Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey- goodbye!
UPDATE: According to the below screenshot, Ivan isn’t exactly happy about this announcement- it looks like there’s dissent within the ranks at the DNC!
————————————-
The Pidgin restaurant protest was one of the most contentious protests in the history of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). A group of malcontents, many associated with the DTES Neighbourhood Council (DNC) and the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) decided they didn’t like the presence of Brandon Grossutti’s new restaurant and that they would unilaterally shut it down. Classy.
As time went by the protests went progressively more out of hand. First, the Vancity credit union threatened to withdraw funds from CCAP- Ivan Drury and Wendy Pederson both ended up resigning. Next there was the arrest of animal rights activist Robyn Pickell for dangerously trying to chain people inside the building, and of COPE executive Kim Hearty for theft, assault & mischief. Obviously things weren’t going well for the miscreants protesters.
Yesterday, the Gastown Gazette (who’ve provided excellent coverage of the Pidgin fiasco) put out another great story digging into the organizations who’ve been funding CCAP and other DTES miscreants protesters. CCAP not only gets money from Vancity, but from the Vancouver Foundation, the City of Vancouver, and provincial gaming grants. The Gazette’s call for CCAP’s defunding was a masterpiece.
Then, last night at 7:40pm, the DNC ceded defeat– calling for protesters to move-on:
Regardless of their statement that the Pidgin protests have “served their purpose” they most certainly haven’t. Their stated goal was to ‘shut-down’ the Pidgin, and they’ve done anything but that. In fact, it could be said that Ivan Drury, Wendy Pederson and Jean Swanson did the exact opposite. The protests have made the Pidgin restaurant into a household name across the country- there’s no way that the owners of the Pidgin could have afforded to buy their establishment the publicity the Pidgin picket brought them. In marketing terms, the protests were pure gold.
It’s now time for the people of Vancouver to call for resignations across the publicly funded DTES poverty industry. Government agencies and NGO’s sink 100’s of millions of dollars into the DTES- in many cases (like CCAP) this money was supporting individuals who are bringing lawlessness to the streets. This can’t be allowed to continue…
Related articles
13 comments
Skip to comment form
It’s time for Arctic Gitmo.
Ivan was kicked out of the DNC months ago (along with Wendy and Jean). The Pidgin protests have always been a CCAP and Occupy thing. Out of respect for the courage it took for the now-resident-controlled DNC board to issue the above statement, I really think you should correct the article, and implication that the DNC is in Ivan’s control.
Author
The Mainlander said, in May, that Drury is actively involved with the DNC. Are you saying something has happened since then?
http://themainlander.com/2013/05/06/ndp-housing-platform-promises-disaster-for-the-downtown-eastside/
No question that it took courage for the DNC to stand up to Ivan Drury, Jean Swanson, and Wendy Pedersen. They are three of the worst bullies in the Downtown East Side.
The manic obsessions of that unholy trio have led to disaster for the people of the DTES. All three of them were on TV, defending the Pidgin Picket from Day One. Now, they try to pretend they had nothing to do with it.
No one is buying that BS any more, and the DNC has called them on it. In public. Damn brave.
Here’s the test: why did the people who live in Pigeon Park refuse to have anything to do with the Pidgin Picket? None of them joined it. None of them could be bothered to walk ten feet across Carrall Street to stand with their “defenders”. How come?
The answer lies in the obsessive ideologies of Ivan, Wendy and Jean. They want to change the world in their own likeness. They can’t be bothered to help actual human beings along the way.
The people of Pigeon Park understand this, and refuse to have anything to do with them. Now, the democratically-elected DNC understands it, and threw them out.
Next at bat: Wendy Pedersen was elected to the Board of the Carnegie Centre on June sixth. Just wait til Vancity finds out. She supposedly quit CCAP. Now, she sits on the Board that controls CCAP, and uses Vancity money to fund its endless demonstrations, marches and rallies. And pays demonstrators a “stipend” to join them.
The funders will be very, very pissed off. Kudos to the DNC for standing against local tyranny and obsolete ideology. They have taken a step forward.
Author
I sure hope this is true, it would be great to see these three removed from being allowed to tear-up the potential for peaceful relationships. That said, sources in the DTES are telling me that (in many cases) this is just theatre. Take CCAP, Drury and Pedersen officially left, but they were still very actively involved afterwards.
The big question is, how can we be sure what these organizations say is happening is what’s really going on?
Calling out Ivan, Jean and Wendy in public takes a lot of courage, no matter the motivation. It has to be respected at face value, I believe.
Those three attempt to dominate every conversation, every agenda, and every meeting. People are just sick of it. From Jean’s whining, to Wendy’s mean spirit, to Ivan’s pugnaciousness, it’s a hell of a package. But as karma does, it has finally caught up to them.
They have now cooked up another front: The Anti-Gentrification Caucas (sic) of the Local Area Planning Process. It’s a new name, but the same old faces. Always will be. There are really only about 15 or 20 of these people, showing up at everything. You’d almost think they don’t have real jobs.
I’m told the reason the new executive of the DNC hasn’t yet gone public is because they are trying to insulate themselves from Wendy, Ivan and Jean first. When they’ve done that, they’ll start showing up and leading the people in a much more open and positive direction.
Everyone is fed up with the WIJ Troika. We’ll see if the new DNC has the courage to follow through, and to begin doing positive work in a neighbourhood desperate for it.
We should give them time, and encouragement. They could hardly be worse than the Troika.
Author
Hey, if this is happening, that’s great news. But, I don’t see how the DNC has called -out the WIJ Troika (btw, love that abbreviation), I only see them saying that the Pidgin protest has accomplished it’s goals and that it’s time to move on. Have they made other statements about them?
It’s what they’ve been fighting about for weeks.
The smart ones (like Scott Clark at ALIVE) have realized the failure and the chaos of the Pidgin picket. But Wendy in particular is really Stalinist about it, and won’t negotiate with anyone about anything. Nick Ellan is just very young, and naive. Kim Hearty is a well-meaning dunce. They are in complete disarray.
On her Tweetpage, Pedersen describes herself as “compulsive Dtes organizer, crazy against gentrification”, and that’s just half of it. “Compulsive” barely begins to describe her mania. No wonder the VPD gave her an arrest warning letter.
We’ve seen the first DNC breakaway from the WIJ Troika on its website. The next proof will be in the DTES Newspaper, which they now control. I think we’ll see a continuing breakaway. That breakaway will be accelerated when WIJ Inc over-reacts, as they will.
Jean will whine about “poor-bashing”. Wendy will see dark plots everywhere. And Ivan, per his self-admitted past, will start threatening people in supermarkets.
When WIJ over-react, the new DNC leaders will be forced to defend themselves more overtly.
In many ways, this is like what happened when the Anti-Poverty Committee (remember them?) blew themselves out of the water. In the same way, and for the same reason, the decent people of the DTES just got fed up with them. Especially the First Nations elders.
Today, the best the APC guys can do is run around like masked banditos, carrying torches, under another name.
A legitimate, elected group has finally pointed out that the Troika has no clothes. Next comes the laughter, at their expense.
I knew this would happen…
The Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council now has a board that doesn’t consult the members.
We used to have monthly members meetings where every action and statement issued was discussed and voted on before it went public.
We have a new board that meets in secret, kicks out members without notice and issues public statements without consulting the membership. The last members meeting was April 6 so the statement about the Pidgin Picket is not coming from the members.
Any statement that comes from the so-called “DNC” at this point is only coming from a handful of people and does not have the backing of the membership. The DNC has now become just another example of the struggle for power and control in a community that has neither.
On the other hand, what you say could be applied — exactly — to the political hegemony contrived by Jean, Wendy and Ivan for years.
Sounds like it’s payback time in the DTES. The bullies are getting put in their place by the elected DNC.
Or, it’s the inevitable result of the divisive foolishness of the Pidgin Picket. That silly exercise has torn the community apart, just like the APC did a decade ago.
Your policy and your picket has been repudiated by the people who live in Pigeon Park. They refuse to join you. They refuse to support you. Never wondered why?
Why not join the reformers in the new DNC, and bring something positive to the hood? Endless whining, pinhead picketing and childish demanding has gotten you — exactly nothing, and nowhere. Time for positive change. The people need it.
I live in Newfoundland and am heading up to Vancouver in a couple of weeks. I’ll definitely be checking out this amazing restaurant. Wouldn’t have know about it except for the protests. Nothing like a good protest to put you on the map. Gotta love free advertising!
Author
Great! I suggest everyone who goes to Vancouver should – it’s the best way to protest the protesters…
It’s time for an update on the defunct Pidgin picket and the chaos engineered by Wendy Pedersen and CCAP.
Not-Homeless Dave’s so-called hunger strike lasted 30 days with time out for snacks at Carnegie. It achieved nothing and has been forgotten by everybody.
The Cuchillo restaurant picket was invented by Wendy and her Carnegie pals in an effort to create momentum. Wendy and Jean overplayed their hand and guess what? The Cuchillo picket turned out to be stillborn DOA. A big flop that embarrassed the girls and amused the boys. Even Tami Fakelastname was pissed. It’s over totally over. Didn’t last two weeks.
The Pidgin restaurant picket was invented at CCAP by Wendy, Jean and Ivan, although once their money was threatened they pretended that it was all somebody elses idea. The Pidgin picket died over a month ago, they just gave up one night and said nothing and now they pretend it was a big success even though it just petered out in the chaos that follows Pedersen everywhere.
Everyone knows the people who actually live at Pigeon Park totally ignored the picket. It took Wendy and her pals a while to figure it out but that was what killed it. The people in the DTES ignored them. They never had more than nine people walk the line and half of them live out of the hood and finally even the fanatics gave up. The Pidgin picket has been dead for weeks. No one even noticed.
Wendy, Jean and Ivan did achieve one thing. Because of the Pidgin picket they got kicked out of the DENC. And now its run by people who will not be bullied by fanatics.
It was all a ride to nowhere and now it’s dead.