Poverty Olympics and Related – News + Resource Roundup

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Poverty Olympics 2009

Poverty Olympics Organizing Committee

The Vancouver Poverty Olympics are brought to you by a group of concerned citizens and community groups who oppose the 2010 Winter Games because public dollars could be more justly spent on ending poverty and homelessness.

Contact us: info@povertyolympics.ca
http://povertyolympics.ca/

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Raise the Rates 

DTES Neighbourhood House

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)

BC PWA

Streams of Justice

VANDU

News articles:

For the cities hosting the Olympic Games, heavy spending is an unofficial but required sport — as is the debate about whether it’s good for the local economies. Some say it’s hardly the time for lavish spending, while others invoke the magic word “stimulus.”

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, set to start one year from Thursday, has been saddled by financing troubles for its athletes village, worries about corporate…

‘Poverty Olympics’ ridicule Games

Organizers say funds for 2010 could be better spent on fighting homelessness

A merry band of poverty activists danced down East Hastings Street Sunday to question the rationale behind the city and provincial governments’ financial commitment to the Olympic Games.

The second annual “Poverty Olympics” was a lighthearted event aimed at raising awareness about the serious issues of poverty and homelessness that affect Downtown Eastside residents, said Wendy Pederson of the Carnegie Community Action Project.

The event started with a mock Olympic torch parade that wound its way from East Hastings to the Japanese Language School auditorium on Alexander Street. About 500 community members and activists showed up for the event, which poked fun at the Olympics.

The healthy turnout was “amazing” said Pederson, and members of the crowd, many dressed in costumes, were in a festive mood.

James McLean, 81, a Downtown Eastside resident, dressed as Gregor Robertson, complete with faux-kilt and mayoral staff. “I see extreme wealth and extreme poverty,” said McLean. “The government needs to apply intelligence, integrity and discipline to the problems we have down here.”

Coast Salish singer and songwriter Sara Good performed an emotional first nations invocation and welcomed everyone to the “opening ceremonies,” which included a satirical rendition of O Canada and the lighting of a giant torch sculpture.

After the three Poverty Olympics mascots — Itchy the Bedbug, Chewy the Rat and Creepy the Cockroach — were introduced, Pederson gave a short speech touching on some familiar themes.

“The cost of a ticket for the [2010 Games] Opening Ceremony is $1,182,” said Pederson. “A single person on welfare gets just $610 a month.” Pederson called on governments to “make poverty and homelessness a priority,” rather than spending “billions” on the Olympic Games.

A series of skits followed, including a hilarious takeoff on curling called “Sweeping Poverty Aside,” by the group Streams of Justice. “Team Vanoc” was pitted against “Team Poverty,” with the odds heavily favouring Team Vanoc.

Sharon Burns, who was part of the opening ceremonies choir and danced in the closing ceremonies finale, is a Carnegie Centre volunteer who has lived on the Downtown Eastside most of her life.

“The Olympic Games are for rich business people, developers and people with money. We need to get the information out there about the real needs we have in this province,” she said.

dryan@vancovuersun.com

They have their own Olympic mascots – Itchy the Bedbug, Creepy the Cockroach and Chewy the Rat – their own torch, made from a toilet plunger, and a catchy marketing phrase: “End poverty. It’s not a game.”

But what the Poverty Olympics doesn’t have is money – and that was the main point being underscored yesterday by a celebration/protest march through the Downtown Eastside.

About 200 people joined in the parade down East Hastings Street as the Poverty Olympics, an event that serves as a rallying point for low-income advocacy groups, marked the one-year countdown to the 2010 Olympic Games.

The event was organized by several non-profit groups to draw attention to the way governments are spending billions of dollars on the Olympic Games even while intense poverty can be found in the Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that will be one of the main urban backdrops to the sporting spectacle.

“If the money that was spent on the Olympics was spent on ending poverty and homelessness, we could end poverty and homelessness. It would be that simple,” said Jean Swanson of the Carnegie Community Action Project, an advocacy agency for the poor.

The 2010 Olympics will open and close with ceremonies at BC Place Stadium, just a few blocks from the southern edge of the Downtown Eastside, one of Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods.

The government of British Columbia has estimated the cost of the Games at about $600-million, but a report by the provincial Auditor-General has put it at about $2.5-billion.

Some media estimates have calculated it could be more than $6-billion when all federal, provincial and local government contributions are added up.

While the B.C. government has been trying in the pre-Olympic period to address homelessness in the Downtown Eastside by buying and renovating old hotels, Ms. Swanson said the effort isn’t helping. “The Olympics have brought no benefits to this community at all. Those hotels already had residents in them, so they are not additional housing, and they are not suitable permanent homes. They are still one-room residences, with a washroom down the hall and no kitchen. How do you expect low-income people to eat cheaply with no kitchen?”

Robert Bonner, a volunteer at the Carnegie Community Centre, a drop-in facility in the heart of the Downtown Eastside, dressed for the parade as one of the mascots.

Mr. Bonner said his Creepy the Cockroach outfit was a way to both mock the Olympic Games, and drive home a message about the inadequacy of housing in the area.

He said many of the hotel rooms he goes into while doing volunteer work are infested with cockroaches.

“The carpets move when you walk across them,” he said.

Mr. Bonner said he hoped the Poverty Olympics would make people more aware of the problems in the Downtown Eastside. “This is to draw attention to the poverty, the homelessness,” he said. “It couldn’t get much worse down here.”

Mr. Bonner said while people “on the other side of town” might be looking forward to the Games with excitement, in the Downtown Eastside there is a growing sense of fear.

“Already security has started to increase, so you have to wonder what it’s going to be like in 2010,” he said. “I can see a lot of street people getting hassled.”

Garvin Snider was one of those bringing up the tail end of the Poverty Olympics parade. He waved a sign that said: “Poverty is not a crime.”Mr. Snider said residents of the Downtown Eastside don’t feel there are any opportunities for them to be involved in the Olympic Games.

“We’d all like to participate,” he said. “The Olympics is supposed to be for everyone. They are looking for 10,000 volunteers. We have 15,000 people on the streets. What a wonderful thing if we could all participate. But since we can’t, we’re having our own event. And these games are much more fun.”

Mr. Snider works recruiting homeless and low income people to sell Megaphone Magazine, a twice-monthly street paper.

Next year the Poverty Olympics will be held to coincide with the 2010 Olympic Games – and the target of the message the next time Itchy, Creepy and Chewy lead a parade will be the world’s media.