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Higher fines could hit Vancouver's homeless hard


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Higher fines could hit Vancouver's homeless hard

by CARLITO PABLO on JAN 9, 2013 at 3:49 PM

VIOLATING CITY OF Vancouver bylaws by sleeping on the streets or doing illegal vending may become a lot more costly.

Staff are recommending a 400-percent increase in maximum fines, from the current amount of $2,000 to a stiff $10,000. The proposed hike covers 42 bylaws. It is subject to a public hearing on Tuesday (January 15).

While councillors are required to remain neutral on matters being taken up at public hearings, Vision Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs agreed to explain the context in which this measure is being deliberated. According to Meggs, the increase brings the city’s fines in line with changes made to the Vancouver Charter in 2009.

Meggs also noted that, based on a report prepared by staff, profits made by those who violate bylaws far exceed in many cases the fines the city levies. These infractions include illegal parking and advertising on the sides of buildings.

“The staff argument is simply that there is no deterrent,” Meggs told the Straight by phone.

Non-Partisan Association councillor George Affleck is interested to see who will show up to speak at the public hearing. He noted in a phone interview with the Straight that the increase is a “significant jump”.

The bylaws covered by the suggested fine increase are grouped into three categories: operation and management of businesses; building safety, land use and development, and property maintenance; and use of public spaces and conduct of individuals. Two of these bylaws are being challenged in court by Pivot Legal Society on behalf of a homeless man who was ticketed by police and engineering staff several times.

“Obviously $10,000 is quite severe and impossible to pay for a homeless person, and so is $2,000,” Pivot lawyer Scott Bernstein told the Straight by phone. “It sucks that much more, but it’s still something that they won’t be able to pay.”

Jean Swanson, a long-time antipoverty activist in the Downtown Eastside, said that it’s “horrible” that poor street vendors are being ticketed. “So to give them higher tickets is very punitive,” Swanson told the Straight in a phone interview.

Civic watchdog Randy Helten suggested that the proposed increase seems a bit arbitrary. The founder of City Hall Watch told the Straight by phone, “Staff should present comparative information about what the fines are in other leading municipalities in Canada, and provide an adequate basis for that number.”

http://www.straight.com/news/341356/higher-fines-could-hit-vancouvers-homeless-hard

:picard:

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The whole point of being homeless is you don't pay for stuff period. The fine could be ten cents or a million doesn't matter.

Heck, give a homeless guy a palate of clean drinking water so that he can be healthier and he will walk around the corner, dump it all out, take the bottles to the depot, and go buy himself a bottle of booze.

If you take away their ability to vend they will just steal instead.

What are you going to do, threaten them with jail? Heck, if I was homeless when fall came around I would go on a crime spree and if I spent the winter in jail big deal. If you don't get caught you got all kinds of money to make it through. Win win.

Applying normal rules to abnormal people does nothing. Well, maybe something, but often not what you hoped, and just as often something even worse.

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The whole point of being homeless is you don't pay for stuff period. The fine could be ten cents or a million doesn't matter.

Heck, give a homeless guy a palate of clean drinking water so that he can be healthier and he will walk around the corner, dump it all out, take the bottles to the depot, and go buy himself a bottle of booze.

If you take away their ability to vend they will just steal instead.

What are you going to do, threaten them with jail? Heck, if I was homeless when fall came around I would go on a crime spree and if I spent the winter in jail big deal. If you don't get caught you got all kinds of money to make it through. Win win.

Applying normal rules to abnormal people does nothing. Well, maybe something, but often not what you hoped, and just as often something even worse.

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hahaha......Yeah, and when they cant pay, we'll charge them really high interest rates. That will teach them. typical upper crust thinking. These people are so out of touch. Obviously, they have never seen a homeless person in their natural state.

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