Pope Squat: Lobby Day and Rally at City Council Meeting

By: liberation - September 10th, 2002  Filed under: News

  Pope Squat: Lobby Day and Rally at City Council Meeting

TWO IMPORTANT ACTIONS TO PUT THE POPE SQUAT AT THE TOP OF COUNCIL’S AGENDA

With astounding success, the OCAP Pope Squat is now well into its second month. Homeless people and their allies have established a community and taken forward the whole fight against homelessness and underhousing in Toronto. Our goal, however, is not just to win the right to squat the property but to compel the levels of government to set a vital precedent by accepting a self managed social housing project at 1510 King Street West.

We are doing all we can to take this forward on our own while we pressure City Hall to act. Renovations are underway, a model suite is being prepared at the site and, with community partners, we are creating the legal entity at the site that could assume control of a housing project. The City, however, has not yet faced up to its responsibilities. The motion passed by Council calls on the Province to hand over the property and the Province will be very unlikely to admit to ownership. What we do know, though, is that the City sent all with a stake in the property a communication in December of 2000 warning that the building would be seized if back taxes weren’t paid. If they had that power then, they have it now and we demand that the City take over the property, provide housing during the renovation period to those presently there and open negotiations around the creation of self managed housing.

We have prepared (and include with this notice) a model resolution that outlines our position and we have two upcoming actions to press for City Council to adopt it. Below are the details of these.

* * * * * * * LOBBY DAY AT CITY HALL. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. MEET AT 11.00 AM IN FRONT OF BUILDING.

We are preparing a mass lobby of Council members. If you would like to be part of one of the delegations that will meet with the politicians or their representatives, here’s how things will work.

* Find out who you elected member of Council is.

* Call the OCAP office and offer your help. We will assign you to a team of people meeting with a Council member.

* If you are the first person calling in from your particular ward, we will ask you to phone and make an appointment.

* On the day, we will proceed together to the lobby area of the Councillors’ offices, go to our meetings and press the demands contained in the model resolution. We will call on them to put this on the floor of the next Council meeting and to adopt it at that session.

TAKING THE POPE SQUAT TO THE NEXT MEETING OF COUNCIL. MEET IN FRONT OF CITY HALL ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, AT 2.00 PM

We shall rally in front of the building to show some of the community support that exists and then go to the Council Chambers to eliminate any lingering doubt on the matter. We hope and expect, that they will be ready to discuss this vital issue. (Did not this same Council declare homelessness a national disaster?) We will be ready to go into the chambers to witness politicians who do the right thing and provide a small but important beginning in the work of dealing with the housing crisis. We are also prepared, however, for our visit to the gathering to be a restrained yet unmistakable reminder that the community will no longer accept talk as a substitute for action and that the Pope Squat is something they just can’t hide from. We need every single person available to come out and show their support on the 17th!

For more information call OCAP at (416) 925-6939 or e mail us at ocap [at] tao [dot] ca

* * * * * * MODEL RESOLUTION FOR CITY COUNCIL ON POPE SQUAT

“Given that a housing crisis exists in this City, with vast waiting lists for social housing, rampant evictions and a level of homelessness that the City Council has declared a disaster.”

“Given that an attempt is underway to turn the building at 1510 King Street West into social housing.”

“Given that this initiative is widely supported in Parkdale and by many labour, faith and community based organizations.”

“And, given that the City of Toronto felt able to seize the property as long ago as December of 2000 and communicated this to all those with a financial interest in it.”

“Toronto City Council will take over the property in question without delay and begin its transformation into social housing.”

“Council will also ensure that those homeless people who are presently living at the site be housed during the renovation period.”

“As the City moves forward with developing the site, it will enter into good faith negotiations with those presently living there and their community partners who have allocated or pledged resources to this initiative around the creation of a self managed project at 1510 King Street West.”

**
NEW ADDRESS!
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
517 College Street, Suite 234 Toronto, Ontario M5G 4A2
416-925-6939 ocap [at] tao [dot] ca www.ocap.ca
**

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty <ocap [at] tao [dot] ca>

Tags: ,

Ljubljana: AC Molotov squat update, first trial

By: liberation - September 10th, 2002  Filed under: News

Here’s a message from an inhabitant of the squat :

Salud!

Yesterday, 6.9., we had a first trial in the case: AC Molotov (a squat in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which they want to evict since 11.7.) against its owner Slovenske Zeleznice (SZ; Slovenian Railway Company). All together was very funny and dumb. There were 9 of us, representer of SZ; lawyers and the judge, who were the only-one speaking. The first question of SZ’s lawyer was if we think to go out. Our answer was NO. Then she said there was unformal agreement between us and persons from the Museum, than we have to respect it and go out. Later, she said she doesn’t know about the agreement, because it was said by us. Ofcourse, in reality, no-one informed us about going out at that time. Their lawyer coludn’t say more than her meaning that this is a private property and if Slovenia is a state of law then there is no question who is right. The real question of this trial was if the Company knew the fact that we live there. If they did, then their accusation of disturbing the property has no meaning, because they set up a law suit too late (according to the law, the owner can put an accusation of disturbing the property to 30 days after s/he founds out that the person is using his/her property). On the question of the judge if they knew about the fact that we live there, their lawyer said she doesn’t know and they must ask the witnesses – the workers of Railway Museum. She claimed she has never been in Molotov and later that they couldn’t indentify the persons because there are about 60 people going in and out and lots of them under 18. When we applied as witnesses in the next trial, she asked if we can tell also the year of our birth, because we don’t look so old. [Read More]

Tags: , ,

Report on criminalization of anarchist and anti-fascist community in Bialystok/Poland with some history of Anti-Fascist resistance by ABC Bialystok

By: liberation - September 10th, 2002  Filed under: News

  Report on criminalization of anarchist and anti-fascist community in Bialystok/Poland with some history of Anti-Fascist resistance by ABC Bialystok

Bialystok is a 300 000 city in North-East of Poland. It has proud history of Anti-Fascist resistance going back to II World War.

In present times we can see again old monsters rising their ugly heads. Almost since beginning of organized nazi movement in Bialystok, militant anti-fascist groups emerged. First they were just little groups of ver dedicated, militant activist, then movement grew bigger and bigger, there were more actions and nazis started slowly loosing control over streets. Few times in our recent history we faced new waves of nazi activity but there were always people who opposed them directly and without limits. It costed us a lot. Few years ago one of our friends got killed in suspicious circumstances in a city 80 kilometres from Bialystok, killed by unknown nazis. Many people suffered continuous harrasment of themselves and their families, many people suffered pfysical injuries. Still, resistance never stopped. On a place of activist who left movement, there were new ones. situation changed dramatically in last two years. We managed to squat a place in Bialystok which became center of all anarchist and altenrative activity. Our movement received many new people and a lot of energy. Almost immadietely this place became priority target for nazis. Till now it was attacked about 40 times, from small groups throiwing stones to regular attacks with 30-40 nazis throwing molotovs etc. We resisted all the time. Moreover, we decided not to wait for them but attack them first. We formed something what we call Antifa Patrol- group of anti-fascist street fighters patrolling streets of Bialystok and attacking nazis everywhere. We started being succesful in driving nazis out of streets, although we are far away from coplete success. Compiling this together with the fact, that we managed to defend our squat few times against police and we destroyed their public relations image totally, someone decided to fight us with another means. We expereinced something what never happened before-planned and cynical criminalization of our movement. Our people became landing in custody and jails for almost everything.

Present legal situation of our groups is very serious.

– One person from the squat is finishing his prison sentence for assault on a nazi skinhead (he will be out at the end of Septemebr/beginning of October 2002)

– another activist just received 2 years on 5 years probation for alleged assault with dangerous weapon, action he never took part in, but nevertheless he spent 4 months in jail for that

– 5 people are framed in assault on a singer of a nazi band from here, one person additionally charged with threatening behaviour

– one anarchist already having sentence in probation (2 for 4 years) for assault and robbery on nazi skinhead, now is being framed up in grevious body harm, after he succefully defeneded himself along with other Anti-Fascist against nazi attack. This charge can end up in 10 years sentence for him.

– one anarchist charged with assault and robbery on a nazi skinhead, he pleaded guilty and is awaiting a trial (he preferred to admit his “guilt” becasue he was caught by police moment after attack on nazis)

– one person charged with violent resistance and insulting a police officer after cops raided a squat in an attept to evict it

– two squatters charged with attept to break to police radio transmitter

– over 20 misdemeanor trials for things like participation in illegal gathering, failing to disperse on police request, not giving an ID to police officer etc. While we never surrendered and we continue to fight nazis and authority all the time, we need your help to continue our struggle and not to get stuck with legal proceedings. Therefore if you can help us with money for our activity and trials, or you can send us some interesting materials to use like leaflets, stickers, vidoe films etc, we would be more than happy!

Our contact is: ABC Bialystok/ANTIFA PO BOX 43, 150662 BIALYSTOK 26 POLAND

for things like prisoner support and similar stuff contact soja2 [at] poczta [dot] onet [dot] pl

Warhead Info Service

Tags: , ,

Repression against Gypsies in Belgrade and protests

By: liberation - September 10th, 2002  Filed under: News

Message from Mon, 2 Sep 2002 : Gypsies exiled from squated land

These days Roms (gypsies) in Belgrade experienced that they don’t have rights to live. Many of them live in one piece of land which ‘is property’ of the factory called IMT (Industry of Motors and Tractors) 15 years already. After crisis in Yugoslavia, many factories are ruined, this one also. Director decided to sell that piece of land where they are living so many years, so they don’t have anywhere to go. Director stopped electricity and water for them & he put cages around them and private security guard, so when somebody go out that person can not come in back.

So, they decided to make protest and today 2.sept.’02 they came in front of town-hall of Belgrade. 200 of them & they told me that exists many more gipsy’s colonies in Belgrade, but they are still not united in protest. I met them when they came in front of town-hall and after one hour some spokesman of authority come to speak with them. They said to him about director’s behavior so he went with them to find him and to move bodyguards. It passed 2 hours and they didn’t come back, so I had to go. Tomorrow, protest will continue…

Spokesman of authority said them that they’ll try to find tomorrow solution for them, on the level of government, so tomorrow after 15 o’clock delegation of gipsies can come to government to hear what they decided and to choose one of solutions (first solution is to find some destroyed caserne, second is to put them in places for refugees, third is to wait that government build some colony for them). All three solutions are bad. Gypsies doesn’t have jobs so they live from shrinking of cartoons and selling it so casernes are far away from town. Places for refugees are bad also and building of colony is long job. So, tomorrow we will see what Gypsies will (not) accept.

Message from Thu, 5 Sep 2002
Continuing of Gipsy’s protest in Belgrade

Gipsies started with their protest at afternoon 2.9.’02 & still they were in front of town-hall (3.sept.’02). This afternoon somebody from Government should come to speak with them, but nobody came.

First day of protest, Gipsies refused idea of authority: to find land for people who are more that 10 years in Belgrade, but others, who arrived ’cause of wars, could go in camps where are refugees. Gipsies didn’t accept this ’cause it would be separating of their community (and protest) – so authority doesn’t want to speak with them. Caserne is bad solution also, ’cause it is far away from town & they must collect cartoons in order to sell it and survive.

In any case, nobody came to speak with them, cops told them that they are lucky ’cause children are with them so they can’t beat them, 5 babies finished in hospital ’cause nobody came to help them with food, they slept in the park with babies… and result of it was that many people started to go back in their colony, where director said (after pressure from authority) that they can stay on that land one month yet. So, protest was ruined about 17 p.m. on 3.sept.’02.

Rebel Mouse <rebelmouse [at] hushmail [dot] com>

Tags: ,

EVICTION IN LISBON (Portugal)

By: liberation - September 5th, 2002  Filed under: News

  EVICTION IN LISBON (Portugal)

The only squatted centre in Lisbon “KASA ENKANTADA”, was evicted and destroyed in 28 of august after 5 years of squating. The squatters resisted for two days, but the 40 pigs came at 6 o’clock of the morning and caught the people inside with surprise. No one was hurt or arrested … After that more 3 houses were squatted but without sucess and were evicted too… There’s people trying to get a new place but it’s starting to get harder to squat here in Lisbon.

anonymous correspondant

Tags: ,

(Toronto) Push on to uncover city’s potential squats

By: liberation - August 29th, 2002  Filed under: News

  (Toronto) Push on to uncover city’s potential squats

Push on to uncover city’s potential squats
BY NICOLE COHEN
eye – 08.29.02
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_08.29.02/news/squat.html

Dilapidated buildings have been sitting empty for years throughout Toronto, dumped by owners unwilling to finance their maintenance and repair.

Now, spurred by the success of the Pope Squat — in which the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has been occupying an abandoned building at 1510 King W. in an attempt to turn it into affordable housing — the city has begun compiling a list of all the vacant properties in its south district, the area bounded by Eglinton, Victoria Park, Keele and the lake.

“This has always been an issue but it came to a head with 1510 King W.,” says Mike Leonard, the city’s district manager for municipal licensing and standards, south district. Leonard has asked his supervisors to cull a master list of abandoned properties from various computer databases that existed before amalgamation. He hopes to have a complete inventory in a couple of weeks.

“We want to know where all vacant buildings are and make sure they’re properly secured,” says Leonard. He says municipal licensing and standards officers will locate properties abandoned by their owners, list them and board up the windows with plywood and paint.

But, he says, the list is not intended to find buildings that could be turned into affordable housing. “That’s a planning issue. At my end of things we are just responsible for public safety. The use of the building is still up to the owner,” he says.

When researching the Pope Squat, OCAP uncovered a unique legal situation. The building at 1510 King W. has belonged to the province since 1994, when the corporation that held the title dissolved. Before breaking for the summer, city council indicated that it was interested in taking steps to turn the building into affordable housing.

Housing activists in New York City won a major coup recently when the Bloomberg administration turned over 11 abandoned Manhattan buildings to the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), a nonprofit organization that helps tenants take over and manage their buildings. It was a drastic shift in policy that ended two decades of routinely evicting squatters.

Negotiations began with the Giuliani administration in the summer of 1999 and were delayed by the events of Sept. 11. On Aug. 19 of this year, the city announced it would sell the Lower East Side buildings to UHAB for $1 each.

UHAB will renovate the buildings and turn them into limited-equity co-ops, which means the apartments will have a low maintenance of roughly US$500 per month and can’t be sold for profit. It’s a move that won’t cost the city anything and will provide 167 apartments that can house 263 people.

In Toronto, there are differing opinions about how many potential squats exist in the city. Officials in the city’s planning and real-estate departments contacted by eye say there aren’t a lot of abandoned buildings here. But OCAP says it has managed to find 35 unused properties in Parkdale alone, just by walking through the area street by street. “They’re not very hard to find,” says OCAP organizer John Clarke.

The group has also found it can get a good deal of background research done on its own. “Anybody can do a search at City Hall, this is publicly-available information,” explains OCAP organizer Sarah Vance. “You just have to do quite a lot of digging to find out what’s behind the company.”

David Hulchanski, director of the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto, was surprised to learn that 1510 King W., a building with tremendous potential value, had been sitting empty for so long.

“Any piece of land, especially residential land, in the city is worth a lot,” he says. “Nobody knows how many [abandoned buildings] there are. OCAP did a lot of research and found something that put them in a good position.”

When searching for a building to squat, OCAP looks for property that will serve politically as well as functionally.

For the Pope Squat, the group says it required a classic example of poor-quality housing in an area hit hard by rent-control issues and housing standards. It also helped that 1510 King W. is in an area where many World Youth Day pilgrims stayed when they were here in July but wasn’t too close to disturb papal proceedings.

The Mission Press building at 53 Dundas E., which was squatted in March, was chosen for its location — the neighbouring parking lot for the Senator Steakhouse used to be a Salvation Army hostel — and its relation to the ongoing Yonge and Dundas redevelopment.

“[We] want a site where either ownership is murky or the owner politically is not in a good position to order an eviction,” says Clarke.

—–
Respond to this article: Use the form at http://www.eye.net/abouteye/lte/ to send a letter to the editor, or email it to letters [at] eye [dot] net

eye – 08.29.02

Tags: , ,

2 Pope Squat appeals: City Council (Sept 12) and renovations.

By: liberation - August 27th, 2002  Filed under: News

 

  2 Pope Squat appeals: City Council (Sept 12) and renovations.

 

1. Help Put The Pope Squat At The Top Of City Council’s Agenda: Sept 12th

On Thursday, September 12, OCAP is going before the Community Services Committee of Toronto City Council to call for action in response to our Pope Squat initiative. We need all who support us to be there and for as many people as possible to speak before the Committee that day. We will be calling on the City to take over the building at 1510 King Street West and to enter into good faith negotiations with the squatters and their community partners over the creation of self managed social housing at the site.

‘Good faith’ dealings are what have been missing in this whole affair. City Council has passed a motion calling for ‘affordable housing’ at this location and asking the Province to transfer ownership. While the admission that the property must be housing is a step in the right direction, this motion is problematic in a couple of major ways. Firstly, a mere call for ‘affordable housing’ means little. Recent initiatives on this front have produced housing that only the highest third of income earners in the tenant population can afford and OCAP did not take this action to house better paid professionals. Secondly, the call for the Province to hand over the property has more to do with stalling tactics than with genuine efforts to resolve things. The Province will be reluctant to accept that it owns the building and may never do so. However, in December of 2000, the City sent out word to all with a financial interest in 1510 King West that it would seize the place within a year if back taxes weren^t paid. If it had that power then, it has it now and talk about going through Queen’s Park is simply evasion.

The City has also made the vacating of the site by the squatters a precondition for any housing project. We are more than ready to move but must have two simple guarantees. The ownership question must be settled and the games over whose in charge must stop. We also make the very reasonable stipulation that we won’t abandon the homeless squatters and that their housing needs must be met when we leave.

This appearance before the Community Services Committee will be an important chance to demonstrate the depth of support for the Pope Squat. We are urging trade union bodies, faith groups, community organizations, social activists and, especially, Parkdale residents who live close by the Pope Squat, to have their names added to the list of those who will make deputations that day. The Committee will not formally set its agenda until September 3 but we are quite sure they will feel that a discussion of the Pope Squat and possible solutions to the issues it raises are entirely relevant to their work. On that basis, we urge all allies and supporters to call Tony Leo at City Hall who is in charge of booking deputations. Simply inform him that you wish to speak to the matter of 1510 King Street West on September 12. Ask him to take your contact information and call you back to confirm your time to speak once the Committee’s agenda has been formally set. It would also be very important to call OCAP and let us know that you have approached the Committee so that we can keep track of who will be speaking and can make sure all who are interested have a place that day.

We thank all those who have done so much to make the Pope Squat the success it has been to date. On September 12, we’re going to bring this community solidarity to City Hall and move the struggle for housing in this City one big step forward.

ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY (416) 925-6939

2. POPE SQUAT RENOVATIONS ARE UNDERWAY: AN URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

The OCAP Pope Squat at 1510 King Street West has already been a huge step forward in the struggle for housing in Toronto. One month into the action, we have a large measure of community support and we are moving forward with our demand for self managed affordable housing at the site.

The City Council has already (with considerable reluctance) passed a motion agreeing in principle to ‘affordable housing’ at the location of the Pope Squat but it is clear that considerable pressure will have to be applied in order to make this as yet vague commitment into something real.

One of the best ways we have to apply pressure to the City is to proceed with the initial phases of renovating the building. What better way to show the possibilities that exist than to have 1510 King West take on an appearance that more and more resembles the decent housing it must become once governments are made to face up to their responsibilities? Already massive clean up and repair work has been undertaken. The roof has been fixed so as to remove a major fire hazard that threatened surrounding buildings as well. Those with skilled labour abilities and professional knowledge have come forward to help. We are soliciting donations in the form of building equipment and tools. Plans are underway to turn at least one of the units in the building into a ‘model suite’ that can offer a real vision of what the place can become.

We urgently need financial donations to support this work. We must also support and sustain the squatters and meet costs involved in outreach to the local community and beyond as we build political support for this whole struggle.

We are making an urgent appeal to all organizations and individuals who support this vital struggle to mail in their cheques to help us carry on and win. Please send all donations to:-

OCAP (Pope Squat Appeal),
234-517 College Street,
TORONTO, Ontario
M6G 4A2

ph: 416-925-6939
email: ocap [at] tao [dot] ca
http://www.ocap.ca

OCAP

 

 

Tags: , ,

City inspectors visit the Pope Squat.

By: liberation - August 27th, 2002  Filed under: News

 

  City inspectors visit the Pope Squat.

 

On Friday August 17th and Monday August 19th City fire and health inspectors paid a visit to the ongoing occupation of the previously abandoned building at 1510 King St. W. known as the ?Pope Squat?. They inspected both the interior of 1510 King St. W. as well as the property lot and while they didn?t give us any certification papers one inspector named Mr. Pong said, ?There?s no problems here that I can see, everything looks fine to me.?

We are however concerned with the possibility that the City will continue to send inspectors to 1510 King St. W. as a form of political harassment. Clearly, it would be an unacceptable situation for people working and living at the squat to be continually harassed by City officials as we work to continue making the improvements that the City itself has refused to do on the building and live a normal life in our new home.

We would like to stress that the solution to the situation at 1510 King St. W. is a political one and not one that revolves around technicalities of City inspectors.

We call on the City to begin good-faith negotiations with the squatters, who are actively renovating the building, in order to bring a self-managed, social housing project on the property into existence.

We urge the City to not try and side step a beneficial political solution to the building by using inspectors as a pressure tactic against the squatters who have nowhere to go but the shelter system or the street. Which are notorious health hazards in themselves with people facing infection of lice and tuberculosis in overcrowded shelters or death by exposure on the street.

The fact that the city is sending inspectors to the Pope Squat while not engaging in good-faith negotiations with the squatters is disturbing for a number of reasons.

It is disturbing because of the fact that, along with the previous private owners, the City itself was responsible for allowing the building to fall into disrepair in the first place. A lot of the damage that we have been busy repairing obviously existed long before the City evicted the previous tenants in September 2000. Unfortunately, as we?ve seen time and time again, the City is unwilling to ensure that repairs are done on buildings owned by slumlords often choosing to evict people from the only place they can afford and leave empty buildings to rot instead.

It is disturbing because of the huge number of apartment buildings, rooming houses and other housing in Parkdale and across Toronto that are in dire need of city inspections and work orders being given to landlords who are getting rich off tenants living in deplorable conditions. Surely, the City?s resources for inspections would be better spent in a massive drive to inspect and order repairs on buildings where, unlike the Pope Squat, there aren?t already serious renovations underway and people are paying rent to landlords while being provided with substandard housing.

Finally, it is disturbing because it fits with a pattern that the squatting movement in Canada is becoming familiar with. That pattern, as evidenced by the evictions at both the Prefontaine Squat in Montreal in October 2001, and the ?7 Year Squat? in Ottawa in July 2002, is that City and fire inspections are often the first step in manufacturing a pretext for the City to throw people into the street. We sincerely hope that this is not the strategy that the City is engaging in with the recent visits by inspectors to the Pope Squat.

On the upside, renovations continue at the Pope Squat and we are well on our way to making the building safe, up-to-code, self-managed, social housing. Last weekend a volunteer work crew spent some long hours doing extensive renovations throughout the building filling a couple of industrial bins with old rotting drywall and insulation that will be replaced with new material shortly. Again, we would like to mention that the work of the squatters and volunteers in fixing the leak in the roof has been credited for ending a major risk of fire not only to 1510 King St. but also to the surrounding apartment buildings. In three short weeks, on a shoestring budget and volunteer labour, we have accomplished significant physical improvements on the building. Certainly more improvements than the City ever did in the years that it allowed 1510 King St. W. to sit in legal limbo, rot and pose a fire hazard (now fixed) to our neighbors.

Signed,

The occupants of the Pope Squat
1510 King Street West
Toronto, Ontario Canada
M6K 1J5

The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
517 College Street, Suite 234
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M6G 2A4
Ph: 416-925-6939
Email: ocap [at] tao [dot] ca
Website: http://www.ocap.ca

OCAP

 

 

Tags: ,

NEW: Pope Squat Update & Events

By: liberation - August 27th, 2002  Filed under: News

 

  NEW: Pope Squat Update & Events

 

At the last meeting before summer break, City Council passed a motion suggesting it was interested in taking the steps to see 1510 King St. W. turned into affordable housing. However a number of conditions were attached to the motion, namely that the province formally declare ownership and transfer the building and that the current occupants (ie: OCAP and squatters) vacate the premises.

OCAP’s immediate response was to maintain that we would be staying at the building until two demands were met: (1) That those homeless people who had been involved in opening the place and winning new affordable housing in this City be housed; (2) That we would not leave until ownership was determined. This means that we would not tolerate a situation where legal wrangling between the City and Province could go on for years while the building sat empty and fell into greater disrepair.

We made several good faith attempts to meet with Chris Korwin Kuczynski as the Councillor who introduced the motion, the councillor for the ward and the one who is charged with overseeing the transformation of 1510 into affordable housing. However he apparently could not find the time to make himself available to us. His reluctance to meet as well as public threats and ultimatums about cancelling all affordable housing plans unless the site was vacated immediately were clear indications of bad faith dealings on the part of the City.

Since then, our research has lead us to unearth legal documents from December of 2000 which the City sent to all those who had a financial interest in the property. The document gives notice that unless all outstanding taxes are paid within 12 months, the City will seize the property. For whatever reason it seems the City never took the step of seizing the building, but the point is: In December 2000, the City believed it had the legal authority to take action with respect to the property – regardless of any provincial involvement. Surely what the City could do in December 2000, it could do in August 2002.

John Harstone, manager of the New Housing Initiatives for the Co-op Housing Federation of Toronto points out that no staff, (nor any monies) are set aside for the practical development of the motion. “The motion does not authorize staff to take any action. It is very unlikely that this motion will result in the transfer of the property from the province to the city and the residents (of the Pope Squat) need to think about seeking alternate avenues to resolve this situation.”

Toronto has the housing experts and local agencies who, with the squatters could develop a truly dynamic and progressive form of self-managed social housing.

The City has no business standing in the way of such a project – nor should foot dragging or pass the buck tactics be tolerated on an issue so vital as housing.

In the meantime, Pope squatters, OCAP and allies have been busy on the cleaning/renovating side of things as well. A work crew which re-shingled parts of the roof has been credited with fixing what was a major fire hazard, not just for 1510 King St W, but for the surrounding buildings and homes as well. We intend to continue with these renovations and will be focusing much attention inside as well. Following is a list of the most needed supplies for this work:
dry wall
tape
mud
strapping
poly vapour barrier
R12 & R20 insulation

We ask that people make these things available to us as we have the volunteer labour and technical know-how to make this place a truly great place to live in relatively short order. (We will also be unveiling a Pope Squat model suite shortly – watch for details!)

* * * * * * * *
Upcoming Events
* * * * * * * *

* Saturday, August 24th – 5:00 PM – Outreach, BBQ & One Month Anniversary!
The CAW flying squads have initiated a mass leaflet/outreach to the neighbourhood. The CUPE 3903 flying squad as well as OCAP members will be joining them and we encourage everyone to come out and participate. Following the leafletting will be a B-B-Q to celebrate the One Month Anniversary of the Pope Squat!

* Monday, September 2nd – Labour Day
OCAP Allies are organizing a Pope Squat contingent to be part of the Labour Day March as well as an evening event at 1510 King St. W. If people are interested they should contact David McNally at: dmcnally [at] yorku [dot] ca

* Saturday, September 7th – 4:00 PM – Community BBQ
Big Community B-B-Q (with fresh duck and other meats from the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte), official naming of the Pope Squat as ‘Norm’s House’ – the intended name for 1510 King W as the fight continues to transform the building into social housing.

‘Norm’s House’ refers to Norm Feltes, a highly respected and deeply missed OCAP member who passed away in the early hours of June 16th 2000. The name, chosen by both family and squatters will put his mark on a political victory we know he would have loved.

Also… OCAP and community speakers will lay out the political campaign to get 1510 King St. W past the point of Council motions and into the real work of opening up housing.

* Thursday, September 12th – Meeting of the Community Services Committee
OCAP and Allies intend to organize mass deputations to ensure a positive response from the committee and a prominent place on the agenda at the first City Council meeting after the summer break. To register as a deputant please call Tony Leo at (416)392-5226.

* Tuesday, September 17th – City Council Meeting
OCAP will be organizing maximum attendance for this meeting to ensure the Pope Squat’s transformation into social housing be addressed.

* * * *
Appeal * * * *

Given that it seems the Pope Squat is in for the long haul, we are incurring ongoing costs to keep the place running. We are asking for support in a few different ways. Obviously straight financial donations are needed to cover costs like the sound system, renovation bins and supplies. We are also asking for individuals or groups to prepare meals according to a regular schedule. We are looking for meals to be prepared three times a week, Tuesday and Thursday evenings for between 20 to 30 people and Saturday evenings for between 50 to 60 people. Please call the OCAP office if you can help.

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
517 College Street, Suite 234 Toronto, Ontario M5G 4A2
416-925-6939 ocap [at] tao [dot] ca www.ocap.ca

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty

 

 

Tags:

New York City Sells 11 Buildings to Squatters for $11

By: liberation - August 23rd, 2002  Filed under: News

NYC Gives 11 Buildings to Squatters
U.S. National – AP | Tuesday August 20th, 2002

NEW YORK (AP) – The city has sold 11 apartment buildings on the Lower East Side for $1 a piece to a nonprofit developer, which will turn them over to squatters, many of whom have lived there illegally for years. [Read More]

Tags: , ,

Auckland occupation : capitalism?…no thanks, burn you loser john banks

By: liberation - August 19th, 2002  Filed under: News

 

  auckland occupation : capitalism?&#8230;no thanks, burn you loser john banks

 

Several members of Auckland&#8217;s Class War Youth Anarchist Organisation were involved in the planning and execution of the successful open occupation of 33-59 Beresford Street (a block of empty pensioner flats) on Feb 27-28. The following is text from the leaflet of which several thousand were distributed:

open occupation

Giving John Banks the message33 & 59 Beresford Street, Ex-pensioner houses, Open Occupation. Auckland is under a housing crisis, but the housing crisis is not something that affects the well to do, but affects students, the unemployed and pensioners. John Banks has no solution to this crisis, in fact he is hellbent on privatising low-income homes or simply bulldozing them and replacing them with apartments for the upper crust of Auckland. Banks and his Council don&#8217;t seem to give a damn about either tenants or ratepayers (owners of public assets) and what we want done with these houses. Banks is happy to sell these homes off to investors or to simply have it turned into yuppie apartments so the poor of Auckland are forced to move further from the central city making it more viable for the rich. This is why we, the working class citizens of Auckland are taking direct action to let Banks and his minority upper class support know that we have had enough of being able to start our own homes. PLEASE SUPPORT THE OCCUPATION.

The occupation hardcore was made up of commies, C.W.Y.A.O. and local Iwi and residents. The occupation ended the next day and most participants ended up at the second meeting of the John Banks council. Which was subsequently cancelled due to unforeseen direct democracy eg: the council chambers were filled with pissed off people protesting by holding placards. The issues involved were: no aerial spraying; against censorship of Ike Finau; against water privatisation; pensioner housing; and against privatisation of public assets. As a reaction against Banksian despotism, moderates (together with some radicals) have launched a coalition & lobby group with the patronising name &#8220;Wake Up Auckland&#8221;.The only known photo of the elusive Te Aro Biotic Baking Brigade This is mainly made up of GE FREE NZ members, well known for their &#8220;confrontational&#8221; slogans like &#8220;keep it in the labs&#8221; (sic!), although it also contains some more radical groups like Water Pressure and the Council Housing Action Group. Wake Up Auckland are mostly liberals whose concept of protest equates to a slap in the face of the capitalist class with a soggy popularist media savvy. The next council meeting however saw the moderates take a back seat and the radicals stand up. After interjections and several awkward questions to Mayor 18% Banks, members of Water Pressure, C.W.Y.A.O. and a S.W.O. member were assaulted by security guards and handed over to the police. No charges were made, and the 17 were held for a couple of hours and released. We are now pursuing police complaints but since we are &#8220;complaining&#8221; to the same state organ that did the injustice to us in the first place we don&#8217;t hold out any illusion that justice will be done. Banks has now reinstated the submission section of the council meetings and also catered for the large crowds that now attend meetings. We don&#8217;t accept this as anything but token gestures as the council still holds most of their meetings in secret because of &#8220;commercial sensitivity!&#8221; In the time Banks has been in power he has complained of being constantly seig hailed on the street, receiving hate mail and being sexually assaulted in a public toilet, all of which he blames on protestors!

&#8211; Anthony (taken from http://free.freespeech.org/thrall/)

 

 

Tags: ,

Canada, Montreal, Media: Eight squatters arrested after reak-in at abandoned Montreal building

By: liberation - August 15th, 2002  Filed under: News

 

  Canada, Montreal, Media: Eight squatters arrested after reak-in at abandoned Montreal building

 

MONTREAL August 11, 2002 – (CP) – Eight squatters – with no place to live- were arrested Friday as they attempted to re-occupy an abandoned east-end building to protest a lack of affordable housing in Montreal. The city-owned Prefontaine Centre was the site of a similar protest last year, when a group of squatters was first invited and then thrown out by former mayor Pierre Bourque.

Montreal police arrested the latest group of protesters Friday evening, soon after the eight individuals jumped over a fence and climbed onto the roof of the building.

Several-dozen supporters cheered the squatters on from outside the fence.

The suspects face charges of breaking and entering, said Montreal police spokesman Yannick Ouimet.

“It appears there was some damage to the exterior of the building,” said Ouimet.

“We’re talking about a broken window and a broken-in door.

“They could be facing more charges but the investigation is still ongoing right now.”

Several-dozen squatters occupied the same building last summer with the consent of city officials.

They were evicted a month later after fire officials determined the brick structure was no longer safe because barricades blocking off an unstable section of the building had been dismantled.

Seven people were arrested for allegedly obstructing justice.

Affordable housing has become a hot-button issue in Montreal over the past 18 months.

The city’s rental vacancy rate is approaching zero and activists have pressed officials to set aside more apartments for low-income residents.

Jaggi Singh <jaggi [at] tao [dot] ca

 

 

Tags: ,