Pre-written by law tickets/Paul Varga

[southy]

Something wrong with social justice?

[twobits]

Something wrong with social justice?

Nothing wrong with social justice southy. What is wrong is people like Varga making it a media circus event. All one need's to ask is could Varga have represented him pro bono without the self serving media play? Could he not have said to Paul...."I will defend your bylaw tickets in court". Why did he have to do a sit in and inflame the situation in the media if it were not for self interest?
Varga is pretty much an ambulance chaser southy.

[fz6adventure]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton ... panhandler

Seriously? How does one derive that a fellow sitting on a sidewalk means that there is a grave risk to safety that would justify sending a person to jail for sitting on a sidewalk?

A little heavy handed by the City!

[vegas1500]

I agree its not a grave risk but sure wouldnt want him out front or near my business for 4 days, let alone 4 years.

[Jflem1983]

Honestly. 88 bucks. He should pay it and shut up. Dont break the law if you dont want a fine. From what i gather. This guy had a job . A union job i believe. Then decided he was too good to work. So in the doorway of some one elses business he begs. Well i dont think it is unreasonable to ask him to move along ? If the situation were different. Maybe my opinion would change. As i understand this though the City of Penticton has bent over forwards backwards and to both sides for this guy. He on the other hand hasnt budged an inch.

Im curious to know if there isnt maybe some health issues at play ?

Also. To the safety aspect. Its negligable at best. I do see a sliver of an argument that hes blocking a fire escape . Other than that ya right.

[Fancy]

Paul Braun has been mentioned on these threads:

viewtopic.php?f=110&t=75497
viewtopic.php?f=110&t=76679
viewtopic.php?f=110&t=76961

[rustled]

I agree with this:

“If the city cannot establish control of its downtown sidewalks around a simple 10 metre breezeway, we will not be successful in addressing other more serious issues,” city lawyer Troy De Souza said in a statement.

How many people ignoring bylaws does it take before we have a significant problem?

Does Varga expect the city to wait until there are, say, four panhandlers to a block, or until the city staff is dealing with, say, ten complaints per day, before they act? Would he then be claiming there was "precedent" to allow panhandling wherever and whenever, since the city had failed to enforce their own bylaws, and defend the panhandlers' rights to break the bylaw on that basis?

I'm not surprised he is "gobsmacked" the city released this information. It certainly does his client no good for the general public to understand just how far the city went to keep this out of court, while his client persisted in breaking the bylaw.

IMO, Varga does himself, and the rest of us, quite a disservice here.

[common_sense_guy]

A lawyer is supposed to look out for his client's best interest. If the lawyer actually is he will inform his client to pay the $88 fine to be done with it. If he doesn't he is just a media *bleep* looking for attention and not doing what's best for his client

[RupertBear]

The longer this goes on, the more I am convinced that Varga is in this for Varga and no one else.

[Jflem1983]

If the guy was smart hed go camp at a starbucks. They pay good for stuff like this .

[CTF]

I full support the City on this one. There are locations where one can legally panhandle and this individual refuses to occupy them instead insisting on a location that is against the City by-law. What next can I go and park in a non-parking zone simply because I feel entitled to park there? A City needs to be able to enforce it's bylaws otherwise they become meaningless.

[soupy]

I full support the City on this one. There are locations where one can legally panhandle and this individual refuses to occupy them instead insisting on a location that is against the City by-law. What next can I go and park in a non-parking zone simply because I feel entitled to park there? A City needs to be able to enforce it's bylaws otherwise they become meaningless.

100% agree. Very sad if it does go all the way to the Courts for this issue. But if it does, i sure hope they maintain the max fines and follow through with jail-time if he cannot pay.

[twobits]

And I say too bad the City can't send the whole bill......from tickets, to bylaw staff time and wages, City staff time and wages, and lawyer time and wages where it belongs. Mr Varga.
This is not a pro bono case for a valid social justice cause. Mr Varga is no different IMO than a face masked anarchist throwing rocks thru the windows of establishment. Instead of a mask, Mr Varga hides behind a law degree and thinks that makes his anarchism OK. Pure Narcissist.

[Anonymous123]

And he’s back, flaunting the bylaws by working around them. What a waste of money this exercise was.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/265785/Paul-back-at-the-breezeway

[common_sense_guy]

This is my opinion and I don't care what anyone else thinks. Paul is a piece of crap and a useless part of society when he can't follow the rules that are out there for everybody. His lawyer is no better of a human being because like other said and I agree he was only in it for the media attention. Paul Braun has no respect for any of you Pentictonites and I don't think any of you should show him any respect.. if I visit Penticton again and see him out there I will give him an honest piece of my mind as well as I wish everybody in Penticton that disagrees with his panhandling against by law go out of their way to tell him what they think of him as well. I applaud the city for trying to do what they can out of principle not how many dollars and cents it cost them to pursue the matter. It's your downtown core stand up for it against the drug addicts and the panhandlers. It all comes down to respect and he does not deserve any