uh-Uh.I trust only myself when driving. Been a passenger in too may accidents. So I walked. First thing I notice is when the walk sign comes on the birds start chirping. Mechanical birds. Or electronic. Whatever. Up here in the south Cariboo where I live we have real birds. Eagles, grouse, robins, crows, sandhill cranes, woodpeckers,Stellars Jay (the Provincial Bird) and something called a camp robber (Whiskey Jack). We even have a place here that some say is the only inland nesting place for the common seagull. No Lie. And these ones unlike those in the big smoke don't shit on you.

So I walked west on Seymour. Nothing strange for the first block. But in the second block things started to happen. I noticed that the streets were a little dirtier. As I walked on and into the third block I came across my first homeless person. Still sleeping on the sidewalk. Less that half a block further on were two people sharing a matress of cardboard and a couple of blankets. By the time I got to The Bay at Seymour I had counted nine people sleeping in the streets. I'm thinking "this is not acceptable". I get to Georgia and turn North. Everything is okay here. The longest bus stop, next to the depot, is still there. Still a couple of buskers. At Granville I turn North and when I get across the intersection there is more construction. Where the old Eatons building is (Now Sears) there is a gaping jesus big hole. I'm looking across what used to be Granville street to the Subterranian part of Sears. And it streyches the whole block. No room for people to nap here. But at Robson Strass it begins again. All the way to Smythe. Nine more living souls without a place to sleep. At Smythe I turn north and its almost like Dorothy entering Oz. Clean Streets, no one sleeping on the sidewalks. Nothing.

My very first thought here is "this city is hiding its homeless. Out of sight, Out of mind". Everything I hear or read is true. This is a god damn shame. This is the city I was raised in (I was born in Northern Ontario). This is where I went to school. I worked here. It was never like this.What the hell is going on? In this day and age nothing like this should be happening. But there it is. And I'm going to say this right here. Because of this Provincial Governments Corporate welfare system and the lack of concern for the average citizen, the people who vote them in, we have a mess like this. Eighteen people in a short walk on the street. But where the money and law happens. Nothing. For Shame.