Downtown Eastside condo plan needs social housing
A controversial condominium development on Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside got the go-ahead from the city Monday night despite opposition
from many in the community.
The development permit board approved Concord Pacific's plan to
build a seven-storey building at 58 West Hastings with shops on the
ground level and 160 residential condos above.
The site is currently an empty lot just half-a-block from the
landmark Woodwards redevelopment project, which will provide some
social housing for low income residents,
Concord's plan for the new project does not include social housing,
and that angered citizens and activists who showed up at the meeting to
voice their concerns.
Tar ponds activist DeLeski dies in hospital at age 62
Cape Breton activist Don DeLeski
spoke volumes when he stood on the shores of the notorious tar ponds in
1999 with shovel and bucket in hand.
The community activist had suffered from a lengthy illness and died Sunday at age 62.
Nine years ago, DeLeski staged his one-man cleanup at the
contamination site, wading into the tar ponds and scooping out sludge
to show concern over inaction on behalf of both the provincial and
federal governments in remediating the toxic mess left by a century of
steelmaking.
A resident of Sydney’s Whitney Pier district, DeLeski died in hospital early Sunday.
"Don’s focus was always the health side of things and what came out
of those (Sydney steel) stacks did affect people," said friend and
fellow activist Eric Brophy.
"Don was involved with the tar ponds file a way back to when it first started.
Geist lauds Net as activist tool
Mr. Geist's keynote address to the
2008 mesh conference
outlined the various ways that social media sites such as YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter and Google Maps are increasingly being used to
disseminate messages of advocacy across the globe at rapid speeds.
“The potential for digital advocacy to change our policy, our political
discussions, our democracy, our education and our communications, to
change so many different issues that matter … we have to recognize that
it's not about “hands off the Internet,” but recognize that those kinds
of features are in our hands,” he said.
Time to decide if Olympics are for sports or politics
"If
the protesters wanted to grab the world's attention, it was definitely
a mission accomplished. If they wanted to make a difference, they
failed.
Jail for Chinese rights activist
A prominent activist who publicised human rights abuses across China
has been convicted of subversion and jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Hu Jia, 34, was convicted of "inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system", his lawyer said.
He has long campaigned for the environment, religious freedom and for the rights of people with HIV and Aids.