A number of local community groups are calling on the city to address a “crisis” and help them find free meeting space.
New West resident Reena Meijer Drees belongs to several groups that are struggling to find meeting space.
“They are scrambling,” she said. “The Walkers Caucus had to postpone our meeting because we couldn’t book the Buy-Low anymore because the Buy-Low is gone. We couldn’t hold our monthly meeting in September because we didn’t know where to meet.”
The situation has worsened since renovations began at the New Westminster Public Library and the Buy-Low store closed in Westminster Centre. Both locations provided free meeting space.
“If the library reinstates the meeting room and the two auditoriums that they had, that is at least a baseline,” Meijer Drees said. “Even with those spaces, it’s hard to meet.”
Meijer Drees, a member of the Walkers’ Caucus, has collected signatures from representatives of some local groups that are concerned about the situation, including the Queen’s Park and West End residents’ associations, the Community Food Action Network, the New Westminster Community Gardening Society, Walkers Caucus, HUB Cycling New Westminster and two knitting groups. She’s written to city council and all council candidates outlining the “crisis” and asking the city to take action to help.
“This is a big problem,” she said. “Please, at the very least, provide us with an inventory of bookable space so me and every other group aren’t spending hours on the phone, scrounging for meeting space. Somebody from the city needs to do this.”
In a letter to council, Meijer Drees asked the city to keep an up-to-date inventory of bookable spaces on its website, including location, size, cost, amenities such as AV access and the booking process. The letter also asks the city to provide permanent free, bookable meeting spaces for small groups in all civic facilities and provide larger bookable, auditorium-sized, space at a nominal cost in select city facilities – including Anvil Centre, Queensborough Community Centre and Centennial Community Centre.
“Community groups like mine can’t find spaces to meet anymore,” she said. “The only places we can go are people’s homes and coffee houses.”
Meetings in private homes so community rooms in condos aren’t truly accessible because access is by invitation only, and coffee houses can be a challenge because people feel obligated to order something, Meijer Drees said.
“If you are trying to hold a meeting with quorum and Robert’s Rules and stuff, you can’t do that at a coffee house,” she said.
Cost is a major issue, Meijer Drees said, as many community groups aren’t in a position to pay to rent space for meetings.
“The city is officially into civic engagement, right? It’s right on their website. It’s one of their platforms,” she said. “The city can engage with their citizens and the city is really good at that. They have all kinds of open houses and forums. But I think the bigger part is providing the wherewithal for citizens to engage with each other to create a stronger community. That means places where you can gather.”
