I am so pissed off

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I am so pissed off

Postby jawbone » Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:19 am

The Pattullo Bridge was completely shut down this morning due to what the media are calling a 'police incident' I am assuming that is code for a jumper.
It took me an extra hour to get to my office. And of course thousands who don't even use that bridge were affected.
What is it about the police in the Lower Mainland that they feel the need to shut down an entire bridge for this? In other cities, only the outside lane is shut down for emergency vehicles, so that the entire population is not inconvenienced by one person.
Are police here worried that one of their own might run into traffic?
Are they concerned that delayed commuters will taunt the person?
Here's the solution - carry an extendable pole in the police car. One prod will probably due the trick, one way or the other.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby Dan Sys » Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:42 am

The new Golden Ears Bridge has a "suicide-prevention-fence" on both sides of the span. Might be a good idea to install these on other troubled bridges around here like the Pattullo.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby kat » Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:48 am

You might remember a similar situation a few years ago. I was lambasted for my suggestion that the cops just let the person jump and get the situation over
with. Mike Cleaver had similar thoughts and we both took heat for it.

My thoughts haven't changed since then. Get these unstable people back into an institution where they belong.

And a big hearty raspberry to whoever is in charge of traffic control at News 1130. You guys fell down again by deciding that there was no need to have the
plane flying on a Friday after a holiday because there would be no traffic. Pretty sad when your traffic person is constantly begging for calls to update the
situation. NW had their traffic chopper in the air and they were totally on top of the situation. Last week you missed running Campbell's resignation live,
today you missed the traffic nighmare of the week. The swing from a professional to an amateur radio station is really starting to show.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby crs » Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:25 am

OUCH! :o Used to be a time any Rogers slamming was quickly defended by Rogers Nation (Critty et al). Their silence is deafening.
Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby Buckley » Fri Nov 12, 2010 12:15 pm

I'm with Kat on this one. There are nearly 7 BILLION people in the world, why should 1 cause inconveniences for hundreds or thousands of others? Shove 'em off, blame the crosswind, and let everyone get on with their day. The ones that aren't really intending to jump, this is exactly what they want... for the world to stand still for them because they're sad that no one cares about them or whatever, so they pull this "cry for attention" garbage. Might feel like a cold way of thinking but that's life. One person's depression is not worth the time of a dozen or so emergency workers, the people who can't get to work, or the companies who are losing money by not having those people at work.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby Jack Bennest » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:21 pm

I do truly care for the mentally ill. That being said I was taught to ignore bad behavior.

Each driver on the bridge could say a prayer but ignore the behavior and the bridge would not close.

Then it gets into a situation of choice. If a drug addict decides to overdose in a dark room -
should the public appoint an overseer? If you decide to jump and society has done everything possible to prevent it -
should the public appoint an overseer?

I think I will line up with Cleaver and his Kat.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby slowhand » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:36 pm

I think everyone except Dan Sys has missed the obvious point here. As my supervisor said in my first paid radio job, "There is nothing wrong with staff having sex on the premises, just so long as they don't mess up the carpeting."

No matter how hard-hearted you want to be about this issue, a suicide or an attempt usually leaves a large mess to clean up.

Suicide fences on every bridge make enormous sense. They'd solve the problem of everyone from the quiet jumpers to the attention-seekers with no real intention of suicide, because everyone could safely ignore the latter since it isn't physically possible.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby jon » Fri Nov 12, 2010 3:56 pm

I can't speak for Vancouver, but it sure has worked in Edmonton. When I moved here in 1975, the Highlevel Bridge was conveniently located just on the edge of the University of Alberta campus. And was frequented by students and their quiet suicides. Suicide prevention fencing have pretty much eliminated the problem.

After the death of a school bus driver hit by a large boulder dropped on the Whitemud Freeway by a pair of teens from a pedestrian overpass, fencing suddenly appeared on any pedestrian overpass that offered a similar threat. Although not intended to address the issue, it also eliminated suicides and stupid kid tricks.

I mention "stupid kid tricks" because it is a major topic here over the last couple of days. A pair of teens died on the surface portion of our subway (called the LRT) when the couple had a fight and the boy held the girl down on the tracks. Neither were able to escape in time to avoid death.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby freqfreak2 » Fri Nov 12, 2010 4:50 pm

jon wrote:when the couple had a fight and the boy held the girl down on the tracks. Neither were able to escape in time to avoid death.


What one witness described as 'holding down' could easily have been mistaken for 'trying to pick up.'

The facts of the matter have yet to be established. In the end, it may have been a simple case of teenage horseplay and a tragic game of chicken.

Interesting to note a fence between the bike path and the tracks had recently been removed, according to residents in the area.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby sparky » Fri Nov 12, 2010 5:22 pm

kat wrote: Last week you missed running Campbell's resignation live,
today you missed the traffic nighmare of the week. The swing from a professional to an amateur radio station is really starting to show.


The live beater report from Surrey courthouse at 2:30 today regarding the sentencing of the drunken murderer named Berner was yet another example of
how quickly things are going downhill on Ash Street. The News 1130 reporter must have been using his Rogers cell phone because it kept cutting out with
1 - 2 seconds of dead air every few seconds. It was even worse when he attempted to run the speech by the father of the little girl who died. When there
was sound, it was echoey and phasing, then the drop outs. Another blemish on the face of what was once a station with a future.

As for the topic at hand, if these people are so starved for attention, maybe getting their name in the paper in the obit column is as good as it will ever
get.
"You get a bunch of clowns together and sooner or later you've got a circus"
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby oldradiodog » Fri Nov 12, 2010 5:38 pm

sparky wrote:
kat wrote: The News 1130 reporter must have been using his Rogers cell phone because it kept cutting out with
1 - 2 seconds of dead air every few seconds. It was even worse when he attempted to run the speech by the father of the little girl who died. When there
was sound, it was echoey and phasing, then the drop outs. Another blemish on the face of what was once a station with a future.


Now let's be fair -- it was a breaking news story at that point, and things don't always sound perfect when you have seconds to prepare it for air. Also, the reporter would've had no way of knowing his phone was cutting out.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby slowhand » Fri Nov 12, 2010 5:49 pm

oldradiodog wrote:the reporter would've had no way of knowing his phone was cutting out.

I guess I better give Rogers Engineering lads a phone call and pass myself off as an Engineering Consultant.

I'll tell them about this latest technological advance that I just bought off eBay for 1 cent plus shipping. A 1980 era AM radio you stick in your ear. They were given away free back then by a local station that had the hockey play-by-play concession.

Wait, I forgot this is 1130 we're talking about here. Scratch that idea as all the reporter would hear was Ranchero Music from just South of Portland.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby oldradiodog » Fri Nov 12, 2010 6:00 pm

slowhand wrote:
oldradiodog wrote:the reporter would've had no way of knowing his phone was cutting out.

I guess I better give Rogers Engineering lads a phone call and pass myself off as an Engineering Consultant.

I'll tell them about this latest technological advance that I just bought off eBay for 1 cent plus shipping. A 1980 era AM radio you stick in your ear. They were given away free back then by a local station that had the hockey play-by-play concession.

Wait, I forgot this is 1130 we're talking about here. Scratch that idea as all the reporter would hear was Ranchero Music from just South of Portland.


This wouldn't work because the air feed is usually a second or two behind.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby jon » Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:47 am

My earlier comments about reduced suicides off the Highlevel Bridge is being called into question by this item that appeared on Graham Hicks' blog last night:

Trevor Anderson’s High Level Bridge suicide film: Dangerous territory
graham.hicks - November 15th, 2010

There’s a code of honour in this town.

Or there used to be a code of honour, when it came to the High Level Bridge.

Everybody knows the bridge, way up over the North Saskatchewan River connecting the south and north sides of the city, is a spot where suicides occur.

It’s a long ways down. Death is usually certain. But the “old” media – i.e. newspapers, TV and radio stations – choses not to report the sad suicides that occur … unless such suicide is relevant to a much bigger story – i.e. man kills five, then jumps off the High Level.

Likewise, there’s an understanding in police communications. “Run-of-the-mill” jump-off-the-bridge suicides are not reported. Usually a press release is written in such a way that hints at bridge suicide, but doesn’t say it directly. “The man’s body was found downstream. Foul play was not a factor.”

I think it’s an honourable policy, as a courtesy to the family of the person who has chosen to kill themselves, families bearing enough pain and guilt as it is.

And nobody wants to encourage suicide. To repeatedly suggest 10, 20, 30 – who knows – people committed suicide off the High Level Bridge last year is to plant the idea in the minds of those so emotionally disturbed as to be thinking of ways to kill themselves. Not that they haven’t already thought of the bridge, but why make the obvious even more obvious?

So along comes quite well-respected performance artist Trevor Anderson, who last winter made a five-minute short film entitled The High Level Bridge, portions of which can be viewed on YouTube and this website.

The film has garnered far more exposure last week, with its honourable mention in the “best live action short film” category at the 2010 American Film Institute Festival in Hollywood.

The film is all about jumping off the High Level Bridge! Sure it’s artistic, weirdly humourous and kinda sensitive in its own “beautiful and creepy” way, (so said the filmmaker in an interview).

But it’s all about High Level jumpers … “a portrait,” to quote Mr. Anderson from past interviews, “in absentia for those who have jumped from it.”

Sorry, to me it’s in very poor taste. It may be a tribute – Trevor made it, he says, in reponse to two acquaintances he knew who’d so killed themselves – but to so many with direct connections to those who have died, probably offensive and disturbing.

It seems symptomatic, or illustrative, of a self-absorbed attitude on the part of many contemporary artists that’s now commonly seen as quite OK, witness this film winning an honourable mention in a major film festival. If it is of interest to me as the artist, if I think it’s a tribute, therefore it’s OK, not considering what emotional pain it may cause in others.
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Re: I am so pissed off

Postby slowhand » Tue Nov 23, 2010 8:36 pm

I see that Graham has updated his previous post:

UPDATE: Filmmaker Trevor Anderson, a very classy guy, sent me the full five-minute version of High Level Bridge. I have apologized to him for being too hasty, and basing my original critique (below) on the film’s trailer. Lesson learned on my part.

It is a beautiful and gracious film, an artistic tribute to those who have jumped from the bridge, and also a poetic contemplation of the High Level Bridge itself and its role within the city’s collective psyche.

My main non-artistic point, however, still stands: That making a direct link between the High Level Bridge and its suicides may be very emotionally painful to the families and friends of victims other than those to whom the film is dedicated. And, you never know, viewing the film might trigger a “copy cat” response in those feeling suicidal. Hence the policies of the mainstream media and police when it comes to the reporting of High Level Bridge suicides.



He has also got a lot of comments, including this one:

I have waited to comment until I had a chance to see exactly what the sides of the Highlevel Bridge look like, which I did a couple of hours ago. I was appalled at what I saw: no suicide fencing. The only "prison height" fencing was over River Road. "Oh good", I thought, "this City only cares about kids dropping rocks on cars, but doesn't give a hang about suicides."

Why has there been no public outcry? Because the media saw fit to maintain a "code of honour". Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

I moved here in 1975, subscribed to the Alberta Report, read an article about suicides off the Highlevel Bridge, but never heard about it again in any media. And assumed the problem had been solved.

There should be suicide fencing on every "tempting" (to suicide) overpass and bridge in this City. The Whitemud Freeway pedestrian overpass got what is effectively suicide fencing after a rock was dropped on to a school bus. But a lady from Millet jumps off a vehicle overpass a few blocks away and nothing is done. Why is her death any less tragic than the school bus driver's?

The media must take the blame here, at least a big part of it, for their insane "Code of Honour". Can anyone claim to be sane who believes that a bridge conveniently located so close to 34,000 intelligent UofA students will not be "noticed" by the small percentage contemplating suicide just because the media doesn't talk about it? Not putting up suicide fencing on the Highlevel Bridge makes as much sense as leaving loaded firearms lying around the University campus and then telling the media that they aren't allow to talk about their existence.

I am totally disgusted by this situation.
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