City orders urban gardeners to uproot potatoes on vacant lot.

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

as somebody who grows food, it would be really hard to go to a food bank and say "in 3 months, i will be donating 50lbs of potatoes to you" and then not be able to follow thru with it due to unforeseen circumstances like hail damage to the crops, vandalism, fungal infections etc.. there are a lot of ways the crop yield could be greatly diminished or completely decimated. then where does that leave you and the food bank that expected something that you should never have promised?

Trust me, the DI or Mustard seed is not going to be banking on any random donation to actually come through. Especially not when you're talking about a few measly potatoe plants.

This isn't even the point of the argument. The fact is she is borderline nuts for doing this without asking for permission from the land owner or at least contacting someone from the city first.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

former occupy participants are everywhere. they eat out at restaurants, they go to movies, they go biking, they do normal things that the rest of us do, but it doesn't mean when they are in a grocery store, they are trying to occupy it.

Yeah, but the grocery store freely gives them permission to be on their property and the occupiers don't wear tires around their waist with 'Occupy Calgary' written on it announcing their presence.

Due to the empty lot's location it seems like it would be highly unlikely that it would be an 'Occupy Calgary' revival. That said if I lived in the area, saw them setting up shop like that on a vacant lot with painted tires of which one said 'Occupy Calgary' on it, my reaction would be "Awww Hell Naww" and I would have brought in the cavalry if I had the ability to as well. Squatting needs to be nipped in the bud as early and as harshly as possible so squatters don't have time to build a sympathy case based on simply squatting in one place for a period of time.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

former occupy participants are everywhere. they eat out at restaurants, they go to movies, they go biking, they do normal things that the rest of us do, but it doesn't mean when they are in a grocery store, they are trying to occupy it.

You're right; people who break the law are all around us. Some are more recognizable than others, so yeah others will point fingers and jump to conclusions.

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

former occupy participants are everywhere. they eat out at restaurants, they go to movies, they go biking, they do normal things that the rest of us do, but it doesn't mean when they are in a grocery store, they are trying to occupy it.

No, but you are blatantly choosing to ignore why Mar might have had some concerns regarding some sort of occupy-type action. Everyday activities like biking/grocery shopping don't include trespassing, vandalizing other peoples property or whoring to the media. A combination of occupy slogans + occupy participants + a pseudo-poverty/environmental agenda + perpetrators physically occupying a space that's not theirs certainly raises the question. Not to mention there is already a precedent for drawn out tent town protest with the southern California farm debacle.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

No, but you are blatantly choosing to ignore why Mar might have had some concerns regarding some sort of occupy-type action. Everyday activities like biking/grocery shopping don't include trespassing, vandalizing other peoples property or whoring to the media. A combination of occupy slogans + occupy participants + a pseudo-poverty/environmental agenda + perpetrators physically occupying a space that's not theirs certainly raises the question. Not to mention there is already a precedent for drawn out tent town protest with the southern California farm debacle.

i'm not ignoring anything. mar is an alderman, a public figure who should be leading by example and should be able to talk to people to resolves issues. instead he jumped to conclusions and pulled a costly power trip by bringing in the cops.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Do we know who the woman was that plugged CP?

She specifically says "it's one of my favorite places to discuss blah, blah blah".

Made it sound like she's a contributor.

I believe it was Shelly Youngblood a contributor to the Calgary Herald, if she's a poster or just a snooper... I do not know.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by First Lady

You're right; people who break the law are all around us. Some are more recognizable than others, so yeah others will point fingers and jump to conclusions.

but it doesn't make it right.

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

i'm not ignoring anything. mar is an alderman, a public figure who should be leading by example and should be able to talk to people to resolves issues. instead he jumped to conclusions and pulled a costly power trip by bringing in the cops.

You are actively discounting the significance of the "occupy calgary" slogans and participants present at the site of a protest by attempting to equate them to normal everyday findings. Would a pedophile parked in an elementary school lot with a van full of candy not arouse some legitimate suspicion? I guess not because vans & candy are everywhere, and a pedophiles also went to school once upon a time.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

I believe it was Shelly Youngblood a contributor to the Calgary Herald, if she's a poster or just a snooper... I do not know.

It is quite interesting to see just how many local media types follow forums like this one and Skyscraperpage. Goes to show what an interesting group we have here, all walks of life, and definitely in touch with what's going on in the city at any given moment.

In short, we rule.

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by NuclearFart

You are actively discounting the significance of the "occupy calgary" slogans and participants present at the site of a protest by attempting to equate them to normal everyday findings. Would a pedophile parked in an elementary school lot with a van full of candy not arouse some legitimate suspicion? I guess not because vans & candy are everywhere, and a pedophiles also went to school once upon a time.

we clearly have different ways of looking at this, so i'll end it here.

[NuclearFart]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

we clearly have different ways of looking at this, so i'll end it here.

Is this not a form of protest? She went to the media and even had her son pose for the camera in sad mode. Creating a public poop storm over her perceived injustice is certainly one way to fight the machine.

[Senator Clay Davis]

To me, the two biggest issues here should be

1. A public servant choosing to go straight to the police rather than talking with a constituent
2. Complete and utter waste/abuse of police resources

On 1, Mar is either arrogant, stupid, or both. How many votes did he cost himself in the next election by choosing to go right to the extreme option? On 2, really? 10 freaking cops for that crap? I don't hate police officers themselves, I hate policing as the bureacracy and this is why. If me or you or any normal citizen makes the call (and we'd probably be calling 311 first) to the police for this, they will laugh at us. But an alderman makes the call and the cavalry is there double quick. I wish I could say it was surprising to hear, but its not.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

edit: i also wanted to add how ridiculous it would be to expect somebody who wants to grow food to have to travel to the end of the city to find a garden bed to do so. the right to food is one of the most important human rights issues right up there with water access.

I don't expect anything of someone who wants to grow their own food. But I do think it is ridiculous that someone who wants to grow their own food expects the government to provide them with a plot of land upon which to do it. And arguing that you were trespassing because the options that the government provided were inconvenient just screams of entitlement. According to this iconographic it requires about 2 acres to feed a family of 4 off the land or about 500000 acres to feed a million people with subsistence farming. Should the city expand so that it can provide everyone with their own little plot close to where they live? The city is currently about 825 square kilometers you would need to add another 2025 km^2 to meet the demand.

Spoiler!

*Spoiler for size

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

taking up the city's offer is not an option. if john mar, or you for that matter, knew anything about these gardens he would have known how full they really are already. so if he really wants people to grow food in community gardens, then maybe he should take some initiative to expand the current facilitates or create new ones. i mean, look at all the energy and effort he put forth to kick somebody out; 10 police officers while he hid in the van!

here is a quick list from the calgary horticultural society list (community gardens) of community gardens;

banff trail - 20 beds with 40 gardeners
bow bottom - 20 beds with 20 gardeners
brentwood - 17 beds with n/a gardeners
cambrian heights - 9 beds with 12 gardeners
douglasdale - 37 beds with 30 families
mount pleasant - 30 beds with 50 gardeners
ramsay - 13 beds with 15 gardeners
rundle - 1 plot with 25 gardeners
currie - 26 beds with 50 gardeners
west springs - 8 beds with 12 gardeners
bridgeland riverside - 4 beds with 12 gardeners
cliff bungalow/mission - 48 beds with n/a gardeners

edit: i also wanted to add how ridiculous it would be to expect somebody who wants to grow food to have to travel to the end of the city to find a garden bed to do so. the right to food is one of the most important human rights issues right up there with water access.

Is 100% of the available land at her house being used for food production? Because the most convenient land is the land right outside your door, on your property.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

as somebody who grows food, it would be really hard to go to a food bank and say "in 3 months, i will be donating 50lbs of potatoes to you" and then not be able to follow thru with it due to unforeseen circumstances like hail damage to the crops, vandalism, fungal infections etc.. there are a lot of ways the crop yield could be greatly diminished or completely decimated. then where does that leave you and the food bank that expected something that you should never have promised?

I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have had to quantify anything to the food bank. She could have just notified them that she's growing some vegetables and when they are ready, she's planning on donating them to the food bank. Your reason for her not letting any food bank know in advance seems pretty flimsy to me. My opinion, she trotted it out to the media to get sympathy points, just like how she's whoring out the image of her sad little boy for the media to snap some pictures.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

To me, the two biggest issues here should be

1. A public servant choosing to go straight to the police rather than talking with a constituent
2. Complete and utter waste/abuse of police resources

On 1, Mar is either arrogant, stupid, or both. How many votes did he cost himself in the next election by choosing to go right to the extreme option? On 2, really? 10 freaking cops for that crap? I don't hate police officers themselves, I hate policing as the bureacracy and this is why. If me or you or any normal citizen makes the call (and we'd probably be calling 311 first) to the police for this, they will laugh at us. But an alderman makes the call and the cavalry is there double quick. I wish I could say it was surprising to hear, but its not.

Given absolutely nobody will remember this next year when the election comes around, my bet is that the total will be something between zero and one, and that depends only on whether this nutbag voted for him last time.

As to the rest, yeah, arrogant and stupid.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Sadly you are probably right. Voters always seem to get the strangest cases of amnesia right around an election.

[HOOT]

Does this mean someone outside of Vancouver Island will take this years "Hippie of the Year" trophy?

[Senator Clay Davis]

I've never in my life seen grannies smoking doobies until I lived on the Island. So no, thats not possible for a non-Islander to win hippie of the year.

[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

former occupy participants are everywhere. they eat out at restaurants, they go to movies, they go biking, they do normal things that the rest of us do, but it doesn't mean when they are in a grocery store, they are trying to occupy it.

You're probably right, but when they start squatting on the property of others (including re-painting a privately owned fence and hauling in what likely amounted to hundreds of pounds of poorly painted trash) it is reasonable to assume they may in fact be attempting to "occupy" it. If the occupy twits simply stop assembling and squatting on land they don't own, they won't have any issues with the cops or the city. Simple and easy!