Welcome to the official Web site of the Government Bureau of Superheroics! The BoS is for all superheroes, from those donning spandex for the first time to the veterans who remember when costumes were made of cotton and wool. That said, the newer heroes are the ones more likely to visit our site seeking answers, encouragement, and blueprints for concealable gizmos that can cut through the shackles pinning you to the torture table just seconds before the laser beam overhead finds its target. But whatever your level of experience, we hope your visit to the BoS Web site is as rewarding as actually battling evil.
Category Archives: Crime
PSA: Downtown EastSide evictions systematically clear the way for quick-buck development
From Pivot. And if you're wondering why this has the "Olympics" tag, think it over…it'll come to you, at least by 2010 it will.
Burns Block Tenants Taking Owner to Arbitration
Vancouver: On March 30, 2006, the City of Vancouver evicted 18 tenants from the Burns Block building at 18 West Hastings for fire code violations in the building. Tenants were ordered by police and fire officials to leave the building immediately with all their possessions. Pivot Legal Society is now assisting former tenants in making residential tenancy claims against the owner.
“I was lucky to find a place, I only had to spend one night in a shelter,” says Alfred Melnychuk, one of the former tenants “I moved all of my belongings in a shopping cart to my new home. I’m 53 years old with bad knees, and I had half an hour’s notice of the eviction.”
Melnychuk is one of the lucky ones; at least two other tenants evicted from Burns Block are now sleeping on the street.
The Neighbourhood Integrated Services Team inspection on March 30, 2006 that resulted in the closure of the Burns Block building was described by the City officials as a routine inspection. It was the first such inspection by the Fire Department in almost two years. The inspectors cited four reasons for the emergency closure: (1) blocked fire exits; (2) windows to fire escapes that were screwed closed (3) untested sprinkler systems; and, (4) untested alarm systems.
“One starts to wonders if the City is treating people in the Downtown Eastside differently because they are poor,” said David Eby, lawyer for some of the tenants. “Obviously the landlord has to be held accountable, but it’s hard to imagine the City evicting residents of an apartment building in Kitsilano with so little notice, short of a bomb in the building.”
The Burns Block building is now for sale, and the owner has received several offers. It sits beside the future City of Vancouver tourist walkway called the “Carrall Street Greenway,” and across the street from the Woodwards development. If the building is sold, it will be the second building closed and sold to developers as a result of City of Vancouver inspection actions in the last three months, following the Pender Hotel at 31A West Pender Street, which is transferring ownership on May 15 to the condominium developer who owns 33 West Pender. The Pender Hotel is 200 feet from Burns Block.
The tenants are seeking damages of $5,000 plus $1,000 in moving expenses from the landlord, as well as an order that the Burns Block building be repaired so that it is available again as housing.
With the closure of Burns Block, Vancouver has lost almost 300 low-income housing units since last June. This is in addition to 514 low-income housing units lost in the Downtown Core between June 2003 to June 2005, the loss of which accompanied a simultaneous 663 person rise in homelessness.
__________Further Comment: David Eby (778) 865-7997
Alfred Melnychuk – Room 316 – Travellers’ Hotel – 57 West Cordova Street
Superfriends explained in video
The Superfriends. You thought you knew them. You grew up with them.
But you’ve never seen them like this!!!!!
Okay, you’ve seen them like that. Sue me, it’s still funny.
But you’ve never seen them like this: A Superfriends/The Office Mashup: This Place Sucks. What goes on when the Wonder Twins aren’t looking…
And you definitely don’t know the darkest secret of the Superfriends…harboring and abusing their illegal alien Filipina maid. Presenting: Maritess vs the Superfriends!
“Da Superman, he is looking through my clothes!”
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Blog Post o’ the Day: The Court Interpreter
Another post I got from repeatedly hitting "Next Blog," which sounds like a dreadfully time-consuming way to find material, but generally pays off within five clicks. You'd be surprised and, if you're a sour old puss like me, heartened, to see how much talent and spirit there is out there.
A snippet from The Court Interpreter's story on the mild-mannered Mexican and the sinister tendencies of some who hold power over such men.
For a split second I felt powerful and the sensation quickly turned into something unpleasant and I enjoyed explaining to him that he didn’t owe me anything. He looked grateful, thanked me, and quietly walked away.
And then … you hear about stories like these…
Dubai: Land of Laughs
I'm not an American, but from time to time I can't help but feel bad for the poor buggers, like when their president tries to sell their ports to people like this. Mind you, I like people like this, but I wouldn't be selling my ports to them; there's the ones you date, and the ones you take home to momma and sell your ports to, and these are not the latter. Wisdom and good times from a Dubai taxi driver, via Gridskipper.
Cabbie: Where are you from?
Us: Washington, D.C. in the United States.
C: You know George Bush?
U: (polite laughter) No, we’ve never met him.
C: You know Osama Bin Laden?
U: (slight discomfort) No…. We’ve never met him either.
C: Do you want to meet him?
U: (wondering where he’s going with this) Um… no. (sincerely hoping that we’re not on our way to see him right now)
C: I want to meet him very much.
U: Uhhh… Really? Why?
C: So that I could turn him in to the United States and gets lots and lots of American dollars. (hysterical guffaws)
U: (relieved smiles) Oh, okay.
C: No, I couldn’t do that. They would kill all my family. (another explosion of hilarity)
U: (polite but uncomfortable laughter)
raincoaster 