New Year’s Eve is here – and, for those of us in the newsroom, what better time to pause, reflect and remember all that’s happened in New Westminster in 2014.
When it comes to news headlines, New Westminster has never been short of things to write about. This may be a small city, but what it may lack in population it makes up for in passion.
Earlier this month, The Record editorial team sat down to discuss the top stories of the year. Our collection of awards, honours and special mentions include The News Story of the Year, The Newsmaker of the Year, and several other awards, such as The Best Bogeyman and the Take Your Ball and Go Home Award. We’ve also got some heartwarming awards, and, of course, nods to the lively arts scene in this town.
Our choices are obviously subjective. How can one really decide between traffic and the downtown renaissance? Between the chap who dethroned a long-time mayor, or that mayor himself?
We don’t pretend these “awards” can possibly touch on everything important or ironic that happened this year – but they are a good sampling.
A big thank you to all of our newsmakers and those who pass on news tips and ideas – we couldn’t do it without you!
And, of course, Happy New Year!
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NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR RUNNER UP – The All Roads Lead to New West and more political battles
This one is also known as the All Roads Lead to New West – and We Can’t Stand It – Award. Chances are pretty good you’d have to have been stuck under a rock for most of 2014 to have missed the ongoing debate about traffic or bridges in New Westminster. Whether it was the city’s ongoing support for a single-lane Bailey bridge while Coquitlam fought for a two-lane crossing or concerns about increases in truck traffic after tolls enticed motorists to veer away from the new Port Mann Bridge and take the free Pattullo crossing, New West made regular headlines – and traffic reports. With transportation being the top issue in the city (not to mention the civic election), it’s a pretty safe bet to say it will continue to be a hot topic in 2015.
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NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR RUNNER UP – Wayne Wright loses
The Goodbye and Good Luck Award goes to Wayne Wright, who served as New Westminster’s mayor for 12 years prior to November’s civic election. Credited by many for leading a renaissance of the city downtown – by pushing for the creation of Westminster Pier Park and the Anvil Centre civic facility and office tower – Wright lost his re-election bid to council colleague Jonathan Cote. The likeable mayor beat out Helen Sparkes 12 years ago with a promise to sweep out the old and revitalize the city. Although he won’t serve a record-setting stint as mayor, we reckon we haven’t seen the last of this longtime New Westminster resident and businessman.
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CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR AWARD – No soccer for you
Controversy of the year (also known as the Take Your Ball and Go Home Award): When soccer legend Bobby Lenarduzzi came to the Royal City to announce Vancouver Whitecaps FC had signed a memorandum of understanding with the city to bring a pro soccer franchise to Queen’s Park Stadium, it seemed like the proposal was going to hit it out of the park. Two months later, it was game over for the proposal that sadly pitted the soccer and baseball communities on opposite sides of the debate. Critics raised the yellow card about the costs to the city, the loss of a field for baseball, alterations to the stadium and the potential loss of some trees, while supporters highlighted economic benefits, rejuvenation of the stadium and perks for local youth soccer players. Ultimately, city council determined that the financials didn’t work and rejected the plan.
CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR RUNNER UP – WOW New Westminster
If art is supposed to get folks talking, a proposed public art installation on New Westminster’s waterfront did just that. City council agreed to support three art installations as part of the Vancouver Biennale – and then saw what was being proposed for Westminster Pier Park. WOW New Westminster didn’t wow council, but the project ultimately got enough support to move forward. By year-end, however, city staff and Biennale officials were still trying to seal the deal that would allow the installations to come to New West in 2015.
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COMMUNITY SPIRIT AWARD – Ash Street fire response
Tragedy struck on Jan. 31 when the apartment building at 404 Ash St. went up in flames, leaving the tenants of the 31-unit building without a home.
But what rose from the ashes was something quite commendable.
New Westminster residents, shocked at what had happened, came to the rescue of the tenants. They donated cash, household items and clothing to the displaced tenants to help them get back on their feet.
More than $18,000 was collected to help pay for dental services, while Save-On-Foods, Thrifty Foods and St. Vincent De Paul Society at St. Peter’s Church contributed $3,000, $500 and $4,000 in gift cards respectively. Even the kids at Richard McBride Elementary School raised $528.
St. Barnabas Church collected so many donations that it held a rummage sale to sell off remaining items. Proceeds from the sale, which came in just shy of $1,000, were donated to a fire relief fund for the victims.
All in all, it was an amazing show of compassion by residents of New Westminster.
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THE HEAD-SCRATCHER AWARD (OR ‘LET THEM EAT WHAT WE GIVE THEM’ AWARD) – And then there was one
It all started with a mandate for more competition in the grocery store market but left many residents scratching their heads this year.
The brouhaha started the previous year with a ruling from Canada’s Competition Bureau when Sobeys bought Canada Safeway. The bureau required the sale of a number of Sobeys locations, including the beloved Thrifty’s store in Sapperton, as part of the deal.
Residents even launched a petition to try to save Thrifty’s, but in the end the switcheroo went through. As a result of the whole saga, today New West has lost a Thrifty’s and a Safeway (at Royal City Centre) and gained a Save-On-Foods in both locations.
So what started as a seeming bid to bring more “competition” to the grocery store businesses in New West has ended with billionaire Jim Pattison’s seeming domination of the market.
Oh, and reportedly Pattison’s Buy-Low Foods is moving into the Westminster Centre Mall space formerly occupied by Save-On-Foods.
Now is that a recipe for healthy competition?
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A ‘WIN FOR THE LITTLE GUY’ AWARD – Victoria Hill and the ratrunner wars
If there’s one thing New Westminster residents can agree on, it’s their collective disdain for ratrunners. You know the type – folks who drive down back alleys, laneways or residential streets trying to cut the line onto the Pattullo Bridge.
So when ratrunners started clogging up Ross Drive and Francis Way in the quiet Victoria Hill neighbourhood in order to cut onto McBride Boulevard from Memorial Drive at rush hour, residents took their outrage straight to the top.
The seven stratas within Victoria Hill proposed that the city install a “no-left-turn” sign at Memorial Drive, effective only during rush hour. While the city approved the request, it wasn’t until firefighters took 30 minutes to respond to an alarm in the neighbourhood that it moved up the installation.
The afternoon the sign was installed, residents were celebrating their win over the ratrunners with champagne and cheers.
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THE YEAR OF THE CAT AWARD – Furvival of the fittest
It may have been the Year of the Horse but here in New Westminster felines were the top mammal on the prowl.
In May, local realtor Bryn Erin Ward was showing a client a home when a feral cat viciously attacked them. Ward said the cat jumped on her client causing her to fall over a table and onto the ground. When Ward tried to pull the feisty feline off her client, the cat tore into her – leaving her with five stitches on her face, a black eye and cuts to her legs and arms.
Needless to say the client didn’t end up buying the house. Meow!
A few months later in September, Plaza 88 resident Joel Isfeld watched in horror as his eight-month-old savannah cat, Cleo, leapt from the balcony of his 17th floor condo.
“It was very traumatic,” Isfeld said at the time. “I was frantically searching and looking below to see if the cat was splattered all over the bottom.”
But much to his surprise (and the newsroom’s) Cleo was found safe and sound the next night. Apparently the adventurous youngling had made her way to the adjoining building’s ninth floor courtyard – talk about nine lives!
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THE ‘BEST BOGEYMAN’ AWARD – Never underestimate a labour machine
The Best Bogeyman Award goes to “the machine.” While one definition of machine is “an efficient and well-organized group of people”, it took on an ominous tone during the civic election, after media highlighted the power that labour endorsements (and the phone lists and money that flows from affiliated unions) have on a candidate’s success at the polls. Although the issue has been raised in past civic elections, it took centre stage among politicos vying for seats on city council and school board in New West – much to the chagrin of some of those campaigning for the endorsed candidates. Some candidates and supporters reacted defensively to suggestions they were supported by “the machine,” somehow thinking it minimized the hours and hours of work they put into running robust campaigns. At the end of the day, “the machine” had the last laugh – seeing all 12 of its labour-endorsed candidates elected to city council and school board.
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THE ‘ONES TO WATCH OUT FOR’ AWARD – What will they do next?
The New Westminster civic elections brought us all sorts of headlines – and it also introduced us to a few new movers and shakers in town. The long list of candidates vying for council and school board seats included a few young up-and-comers whom we’ll undoubtedly be seeing more of in the future. There was Tej Kainth, executive director of Tourism New Westminster, who wound up eighth in the race for council seats, who brought her passion for her city to the campaign trail. There was Mike Folka, who fell farther down the list of results but who impressed voters in real life and on social media with his enthusiasm and fresh perspective. And, on the school board side, there was Jeremy Perry, who ended up in eighth spot and just off the school board – again, his enthusiasm, fresh perspective and positive attitude impressed more than a few voters. Folka, for one, has already said he has his sights set on 2018. Whatever the three decide to do with their futures, we know we’ll be hearing more from them.
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The 'decaying eyesore’ Award
Give it a few more years, and New Westminster Secondary may simply return to the earth from whence it came, saving the province the cost of demolition.
The decaying, 60-plus-year-old structure – called an “embarrassment” by a community member during this year’s municipal election – has been on the cusp of being replaced since 2004, when plans were unveiled for a new $25 million-to-$30 million school to be completed by 2007. The latest plans are for a $110 million replacement to be built…TBA. Here’s hoping 2015 doesn’t find us cutting and pasting this same award into The Record next Dec. 31.
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The ‘#why we love twitter in #newwest’ Award
We may be a tad biased (OK, we’re a lot biased) but it seems like New West is especially unique when it comes to its love of Twitter. Anytime a big issue or controversy hits the fan, one of the first places people go to vent is Twitter.
New Westminsterites were out in droves on Twitter during the recent municipal election. Many used the social media platform to extol the proposals of their favourite candidates. Labour-endorsed and independent candidates alike used Twitter as a way of sharing stories from their campaigns. Our own Julie MacLellan watched with fascination as candidates interacted with voters online, engaged in lively debates and heck, even posted photos of their shoes when she requested them!
Mike Folka, MaryAnn Mortensen, David Brett, Jonathan Cote, Patrick Johnstone, Mary Trentadue, Tej Kainth and Jaimie McEvoy, were all superstars in the Twittersphere, and while not all were elected, it definitely proved just how exciting our social media-centered world can be.
More recently, debates over pedestrian safety have drawn our attention. A quick tweet about a possible pedestrian being hit at Fifth Street and Eighth Avenue sparked dozens of comments on Twitter from people in New West. Matt Lorenzi (@stickers66), Patrick Johnstone (@PJNewWest), Briana Tomkinson (@breebop) and Leslie Robinson (@lwrobins) were just some of the tweeters engaging and sharing ideas on how pedestrian safety can be improved in the city.
Brad Cavanagh (@canspice) is another local tweeter to watch out for. He often delves into lengthy debates and certainly isn’t one to shy away from telling it like it is. One of his recent tweets on the proposal to build a new rental building at 404 Ash St., which read “More family-unfriendly rental units in the works,” was followed by a slew of comments.
So kudos New West, while sometimes Twitter conversations can get a little nasty, it’s nice to see folks engaging in healthy debates on relevant, and important, issues in the city.
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THE MOST VALUABLE BUREAUCRAT (MVB) AWARD – The trustee whisperer
He came in with a roar, but he’s managed with a whisper.
Superintendent John Gaiptman took over for outgoing John Woudzia at a time when public confidence and parental concerns were at an all-time high (and that’s saying something).
But since he came on, Gaiptman has managed to turn the school district’s tarnished reputation around. He even asked for the province to pay for a special advisor to look through the school district’s books – which have long been fraught with troubles, including a surprise multi-million dollar deficit that saw the ousting of a secretary-treasurer with a hefty $195,000 severance package after just four years of employment with the district.
To say he’s shaking things up is an understatement.
Then, perhaps most mystifying of all, Gaiptman has managed to make longtime political foes (Ahem, we’re talking to you trustees Michael Ewen and Casey Cook) cordial boardmates. Proof of the change, last year the labour-endorsed majority on school board voted against Cook as vice-chair. At the time, Cook lamented the decision, noting it would have been an opportunity to mend fences. Fast-forward to this year, the labour-majority school board elected Cook vice-chair.
It’s a significant turning point for the once-fractured board, Cook told The Record earlier this month and praised Gaiptman, saying it’s a “different” board under his watch.
“To be really clear, John’s been a huge, huge influence,” Cook said. “Before it was always about hoarding information and hoarding power.”
Gaiptman’s employment is based on a self-imposed month-to-month agreement (he actually wrote this in his contract), which means he’ll get no severance if he leaves. Why?
“When you play the movie of New West in your head, part of it is severance payments,” he said. “ I like the fact that every month I have to prove myself. It’s who I am.
I work better when I feel that I have to produce.”
So far, the Trustee Whisperer seems have met his mandate.
