From: "Victoria Tent City"
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:03:12 -0800
NEXT MEETING:
Current priority is asking people on the street the question: "IF THERE WAS A SANCTIONED (LEGIT) TENT CITY, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO IT TO BE?" and inviting folks to the next meeting:
Monday December 29th at 6:00pm at Camas (2590 Quadra at Kings).
There will be soup, snacks and tea, a presentation on tent cities and time for input, followed by a meeting for people who want to stick around.
Bus tickets available. Camas is wheelchair accessible except for the bathroom.
If people want to be brought up to date: ask Chris (forestaction@yahoo.ca) to email you recent updates on tent city things, or soon there'll be a tent city binder at the Camas bookstore
(2590 Quadra Street at Kings) behind the counter.
MEETING NOTES from Dec. 15th
Chris started by acknowledging that the meeting's taking place in Lekwungen territory.
Folks at the meeting: Scott, Chris, Levi, Elizabeth, Joanne, Phil, Colin, David
Possible to do's:
-raising awareness
-do up a summary of tent city-related events since the (charter challenge) ruling
-start with info gathering: compiling written stuff (and videos & audio) about other tent cities
-talking with city, affected people in neighbourhoods, etc. to have responses to the typical concerns being raised (like around security, drug & alcohol use, garbage) in the media & by chamber of commerce
folks.
-do a showing of the Tent City Toolkit (the Cmte to End Homeless has a copy of the DVD) and an evening for people living outside to get involved, so the tent city is more governed by people who use it.
Question: does anyone have an idea of how many people are actually interested in tent city in town?
Comment about how in Vancouver folks from DERA (Downtown Eastside Residents' Association) & APC (anti-poverty committee) set up a tent city, but they didn't get prior commitment from people who wanted to actually use it. Is it possible to get people committed to using the tent city before a sanctioned (legitimate) one gets set up?
Priority for the group: first finding out from folks on the street what they would like to see.
Idea: poster/flyer to leave at strategic places asking
IF THERE WAS A SANCTIONED (LEGIT) TENT CITY, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IT?
-Levi and Phil will mention this tomorrow at the Power Lunch at Our Place, and Levi and more folks will ask around for ideas and input.
-tomorrow night Rose is hosting a Downtown Street Tour starting at 8pm outside of city hall (Pandora Ave. side).
Beginning conversations about intentions for tent city-planning...
-municipal vs. regional tent city (this means... one within the city of Victoria vs. one that might be far away/ located on the outskirts of the CRD)
-questions about having 'drug & alcohol-free' restrictions
-request for people to refer to "those who use the site" (people using the tent city) instead of service-provider language
-suggestion for referring to these meetings as "the tent city meeting" (instead of this becoming bureaucratic or institutionalized)
-security issues
-whether to have strict rules of conduct
-suggestion of offering a basic structure for regular meetings within the tent city to keep people in communication
-if landowners put restrictions on the space tent city is using, then this group could make sure people using the space know about these (but leave it up to people at the tent city to decide on what ground
rules are needed)
-a comment that some people (like land owners/ charity exec's) react when the tent city is referred to as being permanent
Ideas...
-Phil will check in with a few people about what needs & boundaries they would have a landlord hosting a tent city (and also look up the CRD's land bank for transitional space within Victoria city).
-while the group doesn't want to be domineering and pre-write ground rules for tent city, people will compile examples of some basics (like from dignity village, other codes of ethics).
-various groups could be invited together for a meeting re: tent city.
-the ideal would be to have multiple spaces for people choose, such as a place for folks using drugs and alcohol; another place for women.
-a code of conduct can never by fully enforced... so one idea is: what someone does in their own tent is their choice; however what folks do around the fire/ kitchen or if someone gets violent, then that's where the code of conduct applies.
-tent city is not for everyone.
-we're starting with tent city not being allowed yet (there might only be space for 20 people on the space that's 'sanctioned').
-in talking about a regional tent city, don't let the city off the hook.
-some people might prefer to be a bit out of the city: like setting up camp at the Goldstream provincial campground.
-ideally the group could pursue 3 pieces of land: private, church, and city (CRD or municipal), for setting up three places.
-on December 31st depending on the ruling, might find out that the 7 to 7 bylaw enforcement policy is bogus.
Comments on the group's meetings/ process...
-idea for setting up a meeting agenda -- so we can focus on talking about Food, or Security, or reporting back from meetings with folks.
-there's urgency (like this week's snowstorm and windchill), but the tent city planning process will take some time.
