Will BC’s left come up short in the stretch?

Fascinating to observe similar patterns play out in this current BC provincial election, beginning with the party in power for the past 16 years just behind the NDP in the first poll, despite all their horrible policies, right across the board.

 

Second, the 2 parties hoping to defeat Christy Clark already engaging in mud-slinging and falling victim, easy prey, to the master plan of the “corporate elite” or the corporate right”….even attacking the public in some circles, for supporting the Greens Party….

 

but hey, voters are voluntarily, intentionally choosing candidates they prefer, for whatever the reason might be. The NDP would do well to quit criticizing voters for picking candidates from other parties, and instead ask themselves why people don’t vote NDP.

 

It is really sad to see the BC Liberals & Christy Clark in good position to win a fifth consective mandate….notwithstanding all the nasty things they’ve done & keep doing. They won in 2001, almost totally obliterating the NDP in the Legislature….then in 2005…then in 2009….

 

and then again in 2013…..even though the election opened with the NDP enjoying what seemed an insurmountable 20 point lead. That’s like a racehorse turning for home with a healthy 10 length lead…fans on their feet, hooves thundering…only to cave in and fold like a cheap Wal-Mart tent and wind up beaten once again.

 

Wasn’t it bad enough, seeing Christy Clark in the winner’s circle again?!

 

Did the “Left” learn anything? Anything at all? I think they’re doing a pretty good job in many ways and John Horgan really is a likeable man-of-the-people leader who’d make an excellent Premier, but we’re seeing some familiar patterns…..

 

I like how the Greens and the NDP are not sitting back and refraining from attacking Clark. And some unions are jumping in the ring too. Look, this is a war. Either fight it, or be blown away. It’s one thing to “take the high road” and not engage in the disgusting, barbaric behaviour of trump or harper….but you have to ensure voters remember the worst things the BC Liberals have done ( including letting our debt skyrocket, including the injustices and lack of care for families, children, education, seniors, health, & of course the environment, meanwhile we get stuck with precarious, shittier jobs…)

 

And of course, tell us what you stand for. Why should I vote for you? Do you care about climate change, do you care about clean green well-paying jobs, would you uphold the public interest rather than just line the pockets of your corporate friends and funders?

 

It’s a shame that the Greens and NDP can’t figure it out that the best thing for everybody, if we’re genuinely concerned about beating the BC Liberals and the environment, would be to form a coalition so that voters had 1 simple choice to make at the ballot box…either sign up for more of the same **** we’ve had for the last 16 years…or vote for changes…..

 

this would’ve had to happen a while ago, so that it would be reflected on the ballots, but instead, it seems too many people have a different agenda in mind. What’s that last phrase mean? Just think about it. It could well be the left’s achilles’ heel …

#bcpoli #bcndp #elxn #BCGreens #bcvote2017

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Metro Vancouver’s housing & transportation crises will just worsen

It’s fascinating to watch media personnel who are untrained in matters of geography, political science, or what-have-you, make half-hearted efforts to pump out “stories” ( to meet deadlines of their superiors ) on such critical topics like transportation or health care or education or governmental priorities ( example let’s blow $8.4 Billion on a dam that’s not going to ever be needed by British Columbian people…only by prospective foreign investors wanting our natural resources…and destroy massive amounts of land in the process…rather than deal with the pressing issues facing us as people ).

So back to…yes, the media. Example, they toss out rhetorical questions like “will a few bucks “upgrading” this bridge or that road solve congestion?…Yeah right. Even university students taking urban geography know expanding capacity only results in more traffic. With the population increasing in nearby (Vancouver, Richmond, Delta, surrey, New West, Burnaby …not to mention everywhere else in the Metro region) residential buildings by the thousands every week, be serious.

This is purely the stuff of band-aids, when what’s really required is a full-blown physical examination with a dietary and exercise regimen. The Metropolitan area of Vancouver is growing so quickly, partly directly because of the policies of our municipal, provincial and federal governments, that it is absolute folly to think any re-jigging of arterial routes or even snap decisions to build $4 Billlion bridges ( mostly to appease clark’s corporate backers from the fossil fuel industries) will alleviate congestion.

Even a lab rat learns very rapidly which ways to go, in order to get food for example. You’d think more people would realize by now that it’s utter nonsense when they hear politicians say the latest batch of high-rises and condos will help deal with the rental crisis or the housing affordability crisis….simply because we’ve all witnessed them saying the same darned thing constantly for the last 40 years, when of course, the problems only get worse.

Why do they get worse? Partly because these same governments make it public policy to increase population and population density. And they’re all doing it. Delta finally caved in to the developer’s pressure and sacrificed the agricultural lands of the Spetifore Lands. Richmond which once was synonymous with farming, is now almost as covered with construction cranes as Vancouver.

Every city has their snout in the trough…..at some point you have to ignore the blatant falsehoods they keep propagating, and ask why are they so hell-bent on driving these policies forward, it can’t be their ideology, because as stated above, 40 years of crazy-arse development has only exacerbated all of the resulting problems ( social, economic, environmental, etc )…so what’s left?

Could it be corruption? What either answer is there? Why else would our politicians publicly float the notions we should close down schools just because enrolment is down and sell off the schools and land they are on?

The trends are clear.  As long as voters continue to be apathetic, uninformed, distracted, oppressed, repressed, and as easily tricked and divided as they are today, as they have been for the last while, what we’re witnessing today will undoubtedly continue.   And if you get out of Metro Vancouver and visit it every other week as I do, you are struck by the changes and the growth even more.

Figuring out if this will continue and even worsen is a lot like betting on the horses.   When you look at the past performances and study any given race, you will see horses who have repeatedly shown a lack of finish, or a lack of the will to win.  Yet fans often bet on them anyway, perhaps thinking a drop in class or an equipment change like “blinkers on” will be enough to put that horse over the top and across the finish line first.  Um, no.   Just no.  If that horse has just 2 wins from 30 something races, you gotta ask yourself why you are looking for it to win today.   It’ll just find another excuse to lose.

You need to listen to the chatter, and dissect the arguments and your observations.  A little bit of critical thinking goes a long way.   If Gregor Robertson wants to go down in history as a “green Mayor” or someone truly interested in modern, green initiatives he should quit the public calls to other levels of government to reject pipelines and take action at home by putting a moratorium on new condo construction.

We should be holding an inquiry into why the city and province sacrificed the Cambie corridor from False Creek to the Fraser River, just a few short years after taxpayers agreed to spend $1 Billion burying the Skytrain line under the corridor, in order to preserve the area’s character.   The redevelopment of the neighbourhoods and destruction of heritage buildings and erasure of Vancouver’s green spaces is absolutely shameful.

For those of us able, the quickest resolution to the issues is to leave the area.  Move on to better pastures because what’s happened is the people’s will has been usurped by corporate power.   They have taken over, and placed people in political office eager to do their bidding, either consciously or unconsciously.   My grandmother’s Lower Mainland is dead.   And it’s just growing more  and more crowded and rude and polluted, and full of crime and social problems by the day.

Thankfully, there are plenty of places beyond Vancouver’s borders which are a lot like the Vancouver of the 70’s and 80’s, where people still have power, are educated and engaged, and where community thrives.

 

 

 

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Invasion of the City Snatchers

Metro Vancouver is rife with chaos. My dad was right when he said last night that “land assemblies’ are accelerating , not slowing down. The Railway Club is closing forever and going to be bulldozed. Another place for live music and people to get together…gone. A big blow to the local music industry, specifically, and for entertainment generally.

Combine this with so many other things going on around Metro Vancouver, it is hard to maintain one’s cool…because it’s a sweeping transformation on several fronts.

Income inequality is worsening. And our attitudes towards the vulnerable & disadvantaged have collapsed. We are okay with walking by people sleeping on the cold hard concrete sidewalk… without even a piece of cardboard. We are okay with seniors getting little or no discounts anymore. We need to rush to the beach by 11 am in the summer, because after that, there’s no parking, and no more spots on the beach. Going out to a favoured restaurant, nightspot, or movie theatre? If you’re not stuck in a long queue, you are very lucky. It does happen, sure, but it’s not the norm.

When I’m in “town” every couple weeks, I see the changes. THAT’S HOW FAST THE CITY IS CHANGING.

The via-ducts will be torn out and filled up with towers. Crazy redevelopment all along the major streets.  Oakridge Mall awaits a total makeover with towers rivalling those of Metrotown in Burnaby.  The entire block within 57th to 59th, Cambie to Heather, will be bulldozed. BC Place is going to be surrounded by more towers, finishing off what was started after Expo 86 ended. Towers going up right beside my old  dentist in South Van.

Close to home the madness continues.  Two blocks away from home, 2 heritage houses will be replaced by 7 shoeboxes. A house 2 blocks the other way, once owned by nuns, is coming down, who knows what’s going in there. Across the street from that, another newer house is coming down. One block south of us, a 49.5 foot wide lot is going to be bulldozed and almost certainly see 3 dwellings go up, unless an adjacent lot is acquired, which might see another massive thing going in there.

One of our neighbours is selling next year, moving to other BC locations. She’s had it. Their lot is super wide, and developers continue to pester her. They can’t wait to use that lot in a land assembly for more condos etc.

Traffic? I am continualy dumbfounded at the volumes. Since I’m here every 2 weeks, I see the increase in traffic, how heavy it is virtually all day long, in places you once could count on to be light traffic.

Say anything critical of what the City is doing, and of course, since you’re dealing with a well-oiled, well-established well-funded bureaucracy beholden to the real estate industry and developers…what do you think happens? Why, they trot out any number of standard, predictable slick responses designed to brush you off, shut you up, discredit you, distract you, minimize you, and ensure they look good, and are right on top of it, and hey, only their ideas are the right ones.

But the proof is in the pudding. Just take the last 15 years. Probably double the number of housing units ( condos, townhouses, suites, etc ), and yet, enormous, exponential growth in prices. So are they honestly interested in affordability? Availability? No, obviously not. Why would they?
This is the same group of people who cajoled us to spend billions to bury the Canada Line Sky Train Line beneath Cambie St, ostensibly “to preserve the character of the area”…and scant years later approve of the wholesale slaughter of said area, replacing everything visible to the naked eye with a mixture of towers and 4 to 8 storey condo buildings.

The City has even just coined a new term, “view corridors”, …saying they’re working hard to safeguard what they call “view corridors”, you know, those thin slices of city and mountain views, those brief seconds you see the sky, in between the towers going up today, and the ones about to break ground around you.

In conclusion, well, my own conclusions are not fit for publication. For the city I once loved, is quickly being supplanted by monsters, something just as creepy and slimy and offensive as what emerged out of those pods in the film ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.

Inserting the conclusion of another piece I wrote, fits well here and deserves mentioning.

“….made more frustrating by the fact it seems like the city has been robbed from the people and the environment it is a part of…leaving its inhabitants disenfranchised, stressed, impoverished, hopeless, anxious, fearful, disconnected…and so even more, people seek to find any redeeming quality, any morsel to devour, any little piece they can grab onto and maybe, if they tell themselves enough times, how great it is there, how nowhere else could possibly be better…that maybe then it’ll magically somehow erase everything and it ‘ll be alright.

Pretty simple and pretty weak defence mechanism, eh? If I convince myself everywhere else is worse than the frying pan I’m in, then I will somehow deal with the heat. The thing is, you’re stuck in a frying pan, getting hotter and smaller all the time, and you have no control over it, because you aren’t the cook. You’re the olive oil.

….made more frustrating by the fact it seems like the city has been robbed from the people and the environment it is a part of…leaving its inhabitants disenfranchised, stressed, impoverished, hopeless, anxious, fearful, disconnected…and so even more, people seek to find any redeeming quality, any morsel to devour, any little piece they can grab onto and maybe, if they tell themselves enough times, how great it is there, how nowhere else could possibly be better…that maybe then it’ll magically somehow erase everything and it ‘ll be alright.

Pretty simple and pretty weak defence mechanism, eh? If I convince myself everywhere else is worse than the frying pan I’m in, then I will somehow deal with the heat. The thing is, you’re stuck in a frying pan, getting hotter and smaller all the time, and you have no control over it, because you aren’t the cook. You’re the olive oil.”

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The delightful delusion of Vancouver

It is a powerful truth that “you are what you do, always”. In other words, one may talk & preach all manner of rhetoric and try to pass themselves off as something, they can do all the dancing they want….but in fact, it is what they do, that identifies who they really are and what they honestly believe in.

It’s so hilarious then, watching people post photos of a few trees or bushes in Vancouver & proceeding to crow about it & attempt to portray what’s shown as somehow representative of what may be found all over the city. It makes one wince, having grown up there and had the good fortune to do some travelling to places both near and far, to provide a great deal of comparison and distance in order to accurately recognize truths, & fairly reflect upon how variables are characterized.

In the final, raw analysis, we don’t mind bulldozers on every block, heritage houses being terminated every single day. We really don’t care about losing trees, bushes, vegetation, and spaces to grow food, suntan, play frisbee, listen to music, sleep, talk, have a cappuccino, roll in a pile of leaves or cultivate a rose garden. When you get right down to it, we frankly don’t give a shit about any of those things, for if we did, we’d vote differently. We’d storm City Hall. We’d march in the streets by the hundreds of thousands like we once did from the 60’s to the early 80’s.

What do we really feel? Where are our allegiances? It’s demonstrated by what we do. We support condos. We like seeing construction cranes everywhere and we love to chatter about traffic and weather and housing. Relatively trivial and juvenile subjects compared to what you hear in Victoria, or Montreal, or Haida Gwaii, or St. John’s Newfoundland, or Sayulita, Mexico. We’d rather salivate over the idea, the inviting prospect of possible cash in our Lululemon stretch pants…all the while, grind our teeth fretting about affordability and all the other annoyances of life in a big metropolis……

So, people who think any particular scene, such as cherry trees near the former Bentall Towers, is beautiful and fetching….( and of course it is ) are perhaps arguably at risk of carrying on a delusion & propagating a myth that Vancouver is “all that and a bag of chips”, that the scene depicted and commented about… is somehow typical of the city’s streetscapes ( which was the case some 30 or 40 years ago ) when clearly, it is anything but typical.

…. The reality is …it is more similar to a movie set, make believe…. than a representation of anything larger, and to find that… one needs to look beyond Vancouver, as so many people are doing.

Ironically, people don’t need to look very far, which makes it interesting to observe in a clinical sense, how readily so many people like to buy into a long since extinguished fantasy, when the real thing is but a relative spit away. ….( Not sure how this comes off, because again I grew up there and really like (d) it there when I’m not hating it……but it’s frustrating to witness what was once a truly great town and small city, metamorphose into a hideous mutation ( I need to restrain myself from launching into an assault here )…

….made more frustrating by the fact it seems like the city has been robbed from the people and the environment it is a part of…leaving its inhabitants disenfranchised, stressed, impoverished, hopeless, anxious, fearful, disconnected…and so even more, people seek to find any redeeming quality, any morsel to devour, any little piece they can grab onto and maybe, if they tell themselves enough times, how great it is there, how nowhere else could possibly be better…that maybe then it’ll magically somehow erase everything and it ‘ll be alright.

Pretty simple and pretty weak defence mechanism, eh? If I convince myself everywhere else is worse than the frying pan I’m in, then I will somehow deal with the heat. The thing is, you’re stuck in a frying pan, getting hotter and smaller all the time, and you have no control over it, because you aren’t the cook. You’re the olive oil.

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Fighting back & standing your ground

Take a look at this video if you dare.

It was posted by the union PSAC, the Public Service Alliance of Canada which at one time made real noise and made governments tremble.  I couldn’t bear to watch it in its entirety.  With all of the changes negatively impacting the average Canadian worker and the average household of the past 10 years or so, I have a diminishing tolerance level for listening to someone recite why they chose the path of acquiescence and failure.

I sincerely hope that if cupw enters into negotiations with canada post in the future, ever again, it does not carry on with the same approach and gutlessness that led to accepting a host of serious cutbacks which are now part of the current collective agreement. I could not continue watching this  after 7 minutes. Just too painful listening to someone complain about what canada post wanted, and why the speaker figured we should accept mediocrity and just lose sacred, cherished benefits. Corporations, business tycoons, and right-wing governments have always, for hundreds of years, wanted cutbacks. They always want a piece of your flesh. They always have demands & will tell you anything to get them from you. To lessen your resolve in working towards even keeping what you have.  That has never changed.

What has changed is that unions in this country have become too weak. They won’t fight. They won’t call the employer’s bluff. They listen to the threats and doom and gloom, and have failed to stop the armies. It’s not just here at canada post, it’s air canada. It’s a lot of places. Air Canada pilots and others have let themselves down, by letting the boss get away with contracting out and letting aircraft get serviced in foreign countries by cheap, exploited labour.

It’s as if some sort of virus has knocked the stuffing out of a lot of people in Canada.  Someone said to me that they have a very difficult time envisioning people fighting back right now, as those preceding them did just a short time ago.  It wasn’t that long ago when they, along with many others, walked picket lines in more than one strike.  Even strikes involving scab, replacement workers.   Back then, they all had the same feeling of dread, they were on the edge.  They all shared the belief that they were in the fight of their lives.

They endured  a barrage of criticism in the media.  At first, passersby in the street ridiculed them. The employer hired goons to stir up dissent and cause trouble.  One even punched out a union local president.  But in the end it was all worth it.  They may have lost wages, but they defended  their turf and kept prized benefits.   They stood up for what was right, and showed everyone, including our employer, and themselves, that not only could they fight back, they would darned well do so if required.  I’m not sure I’d place a wager that people would do the same today.  And make no mistake, the workers of this country all face the same challenges.

The whole point of being in a union, ostensibly, is strength in numbers. Using the power of the collective to get what we want. Who gives a hoot who says what, and what the boss says or threatens. You create a union to put an end to this nonsense – at least for the life of a contract, so that worker and employer can co-exist together, and serve customers and move product. The good stuff we still have was never handed to us on a silver platter. This union fought, and fought bloody hard to get the things it did.

And in order to survive, the union and you and me, and everybody else, will have to fight back. It’s simple. Fight back, or die. Fighting back means negotiating. You can only negotiate if the other side believes you will do what you say , that your words really do mean something. The litany of losses and deterioration in working conditions and benefits and pay, the sickness that is afflicting the average worker and the average family in this country, year after unrelenting year, is proof positive that giving in just does not work.

Ultimately, the workers of this country, including the workers in the union, will eventually realize that there is no alternative but to act, to go on strike, and endure whatever happens. That there is no other choice. When they finally “get it”, they will realize their power and be victorious.

They will say to themselves that they are sick and tired of what’s happened, of what is happening.  They will be sick and tired of what their jobs and the prospects of their families have come down to. They will make the final decision to take destiny into their hands and do whatever is necessary until they achieve a fair, decent, and just contract that takes them back on the road towards regaining major lost ground.

When that kind of raw anger, pure outrage, and rising willpower is combined with a strong, loud, and solid leadership, great things happen.  As has been shown many times over in the short history of this nation.  When people understand their backs are against the wall, and giving in only puts them on their knees, they will see the choice very clearly.  Accept the cutbacks, do as your employer asks.  Or, say no.  Fight back.

Fight back knowing that if negotiations do not not conclude successfully with a fair, just, and decent contract that you can take home to your family, you will not hesitate to walk.  Not even for a second.  And once you go down that road, you will feel vindicated, for at last you are taking action to follow your heart and soul..  If it takes 2 weeks or 2 months of lost wages while pounding the pavement, that’s what it takes to win.  You hope it never comes down to that, but you know the price of acquiescence, of chickening out.

You will see that it’s either you, or them.  Defeat, or victory.  The choice is yours.  Fight back, regardless of threats and anything they might tell you.  And you will be victorious.  Because you will already be a winner.   That is how things get done in this country.  By winners.

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Together we can

Postal workers and indeed postal users across this country, are now at a crossroads, and all indications point to considerable change coming, especially as people learn lessons they forgot or haven’t had to apply for a very long time.

It’s interesting that the canada post continues to roll out PT, also known as Postal Transformation or  “the modern post”, years after former boss Moya Greene left canada post.  And it’s very perplexing that cpc is proceeding with PT while  bringing in this new 5 point plan which includes terminating door to door delivery, which will require customers to use CMBs.

I think we may have avoided all of this by voting “no” to the new contract in 2011. By taking our chances and rejecting the bullying. The “winner-take-all” judge mechanism they set up was not advantageous for us, but neither was, as it turns out, giving up and accepting the lesser cutbacks. It really has become standard procedure in this union to whine and whimper for the first part of negotiations, then fold our tent when push comes to shove. We have a federal government out to destroy workers, and the middle class.  A government that has no qualms with back to work laws, that is wrapped up in its ideology.

But this really isn’t anything new. It’s something we’ve faced periodically over several decades now. The winds of this kind of storm howled throughout Canada in the 1960s and 70s. And postal workers rose to the occasion. Since those days,  governments have been much less likely to resort to it, because it’s seen as unpopular with the electorate, ticks off unions even more, and results in a backlash by unions which is worse than just appointing someone to work out some type of fair deal. But Harper and cronies sensed, correctly, that none of those 3 things would happen. They’d already bullied Air Canada and others, already screwed over civil servants, etc, and it worked for them.

The low voter turn out among union members to decide upon a new contract, was the final slam dunk, it made the cutbacks the new norm. And it kept us firmly on the road to more PT, worse routes, fewer jobs, and now the end of door to door delivery. It clearly demonstrated the level of frustration on the work floor. The resignation, disenchantment, disillusionment, the weight of powerlessness that many seemed to have embraced.

I think as working conditions have progressively gotten worse, and now we face the prospect of CMBs replacing our livelihoods, more postal workers have gotten involved. In our own ways.  Some not so obvious to others.  There is more awareness, a greater sense of urgency.  More of us sense that the current practice of concessionary bargaining does not work. That while it is uncomfortable, it is necessary to fight for what you want, for what you believe in. To fight to put food on the table.

More of us are getting the message that the notion of being a passive bystander, hoping that some institution, or some other person, will intervene and make everything alright again…just does not work. And as more of us come to these realizations, we will be better positioned to deal with what comes next. Hopefully we will begin to develop some new strategies and new approaches for it’ll soon be time to enter into “negotiations’ again.

For us to be successful, we will need to continue learning these lessons, especially the final one. Which is – the real definition and the real purpose of a strike is to withdraw your services, together with your co-workers, because you know collective action is the ultimate manifestation of your true power.

You go on strike reluctantly, because it is uncomfortable, you miss paycheques, and you want the pleasant routine of going to work every day and then leaving it behind. But now you can’t leave it behind; it’s blocking your path. It’s in your face. It’s your employer demanding you take even more cutbacks, demanding  that you settle for less, again.

But you have one last card to play, and no, it isn’t running to your momma, and hoping an arbitrator or a lawyer somewhere saves your ass. It’s called a strike, where you give the middle finger to those who don’t give you the fairness, respect, and decency you deserve. You were, and are, wanting to negotiate a fair contract, maybe even recover some of the losses you accepted in all the recent previous contracts. But now…now you can’t take it anymore.

You are willing to do whatever is required to achieve your goal, whatever is necessary, to ensure you will be able to put food on the table for you and your family, now, and in the foreseeable future. You also want better. Better wages, better working conditions, better benefits, a better future. You don’t want PT. You do want one delivery bundle. You want to have your own sortation case, your own personal work space. You want to be recognized as a person. Not too much to ask for in this world.

And to get it – you will continue to stay out on strike, regardless of any and all threats. No bullying, no scare tactics, no doom-and-gloom is gonna sway you. You are determined, and will not be moved. Oh, a back to work order you say? Well **** that. We already know where that goes. A strike is an all-out, full-on effort. You do it to win, period. And in order to win, the other side has to know that you are in that place. Otherwise, this is just playing games. A bunch of kids amusing themselves on a rainy saturday afternoon, before cartoons come on tv.

When you do this, when you are this prepared to be on strike and stay out, whatever it takes, however long it takes, together with your co-workers, your “brothers and sisters”, you are really exercising your power. The power you always had, but accidentally, on purpose, forgot was there. When the other side sees you are this resolute, THEN they are on the run. They’re scared to death.

That’s what brought cupw to the forefront in this country. That’s what got us the kinds of wages and benefits we have. That’s why many of us came here in the first place.

Some of us walked those picket lines, some of us remember. Some of us put up with these same back-to-work threats, and people spitting on us, and throwing excrement at us. Some of us got punched by goons hired by the other side to instigate conflict and dissension. Some of us know what’s like to deal with the spectre of the employer bussing in scab, replacement workers.

Some of us know. And more of us are getting to that place. Things are going to change, and it’s our time to be the drivers of our futures. This is what solidarity looks like. This is what winning looks like. Take a look in the mirror and then spread the word to your co-workers, your family,m friends, your neighbours. Write to your MP. Write to the newspapers. But open the door, buckle up, and start being the driver of your future. Together, we can do it.

This is the new slogan I want for our union: “Together we can.”

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Thoughts on the internet & high tech

Even as society, (read: the business community), continues its headstrong rush towards everything being done “online”, there are many signs the Internet, emails, texts, & so forth are fraught with problems which are piling up & fuelling a growing fire of resistance/backlash/desire -for- something-else.
Privacy; security; cyber-bullying; hacking; identity theft; addictive behaviours like online gambling & online shopping, online drug purchases, online porn & its harmful effects on families & children, texting & driving, overuse of the online virtual world which affects human psychology, families, & children; hours & hours spent online which impacts people’s fitness, & creates a variety of ailments like neck & back injuries; overuse of electricity which wastes power & money. The list goes on and on.

A lot of people are waking up to the realization that all this technology is not freeing us from dank, dark lives of enslavement & borderline poverty, it’s surreptitiously taking you there, to that precise spot, in a roundabout way, as more & more of your time is spent doing the work of the companies you do business with. You can’t get your supermarket/bank/gas station/etc to serve you , assist you in making purchasing choices, or offer cashier services and carry-out service because….over the last number of years they’ve successfully and carefully enticed more & more people to do all this work themselves, for absolutely free, under the guise of saving time & money. We were promised in the 1980s and 1990s, just before the tidal wave of the Internet revolution arrived on shores everywhere, that we would shake off the chains of those boring, dead-end, 9-5 jobs that either the father or mother commuted to, and proceed boldly towards a new “Information Age”

Suddenly , one can’t help but notice it’s essentially become the law you have a cellular phone as there aren’t any public pay phones around. They insist you “manage your account”, “go online”, “save a tree” , “go paperless”, that you must do everything yourself to somehow, in some weird twisted, impossible way…save yourself money and time. Hoping you won’t notice all the money spent on computers, smartphones, ipods, e-readers, printers, ink toner, paper, internet access fees & cellular fees, all the extra charges you pay downloading everything and exposing yourself to yet more advertising from the instant you wake to the split second you manage to fall asleep beside the eerie glow of your gadget you’ve brought to bed like it’s your very last fix of heroin or crystal meth. Opening a kazillion accounts online, each with its own username & password. How everybody hopes you will hand over your credit card information which gives company X that coveted, assured, non-stop, pipeline-style access to your funds & ensures you will forever remain a “valued customer”, when they really should be using the word “user”. How energy And utility companies everywhere have twisted the arm of the governments they practically control to mandatorally require you accept various wireless meters to monitor, calculate, regulate, & prepare your next online bill for consuming electricity, fuel, and now even water.

More and more people across the globe are rejecting all of this and looking for saner, simpler alternatives so they can re-establish some balance, harmony, affordability, time, and even joy in their lives. They’re discovering once again that it’s relationships with other people and their favourite activities that brings their lives happiness, enrichment, & fulfillment. Not month after month, year after year, and decade after decade coped up, cloaked, and estranged from the natural, physical world, and themselves, and their inner voices, their lives swallowed whole by the Internet and “high technology”, or as they pause once more, frozen and oblivious to the world and people around them, on a sidewalk or bus somewhere. In every corner of the world, more & more people are planting food, riding bikes, boating, playing beach volleyball, taking up pottery or some other art form, picking up a guitar, arranging a meeting place to spend time with friends just hanging out, doing things once again.
Some people contend, though, that this analysis is wrong, and all this technology is here to stay and that surely we don’t want to return to the Stone Age. Too often free speech seems under attack and those holding views different from our own are targeted for scorn, derision, disrespect, and contempt. So, is the alternative to the self-serving picture painted by corporations automatically a return to the Stone Age? Do we have to drink the Kool-Aid and accept that we either return to handing over all our raw materials to foreign interests or perish horribly? No, we don’t have to accept Tar Sands pipelines, wireless meters, automatic pre-paid accounts, self-serve queues, & being condemned to a non-life confined to being tethered to our electronic devices, our attentions restricted to screens.

We can find balance and make the choices that most benefit ourselves, our families, our communities, and our environment. We can behave in ways that more closely line up with our values, and that of our ancestors. But we have to act now, and begin by taking baby steps to reclaim the ground we have given away for short-term wins.

Write a physical letter or card and send it off to those you care about. Surely they’ll appreciate it a lot more than to click on it for a moment, then to click away just as fast. Visit your local business and patronize it. Ask questions and purchase as much local and green as possible. Insist on receiving customer service for your dollar. Refuse to give out your personal private information, just as your grandfather or mother did not that long ago. Pay with the cash you really have, not charging up enormous sums you realistically cannot possibly afford to pay. Consult and acquire knowledge. Get into a good pair of running shoes, try out a new sport/hobby/art/food/music and and explore. Stop daydreaming on x.y, or z website, frantically flipping through endless tweets and random texts. Start the process of waking up to the real you. Get out into the real world and live your dream. There’s only a finite amount of this precious resource called “time” in the real world we all inhabit.

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Wake up

Found this on a tattered, smudged sheet of foolscap one day & came to decide,  on the basis a considerable amount of effort was poured into crafting the text, it merited safekeeping.  Hence, the body of the text has been copied and preserved as follows:
“Wake up”

“Urban external postal workers in Metro Van & BC, still enjoy doing traditional postal routes. Some of us still enjoy being able to go home “early”, ( leaving work once your work is finished) but that’s about to end very soon, & that is very sad.

We’ve been hearing about Postal Transformation for several years, & it continues to spread across Canada, scheduled to arrive in BC in 2015, maybe sooner. It entails the end of the ways we’ve all done our jobs for many decades, erasing or greatly changing almost every aspect of a letter carrier’s/MSC work day.  Many carriers across Canada regularly work up to 12 hours a day.

But before that happens here, cpc has been arbitrarily adding to our routes, resulting in fewer routes at depots, & generally speaking, much longer work days for those of us remaining.

For SVDC, the last round of pre-PT cuts is coming. They couldn’t wait for the hammer of PT to fall, to get in one final kick in the carrier’s derriere.  The  2009 restructure left many routes completely unrecognizable as RMOs began with a clean slate.  Some carriers lost customers we’d known for 12 years.  Among other losses, most routes lost their paper cases, lost relay boxes, and mobile routes lost the travel time to return to the depot for their lunch break. The depot was “standardized”.  Householder delivery rules kept getting changed for the worse.  Posties embraced the PDT, with all the extra hassle, time, & responsibility involved, without a whimper.  Christmas dinner became pop & chips.  Nobody even raised a fuss at the introduction of video surveillance by parties unknown, for purposes unknown.

And in the past year, the depot’s atmosphere grows increasingly strained, for reasons known to anyone on the floor ( to posties who work there).

But through all of this, a strange apparent state of nonchalance has managed to persist.  A footloose bliss of innocence?  Perhaps willful ignorance? It’s hard to know which. It’s as if many carriers are totally unaware of what is about to happen to them, despite repeated bulletins, warnings, and various “heads-up” by cpc. Partly this reflects the human species’ tendency to expect that what occurs today, will continue tomorrow, despite clearly being told that is not so.  But it’s nonetheless perplexing.

Generally speaking, postal workers could do a better job of updating their edit books, & hope for heavier mail loads during  volume counts,  but you get the creeping suspicion that ultimately our fate is up to the whim & daring of RMOs and cpc managers. They have shown with every restructure that whatever they think they can get away with, they will undoubtedly try.   And carriers have continued to live up to cpc’s hopes by “making it work”,   road-running & flouting every life-ring of job protection clauses they can think of.

All in the insatiable drive to finish their day sooner.  Complete with a recipe book of excuses to somehow justify their behaviour,  which, whether they choose to admit it or not, nevertheless impacts all of us.  And our families.  It truly is a surreal landscape.

Thus, it’s a very safe bet the clear & consistent pattern of longer routes & longer work days will continue.   Even after the first blast waves of PT hit.

In any event, it’s never a bad time to pause, be aware, and realize that these last weeks are fleeting & will be gone all too soon.

These final days may then be savoured more richly down the road, whatever the future holds.

In the meantime, I continue to wait for the alarm clock to go off, to hear voices saying “wake up!”

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Acme News

Good evening,

And welcome to an Acme News exclusive presentation, “Investigative Reports”.For tonight’s show, we travelled back in time to discover the hidden secrets of postal workers.  Just how do they manage to do it?  Delivering through rain, sleet, and snow.  Consistently rated among the top most dangerous jobs with injuries and faced with competition from the internet and fast modern businesses like UPS with strong reputations, we wanted to get the low down.

So we asked mail carriers and drivers alike, each with over 20 years of service, this same  question:  “How have you been able to last so long at your job?”  Here are their answers:

1962

“Well the key is noticing the details.  Coming from the armed forces, I like to look sharp & crisp.  I maintain a decent level of presentation as part of my job, and it’s stood me in good stead.Yes, I’m proud of it, but modesty is a virtue.  Best not to be noticed.”

1972

“Oh man, I don’t know, you know?  It’s noticing the smallest detail, like the birds and butterflies out there on the beat.  When you’re carrying the mail, you gotta be in the groove, so you get yourself aligned with the universe.  Find that harmony, you know?  Hey, you’re not gonna show my smoke on camera, right?  Ahem, so if you notice the little stuff, focus on that, you forget the horror, the gory headlines, the weight on your back.”

1982

“I think I’d have to say it’s noticing the contrasts between having steady work in a time of economic growth, versus those on the street.  Joe Clark was toast in 6 months, but I plan on being around for the long haul.   I try to serve everybody equally, delivering the Royal Mail.  See here?  This is an official canvas relay bag from 10 years ago, marked “Royal Mail”.   They say we’re a Crown Corporation now, but if you want to stay relevant you need to believe in a higher purpose, so equality’s my thing.”

1992

“Lasting this long?  Hey that’s private,  not something to be talked about on camera!  Just kidding.  But seriously, the thing I noticed, if you still wanna make it, and retire being a postman, you’ve gotta know it’s hard work.  Keep your eye on your shoes, one after another.  Like my parents taught me, if you work hard, you’ll be alright.  Regardless of the budget cuts and all that.  It’s just the Liberals, right?  Business is business, you know?  But you gotta be noticed; don’t take crap from anybody!  That’s it.”

2002

“I really couldn’t say.  I’ve been doing this a long time, but noticed I still don’t have much seniority.  You’ve got to pay your dues.  Kind of like the country, slow but steady we’ll get there.  Meanwhile sure, volumes are dropping a bit, but I noticed I really enjoy talking with my customers.   Good for tips!  And I think there’ll always be  a place for the mail.  No one can replace meaningful communication.  Thanks, but I’ve gotta run.”

2012

“Oh, you’re talking to me?  Look I wish I could talk, but first I’d have to catch my breath.  Because, you’ve gotta keep going. I just try not to think about it. Maybe take a pill, have a beer.  Listen to my tunes.  Maybe it’ll turn around, but times are tough. Not like in the old days.  And you’ve got Harper now, around for a long time.   Look, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve got to keep running.  No time.  Plus, I’ve got stuff to do after work.”

2013

“The thing I’ve noticed, if you wanna stick around and have your health, you’ve got to go unnoticed.  There’s conflict going on all over the place.  A lot of turbulence at work, in society, everywhere.   Best plan is to pick your battles.  You hear a lot about money, etc.  So you notice the basics.  Focus on doing your job as best you can.  Take your breaks, that kinda thing.  Make a point of speaking to customers, being available for co-workers.  Because in the end, it’s dignity.  Realizing you can actually draw a line.  It’s the whole process, you know?   Of finally noticing.”

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Vancouver’s streets are unsafe for pedestrians

The issues of pedestrian safety and a noticeable rise in traffic fatalities in Vancouver have once again landed on  dinner table newspapers, smartphone screens, and  the conciousness of people everywhere in the Lower Mainland, and Vancouver Island.  In the last two weeks, several people have been killed in different incidents, from Victoria to Surrey.  Behind each statistic is a person, a human being, each one innocently going about their daily lives,  simply crossing a street to get to wherever they where going.

In fact, pedestrians in Vancouver are being mowed down in record numbers, as shown in the following CBC News story:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/05/bc-vancouver-pedestrian-deaths.html

But contrary to the article’s statements, this condition is occurring in many places, not just Vancouver. And as much as their concern for pedestrian safety is noted & appreciated, our Mayor & Council are not tackling the problem from the right perspective.

If they’d spend more time outside,  walking and travelling up & down our streets, they might see what I see, & realize their ideas won’t work. They’ve already spent a pile of money on more signals and intersection design and so forth. It’s not working. The result is simply more congestion, & rising motorist frustration.  And their answer is to borrow more money and repeat the same behaviours which have already proven unsuccessful in bringing down the death rate on our streets.

Aside from the fact traffic safety is being impacted by too much traffic in confined spaces, because of rapidly rising population densities, the central problem to tackle is motorist incompetence & the alarming lack of police presence.

Judging by their behaviours behind the wheel, a huge proportion of drivers today apparently don’t think they are obligated to put down their smartphones,  much less yield to red lights & pedestrians.  What’s more shocking is that these are fundamental rules you don’t even need to possess a driver’ s licence to know.  They whiz by pedestrians of all ages, with very narrow margins between human flesh & thousands of pounds of vehicle, travelling usually over posted speed limits.  And drivers do this seemingly without a care in the world, their faces showing no emotion or recognition of how close to the pedestrian they actually are.  This is the driver culture out there.

Of course, pedestrians may not be entirely blameless in the chaos on the streets.  Every day, countless numbers of people dart into traffic, cross mid-block, or flagrantly disobey traffic signals while crossing streets.   While these careless actions add to the urban mayhem, and heighten frustrations of many, they represent a relatively small threat to the welfare of the motoring public.

Defensive driving , however, appears to be a myth, as if it’s something taught in driver education courses, but forgotten as soon as one acquires their driver’s licence.  Most people, it appears, regard a driver’s licence  as a right, when in fact it is a privilege.  The many obligations associated with possessing a driver’s licence in B.C. too often are forgotten, buried by complacency & “busy” lifestyles.   The main objective of motorists seems to be a primitive, selfish one –  to get to their destination as quickly and as easily as they can, and everyone else is viewed as little more than minor annoyances and obstacles that should not be in their way.  Generally speaking,  the rules of the road , as laid out in the Motor Vehicle Act,   appear not to apply to them, these very important people.

Worse, the more lights and fancy crosswalks they see, the more they view pedestrians in other situations as out of order,  and crossing at their own risk.

It’s no exaggeration to say pedestrians seem to live in a very dangerous world out there, one that nobody else really could understand unless they would literally take the time to walk as I do.

The Vancouver Police Department appears unable to designate a meaningful contingent of officers to patrol intersections, which explains why the Police are so rarely present, therefore it is up to the our civic government to step up their involvement and give these issues due attention.

Sadly, until the relevant authorities act to correct population densities spiralling upwards out of control, a motorist mentality that says their driving convenience supercedes & supplants all other considerations,, such as the lives of other human beings, the inevitable results are obvious, yet still preventable: more human lives will be lost, and more people will unexpectedly lose their loved ones, their sons, daughter, their grandparents, their parents.

If this is not the appropriate time to act, it is then fair to posit the following question, of those who would like to be called our “leaders”: how many more lives must be violently, needlessly, & prematurely cut short, before action takes place?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/05/bc-vancouver-pedestrian-deaths.html

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