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WEDNESDAY , APR IL 13 , 2011N E W W E S T M I N S T E R
INSIDE FEATURE: Church joins art scene P13
Acivil lawsuit brought againstthe City of NewWestminster cit-ing
gross negligence and misrep-resentation has been dismissedby the
Supreme Court of BritishColumbia.
Nirmal Walia, the presi-dent of P.S.D. Enterprises Ltd.and the
former owner of theWindsor Hotel on ColumbiaStreet, launched the
lawsuitagainst the city. He claimed thatTim Whitehead, the citys
for-mer director of developmentservices, assured him that if hesold
the Windsor Hotel propertyto a developer, the city wouldundertake
any necessary rezon-ing to enable him to relocatehis private liquor
store to a newlocation on 12th Street.
Walia sold the property toBallenas Project Management,who then
demolished the build-ing to build the new DowntownInterurban
condominium tower,for $2 million but never receivedapproval from
the city to relo-cate his liquor store. He laterlost both his
provincial pub andliquor store licences and wasseeking up to $2
million in dam-ages.
In a ruling released on April8, Judge Miriam Gropper said:P.S.D.
has not satisfied me that
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Walialoseslawsuit
COURTS
Judge says city wasnot negligent in itsdealings over a puband
liquor store
Nursing complaints: Janice Buchanan, vice-president of the B.C.
Nurses Union, speaks at a rally at Sherbrooke and Columbia
streets,outside Royal Columbian Hospital, to raise the unions
concerns about hallway health care.
Nurses raise ruckus at rallySeizing on the federal election
campaign,
the B.C. Nurses Union held a rally outsideRoyal Columbian
Hospital Monday after-noon to demand an end to hallway
healthcare.
Theres 54 patients admitted that haveno beds to go to, and that
is outrageous,said Janice Buchanan, union vice-president,gesturing
to the hospital. Were going tobe out there to hold our politicians
account-able.
Helen Roberts, a New Westminster res-ident and pediatric care
nurse at RoyalColumbian, said she sees that kind of over-crowding
daily.
If you go on any of the wards, theresanywhere between three to
five beds in thehallways. The hospital has gone off andbought
privacy screens by the dozen to cre-ate these beds, she said.
Roberts said treating patients in hallwaysis unsafe for both the
patients and hospi-tal staff trying to treat them. She said
herdaughter-in-law was recently a patient atRoyal Columbian and was
forced to use ahallway bed for hours without access to
abathroom.
Roberts said Royal Columbians bedsare often taken up by seniors
who couldbe treated at home, but home-care servicesdont have the
funding or staffing to beeffective. She said an expansion of
RoyalColumbian would also go a long way to
eliminating crowded hallways.Roberts said concerns over
overcrowding
shouldnt be limited to the hospital staff andpatients who have
been forced to deal withit, as everyone has a stake in health
care.
With the election coming up, it shouldbe on the forefront for
everybody becauseit concerns everybody. Our health care isreally
going downhill, she said.
New Westminster-Coquitlam NewDemocrat Fin Donnelly was the only
localcandidate to appear at the rally. Green Partycandidate Rebecca
Helps was working atthe time, according to the union.
Liberalcandidate Ken Lee didnt respond to theunions invitation, and
Conservative can-didate Diana Dilworths campaign told the
Larry Wright/THE RECORD
Lawsuit Page 8 Rally Page 8
BY ANDREW FLEMING [email protected]
BY BRENT RICHTER [email protected]
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A02 Wednesday, April 13, 2011 The Record
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An expansion to the QueensboroughCommunity Centre will try to
make the buildingmore welcoming.
The $6.2-million expansion to the communitycentre will include
child-care and early childhooddevelopment spaces, expanded weight
room facil-ities, library services, police office space,
dedicatedyouth and senior spaces and additional multipur-pose
rooms.
Jennifer Marshall, an architect with Urban ArtsArchitecture,
said the plan is to retain the existingcommunity centre and build
additions on twosides of the existing building. The expansion
willalso include an atrium space and will see the exist-ing fitness
space moved to a new area upstairs andused as the new home of a
library/reading roomarea.
The theme has been about making connec-tions, making community,
she said.
Marshall said the expansion is really buildingon the strengths
of the existing community cen-tre and trying to create a pavilion
in the parkrather than a street front building. She noted thatthe
community centre currently has few windowsproviding views to the
extraordinary site thatsoutside its doors.
Although the architects have tried to respectand improve the
1970s building, they have addedmore windows to newer areas to help
create a sense ofwelcome thats not achieved with the current
physicalspace.
Its an incredibly welcoming place because of thepeople, Marshall
noted.
The upstairs fitness area will have lots of windows,
serving as a lantern in the evening to encourage othersto come
to the community centre.
Coun. Jonathan Cote said the community centre isreally the hub
of Queensborough, so the changes will helpimprove that inviting
aspect that the building needs.
Coun. Bob Osterman said hed like to see some consid-eration
given to naming the library/reading room space
in honour of longtime Queensborough resident EdnaAnderson, who
recently passed away.
The City of New Westminster expects constructionto start in July
2011 and the grand opening to be held inthe fall of 2012. People
can visit the citys website, wheretheyll find a report and a visual
fly through around andthrough the building.
IN THE NEWSRiver Market ready for summer P5Class action suit on
summer school fees goes ahead P10
Last weeks questionDo you plan to vote in the May 2
election?
YES 95% NO 5%
This weeks questionShould Hume Park Elementary stay open?Vote
at: www.royalcityrecord.com
6 Opinion
6/7 Letters
12 Around Town
13 Community
15 Class Act
17 Top 5
18 Lively City
20 Postcards
21 Sports
28 Classifieds
The Bay* Safeway* Visions* Shoppers* The Bay*
Revy* Fusion* Marks Work
Wearhouse
* not in all areas
Only inNewWestOnly inNewWestOnly inNewWestOnly inNewWest
Connecting with our community online Visit
www.royalcityrecord.com
Theresa McManuss Blog
A blog about newsthat doesnt always
t in print
New design:An artists vision of the new Queensborough Community
Centre. The design plans now include additions onthe sides of the
existing building to make room for more amenities.
Community centre design unveiledBY THERESA MCMANUS
[email protected]
Contributed image/THE RECORD
Hume Park elementary back in spotlightIts an argument that
should
have happened on Feb. 8, but thefuture of Hume Park
Elementarymay be back on the table.
On Monday morning, whenthe New Westminster school dis-trict
posted the agenda for itsApril 12 meeting (which was heldafter
Record deadlines), one itemstood out.
Trustee Brent Atkinsonmoved forward a motion withthe subject:
Hume Park/RichardMcBride consolidation. HumePark has been earmarked
for clo-sure or consolidation in the pastbecause of dwindling
enrolmentnumbers.
In that one-paragraph motion,Atkinson is requesting
staffundertake a review related thepossible consolidation of
HumePark and Richard McBride ina manner that is consistent
withboard policy.
When reached by The Recordon Monday afternoon, the long-time
school trustee was adamantin his argument.
If we have a program in thedistrict, and it doesnt matterwhat
program it is, that isnt edu-cationally advantageous or fis-cally
responsible, we have to lookat it, said Atkinson, who saidhis
latest numbers are that of the26 students at Hume Park, eightare
currently in Grade 5 and thusgraduating to middle school
inSeptember.
Add in the fact the district isanticipating less than eight
newkindergarten students enteringthe school in September,
andAtkinson wants to at least revisitthe issue of operating a
schoolwith less than 25 students.
Currently, we have one gradewithonestudentandanotherwiththree
students, said Atkinson.Educationally, it doesnt makea lot of sense
to me, and I dontthink its fiscally responsible.
Atkinson said the motion maynot even be debated if he cantget
another trustee to second hismotion, but when The Record con-tacted
trustee Casey Cook, hewas sympathetic to at least hear-ing what
Atkinson hadto say.
Cook said that atthe Jan. 25 meeting,when trustees voted 4-1
against reopening the45-day school closureprocess for Hume
Park,both Atkinson and JimGoring had advised theboard they would
not bepresent. It was the twomissing trustees beliefthat a vote on
HumeParks future wouldnttake place until Feb. 8,when both could
either be pres-ent or participate via telephoneconference call.
The issue came up at a meet-ing that Brent was away, and
headvised (the board) he would be
away, said Cook. Brent didnthave an opportunity to speak onthis
issue.
Cook, who said he has votedin the past not to keepHume Parkopen,
said he doesnt know how
hell vote if the issueof reopening the 45-dayschool closure
processis on the table, but hethinks that if Atkinsonwants to
present hiscase, he would have noproblem seconding themotion, if
only to letAtkinson present hisargument.
Hume Park parentNikki Binns also got thenews Monday that
herschool is the subject ofdiscussion once again.
I think this is absolutely crazyand nuts, she said. We just
sentout pamphlets in the area tell-ing parents the school is
openfor business, and we even havea letter from
(superintendent)
John Woudzia saying the schoolis open for business.
Now we have to justify ourschool once again. ... Its
frustrat-ing. It seems like were constantlytrying to defend
ourselves, saidBinns.
The Hume Park saga hasplayed out for several years, astrustees
grapple with budgetaryissues across the entire district.
Trustees narrowly voted in thespring of 2009 to keep the
schoolopen. It was being considered forclosure in a bid to save
money.Voice New Westminster trusteesCasey Cook, Lisa Graham andJim
Goring voted at the time toaccept a staff recommendationto close
the school, while union-endorsed trustees Lori Watt,Michael Ewen
and James Janzen,along with independent BrentAtkinson, voted to
keep it open.
But with Atkinsons changeof heart, the issue looks like it
is
BY ALFIE LAU [email protected]
Hume Page 9
Casey CookSchool trustee
The Record Wednesday, April 13, 2011 A03
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Just as the sun is starting toshow itself more and more,
theRiver Market at WestminsterQuay is gearing up for a vibrant2011
summer season.
The market is welcoming ahost of new specialty vendorsthat, once
set up, will fill up 85to 90 per cent of the marketsretail space,
said Julie Ramirez,community servi-ces manager for themarket.
Theyre cur-rently under construction. Weanticipate they will be
open intheir locations by July, Ramirezsaid.
The response that were get-ting is that everybodys reallyexcited
about a transformation,and theyre really looking for-ward to seeing
these new tenantsfill up the space.
Residents had been noti-cing more for rent signs thanvendors at
the market in recentmonths.
New for this year is the CrabShop, which sells fresh sea-food
and serves fish and chips.Rumour has it Michael Bubl isa loyal
fan.
Pamola Bakery, a husband-
and-wife team specializing inSpanish-inspired breads, sweetsand
comfort foods, is also new tothe market.
For cooler treats, the mar-ket is welcoming Tres GalloGelato
Boardwalk Caffe, a suc-cessful Yaletown business thatdoes homemade
gelato and icecream as well as cappuccino andespresso.
Ramirez says she expects twoother new businesses to havetheir
doors open by mid- to lateMay: Crepe Des Amis and FraserRiver Bike
Tours and Rentals.
But you wont necessarilyhave to do wait until the store-
fronts are open totest the new prod-ucts.
Starting onMay 21, we will have an eventwe are referring to as
Pop UpPatio. Well have each of thosetenants located on our
southpatio providing a taste for thecommunity of what they havein
store for them, Ramirez said.Were really excited about thesenew
tenants that are coming onboard and were really happy tobe able to
offer a preview to thecommunity.
Also starting on May 21, themarket is extending its openhours
from 7 to 9 p.m. on Fridayand Saturday nights.
Donalds Market, VancouverCircus School, Tiny, the GreatWall Tea
Company andPaddlewheeler Pub are all still in
their current locations.Ramirez said the markets
management is in deep discus-sions with prospective new ten-ants
for the remainder of the
space, but they would most liketo see a butcher open up
shop.
Ramirez said the newly reno-vated River Market is
unrecog-nizable from how it looked
before its $5-million renovation.Details for summer programs
and events are still being ironedout.
www.twitter.com/BrentRichter
RoyalCityRecord.comFirst reported @
Market gears up for new summer openings
Almost full: River Market community services manager Julie
Ramirez, left, and director Mark Shiehhave added several new
tenants who will be opening shop this summer.
File photo/THE RECORD
BY BRENT RICHTER [email protected]
New vendors includebakery, gelato cafand seafood shop
The Record Wednesday, April 13, 2011 A05
Remax Advantage RealtyRemax Advantage Realty102 - 321 6th St.,
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-
A06 Wednesday, April 13, 2011 The Record
Clarks families first plan includes pets
Copyright in letters and other materials submitted voluntarilyto
the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with theauthor,
but the Publisher and its licensees may freely reproducethem in
print, electronic or other forms.
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THE RECORDwww.royalcityrecord.com#201A 3430 Brighton Avenue,
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A politician is sure to score pointswith family-friendly
promises, butthere are bonus points for winning overanimal
lovers.
Christy Clark earns kudosfor quickly promising that
thegovernment will adopt all 10recommendations of a specialtask
force that was appointedin February after the mass killing of100
sled dogs a year earlier came tolight.
The humane treatment of animals,
whether they are family pets or wheth-er they are working
animals, is some-thing that everyone in B.C. cares verydeeply
about, Clark said.
Part of the recommenda-tions include hiking the max-imum
penalties from $10,000to $75,000 for fines and jailterms from six
months to two
years.When enacted, the penalties will be
the stiffest in Canada.Clark also pledged to add $100,000
for the B.C. SPCA to use in animalcruelty investigations.
Considering the SPCA subsists ondonations, this only seemed
reasonable.As well, the sled-dog investigation,which the SPCA led,
is estimated tocost at least $200,000.
Clark also said the government willstart providing annual
funding to theSPCA.
To be sure, there will certainly beprotests or cries for help
from otheranimal rescue organizations that are
hurting from a lack of funds.And there will be continuing
pres-
sure from animal rights groups aboutchanging the rules around
how farmanimals are treated in B.C. And, finally,veterinarians have
mixed feelingsabout a new rule that would force themto report
suspected cases of animalabuse.
But Clarks pledges are a big stepforward from what the previous
gov-ernment did, and these changes willmake a difference.
Where do theGreens belong?
The kerfuffle over GreenParty leader ElizabethMays exclusion
fromthe federal leaders debate is areminder there may be a
con-troversy over the makeup of thenext B.C. leaders debate.
May lost a court challengeof the decision by the televisionmedia
consortium madeup of national networks suchas Global, CBC, CTV,
Radio-Canada and TVA to not inviteher to participate in either
ofthe English or French languagedebate. Mays loss in court mayhave
negative implicationsfor B.C. Green Party leaderJane Sterks chances
for beingincluded in the next B.C. debate(I stress the word may
becauseno decision will be made by theB.C. television consortium
forsome time yet).
The Greens have had theirleader in the provincial debatesince
the 2001 election. FormerGreen leader Adrianne Carr wasgiven a
place because, at thetime, the NDP was in freefall inthe polls and
the spread betweenthe NDP and the Greens hadnarrowed so much it was
hard toargue that excluding the upstart
Greens while including thefading NDP was somehow fair.
Indeed, while Carrs partydidnt elect an MLA in the elec-tion, it
did pull in more than12 per cent of the popular vote more than half
of what theNDP received that year.
With that impressive show-ing, Carr was invited back to the2005
vote. But the Green voteshrunk to just 9.2 per cent in
thatcontest.
Nevertheless, Carrs succes-sor as Green leader Sterk wasinvited
to the 2009 debate. Butthe Green vote declined for thesecond
straight election downto just 8.2 per cent.
So, a question naturally arises:should the Green leader be
partof the next televised debate ofB.C. political leaders?
As someone who has somedegree of input into the deci-sion by
B.C. television stationsabout the debate structure (Ivehelped
negotiate the last threeelection debates with the partiesinvolved
in each one), I think itsa fair question.
The NDP has long com-plained about including theGreens in the
debate. The partyfeels the Greens steal morevotes from the NDP than
fromthe B.C. Liberals and so has themost to lose from the publicity
adebate appearance brings a pol-itical party.
As well, a number of environ-mentalists have become
increas-ingly frustrated with the Greenpartys inability to
connect
OUR VIEWTHE RECORD
School boards criticism ironicDear Editor
Re: Good report card doesnt impress trustees,The Record, April
2.
In reference to the latest publication of the FraserInstitutes
Report Card, The Record quotes NewWestminster school board chair
Michael Ewen assaying I think their methodology is flawed andtheyre
politically motivated.
The irony of this statement, delivered mere daysafter the school
board itself sent out a very method-ologically flawed survey that
was quite obviouslypolitically motivated, astounds me. Dont get
mewrong, I am no fan of the Fraser Institute. But I ama fan of
sound science, integrity, and transparency.And, quite frankly, the
school board, with its surveythat includes asking elementary school
children ifthey would like two weeks for spring break insteadof
one, doesnt exactly get a gold star in any of
those categories. What possible reason, other thanpolitical
motivation to artificially inflate the num-bers showing support,
could one give for includingthe opinions of children on this topic?
Can theyfully understand the ramifications of such a
changeincluding the financial and academic costs?
I think not. My advice to the school board:Criticize the Fraser
Institute all you want, but makesure your own backyard is in order
first.
Kim Deighton, by e-mail
Quit sensationalizing the issuesDear Editor
Re: Toxic mess must be cleaned up, The Record,Letters to the
editor, April 2.
After I read the accusatory public letter byChristopher Bell, I
wondered about his characterand Googled his name page after page of
nothing
Criticism Page 7Debate Page 7
IN THE HOUSEKEITH BALDREY
-
The New Westminster Record welcomes letters to the editor. We
do, however, edit for taste,
legality and length. Priority is given to letters written by
residents of NewWestminster and/or
issues concerning New Westminster. Please include a phone number
where you can be
reached during the day. Send letters to:
The Editor, #201A3430 Brighton Ave., Burnaby, B.C., V5A 3H4, fax
them to:
604-444-3460 or e-mail to: [email protected]. No
Attachments Please. Letters to the editor
and opinion columns may be reproduced on The New Westminster
Record website, www.royalcityrecord.com
good to say how sad.With the unrelenting, sensationalized
efforts to spit on our city that he livesin, it seems he is in a
state of precariousassumptions, with continual efforts pub-licly
demoralizing the charm and characterour beautiful city is proud of,
also causingadverse effects on the already strugglingFront Street
businesses.
Fact: The train accident that happenedyears ago is in fact not
directly on the newpark property but on a neighbouring plot.Anyone
with the energy Mr. Bell has in thedrive to defame by ruthless
public attacksshould at least have correct facts and havethe
decency and respect to diplomaticallyput their efforts towards who
or what actu-ally caused this the train.
Stop the defamation and demoralizingthe character of our city by
malicious, pub-lic, alarmist, sensationalized letters. Get
thefacts. Youwould get further by targeting thecorrect place. We
all know what happened,Mr. Bell, and somehow you exaggerate
andtwist the facts, and publicly direct blame tothe wrong
place.
I am proud of our city and its valuablehistory, as are most
residents who investedtheir livelihoods here. You do know his-tory,
Mr. Bell. Be thankful we are not in thepast. Back then, they would
have run youout of town.
Sandra D. Jaser, New Westminster
Harpers arsenal of evasionDear Editor:
Political polling continues to show theConservatives in the
lead, which is under-standably applauded by the CEOs whove
been promised more tax cuts, and by indus-trialists who know
Stephen Harper will notlet environmental concerns interfere
withexploiting natural resources and pollutingour air and
water.
But why in the world are so many ordi-nary Canadians supporting
the Torieswhen the major Harper commandments goagainst what other
polls show are the needsand wishes of the people?
Surely we know by now that the oldclaim that fattening big
business meansmore jobs and prosperity for all is a ridicu-lous
myth.
Feeding a horse all the oats it can eat, ithas been said, may
indeed result in someundigested grain on the ground to feed
thesparrows, but is that all we want?
The Harperites are set to spend $30 bil-lion or more on new
warplanes, assuringus that shiny new machines will
guaranteeprotection against all the baddies out therethat also have
shiny new machines. But Iwonder why all the nations that
alreadyhave great fleets of these things are clearlyparanoid? And
wouldnt we rather spendour money in healing the sick and
prevent-ing disease?
I think the only notable talent of Mr.Harper is his command of
political tricksand schemes that apparently influence thethinking
of many Canadians. He has a finearsenal of evasion, coverup and
economicthreat to counter his moves that make usan international
laughingstock in climatechange, apes U.S. foreign policy and
rub-bishes the natural world we need for sur-vival. Do we need this
election? Of coursewe do. And we need it far more than weneed any
more of the hollow, Sam Slickcleverness of the arrogant Stephen
Harper.
Tony Eberts, New Westminster
Criticism is unfair to city continued from page 6
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with the voters and won-der whether its moreeffective to shape
strongerenvironmental values inthe other parties ratherthan support
the Greens.
Despite three debateappearances, the Greenshave yet to elect
anyoneand in fact havent evencome close to winning aseat.
However, the Greensargue that electing an MPor MLA should not be
thesole criterion for determin-ing which party leadergets on the
debate.
There is some validityto this argument.
Our first-past-the-postelectoral system favourslarge established
partiesand makes it difficult fornewer, smaller parties towin
seats.
At the national level,
the Green party receivedalmost one million votes inthe 2008
election but wonno seats.
Should those near-mil-lion voters have no rep-resentation in the
debate?
At the provincial level,the Greens won almost135,000 votes in
2009. Isthat enough to get on thestage at the debate?
May has complainedthat the network consor-tium established the
ruleson an arbitrary basis.
That may be true, butany rule that anyone elsecomes up with
would beof an arbitrary nature aswell.
Perhaps there shouldbe more than one criterionto establish which
partyleader is allowed in suchdebates.
Such things as seatrepresentation, portion of
popular vote, a large num-ber of candidates in thefield, and
significant poll-ing results (from a series ofpolls over time)
could beused as criteria, with lead-ers qualifying for inclusionif
their parties meet a setcombination of those fac-tors.
But there is no surething when it comes toleaders televised
debates.Neither Sterk nor, for thatmatter, newly installedB.C.
Conservative Partyleader John Cummins, isguaranteed a spot in
nextprovincial debate, eventhough they will vocifer-ously argue for
one.
Indeed, Elizabeth Maysexclusion has officiallyopened the debate
aboutthe next B.C. debate.
Keith Baldrey is chiefpolitical correspondent forGlobal B.C.
Debate: Who should be at the table? continued from page 6
The Record Wednesday, April 13, 2011 A07
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9?