Ah, what a beautiful weekend! I could take a whole summer of weekends like this! I spent yesterday morning in the bright sunshine, enjoying the company of my squirrel and bird companions reading the Saturday edition of the London Free Press. I usually turn to the LFP with my coffee for my daily dose of hatred, injustice, and foolishness, but this day -- all the news that was fit to print seemed to jive well with just the kind of weekend this is.
First to the editorials:Henry Eastabrook, an outreach worker at
London InterCommunity Health Centre, and a gentleman I've had the pleasure of meeting on a number of occassions, had a fine letter:
"Beg your pardon, but panhandling is legit"Regarding the article Brakes hit on begging (June 8).
We are deeply concerned about the many local expressions of fear, anger, resentment and confusion that have surfaced regarding the ancient practice of begging or mendicancy in our community. Mendicancy has been a legitimate form of employment globally for thousands of years, although it has risen significantly since the emergence in the 18th century of industrialization and its cousin, free market capitalism.
With this knowledge of history, we urge those who feel particularly distressed about being asked to give up a few coins to fellow community members who are mendicants to kindly consider the following points.
Given the worsening divide between the wealthiest and the most poverty-stricken in our times, we have no reason to believe bylaws restricting mendicancy will have a positive effect on either side. Joblessness rates in this region have continued to grow. Meanwhile, the social safety net has shrunk to near non-existence. There is no evidence that cutting provincial welfare rates or eliminating programs that support vulnerable people creates employment opportunities.
The hue and cry for reduced taxes mean the probability of improvements to our social safety net are nil. As we grow increasingly under the influence, politically, economically, socially and culturally of global free markets there is less likelihood that mendicancy will disappear and greater likelihood that more of our fellow citizens will become disabled by chronic joblessness, homelessness and resultant stigma.
Understanding the facts leaves us with two options: support your fellow Londoners who are panhandling (very few of whom are either violent or aggressive and all of whom would prefer a more legitimate means of sustenance) or alter your voting patterns, shop locally and insist politicians and policy makers enhance our social safety net.
Henry Eastabrook
Outreach worker
Poverty, Homelessness and Options Team
London InterCommunity Health Centre
Next up, in response to the last Saturday's front page article by
Patrick Maloney, "
City hall has bigger issues to fry", and two letters of the 14th which were critical of
Coun. Stephen Orser's focus on backyard chickens, there were three very well written arguments which are supportive of permitting urban coops. Thanks
Gina Barber,
Roberta Cory, and
Larissa Gerow. I should mention another letter from Friday's issue from
Vera van Diepen: "...is shouldn't be a huge surprise that more Londoners want to stay away from buying eggs full of antibiotics from chickens that live tortured lives."
"This is not, as Chambers suggests, about “consenting adults.” Chambers fails to address — or chooses to ignore — the root causes of prostitution and the socio-economic conditions that force women (and men) into prostitution, often at a young age. Drugs and alcohol are likely involved, as are abuse and male dominance."Right on Serena! I invite anyone to look at the facts:
Prostitution - The Facts (The oldest profession - or the oldest oppression? The facts on prostitution speak for themselves)
Normalising prostitution normalises an extreme form of sexual subordination and objectification; it legitimises the existence of an underclass of women and it reinforces male dominance over women.
I also feel the need to give a nod to
Sheryl Rooth, who took exception to
Joseph Couture's comments in
"The add smile wouldn't hurt drivers on LTC". While she agreed with nearly everything that he said, she did take exception to one statement:
"Let me fill you in on something. Those of us who ride the bus do so because we are poor and, in case you haven't noticed, we are especially poor in these tough times." Her letter sought to destigmatize bus transit and encourage better treatment of passengers on LTC because it's the right thing to do!
And while we are on the subject of the LTC, isn't it nice to see
Deal to make LTC 100% accessible by 2012?(okay, so who was taking a nap and left in the "10%" typo that appeared in the print edition?) This project is ahead of shedule, and saved $630K! All good news.
Joe Belanger wrote a kind and thoughtful editorial piece about the situation in his Old East Village neighbourhood: "
City's downtrodden deserve help in a more discrete way". I particularly admired how he appologetically began his column:
"I'm about to piss off a lot of people I admire and respect."
(This is the second time I've seen his smiling face in the LFP in as many weeks. I gotta meet this guy!)
Car Free Festival aims to promote the environmental and health benefits of walking, cycling and taking the bus. For more information, go to carfreefest.ca.NEIGHBOURHOOD CAR FREE FESTIVALS Kipps Lane community fair, Aug. 20 Old East Village block party, July 16 Wortley Village Car Free, Sept. 11 Summerside Sept. 4 DOWNTOWN CAR FREE FESTIVALS Where: Dundas St. between Wellington and Ridout streets When:June 18-19: Teaming with the Fringe Festival to show snippets of different productions between musical acts.July 1: Canada Day theme Aug. 6-7: Celebrating the city's diversity.Sept. 17-18: Teaming with Doors Open London with a focus on Dundas St.Even the HOMES section had good news! Dulux Adding Colour to People's Lives program will infuse $1M (the equivalent of about 20,000 gallons of paint) in paint to beautify public structures as well as the buildings of community, charity and non-profit organizations.
www.addingcolour.caAnd finally, I spied a tiny bordered ad in Friday's edition:
AIM HEALTH GROUP WISHES TO
ANNOUNCE THAT
Dr. Emad Henein
Will be relocating his Family Practice to
320 Adelaide Street South, London, ON
as of June 28, 2011
CURRENT AND NEW PATIENTS
WELCOME
Phone: 519-668-3969
