6 THE DAILY VOICE, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018 EDITOR KELCI NICODEMUS lewpoints Residents complain too much e-zoning has been a hot topic in Ri ircorser media as of late. Talks of re-zoning buildings in South Vancouver specifically have caused strife within the community. Some residents feel that turning heritage building, Casa Mia, into a senior centre is a step in the wrong direction. But why is change a bad thing? Is a senior care home actually bad idea in that area? Or are they just saying, “no” because they can? Over the past couple months especially, protesting, petitioning, and just plain whining has become common place regarding the rezoning of old buildings to make room for the already growing Vancouver community, such as the Casa Mia. A number of Band-Aid excuses have come up with this specific rezoning situation. For one, transit has been mentioned as an issue- residents claim that there isn’t sufficient transit running through area. I don’t know about you, but if you're in a senior care home you’re probably not going anywhere often. As for visitors, the small number of parking spaces is probably plenty because, even though it would be lovely to visit your elderly loved one everyday, yow’re probably too busy with a job and your other family members to go that often. The complain- ers also cite the area’s lack of busi- nesses; raising concerns on where seniors will shop or spend their time. Let’s be real, elderly residents of this proposed senior centre aren’t doing their own grocery shopping or fetching their own prescriptions. It seems as if South Vancouver residents just want to complain because they can. Even the slightest bit of change seems to cause an uproar of negativity. The city of Vancouver needs to adapt to its own needs and that means changing neigbourhoods and ~ yes — possibly re-zoning. What people need to realize is that things change all the time and having a senior centre occupy a vacant heritage building isn’t going to disturb anyone. OPINION KELCI NICODEMUS We want to hear from you Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Journalism instructor Ethan Baron oversees The Voice. Email him at ebaron@langara.be.ca Choose people over planet rostbite, hypothermia and trench foot are just a few of the many ugly battles Vancouver’s home- less will fight this winter while we fret over which cardigan or electronic device will make our loved ones happi- est. We shouldn’t say “Bah humbug!” to Christmas in response to the suffering of fellow Vancouverites, but it’s important to recognize that ignoring the homeless problem or expecting Gregor Robertson to solve it isn’t responsible. Thank you, Gregor, but the 75 new shelter spaces you recently an- nounced just won’t cut it. This August, the city reported 1,600 homeless in Vancouver, with 273 of those unsheltered. The other 198 without access to one of the new spaces can’t be left wandering the streets begging as temperatures drop. In Vision Vancouver’s struggle to make Vancouver the greenest city, it has allowed its most precious resource — Vancouverites — to turn blue in the cold. Recently, BC Housing shut down its shelter in Marpole due to its low rate of use. This makes sense for taxpayers but shows that homelessness touches every corner of the city. If more low-use shelters beyond Vancouver are shut down, an influx of unsheltered homeless people fighting for those 75 spots downtown and in the DTES could become a crisis. Vision Vancouver took power in 2008 with a promise on its platform to eliminate homelessness in Vancouver by 2015. While the number of homeless people has increased slightly since then, they have managed to reduce the number of unsheltered homeless people from 811 down to 273. However, with 1,600 people still homeless in the city, elimination by 2015 doesn’t seem possible. Vision Vancou- ver must be held to that promise. We need shelters now. Imagine one day you found yourself home- less, using this newspaper as a OPI N ION blanket, shivering and sick. 2015, the NICK EAGLAND year beyond the next municipal election, is a long time to wait for a person sleeping in a doorway or under a park bench. Vision Vancouver needs to deal with this problem fast, before homeless Vancouverites die. Graphic labels don't cause smokers to butt out world to put graphic visual labels on cigarette packaging. When they first appeared in 2001, my friends greeted them with amusement and treated the packs like trading cards — “No, I don’t want the diseased lung, give me the impotence one” —which was labeled, of course, with a drooping, wilted cigarette, in case the message was too subtle. Ever since, I was doubtful about the strategy. Last year, a study from the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania claimed graphic labels can improve smokers’ recall of the health risks. Within their study that was true: show someone a plain black-lettered warning and 50 per cent of people recalled the caution. Add a photo of a cancer-addled tongue, and the recall rate jumped to 83 per cent. But do labels help anyone quit? Cr was the first country in the A study from American and Canadian researchers (as discussed in the Nov. 25 issue of The Voice) seems to say so, asserting that graphic labels on cigarette packages reduced smoking in Canada up to 2009, and encour- aged the Ameri- cans to follow suit. But our anti-smoking efforts may have maxed out. Two years ago, Canada’s labels had to be updated because, as reported in the National Post, Health Canada’s own research showed that smokers became numb to the graphics over time. It’s hardly surprising — when was the last time you paid attention to the ads on Facebook or a newspaper a ‘ OPINION TAMMY ENGLISH website? Once you know where the ads are, we simply ignore them. And smoking rates in Canada have settled at 17 per cent, un- changed since 2008. Fewer kids and teens seem to smoke, but the age group that smokes the most are aged 25 to 34, at 23.8 per cent — the exact demographic that came of age with graphic cigarette labels. Even your own diseased heart is a weak deterrent. A 2013 study led by McMaster University showed that among 7,500 adults who had heart disease or stroke, 18 per cent of participants continued to smoke after their cardiac event or stroke. Fear and shame have proven to be poor motivators — or at least motivational tools with a shelf life. Sure, keep the labels ~ it never hurts to be reminded what the stuff does. But they won’t help smokers defeat a profound addiction to a legal, readily-obtained substance. The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College There is a mailbox at the entrance to the journalism rooms. SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwlangara.bc.ca/voice EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Kelci Nicodemus PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Dana Bowen PAGE 2 Brian Horstead PAGE 3 Marie Del Cid PAGE 4 Warren Jané PAGE 5 Punheet Dhami PAGE 7 Brenna Brooks PAGE 8 Niall Shannon WEB EDITORS Kayla lsomura Garin Fahlman Jesse Adamson REPORTERS Andrea Anthony Ben Bulmer Punheet Dahmi Nick Eagland Tammy English Bill Everitt Gavin Fischer Tyler Hooper Amy Jones Jesse Lam Tricia Lo Jenny Peng Nadim Roberts Vanessa Szpurko Glen Truax Kendra Wong Contact us: Our blog at www.langara- voice.com Twitter at @langaraVoice Youtube at VoiceLangara flickr at Langara Voice