Public Disorder & the Decline of Vancouver's Livability

[jollyburger]

Jon Stovell was supposed to be on the panel but dropped out

City Debate #15: RETHINK THE DTES PLAN

The Downtown Eastside Plan (2014) was created to protect low-income residents and other community members by restricting new development and uses not specifically targeting the poor. Many believe the DTES is Vancouver's last authentic and compassionate neighbourhood in the city; others see a neighbourhood in decline. Is it time to rethink the DTES Plan to allow for a greater mix of self-supporting uses, residents and businesses? Or, does the DTES Plan effectively protect a vulnerable population and preserve/work towards a cohesive neighbourhood?

https://urbanarium.org/city-debate-15-rethink-dtes-plan

[logan5]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Well, I guess we should be glad he didn't use the hammer on a person.

Man with hammer smashes $30K worth of downtown Vancouver bus shelter glass
By Elizabeth McSheffrey Global News
Posted March 21, 2023

A man with a hammer smashed around 20 glass panes on downtown Vancouver bus shelters early Tuesday morning, causing roughly $30,000 in damage according to Vancouver police.

The spree took place around 1:30 a.m., damaging shelters near Granville and Georgia streets, Sgt. Steve Addison told Global News.

The suspect was detained by witnesses until police arrived and took him into custody.....
https://globalnews.ca/news/9568221/man-smashes-vancouver-bus-shelter-panes-30k-damage/

He could probly not be held criminally responsible because of a mental illness, so what do you do?

[logan5]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Jon Stovell was supposed to be on the panel but dropped out



https://urbanarium.org/city-debate-15-rethink-dtes-plan

The DTES Plan needs a serious makeover. You could still create the same number of below market units, but you could add more FSR for market rate units, be it rental or strata. The FSR for the rea is too low anyways. For example the area around Oppenheimer Park is around 3 FSR (if memory serves), which is absurdly low for downtown Vancouver.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by logan5

The DTES Plan needs a serious makeover. You could still create the same number of below market units, but you could add more FSR for market rate units, be it rental or strata. The FSR for the rea is too low anyways. For example the area around Oppenheimer Park is around 3 FSR (if memory serves), which is absurdly low for downtown Vancouver.

3.1.1.1 The maximum floor space ratio is 5.00, except that if a development includes a dwelling use where all
dwelling units are social housing, the floor space ratio is 6.00, subject to the following allocations:
(a) the maximum floor space ratio is 3.00 for dwelling uses, or 4.50 for dwelling uses where all dwelling
units are social housing;
(b) the maximum floor space ratio is 4.00 for hotel;
(c) the maximum floor space ratio is 1.50 for office uses or detoxification centre;
(d) the maximum floor space ratio is 1.00 for retail or service uses, other than hotel; and
(e) the maximum floor space ratio is 3.00 for all other non-dwelling uses combined, or 4.00 where a
development includes hotel with a floor space ratio of at least 1.00.
3.1.1.2 Despite the provisions of section 3.1.1.1 above, the Director of Planning or Development Permit Board
may increase the permitted floor space ratio by a maximum of 10% for the conservation of heritage
property if:
(a) Council first approves a heritage designation by-law;
(b) the development includes substantial retention of the existing structure and historically appropriate
conservation treatments; and
(c) the Director of Planning or Development Permit Board considers the intent of this schedule and all
applicable Council policies and guidelines.

https://bylaws.vancouver.ca/zoning/zoning-by-law-district-schedule-fc-1.pdf

[jollyburger]

One man arrested, another in hospital after stabbing outside Starbucks in downtown Vancouver

A man is in serious condition in hospital and another has been arrested after a stabbing outside the Starbucks at Granville and Pender.

A witness said he stepped off a bus at the intersection just after 5:30 p.m. because of a large police presence in the area.

“As we’re walking down … we see this guy getting arrested. He had blood all over his shirt, the back of his shirt,” Mark, 37, said. “There was a guy doing CPR on (the victim), in the middle of the ground right in front of the Starbucks. He was in a big pool of blood. They tried doing CPR on him for at least 10 minutes.”

“I’m hoping the guy survives,” he said.

Images circulating online show the Starbucks roped off with a large police presence outside. A pool of blood can be seen in the entranceway and on the street.

In a short statement, Vancouver police said they are “investigating a serious assault that occurred near Granville and Dunsmuir.”

Police say the investigation is in its early stages and there may be more information available on Monday.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news...er-serious-assault-in-downtown-vancouver

[whatnext]

Terrible. It will be interesting to here if the two new each other or if this was another stranger attack. If it is random expect the heat to be turned up on Eby & Co to get tough with this kind of lawlessness.

[jollyburger]

It's a homicide case now. And they suspect that the two didn't know each other.

https://vpd.ca/news/2023/03/27/murder-charge-laid-in-fatal-starbucks-stabbing/

[Vin]

Originally Posted by logan5

He could probly not be held criminally responsible because of a mental illness, so what do you do?

Vancouver needs a good mental hospital or Police detention facility to detain such individuals. No excuses.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Vin

Vancouver needs a good mental hospital or Police detention facility to detain such individuals. No excuses.

Do you put people in such a facility before or after a crime is committed?

[jollyburger]

I mean if you have a history of mental illness and violence then before.

A legal group representing marginalized people on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has issued a stern rebuke of the provincial government’s plans to force mental-health and addictions treatment on people who present a danger to themselves and others.

Pivot Legal Society released a report Thursday calling on British Columbia to halt its proposed expansion of “involuntary care” beds, arguing such treatment is an outdated approach that is harmful, degrading and often discriminatory.

It also says recent local and international research has found people may face a higher risk of dying from an overdose after completing forced treatment.

The group formed in 2001 to fight against laws and policies it says undermine human rights, intensify poverty and further stigmatize those in Vancouver’s poorest areas.

The issue of forcing people who repeatedly commit crimes into treatment has gained political traction in recent months as mayors and opposition provincial politicians have repeatedly raised concerns about public safety. As the toxic drug crisis continues to defy efforts to reduce the death toll, Premier David Eby has said the province needs to expand the availability of involuntary care and to update the Mental Health Act to provide clearer options for intervention.

Tyson Singh Kelsall, a Downtown Eastside social worker and PhD student at Simon Fraser University who approved Pivot’s report, said the heavily politicized rhetoric surrounding involuntary care belies the extremely low level of government supports available to those seeking help for mental-health and substance-use problems.

“Expanding involuntary apprehensions, while voluntary supports are inaccessible to most, and floating policy that would force reduced tolerance before discharging people back to a toxic street supply setting, is not only cruel, but dangerous,” he said in a news release from Pivot.

B.C., Vancouver governments announce temporary dwellings for 90 people in Downtown Eastside

Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog disagreed with Pivot’s critique. He has been arguing to increase the mandatory treatment of repeat offenders since shortly after leaving his position as an NDP MLA to run for the mayor’s job in 2018.

“If it had been published on April Fool’s Day I might have believed it,” Mr. Krog said in an interview. “The comments by the people in the report indicate to me that they have no appreciation of the sentiments and feelings of the vast majority of British Columbians who know that involuntary, secure care for some of the people in our streets is absolutely appropriate and necessary – we are in the middle of the result of 30 to 40 years of failed social policy.”

Last week, Mr. Krog called on the provincial and federal governments to help his city fix its public-safety crisis after a shop owner was shot at a tent city while trying to recover his stolen tools.

Mr. Krog had no estimate for how many in his city would need such involuntary care, but conceded that a certain portion of people living on the streets would inevitably need to live in a medical facility for the rest of their lives.

Under the provincial Mental Health Act, a person can be detained in a psychiatric facility if a physician deems it necessary for their health and safety, as well as the safety of others. Last year, almost 20,000 British Columbians were involuntarily hospitalized this way, but the province only has 1,984 beds within the health care system designated for this forced care, and there are not enough long-term options to treat complex mental-health and addiction issues.

Mr. Eby, who joined Pivot early in his career in 2005 to advocate for homeless people, said more such treatment is needed amid a toxic drug crisis that has killed 11,000 and disabled tens of thousands over the past seven years.

“For every person that fatally overdoses, there are at least three people that are seriously brain-injured,” Mr. Eby told The Globe and Mail’s editorial board during a meeting in Toronto earlier this year. “And until you’re sufficiently brain-injured to the point of permanent long-term care, then people are being really spat out from the emergency room back into the community. So it’s cruel and it’s a miserable existence.”

Mr. Eby said he is also conscious of the many occasions that the provincial government has harmed those under mandatory care. He said B.C. will craft its new approach in consultation with First Nations leaders, mental-health professionals and people with experience using illicit drugs “to make sure we’re not making things worse, because sometimes you can go in with the best of intentions.”

Instead of forcing treatment upon people, Pivot issued seven recommendations for the provincial government, including to invest much more into voluntary options such as detox and treatment programs with strict oversight, as well as create a safe supply of illicit drugs. Pivot wants these services to be made available upon request everywhere across B.C.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/b...s-downtown-eastside-cautions-bc-against/

[jollyburger]

Candidate #1

A 27-year-old man who went on a four-day crime spree last spring, including a series of sexual assaults at Burnaby’s Metrotown mall, was supposed to have been at a Surrey recovery house at the time.

Hayden McCorriston was transported from the Vancouver Island Correctional Centre to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam on March 30, 2022, according to facts presented in court.

He was on bail on multiple charges out of Campbell River, and he was supposed to stay at a Surrey recovery house – but his stay at the rehab facility lasted less than an hour.

The following day, he launched a crime spree in Burnaby, New Westminster and Vancouver that lasted four days and included five sexual assaults, one indecent act, one assault by choking, two other assaults and one robbery (see timeline below).

“It encompassed several days of basically chaos. I don’t say chaos lightly because he was all over. It was an out of control situation,” Crown prosecutor Kathryn Ford said during McCorriston’s sentencing hearing in Vancouver provincial court on March 13.

McCorriston had pleaded guilty in December to 15 charges – 10 related to the Lower Mainland incidents last spring and five from Campbell River in January 2022.

Ford said McCorriston was on bail or probation during all but one of the offences, and noted the Burnaby and Vancouver offences happened in broad daylight.

“The victims were all in places where they should have been able to conduct their business without fear of interference,” she said.

McCorriston’s lawyer, Cheyne Hodson said substance abuse was “at play” in all of the crimes, and his client has limited recall of the incidents.

Hodson acknowledged the offences were serious but said his client’s moral culpability was lowered because of his difficult background.

He said McCorriston spent most of his life in foster care and has fetal alcohol syndrome, which affects his impulse control.

Hodson said McCorriston “very much needed post-foster-care follow-up” when he aged out of foster care but “slipped through the cracks.”

McCorriston is hoping to access programs in the federal prison system that will help.

“He’s hoping the next stage of his life sees him in a better place and with the appropriate supports. He’s hoping to get programming in the federal system to guide him, hopefully in the right direction,” Hodson said.

McCorriston has been in custody since April 3, 2022, and B.C. provincial court Judge Gregory Rideout sentenced him to another three years in prison.

Rideout said he could see McCorriston is dealing with a “constellation of problems” and advised him to take advantage of the programs in prison.

“You’re going to need a cosmic change by getting into some comprehensive counselling that provides to you some guidance with respect to drug use and maintenance to avoid that,” he said.

Timeline of events
March 30, 2022

-McCorriston arrives from Vancouver Island Correctional Centre to Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam; met by recovery house staff member

-leaves less than an hour after arriving at Surrey recovery house, saying he is returning to Vancouver Island

March 31, 2022

12:56 p.m. McCorriston grabs woman's buttocks in the Real Canadian Superstore diaper aisle

1 p.m. steals two pairs of Versace sunglasses from the Sunglass Hut

April 1, 2022

8:30 a.m. McCorriston returns to Superstore, walks past employee and says “You’re hot.”

8:54 a.m. slaps buttocks of woman in the health and beauty aisle, proceeds to jewelry section and slaps buttocks of employee he called “hot” earlier

-slaps buttocks of woman in the main part of the mall, flees to bus loop when woman threatens to throw coffee on him

9:15 a.m. gropes Station Square Dollarama employee while she is balanced on a ladder

12:30 p.m. steals two 750 millilitre bottles of raspberry vodka from Columbia Street liquor store in New Westminster

1 p.m. “roughly” grabs woman’s buttocks on Granville SkyTrain station escalator, saying “With an ass like that, what do you expect?”

2 p.m. exposes himself to woman alone with him in a Pacific Centre Mall elevator in Vancouver

6:10 p.m. enters salon on Kingsway near Fraser Street and steals two cell phones; when confronted, pushes two female employees down a hallway, slaps one employee’s buttocks twice, shoves her repeatedly against a wall and chokes her

April 3, 2022

-McCorriston seen by Metrotown mall security grabbing a pack of cigarettes from a couple and flee the mall

8:45 a.m. grabs cash from 80-year-old man withdrawing money from a Metrotown CIBC ATM and pushes him

-Metrotown mall security guard arrests him; punches security guard in the face, spits in security guard’s face three of four times

April 5, 2022

-A coordinated investigation by Burnaby RCMP, Vancouver Police Department and the Metro Vancouver Transit Police identifies McCorriston as suspect in all incidents

https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/pr...women-at-burnabys-metrotown-mall-6756743

[SpongeG]

I was listening to something not that long ago with a former DTES person who said she had wished someone had intervened and forced her to get the help she needed as it sounds is being proposed but she said when you're down there they just cater to your addictions and that was not the kind of help she needed when she looks back at that time, but what was available to her only enabled her more than helped and she eventually was able to get away from it and get her life back.

[GMD]

I'm no fan of right wing politics or Pierre Poilievre, but if he is able to stop with the stupid distractions like bitcoin and anti-vax and hammers on this message (public safety and order) in the next Federal election, he will win in a walk.

I'm sure the folks at Pivot are doing their best and what they think is right, but they've had their way for a while and everyone who isn't ideologically invested can see it isn't working.

I mean, a guy like Leonard Krog is not some crackdown happy Daily Mail reading right wing loon. When you've lost him, and you've lost David Eby, you've lost the argument.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

It's a homicide case now. And they suspect that the two didn't know each other.

https://vpd.ca/news/2023/03/27/murder-charge-laid-in-fatal-starbucks-stabbing/

The victim, Paul Schmidt, was apparently waiting with his two year old daughter for his wife and two year old who were in Starbucks. 32 year old Inderdeep Singh Gosal, has been arrested.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c...ing-starbucks-granville-pender-1.6791994

[madog222]

Suspect doesn't look homeless, he's fat.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by madog222

Suspect doesn't look homeless, he's fat.

There is apparently a video of the altercation circulating online and authorities are asking people not to watch it as it is very disturbing. I haven't, but some of the comments indicate the suspect was called out by the victim for vaping inside and the perp stabbed him with his kirpan. Not confirmed by authorities.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Do you put people in such a facility before or after a crime is committed?

After. They let people out even AFTER a crime is committed. That's a crime.

Originally Posted by madog222

Suspect doesn't look homeless, he's fat.

Never judge a book by the cover. Sometimes the homeless are fed even better than us. He could also be a junkie with a fried brain that can't make him fit into society anymore.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by whatnext

There is apparently a video of the altercation circulating online and authorities are asking people not to watch it as it is very disturbing. I haven't, but some of the comments indicate the suspect was called out by the victim for vaping inside and the perp stabbed him with his kirpan. Not confirmed by authorities.

Indian-origin man Inderdeep Gosal fatally stabs man in Canada’s Vancouver; arrested as video goes viral
Gosal was last seen attending a pro-Khalistan rally outside the Indian High Commission in Canada, claimed some media reports

https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/wa...khalistani-links-shocking-video-surfaces

what a sick bastard .... I bet he is out on $0 bail by tomorrow. Canada .... what a great place!

glad he had his priorities in place .... Killing people = GOOD ..... khalistani independence = GOOD

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Vin

After. They let people out even AFTER a crime is committed. That's a crime.

Sure, put the guy in prison for 12 months and now you've spent 4x the cost of the damage on incarceration. Locking up everyone who smashes a window or tags a wall is not the solution.

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

what a sick bastard .... I bet he is out on $0 bail by tomorrow. Canada .... what a great place!

He most certainly will not be let out on bail

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by whatnext

There is apparently a video of the altercation circulating online and authorities are asking people not to watch it as it is very disturbing. I haven't, but some of the comments indicate the suspect was called out by the victim for vaping inside and the perp stabbed him with his kirpan. Not confirmed by authorities.

I just watch it, it is extremely disturbing, and made me extremely mad, and what the F**k!, a guy 10 feet away just sitting there, sipping is coffee like nothing unusual is happening, and the guy filming, I don't like his reaction either.