This was a non-Council week, as the annual Union of BC Municipalities meeting was being held in Vancouver. I was not able to attend the annual summit of good, honest, hard-working rural BC and latté-sipping condo dwellers of Greater Vancouver due to work commitments, but several of my activities were otherwise dictated by its happening.

On Wednesday, I attended my first meeting of the Contaminated Sites Approved Professionals Society board. I was recently appointed by the Province to be the local government representative on that board. The CSAP provides professional oversight to the approval and certification processes under the Contaminated Sites Regulation. There were some seriously keen minds around that board table (many I have worked with before), and it is interesting to have another insight into how policy is implements and carried out in the interface between government and science.

Also on Wednesday, the City’s Advisory Committee for Transit, Bicycles, and Pedestrians (ACTBiPed) did our slightly belated “summer walkabout”. This was a tradition started by the previous ACTBiPed chair (and current Mayor) where the committee gets out of the committee room and, by bike or foot, looks at transportation “trouble spots” to have a conversation about how to make things work better. Sustainable transportation advocates, interested citizens, a Council Member, and staff working together to better understand the problems on the ground, and to chat about specific solutions.

This year, we went to the top of the West End to look at connections between the New Westminster and Burnaby greenway networks across 10th Avenue, especially in light of potential larger-scale developments on the Burnaby side. Cyclist will recognize the offset streets where they cross 10th, and the challenges that this create when trying to cross the street safely. We also had great discussions about improving the London bikeway, and about encroachment on City boulevards by some homeowners which often impact the accessibility of the public space.

Thursday was the New Westminster stop on the Fraser Fest tour, organized by the Rivershed Society of BC, which just happened to coincide with the launch of River Fest, our biggest annul waterfront event in New Westminster. It was a rainy day, but a small brave crowd came out to hear great music, and to hear from a couple of local heroes in the “protecting the river” game: Marc Angelo (the founder of World Rivers Day) and Fin Donnelly (of swam-the-river-twice fame).

Thursday was also the Annual General Meeting of the New West Pride Society. Outgoing President Jeremy Perry ran a great AGM as his last official presidential duty, for what have been a spectacular year of successes for Pride. Their street fair was bigger and bolder than ever, their finances are secure, they have made some serious impacts on improving inclusivity in the city, and are ready to ramp up to make 2016 even better. New President Mike Tiney was so cool and coordinated during this year’s huge Pride Street Fair, you can see his confidence and experience is going to serve New West Pride well.

Friday, the Safe Energy Leadership Alliance met in New Westminster. This multi-agency group brings local and regional government leaders from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia together to talk about trans-border solutions to common concerns around the transportation of fossil fuels through our communities in trains and pipelines. We discussed upcoming projects all along the Pacific Coast, heard from subject experts on regulatory challenges and spill response capabilities (short version – little of it was good news if you like oil-free beaches) and discussed pathways forward. It was a fruitful and interesting discussion, and I am glad representatives of New Westminster, Burnaby, Vancouver, PoCo and Richmond were there to forge cross-border collaborations.

Friday was also the start of the Feast on the Fraser event with a Boathouse Restaurant and Steel & Oak Brewing collaboration starting things off. This event is continuing for 10 days, you should follow that link and buy some tickets to one of the great foodie events happening across New West.

After filling up at the Boathouse, I joined the Mayor and other Councillors at the Hyacks Football Homecoming game. The entire homecoming extravaganza is pretty exciting, and a great community-wide event, from the game ball parachute drop to the rousing defeat of GW Graham. But the pre-game tug-o-war competition between City Hall, the School District, Fraser Health and the New Westminster District Labour Council was a new tradition. After easily defeating the medical types, your Mayor and Council (with a few hired guns) we defeated in a hard-fought battle with the Labour Council Machine. The jokes write themselves.

The weekend was full of River Fest activity down on the Quay, and the sun gloriously came out to shine upon the event expertly organized by the good folks at the Fraser River Discovery Centre. There were big crowds for the annual Work Boat Parade, lots of art, interpretation and love for the river that sustains us.

And then I attended a rare outside-of-NewWest event (but we like to the think Urban Digs Farm is just a temporarily inconvenienced New West institution), and there were a lot of New West folks there on Saturday night. Their annual Baconfest was a month delayed this year due to a variety of factors, but it made for a great evening on the Farm. They had bacon-themed food and drink, lots of food for sale, hay bales under the patio lanterns, incredible music of the washboard-and-moonshine flavour by The Still Spirits, and fun all around. If you choose to eat meat, you should check out Urban Digs and see how meat can be made more ethically and sustainably, and how much better the meat tastes when it is done that way. They are good people, working hard, almost making money, building a community and connecting us latte-sipping condo dwellers to the food we eat in a unique way.

Oh, and I did a bunch of election stuff this week, including exercising my right to Vote Early at 620 Royal Avenue. I was in the neighbourhood and it took less than 5 minutes. So one thing checked off my list for October.

Happy Equinox. Please read that with a little bit of sad sarcasm. I love summer, and the long, dry days for bike rides. But winter is apparently not without charms, and I can start packing on my curling weight.

Yes, the Royal City Curling Club is open again, for it’s 50th season, and I had two curling games this week (a win and a loss, natch), and it is great to be back at the Best Curling Club in BC. It is not too late if you are thinking of trying the roaring game out, or are thinking of returning after a bit of a break. There are leagues for all abilities and levels, a great junior program (with Little Rocks for players as young as 6!), and for the adults, the S&O is always on tap.

Wednesday was a Chamber of Commerce dinner, where the City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Lisa Spitale talked to the members of the Chamber and other guests about her history with the City, and the challenges and opportunities she sees fort he City going forward. She even answered a few kind-of-political questions that probably made her a little uncomfortable with the Mayor and a couple of councilors in the room. As always, Lisa handled it with aplomb and professionalism. She is a true leader, is proud of the progress this City has made, and never puts limits on what we can do of we commit ourselves to it.

On Saturday was the Memorial Service for Anita Hagen. it was an very well attended service, and a very moving one. With a long list of present and former politicians and community builders of all stripes present, there was much talk of her long legacy of service to the community, locally and provincially. The memorial service concluded, however, with an uplifting recital of “Song for the Mira”, with Anita’s closest family on piano and violins leading the congregation and choir, in a way closing a circle back to her childhood home on Nova Scotia and the people closest to her. It was a special moment for a remarkable woman, who will be missed.

Sunday was the 4th? 5th? annual Shoreline Cleanup in Queensborough, organized by the New Westminster Environmental Partners with a little help from the City. It was a windy day with a few showers, but several dozen people showed up to pick up trash along the shoreline of South Dyke Road, pull some invasive plants that are threatening the ecology of the waterfront and the beauty of the City’s waterfront trail system, and even plant some native species to replace the invasives and slow their return.

I also went down to Caps the Original and bought me a new lid. It was due.

See how happy the end of summer makes me?

It has been a while since I did an update of my non-council activities. It was a long, glorious summer, but like a student going back to school, Labour Day passed and I am right back in the middle of it, shuffling schedules and trying to figure out how I will survive this semester!

After a long weekend for the record books (yes I will blog about it), Tuesday evening I had a meeting with the Mayor’s Public Engagement Taskforce. This group is tasked with developing new and better ideas for the City to “engage” with the public – a slightly jargony term that includes outreach, consultation, and listening. We will be reporting out on our progress, but after a few early meetings where it seemed we were tying ourselves up a bit in process and definition, this meeting I felt like the group really had its legs and some great ideas and visible paths forward are happening. It is a really great group of staff and public, and I expect good things will come out of it.

Wednesday I had the first ACTBiPed meeting of the fall, and having not been invited to the “State Dinner” apparently happening in town, I consoled myself with some good discussion of sustainable transportation improvements the City is working on, and some others the City should probably be working on. The ACTBiPed group is heavy with very vocal advocates who have no trouble assuring their concerns are heard. Progress is slow and steady on the City’s Master Transportation Plan, and we are improving, but progress sometimes seems as glacial as the timing for the walk signal at 8th Street and 7th Ave.

Thursday was an Open House at the Sapperton Pensioners Hall for the Sapperton Green development. This long-discussed and slow-to-progress development project between the Braid SkyTrain Station and Hume Park has the potential to be the largest single development in the history of New Westminster, so it is important that we get the planning and public engagement right.

The open house was well attended, and although the plans are still rather preliminary, people’s reactions were quite varied. The scale is large, but the location is right for higher-density residential space and for increased employment lands, and this is the owners’ long-term plan for the site. The conversation is ongoing, and you can keep up here. The large warehouse currently on the property was recently leased for a long term, which is testament to the timeline of this project. Build-out is probably 20+ years, as you would think when you compare to the timeline of the (much smaller) Brewery District and Victoria Hill developments.

So please get involved in the conversation, but I want to correct one thing in the record: my phone number and other contact info is on the bottom of this webpage. I have no idea whose number is beside my name on this handbill posted on a telephone pole in Lower Sapperton. I don’t necessarily support the positions on this handbill, but actually want to hear from you, so better if you have the right number!

Finally, on Saturday, I was honoured to be able to “officiate” at the wedding of my friend Matt Laird and his amazing wife Mila. I hasten to mention I am in no way empowered to marry people, but through the the mechanistic shenanigans of bureaucracy and shadowy Beer Friday commitments,  this duty was thrust upon me. I was proud to stand up there with a great couple, and it gave me an excuse to pull out the official jewelry.

If I think about my current role as a City Councillor, I have to count Matt as one of the most important people in making it happen. Not directly – he didn’t convince me to run, he didn’t take a big role in my campaign, and he didn’t even vote for me (having moved to Vancouver before the election) – but by being a friend, co-conspirator, advisor, and advocate when I started to get involved more seriously with community activism in New Westminster a decade ago. He was an early champion of the New Westminster Environmental Partners, and he was a tireless advocate for a more sustainable community, for better transportation infrastructure that protected our neighbourhoods, and for social justice in the City. He was a conduit to hooking me up with other people who believed in these things. He ran for election in the City, and never quite got over the top, but he made a huge difference in this City in the decade he lived here, evidenced by the “Who’s Who” of New Westminster Elite Undesirables® who trekked up to Grouse Mountain to celebrate his marriage.

When Matt met Mila a couple of years ago, there was a huge sigh amongst his friends (and apparently his family), as he found a whip-smart and down-to-earth counter to his sometimes pie-in-the-sky idealism, a calm voice to his endless excitement, and a ready retort to his occasional idiocy. The two of them make a fun and beautiful couple, and I wish them all the best as they start their new adventure in Cambridge (the one in Jolly ol’ England) where I think Jeremy Corbyn just found a supporter.

Finally, I took a short break from Sunday’s council preparation to attend the Massey Heights RA’s Hurrah. The RA President Jason Lesage took the photo at the top with Becky and I sporting the bedazzled paper hats being produced by kids at the Arts Council booth. It was good times and great weather at the top of New Westminster (WestBurnCo Park). Congrats #MVRA!

As usual, an update to things I have been doing in the community over the last week. Of course, this was Canada Week: A strange work week with two Mondays, two Fridays, and Canada Day in the middle.

Canada Day in New Westminster was long, hot, and full of events. I really should have left my Strava on to track the miles I covered on my bike during a full day, as I covered most of the streets of town trying to take it all in.

Canada Day in the Park is always a fun event, and this was actually my second chance to be on stage during the highlight of everyone’s day – speeches from elected types!

However, after all of that excitement, we continued the traditions of cutting the birthday cake, handing out maple cream cookies, and enjoying a picnic in the park. The Spray Park was in full swing, the picnic blankets were out, there were balloons and painted faces, and the tunes were great.

Speaking of great tunes, in the afternoon there was an impromptu performance by the Van Deca Choir christening the newest Pianos on the Street installation at the River Market.

This Piano was a fundraising project by Van Deca (who, despite their name, have a pretty strong New Westminster connection), and was decorated by the kids at Canuck Place. It is in tune and will be hanging out on the boardwalk for the summer. If you know how to play, drop by and throw the crowd a tune. If someone is playing a tune, take the time to stop and enjoy! Please, no wagering.

After enjoying a few tunes, I joined the crowds down at the Multicultural Festival put on the by the New West Philippine Festival Society, which was probably the biggest event yet held at Pier Park, with great turnout on the grass field to enjoy performances by cultural organizations from around the world – demonstrating the diverse cultures that make up this funny, eccentric, 148-year-old country of ours.

And, yes, there were a few speeches by elected types, but they were kept short and were immediately followed by coerced dancing by elected types, which the crowd seems to enjoy (see the link above for the embarrassing photos!)

I had enough free time in the afternoon to join a few friends for an impromptu game of Ultimate at Qayqayt field. This is a sport for which I have no talent, as it involves hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes. It didn’t help that the field was just a few degrees cooler than the surface of Venus.

But if I thought I was hot for our struggling Ultimaters, it was nothing compared the conditions for these guys:

Who were working for about 12 hours through the heat of the day without shade (except for the guy at the control deck, who I surmise must have been the boss). A long hot day out on the barge to bring us this:

Boom!

After a week of excitement stuffed into one Wednesday, I spent the weekend getting out of the smoke by visiting my Mum-in-Law on Saturna Island – as close to a vacation as I am going to get this summer! This gave me a relaxing Sunday to go through the Council package on the back deck, where I enjoyed this view…

Which unfortunately got a little less spectacular the closer we got to home…

Be safe out there folks, living in the middle of a campfire gets pretty old pretty fast.

Here is my update on activity of the last week.

We didn’t have an evening Council Meeting last Monday, but we did meet. There was a closed meeting and an open Committee of the Whole meeting. I’ll report on the CotW items when they come to a regular meeting and are on our regular agenda.

On Wednesday evening, I was honoured to visit the Van Dop Gallery where the New Westminster Youth Ambassadors were holding an event to thank their sponsors for a great season before they go and do things like graduate and get summer jobs and such.

I say honoured, because it has been really great getting to know there kids young adults adults over the last year or so. They have been at so many community events, helping out and being great ambassadors for their City, their School, and their generation. Recognizing that I am now an old person, I can even say I have seen some real development of the confidence and presentation of individual members. This is a great program that Lynn Radbourne has put together, with a small group of volunteers, a great group of local sponsors, and a fine selection of youth representatives.

Thursday evening the New Westminster chapter of Rotary International had their annual Installation of Officers meeting. I am not a Rotarian, but I have been to a few of their meetings for different reasons, and am always impressed by the impact this group has locally and internationally. The stories of their ongoing effort to eradicate polio (Africa is almost polio-free, and the entire world should be in this generation!) is just one example. I was happy to represent Council at their dinner, and thank them for the good work they do.

On Saturday, the Children’s Festival in Ryall Park in was a happening place. Being held at the Queensborough Community Centre, it was not only a great festival with music (including a funk-and-horn laden set by Dysfunktional, as pictured), booths, games, face painting, etc. etc., but the Spray Park was running, so hyperthermia was not on the menu. Even after burning up the funk.

Also Saturday, there was some sort of political thing, which you might be able to figure out by looking at this map on the wall:

As I said a few days ago, never too early to start planning.

Saturday was also Derby Day at the Royal City Curling Club. This was my first full-on Derby experience at the Club (I had seen practices over the years), and although the Main Event of the evening was a bit of a one-sided affair, it was a pretty entertaining night. The sport has it’s strangeness, and an abundance of tongue-in-cheek attitude, but you can recognize some incredible athletes and can really get engaged in the competition. Good times were had by all. The season is coming to an end, with the Championships on July 4th. You should check this stuff out.

On Sunday there was a Pop-up gallery at the New West Arts Council in Queens Park, where the paintings created in a rush by 100+ participants in Quest New West 2015 were on display. There were a wide variety of interpretations of the Pattullo Bridge on display, none more embarrassing than that presented by your team of elected officials:

Aside from these, there were some pretty amazing pieces as well, done by people who understand shape, form, colour, and which end of the paintbrush goes into the paint, so I suspect here will be another showing of this pop-up coming to New Westminster soon.

But with a huge package to review this week (seriously,  there were 1,189 pages of documents delivered to my inbox on Friday afternoon for discussion on Monday), that was all I got to on Sunday. There are fewer council meetings over the summer, so hopefully this is an anomaly, because I really wanted to sit around Queens Park in the sun and listen to bands playing tunes…

See you next week.

I have been loosely using the “Community” category of posts to make a brief mention of the things I have been doing around the community outside of Council Meetings. However, I am doing so many things these days that I never find the time to post a photo and write a short blurb, so I am going to try to create a fixed schedule. Every Monday or so I will try to post a brief summary of the previous week.

Last weekend was so busy with a celebration of Andree St. Martin’s retirement, the Qayqayt Howl, the EcoFest, and of course Quest New West that I had to dial life back a bit for the beginning of the week.

Wednesday I pinched-hit for Councillor McEvoy and chaired the Neighborhood Traffic Advisory Committee, and Thursday was Access Ability Advisory Committee. Minutes for these meetings will eventually hit the City Web Page.

Friday I swang by the Connaught Heights annual carnival after work. Not having any children, and therefore not having kids in the New West school system, it is cool to see the carnivals the PACs throw together (the Howl Last weekend, and not less than three this weekend!).

Saturday was the Season Closer and summer kick-off for New West Baseball (see pic above). It was a great spring season for NWB: the first ever (according to Coach and NWB Big Cheese Ron Sufferon) to not have a single game rained out! Yes, it has been that kind of spring. But no-one could prepare for Oh Canada sung by three City Councillors. That’s twice in two weeks I have been forced to sing into a microphone. I hope it will stop soon.

Sunday was Sapperton Day. This has always been one of my favourite one-day Street Fairs in New West. The weather was (as usual) perfect, and everything from the Pancake Breakfast to the stage performances were great. I really have to thank the Sapperton Merchants, Guy Ciprian, and all the volunteers for putting on a great show.

The highlight was, of course, the Red Tape Race, where 4-time (or is it 5-time?) champion Jonathan Cote was racing with the added weight of a new job title, and two new competitors (Councillor Mary Trentadue and Yours Truly) were not going to let him own the track. In the end, it was all elbows and suspicious line shifting that allowed the rookie Trentadue to take her first ever Red Tape Race, with the former champ in second and myself a distant third.

This was my third year racing in Quest New West, and once again I was on a team of bridesmaids. Anna, Tig, Andrew and I finished 2nd in our category in the inaugural event; Andrew, Tig ,Reena and I finished in the same spot last year; for this year, I joined a Committee for Questing: Mayor Cote, Councillor Trentadue and Trustee Slade-Kerr. We finished safely second in our category, which isn’t too bad for a bunch of paper-pushing policy wonks!

This is an incredibly fun event. Tej Kainth from Tourism New Westminster and her platoon of volunteers put on a great show. Two dozen businesses around town opened their doors to something like 120 sweaty Questers, and major sponsors like Douglas College, Wild Rice, Wesgroup, Tien Sher Group, and the Record helped make it all happen. From a participant point of view, it was a flawless organization.

We sweated, we cycled, we ran, and we laughed. Mostly we laughed. Crossing the finish line, we were too tired to stand for the group shot. Thanks New West!

Yes, I have been a little slow on updates here, but it has been a busy time. I actually had to send my Mom an e-mail, as updates here are the only sign she usually gets that I am alive.  I will try to get my update of last week’s Council Meeting before next week. Fortunately, we don’t have an evening meeting next week so that will hopefully help me get caught up!

In the meantime, I had a great day today down at the River Market, enjoying the last “winter season” Farmers Market of the year in decidedly non-wintery t-shirt weather, while talking to people about the Transportation and Transit Plebiscite, and reminding those who have not yet received their ballots how to make sure they get one (short version – go to the ElectionsBC website, or call 1-800-661-8683. No salesman will visit your home!).

While I was there, I also got to fill in my “Experience Card” for a great new organization in the Lower Mainland called “Kudoz”. The idea is to link people in a variety of work, volunteer, or hobby fields with a person with a traditional work barrier or disability, and give that person a learning experience, and see if that experience piques an interest in further learning. I’m not sure if any of their applicants think local government or committee work is interesting, but I’ll do my best to make it seem that way! Have an hour a month to share with someone, teaching them something while you do whatever it is you do? Send Kudoz an e-mail. 

They had great free lemonade, and it was definitely a free lemonade kind of day.

Finally got around to dropping those ballots in the mail on Saturday. Yes, I voted yes, and if you are wondering why here are a few posts that should explain my position:

My 1,500-word Case.

A vision for the future of the Region, based on how we built the region we all seem to love so much.

On hating the process, but finding a way to make it positive.

On working with our regional neighbours to solve our unique local traffic problems.

On supporting a regional Plan, and asking why we can’t have nice things like Ontario?

Ahh… just go to my archives and search under “transportation”, there are more than 200 posts, all talking about the regional and local transportation mix, and solutions that need ot be found locally and regionally. A No vote provides no solutions, solves no problems, and makes no promise moving forward. I like solutions, I like regional collaboration, I like good public policy. The YES vote is obvious.