New Westminster city council wants B.C. Hydro to cease using the herbicide Roundup to manage vegetation at its substations and rights of way.
At a meeting at the Queensborough Community Centre on Monday, council voted to send a letter to the electrical utility objecting to the use of Roundup and asking Hydro to monitor and control its use. According to a staff report to council, the herbicide was used to treat vegetation at the New Westminster Substation on July 25.
“It really is quite a dangerous chemical,” said Coun. Lorrie Williams.
The report said Hydro mostly manages vegetation on its rights-of-way in Queensborough and Connaught Heights and the substation manually with weed-whackers. Vegetation at the city-owned Royal II Substation on Agnes Street is also done manually but Weed B Gon is used at times.
“That appears to be much less harmful to the environment,” said Williams.
Fee waived
New Westminster is waiving its dog licence fees for therapy dogs in the city.
Vancouver ecoVillage, a non-profit that trains and tests therapy dogs for certification, made the request in a letter to council, which unanimously agreed to the proposal.
Council’s first selfie
After Mayor Jonathan Cote declared Sept. 21 United Way Day in New Westminster, United Way’s communications and marketing strategist Vanessa Woznow rose from the audience and said, “Being a millennial can I take a selfie with the mayor?” Cote agreed saying he thought it was a first at a council meeting. As Woznow snapped the picture, Couns. Chuck Puchmayr, Patrick Johnstone and Lorrie Williams photo bombed them.
When Johnstone retweeted the selfie sent out by Woznow he wrote, “To the best of my knowledge this is the first #NewWest Council Instagram-Selfie-Photobomb triple play. Glad it was for a good cause.”
