My sabbatical is now over. This past week three things happened that I feel the members of DERA and the community at large should know about.

• I attended at a quickly called board meeting of DERA. We were told that it was closed to members. Only two items were on the agenda; one was payment of an account; and the other the status of the elevators in one of the buildings. Both of these were not in any way to my way of thinking confidential. From my readings around the Society Act the only thing that stands out that should be confidential is the negotiations around the hiring of an employee and the negotiations around contracts.
• On Thursday I attended a meeting with the VPD and BCH and we were told that the Assistance to Shelter Act (on the street known as the Kidnapping Act) is legislated only during extreme weather alerts (a few days a year): 2006-2007 39 nights and 2007-2008 28 nights And, most importantly, the policy of the VPD will be not to use force. The ASA states that the police may use force and VPD decided that means that the VPD has a policy not to use force.
• On Thursday afternoon I attended at the Law Library and the clerk directed me to a Report by the BC Law Institute - a 500 page document that has been in the process for years, to create a New Society Act. As I glanced over it I was disturbed over some of the sections. If any of you have had gone ballistic experiences with a non-profit or charity please let me know.

I am taking a sabbatical for a short time from DERA or until I hear something that makes me go ballistic.

I had a ballistic experience happen to me this evening December 3 2009 with the police and a woman from False Creek estates. You do something good and the next thing I know I am bombarded with three police cars and five police officers threatening to arrest me for stealing a dog. I thought I was doing a responsible thing by taking the doggie home as it was abandoned in front of Save On Foods at Cambie down from Broadway. It was tied to a railing. The poor doggie was shivering and cold and there was no one watching him and he was there out in the open for a long time and anyone could have taken it. I left my contact numbers at Save on Foods and took the doggie home. I do not have a car so it took me close to three hours to walk home. Dogs are not allowed on buses. Ann had my phone number and email number so why was it necessary for the cops to cater to her hysterial cries unless she is someone important. It was Ann who abandoned her dog while she was apparently shopping. As soon as I got home I telephoned Ann as she had left a message and she said her husband was going to come and pick up the doggie. Instead the swat team arrived because now they had my address. This poor excuse for an irresponsible human being is named Ann Anstee. For four hours the VPD was involved in this crime; whoever is in charge of the police district at Cambie/Broadway should be investigated for allowing this waste of public funding. Doesn't anyone have any common sense outthere. One of the officer's badge number was 2590. Also for the education of the general public, it is line officers that make the decision to send five cops to apprehend a dog; they don't get it approved by a senior officer. These young officers make stupid costly decisions. While the police were at my place I was holding the dog in my arms and Pepper was kissing me. The dog took an instant like to me as though it was starving for affection. The doggie smelled as though it didn't have a bath for a long time and it was skinny, like it wasn't fed very well. Leaving a doggie or a child unattended on the street should be a capital offense. In any event I won't give the police the doggie and then they threatened me with possession of stolen property. I told them I won't give them the dog as I had already made arrangement with the dog's owner that the husband was going to show up and when the husband showed up I told the police I wanted proof of who he was. The police said that isn't the way it works. I told the police to get out of my place or charge me with stealing the doggie and they refused to do either. When the husband arrived, they grabbed the dog and told the husband to run with it and he did. It was comical this overweight middle aged man running down the street holding a doggie being guarded by five police officers from a fat petite old woman on pension as if she would be capable of doing anything. Just for the record, I already have a dog and I don't need another one. At least my doggie won't let any stranger near him. Pepper would go with anyone.


Earlier in the evening I was speaking to a neighbour and he did not understand why I was so upset over the fact that the DERA executive director who is not elected fired so many employees because he is the one who hired them. Am I to assume the E/D has bad judgment when he hires them. Sometimes I do not explain the obvious. DERA has no assets except human assets --people that believe in what DERA should stand for. Therefore if these dedicated people leave then what is left: not much. And who at DERA condones firing? It is condoned by the President of DERA who to the best of my knowledge has been a director/president for close to ten years, who believes such firing are okay for the greater good. Greater good of what. I do not know. And the other directors have no opinion.

I went to Solheim Place 27 November 2009 at 5:30 to 6:30 to greet anyone who did not receive word that DERA cancelled the impeachment. Again DERA in its indifference to members did not post a sign that the meeting was cancelled. What unprofessional impeachable conduct.
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During the day I also came across two more former employees of DERA who told me that both of them were fired by Kim and they walked as they did not want to deal with his paranoid behavior. DERA has only 17 employees and it would seem reasonable that one employee a year would leave, not waves. The first flag of mismanagement is turnover of staff and DERA disposes of staff continuously. I still cannot understand why the Board does not question Kim's staffing decisions. It is totally irresponsible.

Impeachment 27 November 2009 Cancelled

There was a sign posted on the DERA window at 12 East Hastings yesterday late afternoon (November 26, 2009) advising that the impeachment meeting on November 27th 2009 was cancelled by DERA. As I was not officially notified by the President earlier (not even with an email) I spent all day handing out fliers on the street and meeting members in the DTES asking them to attend. It wasn't a waste of time as I spoke to a lot of people in the neighbourhood: it made me feel good. But at the end of the day I was exhausted. Democracy is hard work.

http://downtowneastside.blogspot.com/

See above blog for more information about DERA from March/April 2009....
use blog search for "DERA"

This is to remind you that the impeachment is on Friday November 27th 2009 at 251 Union Street 9th Floor (gore/union/hastings/georgia viaduct northside) at 6:00 p.m. The boundaries of DERA include the DTES and Upper Granville (clarke/8th avenue/burrard/waterfront). Hope all of you can attend. Remember this isn't about misconduct of a director it is about exposing DERA's mismanagement and its continuing disregard for the law like not giving financial records to directors and access to membership lists.

Addendum 21 November 2009: The fifth reason for my expulsion is for "denouncing DERA publicly including recently at a public seminar put on by Canada Revenue and Tax Services."
Ruth a wanabe DERA employee told Kim that I was there. I asked her for a statement from her of what she told Kim but she has refused to give it to me. The seminar leader said everything in the seminar was confidential so what did she do. So much for confidentiality. I reported on the seminar in this blog earlier.

This whole thing is nothing more than a harassment exercise by Kim to make me resign from the Board like he has done to other directors and many many employees who questioned his archaic management practices. Kim has made it well known that he is in control of DERA and the directors and staff do whatever he wants. Kim should be a mentor not a dictator; he does not know how to work in a dynamic democratic social enterprise.

This is a textbook classic in how a non-profit should not operate. However, I hope my impeachment brings some awareness that the Societies Act has to change. Non-profits cannot continue to be unregulated. The Society Act Registry only files documents; it does not vet them. So there must be thousands of illegal constitutions and bylaws outthere. Non-profits have to be standardized so that we all know how they operate.