Addressing Disorder in Edmonton...
Begins with the Disorder in Alberta's Politics
2022-08-09 All flowers matter picket. One of the strongest groups of support I've enjoyed with my January, February, July, and now August news pickets "RECALL his Worship, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and Michael Janz", are from Edmonton city bus drivers. Thank you!
City councilor Janz once referred to police as pigs according to one taxpayer I met today. I understand from a CTV story Mr. Janz retweeted the pig comments made from another tweet and has since apologized. I rarely follow the news so perhaps Mr. Janz might share with me one day how he really feels about the Edmonton Police Service. Last Christmas city council led by Janz's motion voted to defund the EPS 10 million from their budget by a narrow vote.
Leela Aheer, my 2nd. Pick for Premier
2022-08-09 Painter's notes: As per our meeting RE: Omar Khadr, and my saying "I wondered what Premier Jason Kenney would have thought of me knowing my work on Omar Khadr?" I uploaded this YouTube that covers a portion of my Citizen/ Free Press work on Omar Khadr and added a portion at the end that addresses rights and freedoms in Alberta today. John F. Kennedy Address to the Press once said during his speech that Athenian lawmaker Solemn decreed it a crime for citizens to shrink from controversy. My work on Omar Khadr remains my most controversial news story I covered over my 15 years in Edmonton and at the Alberta Legislature equal to residential schools and murdered and missing indigenous women & girls.
2022-08-08, Painter's notes: I really enjoyed my meeting with UCP leadership candidate the honourable Leela Aheer at Edmonton City Hall. Leela is okay that I'm voting for Travis Toews, while Leela remains my second pick on the fall ballot.
2022-08-07 Tweet: #Yeg @AmarjeetSohiYEG #Democracy Thank you, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, @CityofEdmonton Security, and City Staff for your patience and friendliness during my summer RECALL Sohi & Janz #FundThePolice news picket campaign. #AllFlowersMatter
2022-08-07, Painter's notes: The downtown Edmonton back ally photo was taken at noon today, a block away from the Cariwest Festival in Churchill Square. Garbage, needles feces & drug addicts, and the homeless (not shown out of respect in these photos). Where are the Peace Officers and Phycologists when you need one? We hear screams outside our window day and night living in our downtown condo adjacent to this back ally. These are not cats in heat, but human beings, many angry, in pain, and some with serious mental illnesses. City hall defunded the police last Christmas and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi once tweeted for citizens to practice patience with folks who act disorderly. Many residents and business owners in our neighborhood have said patience is running out while others including our doormen are trying to be like social workers. Myself, I don't have a degree in treating drug addicts and mental illness and have no plans of taking a refresher course in self-defense as one doorman has suggested. Violence begets violence as one great black man once said. What will it take for City Hall to fund the Edmonton police service NOW to get all hands on deck helping EMS, Fire, Peace Officers, and LRT Commissionaires, and not later in 2023 when they get the budget they first requested? For now, I'm thankful for all the summer activities surrounding our downtown neighbourhood which has created an increase in policing and some relief inside our building but I dread the mayhem, repeat after last Christmas in our downtown neighbourhood when all the festivals and celebrations are over and residents are left to fend for themselves. 19% of all Edmonton 911 calls originate downtown, 118 avenue and Chinatown.
EPS Constable asks Les of Global News to get off the road for safety.
EPS Edmonton Police Service safely leads the fun filled Cariwest parade.
Sowing the seed of Love, All Flowers Matter
2022-08-06 Painter's notes: Manwar Khan remembers this day... Inspired by Manwar Khan's Don't be a bystander initiative. I ultimately learned from my 2017, Not a Bystander art project that addresses anger, violence, and bullying begins with the man I see every day in the mirror, me... There are no villains, just people trying their best. Manwar's anti-bullying posters are still seen on Edmonton LRT trains.
If I Had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn
Today August 6 on 1945 the US dropped a uranium gun-type atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima followed by a plutonium implosion-type bomb (Fat Man) on the city of Nagasaki on August 9. Today bombs made in Canada continue to kill and injure citizens around the planet.
Maybe I think too much
2022-08-04, Painter's notes: One Year ago Aug. 4, 2021, Edmonton Mayor candidate Mike Nickel put out a travel advisory downtown Edmonton due to an increase in criminal activity. This week I told a bus driver on the way home after an early morning news picket, that I believe in humankind and the future of our planet. I believe there are more people doing good in this world than bad. '#RECALLSohiJanz #FundThePolice
Art Show and Tell, Intuitive Art
Wear Red as we go marching Rome is burning
On Guard for Thee, where is the love?
Fort McMurray, The Beast
Last of the Alberta Caribou
All Flowers Matter
There are no villains, just people doing their best
#Democracy Get in the Game! #Yeg #AbLeg #AllFlowersMatter #FundThePolice. Everything is Politics, Everything is Art - Ai Wei Wei
