DIGNITY, RESPECT AND HOUSING PLEASE

Editor:

I was a bit surprised by the naivete displayed by Anne Watters (Coast
Reporter letters, Feb. 5).

It's hard to get a handle on the notion that she really believes that
arranging an organized cheerleading event for the poor, the mentally
ill and the dispossessed somehow makes their lives better.

I spent a year working in the Downtown Eastside and, during that time,
I never saw any residents exhibiting the slightest interest in
"displaying pride" in anything other than their continuing survival
under horrendous conditions.

As for the opportunity to "display pride in their city and their
neighbourhood," you don't have to hang out at Main and Hastings to
deduce that these people with shattered lives would much rather have
the opportunity to have a decent place to live, to have enough food to
eat, to receive desperately needed dental work, or to be free from
constant police harassment because their drugs of choice happen to be
different from ours.

Of course, I agree with Ms. Watters that there is nothing ludicrous
about "treating people with respect and dignity." But does pretending
to do so, while blowing enough money to provide adequate housing for
every homeless person in B.C. on a two-week party - really meet the
definition of that phrase?

George Kosinski

Gibsons