2 THE DAILY VOICE, DAY, APRIL 5 2018 EDITOR TANYA HILL ews & features Vandalism concerns spur on debate Displacement of low-income residents and exisiting businesses 1s a concern for many in the DTES but recent vandalism has sparked a debate By BRENNA BROOKS TES business owners and resi- dents met last night to discuss safety measures following a re- cent wave of stolen sandwich boards and smashed windows. The meeting was put together by the Hastings Crossing Business Improve- ment Association to address the past month’s spike of anti-gentrification vandalism. Several businesses have been van- dalized and robbed in the past month, including the high-profile theft of a sandwich board from the Save On Meats diner. “The normal processes of develop- ment do put pressure on low income communities and can have negative consequences, but we can also lever- age this for positive consequences,” said Wes Regan, executive director for Hastings Crossing Business Improve- ment Association. A meeting was held last night at the Lost and Found café on West Hastings for residents, businesses and commu- nity organizations in the area to col- laborate on ways to keep their streets safe. Discussions took place on commu- nity relations and the different part- nerships that have emerged, such as the Pigeon Park Street Market. Regan said the BIA understands there are issues in the area and that in running a pro-business organization, he understands housing is needed. “This is a predominantly low in- come, but mixed community and we’re also concerned about displacement of residents and of existing businesses,” he said. “If we are going to have a di- verse community where we have low income residents living alongside higher income earners, we also have to respect the fact that we should have a strategy in place to ensure that we have a range of business types that are able to accommodate, serve and em- ploy a mixed community.” Judy McGuire, executive director of Inner-City Safety Society, believes that community safety is about community development. “It’s about working in a place that makes way from the ground up with everybody who’s in your community so that you can not only keep people safe but you can train them how to be safe,” she said. But conflict remains between anti- gentrification activists and businesses in the DTES community. “The biggest social problem in Van- couver does not have an elected official responsible for it,” said Jack Jardine, who works at the Pigeon Park Street Market. Jardine said the conflict could start to be resolved when someone with po- litical power is directly responsible for the area and for businesses to help the community by continuing to hire resi- dents from the Downtown East Side. Over the next year businesses and organizations, like Mission Possible and Hastings Crossing BIA, will be working on preventative safety mea- sures in the area. 68 5:0. gest social problem in Vancou- ver does not have an elected official responsible for it Jack Jardine Gen Y meets boomers Inter-generational climate change panel sparks a de- bate between generations By BEN BULMER the audience when BC Liberal can- didate Gabby Kalaw justified his party’s stance on Liquified Natural Gas or (LNG )at last night’s Bring Your Boomers Election Forum held at the Rio Theatre. Over 400 people attended the talk on climate change, organised by The Cana- dian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Gen Why Media. A panel of five candi- dates in the upcoming B.C. Provincial Election answered questions from three prominent young environmental- ist as well as questions from the audi- ence. Liquefied Nature Gas (LNG) was one of the main topics of discussion, as well as B.C.’s 2020 emissions targets and Fracking. “To me natural gas looks like hun- dreds of trucks full of sand, chemicals and water,” said Caleb Behn who added that it was his native territory in the North-East of B.C. which generated large amounts of B.C.’s income but bears the price of environmental de- struction. The documentary film maker contin- ued to say that 95 per cent of Fort Nel- son First Nations Territory has been sold for LNG production in the last five years. BC NDP environmental critic Rob Fleming was criticized by the panel for not giving a definite answer on his par- ty’s stance on the Kinder Morgan pipe- line expansion.Sixteen-year-old Sam Harrison from Kids for Climate Change received large amounts of support from the audience for his knowledgeable and direct questioning of the candidate’s. Harrison questioned the BC Liberals stance on LNG and accused the party of neglecting renewable energy develop- ment in favour of LNG. The Green Party’s Jane Sterk said her party is committed to the 2020 emis- sion’s target as well as opposing the Kinder Morgan expansion. Sterk also announced that if her party are suc- cessful it would increase the carbon tax from $10 to $50 a ton. BC Conservative candidate Duane Nickull distanced his party several times from the federal conservatives and proposed investment into geother- mal energy. Ss": of green-wash came from CREATIVE COMMONS photo Rioters destroyed parts of downtow Vancouver following the last game of the Stanely Cup playoffs. Reprocusions are still being felt. Stanley Cup rioter found guilty Spencer Kirkwood is the first to go on trial for rioting during the Stanely Cup playoffs in 2011, a Van- couver provincial court judge found him guilty on all three charges, drunkeness not a defense By JESSE ADAMSON Spencer Kirkwood the first person to go on trial in the Stanley Cup riots was found guilty Thursday on three separate charges in the 2011 Stanley Cup riots. Kirkwood pleaded not-guilty to counts of participating in a riot, mischief and breach of bail, because he said he was too drunk to remember the events of that night. A Vancouver provincial court judge disagreed and found him guilty on all three charges. A visibly upset Kirkwood emerged from the courthouse and declined to speak with reporters. Kirkwood’s lawyer, Jonathan Wad- dington, expressed his displeasure with the decision. “Tm disappointed,” said Wadding- ton. “The issue was, is [being drunk] a defense in this particular crime? [The judge] said, I don’t have to make that decision because I don’t think he was drunk enough for that to rise as a de- fense.” Kirkwood was caught on tape using a street barricade to smash the win- dows of the Telus building in down- town Vancouver. “The onus is on all of us to make good judgments, but sometimes we don’t,” Waddington said. “Some peo- ple do drink too much and make bad judgments. But those judgments aren’t always criminal and sometimes when you make a mistake like that, and you’re drunk, it is a defense to certain crimes in the criminal code.” Kirkwood confessed his actions to police two days after the riot. He had received a threatening phone call from an anonymous man who had seen him on tape. Kirkwood now awaits his sentenc- ing. “A non-jail sentence, that’s what I'll beasking for,’ Waddington — said. “There’s going to be a pre-sentence re- port and she’ll make a decision after that.” “Many of you saw him on video, and you saw a person who was completely remorseful with what he had seen he had done,” Waddington continued. “In my opinion, this is an extremely re- morseful individual. The damage to the Telus building caused by Kirkwood and others cost $10,337 in repairs. fate HE Several participants in the riots have turned themselves in to police after their faces were broadcast on TV HM More than 1,000,000 photos and 1,200 - 1,600 hours of video recorded by citizens have been sent to the Vancouver Police Department as evidence.