TEACHERS
34th Como Lake Relays a no-go due to strife in B.C. public schools. See page 3
THE FRIDAY
APRIL 27, 2012
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS The NDP & the 1990s
Baseball & Shakespeare
SEE FACE TO FACE, PAGE 11
SEE THINGS-TO-DO GUIDE, PAGE 20
www.tricitynews.com
INSIDE
Letters/12 Tri-City Spotlight/25 Community Calendar/31 Sports/54
A gamble in budget Budget assumes SD43 will receive $3.1M hold-back funding next year By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
DIANE STRANDBERG/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Zachary Chapman, 13, Jessie Smith-Manchip, 15, and Aaron Cunningham, 12, in front of the Port Coquitlam youth centre, say they are looking forward to the upcoming Skate Jam at PoCo’s Railside Park on May 6 to wrap up Youth Week. For details of Youth Week events, see story on page 17.
More teachers, more counsellors and extra support for programs of choice were approved Tuesday as the TriCities’ board of education passed its richest budget in recent history. School District 43 will spend $269.9 million to run classes next year, up from $265.1 million this year. The basic operating budget doesn’t even include $3.1 million in extra funding for class size and composition i m p rove m e n t s t h at has yet to be allocated
and $2.4 million to support vulnerable kids in schools with counsellors, youth workers and other programs. The budget was unanimously passed at a regular board meeting Tuesday with little comment — a far cry from previous years, when trustees also sent Victoria a “needs” budget listing things they would like to have but couldn’t afford. A proposal to hire a fine arts co-ordinator — as requested by music teachers earlier this year — was, however, voted down after chair Melissa Hyndes, a Port Moody trustee, pointed out that making 11thhour change to the budget would upset other groups that also wanted co-ordinators. see SOME SO CASH, C S , page g 8
Million-dollar renovation planned when library moves Other depts. will move into space By Janis Warren THE TRI-CITY NEWS
The cost to renovate the space currently occupied by Coquitlam Public Library’s City
Centre branch after it moves this fall has prompted a catalogue of complaints from city council. On Monday, councilin-committee voiced its dismay over the $1-million price tag to remodel the 11,000 sq. ft. groundfloor area. According
to the plans, an interdepartmental committee and a workspace planning consultant are recommending the following changes: • relocating city engineering and public works staff to the library, with 2,200 sq. ft. to be temporarily used
by the RCMP and, later, city archives; • combining community planning with the planning and development services department on the first floor; • and placing parks and recreation staff currently working out of 640 Poirier St. and the
Innovation Centre (next to Evergreen Cultural Centre) in the former community planning offices. Deputy city manager John DuMont told councillors 10 RCMP forensic identification section members and dog handlers will move into the
old library to ease pressure at the detachment, which is also crammed. In five years, when B.C. Mounties build a new headquarters for integrated members in Surrey, they would relocate there. Kathy Reinheimer, Coquitlam’s manager
of parks and facilities, told council-in-committee that some areas of city hall, which was built in 1998, are bursting: Storage rooms have been turned into cubicles and cabinets are in the hallways. see FINAL $, $, page 4