WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2012
NEWS: Thieves torch $65,000 truck
PROFILE: Close encounters of bird kind
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Residents speak against proposed Enbridge pipelines By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Andrew Hudson/Houston Today
SPRING Fling
Tyler Maser flies off a bike jump at Jaimie Baxter Park on Friday. His friends were less impressed with the large yellow anarchy symbol someone spray-painted onto the bandstand across from the bike park, saying the graffiti was “pretty dumb.”
Five Houston residents spoke against the proposed Northern Gateway pipelines at federal review hearing held in Smithers last week. Of all the speakers, Sofia Eberman lives nearest to the route that Calgary-based energy company Enbridge has proposed to build twin pipelines carrying bitumen and condensate between Kitimat and the Alberta oil sands. “The proposed pipeline will be 500 metres away from my home and the idea of this suffocates me— it makes me sick,” Eberman told the three-person review panel. Eberman said that since 1975, she and her husband have lived about 25 km south of Houston in a home
“ “Oil spills are inevitable.”
- Carlie Kearns
they built along Buck Creek. Along with the four other Buck Flats residents who spoke at the hearings, Eberman says she draws water from Buck Creek and worries that an upstream oil spill will ruin it. Eberman said she remains unconvinced that Enbridge can engineer pipelines to withstand landslides and other disasters, noting that engineers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor thought it was prepared before a 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused it to melt down. See REVIEW on Page 2
Renos wrap up at Hillside Townhomes, start on Park Lane By Andrew Hudson Houston Today
Major home renovations are underway at more than fifty Houston townhomes. In September, Coquitlam-based Artisan Projects Inc. took over 32 twobedroom townhomes at the north end of
Nadina Avenue, along with 21 three-bedroom units on Park Lane. Houston project manager Doug Caya says Artisan’s renovations are going much more smoothly since they hired a professional property management company in March. “I think it gives a
“
“I think they’re the best units in Houston now.”
lot confi fid dence ffor the h future projects there,” Caya said. “We’re very lucky.” Lance Hamblin is
- Lance Hamblin the Houston property manager with Li-Car, the Fort-St. James company that has taken on the Artisan
townhomes. “I think they’re the best units in Houston now, and they’ll be better still,” Hamblin said. “We’re raising the bar a little bit.” Touring one of three of the Nadina Ave. townhomes that ready to rent this week, Hamblin pointed out the home’s several
improvements: new EnergyStar appliances, cabinets, laminate floors, windows, entry doors, new furnaces and re-insulated ceilings and crawlspaces. “I started managing these units a month ago and it’s been hair straight back ever since,” he said. Artisan has so far
invested about $1 million into the Nadina Ave. townhomes—a level of investment that Hamblin said the homes have not had since they were built in 1978. All 32 units are now rented, and further renovations will have to wait for turnover. See HOMES on Page 2