Prostitution in Vancouver

I have long been an advocate for legalized prostitution; I think that it's important to acknowledge that the ignorance by police departments locally equate to a sanctioned activity that generates a significant amount of untaxed income. It's not just that prostitution can be passively ignored in Vancouver; it can only be true that it is actively avoided. You can't actually believe that the back of every newspaper in the city is littered with the ads of legitimate massage parlors and prude escort agencies. A quick trip down Cordova Street between Campbell and Main Street after 9 PM is not paraded by girls who just really like chatting to passing men. You can't quite say the same about Hastings Street's broad assortment of the drug riddled, mentally ill, and poverty stricken. East Cordova is loitered only by the prostitutes here.

Even those with the most strict morals, in terms of what these girls do, should be able to agree on a few things. I hope that any good person can believe that people have the right to the protections of the police. I believe that even the most hardened of them should be allowed to wake in the morning without a looming threat of death lingering about them. I believe that what we do in our sexual lives should be a choice. I believe firmly that even those opposed to what some of these people do, would still believe that all sexual acts should be of mutual consent.

In the world that we've fostered for prostitution to live in, this is not the case. Prostitutes are so wildly more vulnerable than any other occupation I can imagine. Picture a job more dangerous than one in which you are very likely a woman, work with strangers in the nude in (very) close quarters, and your customer base wants a fairly accessible product that, for one reason or another, they can't acquire for free. They want something that someone else in their life will not commit to doing uncompensated. Imagine working undocumented, with no regards as to where you are, or who you are with, at any given moment. No list of staff, no time clock. Imagine working an areas that are intentionally as private as possible. In the same sense that a failure to defend one's trademark equates to abandoning it, I believe that a consistent failure to defend the laws set equates to an annulment of those laws.

The limbo that prostitution lives in has allowed some atrocious consequences to those who reside in it. It has allowed gangs to profit from these operations and allowed them to funnel an untaxed and undocumented revenue into their coffers. It has allowed pimps, essentially bosses, to charge their workers with violence, rape, and unimaginable stress. It has prevented Canadian Revenue Services from collecting considerable sums of money in exchange for the rights and freedoms guaranteed (in writing) to every Canadian. It has given gangs an incentive to target young girls and lead them into drug habits. It has allowed anyone the possibility to murder without consequence. It has also come to light that it has allowed Vancouver Police to exchange their duty to arrest these girls for free sexual favours. 

Wherever people stand morally (and legally) on prostitution, it's worth noting that this state of purgatory is the most damaging to society. The police don't act on arresting the prostitutes because they are well aware of a few things; they know that (like marijuana) they would not receive overwhelming support from the general public. They know that prostitution is a massive industry and would require an incredible amount of resources not available to them and an attempt to cease the industry would likely only result in the workforce being pushed further underground. Shutting down Craigslist's "personal services" section only pushed somewhat more discreet ads to the personals section. They also know they like freebies. Prostitution's illegal status is absolutely as unwieldy as prohibition was, and as it can't be ceased, it should be legalized. We can take these girls off the streets and offer them the protections (and taxes) provided to every citizen of the United Nations. We can take gangs and drugs out of the equation. We can take underage girls out of the equation. We can save families. We can save lives.

New Music Friday - Shimmering Stars

So, it wasn't long before I learned in the studio that almost anything sounds pretty good if you drench it in reverb. This has never been truer than with Shimmering Stars - which is essentially a full album of echoes. They cite a lot of old artists such as The Everly Brothers and Del Shannon as influences, which lends to the lo-fi recording style, but I don't even think the cited Bo Diddley's early recordings sound this poor. Not even live, not even when they're ripped to Youtube.

The reverb can be a bit frustrating when the songwriting is as good as it is here, and when these guys are on, it's spectacular. It's the kind of 1950s throwback that makes me want a letter jacket, a malt, and to go for pinks. Whatever that means.

A few of their tunes are up as free downloads on Bandcamp, and they're worth picking up.

Occupying Vancouver (And Missing the Point)

In the United States, an unlawful assembly is defined as a meeting of three or more people with the intent to "carry out a lawful or unlawful purpose in a manner likely to imperil the peace and tranquillity of the neighborhood."When three or more people actually succeed in such an event, they have definitively committed the criminal act of rioting. 


I think it's fair to say that a gathering of, say, 700 people marching across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the maligned middle class and the tilted personal wealth in the United States is something of a mild threat; the title, "Occupy Wall Street" has a strong and somewhat militant tone. A protest can show not only passive resistance but organizational strength in unwieldy numbers. A protest, even a peaceful one, is something of a threat display to an opposing institution. Governments aren't generally fans of letting legitimate concerns snowball from small gatherings into massive displays of solidarity. They block streets, close businesses, delay work, and have the potential to turn unwieldy. 


In a few days, a group called Occupy Vancouver intends on standing in solidarity with those who march in Washington by... doing something. Their website states that they will "demand a true democracy" and "will create a platform for people to speak and provide an audience that will listen." For starters, I'll call you when I learn what the true democracy is, as there are longstanding debates and arguments over what a true democracy is; from anarchism to totalitarianism democracies. I'm also not particularly keen on a group of uncertified loons spending the afternoon soapboxing on what they think needs to happen to Canada. Currently, their list of speakers includes a Grade 12 student, a guy suing Pfizer, and a man who wrote a book on the importance of smoking cannabis in ancient cultures. 


New York's fiscal concerns are legitimate; the country hinges on bankruptcy as every moment passes. One percent of the nation now owns 40% of the wealth, entitling protestors to moniker themselves as "99 Percenters." They've been hurt for the past 11 years by the Bush tax cuts and their extension, by a campaign system that required 5.3 billion dollars of Barack Obama's supporters to succeed, and by the opportunistic abuse of several major firms of the bailouts they've been given. I don't believe we have that here, and so for us to protest so maladroitly under their umbrella seems more than slighting; it seems downright embarrassing. I agree that Canada has it's problems; I've heard everything cited from exorbitant telecom costs to the fire sale of government-held properties to private interests, but I don't agree that Occupy Vancouver bears focus in this regard. Rather, it seems like a shallow attempt to ride the popularity of Occupy Wall Street with little focus at all. 

Bandcamp Friday

I've been spending a good bit of time on Bandcamp - it's a great opportunity for an artist to throw up some tunes for free and get noticed nearly immediately. Weekly, I sift through dozens of bands that sound like they've been booked at 1067 Granville to find the best freebies the city has to offer. 


Currently, I've slipped a little for Honey Larochelle. This pop-R&B sensation has just returned from a European tour on the success of Clean Lust and Dirty Laundry; an album produced by Sleep Deez (Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas), Lions Share (Anthony Hamilton, Pharoahe Monch), Caviar (T.I), Danish Reggae producer, Pharfar (Beenie Man), and a bevy of others. 


I recommend picking this whole album up before she needs to buy some bread and butter.

Part of the R.L. Stine Universe

Growing up, I read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series religiously. As a matter of a fact, I read all of them, as my friends and I would often pool together our money to buy into the popular title every month via the Scholastic Books program. Granted, I was tired of them somewhere around our third visit with the Living Dummy, but I plodded on for bragging rights - to say I read them all.

I'm certainly not alone in this department, as the title remained incredibly popular and the franchise has launched several other series' in relation to the books - Goosebumps Horrorland first appeared in 2009 and is ongoing; marking the 18th year of the franchise.

The franchise has also branched into other mediums; a very successful TV series was adapted in the mid-90s, and a similarly veined show, The Haunting Hour, returned to the airwaves last year. Coincidentally, the series is filmed in my old stomping grounds; Langley & Aldergrove, and the show is providing a unique opportunity to be part of the R.L. Stine experience.

The show's production crew has graciously donated an on-air experience opportunity to a winning bidder, and the proceeds will be used to benefit a local Relay for Life (cancer charity) team; the interestingly named "Xavier got Scotty's Hotties All Jazzed Up." The winner will receive a tour of the set, a look into how the show is filmed, and a possible experience appearing as an extra in the show itself. This is a unique opportunity for those who need that one last Goosebumps experience. I encourage any nostalgia-laden fan to bid, if only to challenge the actors on Goosebumps trivia.

Link

What's in a name?

I'm not sure if this is particularly unique to Vancouver, but we seem relatively resistant to corporate control. Enough so, that I'd be particularly wary about signing into naming rights with the lot of us. I work in the tourism industry, and repeatedly throughout the day note the improper names of several venues, as I find the official names only true if endorsed by the people of the city.

It seems as though a renaming of BC Place has already been locked in (personally, I hope they name it Dead Spider) and I wanted to go through a brief rundown of some of Vancouver's unendorsed renamings.

Courtesy of Venture Vancouver via CC-BY-ND 2.0 license.

1. Metropolis at Metrotown / Metrotown
The mall was originally named Metrotown, but as Metrotown started to become the name of the surrounding area, the management group decided to rename the mall Metropolis during an expansion to separate itself from the surrounding area. This proved entirely uneventful as everyone understood the difference between Metrotown (mall) and Metrotown (area), but was important to Metropolis as they wanted to separate the difference between buying retail at the mall and buying retai at, say, the nearby Crystal Mall. 

Courtesy of quinet via CC-BY 2.0 license.

2. Telusphere / Telus World of Science / Science World
This was a bad, bad idea for Telus, and I speculate it's one of the reasons they didn't pick up the naming rights to (now) Rogers Arena. Science World in 2005 was a relatively run down facility in bad need of repairs and upgrades, and I credit Telus with stepping in and offering 9 million to renovate the facility. However. They failed to recognize the significance of Science World in the minds of Vancouverites as a shining glowing waterfront beacon and a reminder of Vancouver's entrance to the world stage during Expo 1986. Initially, they renamed the facility Telusphere, which was met with derision and hatred by most, and the negative backlash eventually gave way to naming the facility "Science World at Telus World of Science" - a name nobody ever uses.

Courtesy of Canadian Veggie via CC BY-NC-ND license

3. Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium / Nat Bailey Stadium
Scotiabank was wise here. Nat Bailey was an incredibly popular and successful Vancouverite, the founder of White Spot, and he used his successes avidly to support little league baseball. His devotion to the sport was so notable that on his death, the former Capilano Stadium was renamed to honour him. Scotiabank carefully seems to target the field itself as an addendum, and seems fully aware that though their name may appear in print, that it will never be used verbally in reference to the stadium.

Courtesy of The West End via CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license

4. GM Place / Rogers Arena

When GM Place opened it's doors in 1995, people were largely accepting of GM Place - the stadium was built without the fiscal support of taxpayers and Canucks fans were still glowing with the pride of the 1994 Stanley Cup run. Besides, associating cars with hockey didn't seem too sacrificial; It sure beats affiliating with life insurance or a bank. To GM's concern, the building in the press was often referred to as the Garage. When the lease GM had with then-Orca Bay Entertainment expired, Rogers swept in and bought the rights. The building's outer face was soon renovated with a statue of Roger Nielson and is now referred to as "the Rog" - counterculture Rogers likely had not anticipated. The common name serves in reference to the Garage, Roger Nielson, and Rogers.

In summary, I think there is commercial value to renaming a building - the sponsor's name will appear repeatedly in print and paper. However, there is real risk of offending and alienating your target audience. BC Place served 307, 000 Lions fans during the 2009 season, and like Science World, was built for Expo '86. It's unfortunate that as taxpayers, we've allowed corporations the luxuries of naming rights to our buildings and that we can no longer afford these buildings to commemorate BC and the great people who have served it. I don't think anyone would complain about Terry Fox Place.

An Expulsion from Lions Bay

Lions Bay, courtesy of Stv via CC BY-NC-SA license.

The beach in Lions Bay is in relatively pristine condition, and overlooks the nearby Howe Sound. It is commonly visited in the summers as an escape for people who wish to swim and scuba in the area, and is overseen by Lions Bay itself, outside the scope of the Vancouver Parks Board.

Some residents have recently raised concern about the volume of traffic by outsiders, and the apparent lack of respect that non-residents seem to carry for the area. Their concerns range from full and unregulated parking areas to water conditions, and this group of residents wishes to ban access to non-residents by utilizing a gate system.

This raises a lot of concern for me as a Vancouver citizen. They already have a potentially unlawful restriction on non-resident scuba divers in the area, and what entitles a city exclusive access for it's residents? Though ownership of the beach lies with Lions Bay, anything below the high tide line, that is, the beach itself; resides on Crown land. From a legal standpoint, I doubt that Lions Bay will have any real property rights to the beach, and I hope that Crown pursues this argument aggressively, or other municipalities may follow suit in preventing access to their properties by non-locals. There is a slippery slope argument to this as well. If we allow Lions Bay to ban access to their beach, what is to stop other neighbourhoods from banning access to their beaches, ultimately increasing traffic at smaller beaches until they choose to cut off access themselves due to the increased volume?

From a moral standpoint, shouldn't Canadian, crown-owned beaches be for the enjoyment of all Canadians, local and non-local? I think it will be noted by the general public that the affluence of Lions Bay residents will not go unrecognized by the general public and it's hard not to perceive this movement as elitist and ignorant. Diversity has long been a cornerstone of our culture, and I take pity on those who do not believe that Canada is for the enjoyment of all.