I know we don’t agree often. We have a love/hate relationship dependent on my mood and whether or not it’s cold and rainy outside. To be fair, you are consistently late and often leave me standing out in the rain. You have just been voted 3rd best public transit in
Continue readingAuthor: Melissa Fong aka @InternationalMF
Melissa Fong: Admitting to not knowing until it was too late: The DTES Local Area Plan implications
…I admit that I didn’t know how REAL it was until the 3 days came to an end and even after it passed…. After that the reality sunk in, I got more and more angry as I realized the implications of the plan. The fact is that poor people LIVE
Continue readingMelissa Fong: #25kLunch Meme Competition Update #1
The #25KLunch meme has received more press than I would have ever imagined! Amazing what a group of really dedicated “mockticians” can do to bring the issues out there. #25KLunch […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: #25kLunch Meme Competition to shame Mayor Gregor Robertson’s partnership with Developers & Condo King Bob Rennie
So I’ve started a #25kLunch tag – the good people on twitter who have engaged throughout this whole process have kept spirits high and helped suggest a meme competition. 1) Create your own meme http://memegenerator.net/ 2) Upload your meme to twitter images (make sure you save image & upload to
Continue readingMelissa Fong: DTES LAP Amendments that Cllr Carr shuts down: Watch the speech & Read the full document by Reimer
I already posted snippets of the full documents (4 separate PDFs here). This post is specifically the first pdf Amendment doc from Reimer and the speaking points Cllr Carr was […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Sneak Peak!: AMENDMENTS to DTES LAP- DRAFT sent to my by Andrea Reimer
Councillor Andrea Reimer was kind enough to send me the DRAFT of Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan Amendments. *OFFICIAL copy posted on website by staff tomorrow. This is a sneak […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: DTES LAP Part 3- Residents’ Losses & small victories
…Councillor Adriane Carr was the only one who wanted to refer the plan back to staff to ensure an acceptable definition of Social Housing (due date for end of May). The rest of City Council seemed fairly confident that that could be defined as we went along and the plan
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Vancouver DTES Local Area Plan City Council Debates- PART 2: CHINATOWN BUSINESS INTERESTS
Chinatown Businesses interests came into the room hesitant. I don’t think any of the mainstream news media (Vancouver Courier or the Straight) did justice to the hesitance … I am personally sympathetic towards Chinatown business interests because I know the exact memories and nostalgia upon which they recall and the
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Vancouver DTES Local Area Plan City Council Debates- Part One: Developers
…One topic that dominated the DTES LAP discussions last night was the 60/40 (Social/ market rate housing split) and the definition of affordable housing … All the usual suspects always caution against social housing. Developers are constantly talking about how it is not possible to build social housing without other
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Vancouver Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan- Speaker #55
…when you have an extensive plan that guarantees redevelopment and insertion of new and desirable market rate housing, you are planning the upclassing of a neighbourhood. The DTES has staved off gentrification forces as much as it has because it is has been safeguarded for the poor. The redevelopment of
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Overheard in Vancouver’s Chinatown
White girl in the bathroom stall to friend washing her hands beside me: “Oh… is that place good? I heard it was just full of a bunch of Chinese […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Getting drunk will get you raped = How you should NOT interpret this data
… Now, I know a lot of people are going to interpret this data wrongly. You are going to be tempted to think, “Well, more reason to act like a proper lady and not get drunk at bars. If you don’t get drunk, you won’t be taken advantage of.” This
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Loretta Saunders is not a singular case: Inappropriate and inadequate responses from Harper Government
… Let me be clear: Aboriginal women are TARGETS of violence because they are treated as disposable objects. How many ignored Pickton concerns were there before someone decided to take 49 missing women seriously? Advocates of missing women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside were IGNORED by police while FOURTY-NINE WOMEN WERE
Continue readingMelissa Fong: You know what I find really astounding?
That we still find childbirth amazing and incredible: Woman Gives Birth on New York City Street It’s pretty cool. Read story hereFiled under: Happy rant, No Rant-Just Interesting Tagged: babies, […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: The Pity Party, that is -Dave Foley-
I used to love Dave Foley. Kids in the Hall was one of the most epic variety shows, and Canadian to boot. Then there was News Radio that had awesome […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: “Why Won’t You Educate Me About Feminism?”
Originally posted on The Belle Jar:He doesn’t hate women. Above and beyond everything else, he wants you to know this: he does not hate women. He has two daughters,…
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Overheard in Toronto – On #RobFord’s Critics
On #RobFord’s Critics: “You know why Rob Ford still wins and will keep on winning? All these people in the newspapers, writing blogs and rushing to criticize him are upper-middle […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: “Oppressed Majority”: What’s missing?
At the risk of getting a whole lot of Feminist hateration on this- I’m just going to say this: People who are loving this video are people who already get it [1]. It won’t make a dent on a dude that doesn’t honestly understand or recognize his own male privilege.
Continue readingMelissa Fong: “Check your privilege” meme and why it is ineffective
Okay, this has been bothering me ENORMOUSLY. I talk about racism a LOT. I also blog a lot. For the entire duration of my social justice life I have never […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Ignorance VS Hatefulness: How to talk about explain gay-bashing in Sochi
I’m kind of tired of people describing some racists, misogynists and homophobes as “ignorance”. ’Ignorance’ means that they just don’t know better, they are missing information and they just need […]
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