Sunday, February 19, 2006
Letter to the Editor - Abby Times & News
The Mayor should resign. OR the city manager and any other city bureaucrats responsible for these actions should be fired and replaced with people having common sense and compassion. It is one thing to harass the Homeless to the point of persecuting them, it is totally unacceptable to take actions that put their lives at risk. On Thursday February 16, 2006 the city began to steal the tents, bedding, clothing and other possessions of the Homeless - throwing the property of the Homeless into the garbage. In a despicable act they hired people in recovery at Kinghaven to perform the theft under the watchful eyes of city workers. They left the Homeless nothing. Nothing to survive the clear, wind, sub-zero temperature nights with. Uncaring that that their actions in this weather put the health and lives of the Homeless at risk. And Please, the reason so many Homeless are in tents is that the available shelter beds can hold no more than a few percent of the city's Homeless. Those interested can find information on the reality of the Homeless in Abbotsford at www.geocities.com/homelessinabbotsford.
The city just left these people, these citizens there, exposed to the freezing winds and facing a night of sub-zero temperatures. Ignoring the fact that in having rendered the Homeless even more Homeless they had a moral obligation to find them shelter for at least that night. In a true twist of IRONY one of these Homeless became Homeless last summer because of the actions of the city government and its denial of any responsibility for the consequences of its actions. Over half of the people thrown onto the streets by the city's actions at the Fraser Valley Inn are still Homeless - unable to find other living quarters for a price they can pay. But here to the city ignored the consequences of its actions and denied any responsibility for helping these people find other lodgings.
Barely into the new year of 2006 and the city once again is ignoring the consequences of its actions, denying any responsibility. It is our city government. If it will behave responsibly then the citizens must force it to behave responsibility. Or accept our complicity and responsibility for the actions taken in our names. I myself cannot accept such such contemptible behaviour which is why I say: Resignations or Firings.
The city just left these people, these citizens there, exposed to the freezing winds and facing a night of sub-zero temperatures. Ignoring the fact that in having rendered the Homeless even more Homeless they had a moral obligation to find them shelter for at least that night. In a true twist of IRONY one of these Homeless became Homeless last summer because of the actions of the city government and its denial of any responsibility for the consequences of its actions. Over half of the people thrown onto the streets by the city's actions at the Fraser Valley Inn are still Homeless - unable to find other living quarters for a price they can pay. But here to the city ignored the consequences of its actions and denied any responsibility for helping these people find other lodgings.
Barely into the new year of 2006 and the city once again is ignoring the consequences of its actions, denying any responsibility. It is our city government. If it will behave responsibly then the citizens must force it to behave responsibility. Or accept our complicity and responsibility for the actions taken in our names. I myself cannot accept such such contemptible behaviour which is why I say: Resignations or Firings.
# posted by James W Breckenridge : 1:59 PM
