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Since our GayVancouver.Net (Gay Vancouver Online) redesign earlier this year, we have found ourselves covering the arts more and more. The arts are a huge part of the culture here in Vancouver and we are glad to be able to share that through the site.
If you value the arts, now is definitely the time to show your support. While Vancouver's arts organizations are not the only group facing government cutbacks, they do need our support more than ever.
And the best way you can show your support to our local arts scene is to get cultured in 2010. Attend the theatre, take in an art exhibit or go listen to some great music. You will be glad you did!
Maybe it is this year's Tamagotchi, Tickle Me Elmo or for those too young to remember these fads, perhaps think of it as this year's Wii.
But whatever you want to compare it to, this year's "must have" for under the Christmas tree or stuffed into stockings is something decidedly low-tech.
What am I talking about? Why the Olympic red mittens of course!
According to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, this week saw the millionth pair of these games souvenirs bought somewhere in Canada. And for any of you, like us, that have gone on the hunt for these mittens that would have been no easy feat given how scarce they are, as they continue to be snatched up before they even hit the shelves.
On a recent trip to The Bay in downtown Vancouver we witnessed the frenzy first hand. Having arrived to find the shelves bare, a few minutes later a mass of people descended on the once empty shelves as staff replenished them. Unfortunately most of us left empty handed as they were only in small sizes.
So for all you family and friends back east that might have expected a pair as we get ready to celebrate the Olympics here in Vancouver, sorry! It's not like we didn't try though.
I guess there still might be a chance since another 300,000 are supposedly on their way to stores but just in case ... could I interest you in a Cabbage Patch Doll instead?
During an introduction to a presentation at Vancouver City Hall last evening, Councillor Tim Stevenson told of a recent visit to China where he was asked how many homeless there were on the streets in Vancouver. When Councillor Stevenson responded with "about 3,000" the Chinese delegate exclaimed that as one of the richest countries in the world, how could we not simply eliminate that number overnight?
And you know what, he does have a point. How is it that a country (and city) as rich as ours allow homelessness to continue?
Actually it is not difficult to find an answer - it needs to be tackled by all level of governments, made a priority for funding and for the people who elect these governments to direct their representatives to make it a priority.
It is time once again for the federal government to step in and take a more active role in housing and the provincial government to make funding a priority. Without this support, the City of Vancouver is going to fail in eliminating homelessness by 2015. And when the City fails, we, the residents of one of the richest countries also fail.
I urge you to contact your MLA, your MP, the Prime Minster of Canada and Premier of British Columbia and tell them they must make housing a priority. Believe it or not, politicians do listen if we make enough noise. So start making some noise!
List of British Columbia MLAs
Premier Gordon Campbell - premier@gov.bc.ca
List of Canadian MPs
Prime Minister Stephen Harper - pm@pm.gc.ca
Since our GayVancouver.Net (Gay Vancouver Online) redesign earlier this year, we have found ourselves covering the arts more and more. The arts are a huge part of the culture here in Vancouver and we are glad to be able to share that through the site.
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