Balmoral Blues: Renting from Vancouver’s notorious slumlords
Two years ago, Megaphone published a story on the destitute conditions residents of the Sahota-owned Balmoral Hotel were living in. Now, one the hotel’s longtime residents provides an update on what’s changed, and what hasn’t, inside one of Vancouver’s most notorious SROs. I have lived in the Downtown Eastside...
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
WE GOT A SITUATION HERE Quick, someone grab the kids from Jersey Shore: tanning bed ban would be first in Canada DEATH THREATS AND TAXES B.C. electoral officer Craig James getting death threats from anti-HST activists PARALYMPIC SOCIAL HOUSING BC Housing adapts Olympic Village social housing to accommodate the disabled VERTICAL...
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
FEAR MONGERING Kevin Falcon does the politically predictable by saying he will target crime as B.C. Liberal leader CHEER MONGERING Christy Clark does the politically popular by promising a B.C. Family Day. SOME KIDS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS Victoria school kids get $200, Surrey's only $58 BET ON THIS As...
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
LEFT WING MEDIA BIAS? Former news anchor Pamela Martin comes out to support Christy Clark in BC Liberal leadership race NOT SO SOLITARY CONFINEMENT Overcrowding blamed after inmate held hostage by cellmate in Port Coquitlam SENSELESS LOSS Vancouver activists call for inquiry into the death of three homeless men GASTOWN GENTRIFICATION How...
Read more
Share
Homeless Man with Golden Radio Voice Becomes Internet Sensation
On Monday, a video was posted on Youtube of a Columbus Dispatch news story covering a local homeless man named Ted Williams with an astounding talent: http://www.youtube.com/v/-k2i0VC6Jj0?fs=1&hl=en_US Understandably, the internet has fallen in love with this guy. In a matter of hours, the video has amassed over 8.5 million hits...
Read more
Share
View From the Street: A day in the life of the Downtown Eastside
Jim Dewar lives in the Downtown Eastside and is a regular contributor to the Carnegie Newsletter.
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
LOTTO 2011 When you are living on the street, the choice can be take a chance in the snow or lose all your belonging and be bit by bedbugs NDP LEADERSHIP Tommy Chong endorses Dana Larsen for NDP leader. This is how politics works now. EQUALITY By the way, everyone...
Read more
Share
Bringing Harm Reduction Out of the Shadows: Canada and the U.S. are making significant strides toward mainstreaming harm reduction, but there are still walls to knock down
The North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) features 33 members, including Megaphone. This is our third collaborative article. With the War on Drugs widely seen as a failure, Megaphone’s Katie Hyslop investigates how activists and governments are beginning to use harm reduction policies in order to help keep addicts alive....
Read more
Share
Megaphone's Night of Joyful Voices in Photos
The lovely Leigh Eldridge offered her photography talents to Megaphone at our Night of Joyful Voices fundraiser last month: Limited edition Megaphone Christmas pins designed by Jo Lee and produced by Lauren Bercovitch of Pins and Needs Graham Clark killing it with his opening stand-up comedy set Julia...
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
HERE'S A SURPRISE BC Government extends the subsidy to people who own homes even higher. Renters, of course, get nothing. SOMEONE CALL ADBUSTERS Translink doesn't just force advertising to riders on busses and Skytrain any longer, they are now defiling the transit pass. For a measly $84,000 per year. READING RAILROADED...
Read more
Share
Happy New Year
In Megaphone #69 we ring in the New Year by looking back at the year that was, why The Walrus magazine is tarred by Big Oil; how we can create a guaranteed work plan; and whether there are enough toilets in the Downtown Eastside. Buy yours from a Megaphone...
Read more
Share
Help give someone their voice
A few months ago, Suzanne Kilroy was working the streets of Vancouver, struggling to leave the sex trade. But once she had her story published in Megaphone, a new world opened up for her. Suzanne felt a great sense of pride knowing people were reading about how she had overcome...
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
FRANK PAUL INQUIRY Prejudice against aboriginals caused dismissal of criminal charges, says lawyer SHAKING ALL OVER The prevalence of wooden utility poles, especially in the DTES, could cause the city to burn down again in the event of an earthquake WRITE YOUR OWN DENSITY JOKE Downtown South is the the densest part of Vancouver....
Read more
Share
Pancakes for all! Homes for all!: A taste of resistance
As we count the days until the one-year anniversary of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, housing and anti-poverty activists are vocalizing their frustrations with the City of Vancouver's backpedaling on promises to include social housing in the controversial Olympic Village complex in southeast False Creek. Vancouver Action is one of those...
Read more
Share
Beauty Night: A community gets a makeover
The room is bustling—chit-chat over hair dryers, the smell of nail polish remover, hairspray and massage oil. It’s a Monday night at the weekly Beauty Night Life Makeover Program held at the PHS Community Services LifeSkills Centre, a lively makeshift spa substitute that’s free to women in need of...
Read more
Share
Poor outlook for kids’ future: Child poverty down, but recession still hurting
For the first time in seven years, British Columbia does not have the top spot on the Child Poverty Report Card. According to the report, the percentage of B.C. children living in poverty fell to 14.5 per cent from 18.8, making it the fourth-lowest family poverty rate in the country....
Read more
Share
Happy Holidays
Megaphone gets into the holiday spirit in our new issue with a special thanks from our staff and vendors to all our dedicated customers and supporters. We also show how street papers can come together with another North American street paper collaborative article - this one written by Megaphone reporter Katie Hyslop...
Read more
Share
Morning Meganews
HOLY STREETSCAPES Vancouver sinkhole worse than first thought says the headline that has nothing to do with the Olympic Village I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR I wish that I had a nickel every time someone said that the penny was threatened RIGHT ON New West End Resident's Association president wants more...
Read more
Share
Megaphone's Night of Joyful Voices
The past year saw Megaphone make some big strides in our mission to provide a voice and an economic opportunity for homeless and low-income people in Vancouver. We launched our incredibly successful writing workshop program in the Downtown Eastside and the magazine helped put thousands of dollars into the...
Read more
Share