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JUNE 15, 2012 www.tricitynews.com
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Spotlight/30 Greenscene/34 Brian Minter/35 Sports/52
Sports gets a second look Teamwork urged to better utilize rec facilities By Gary McKenna THE TRI-CITY NEWS
If Port Coquitlam wants to increase participation in amateur athletics, the city, school district and local sports groups need to pool their resources and work together. That is the message from Mike Bowen, a former city councillor and chair of the new PoCo S p o r t s A l l i a n c e, a g roup he hopes will facilitate an increase in cooperation among the various stakeholders. “Spor ts is at a crossroads here,” he said. “Physical activity is at a crossroads. We can’t sit back and do what we have always done.” That does not necessarily mean spending millions of dollars to build shiny new sports facilities, he added. High-quality ice rinks, baseball diamonds and soccer fields already exist in the municipality, but are not utilized to their full capacity. “We need to use what we have now, b e t t e r, ” h e s a i d . “ W h e n yo u h ave multi-million dollar facilities that are not being used, why would you spend millions to build more?” One example Bowen notes, is the Port Coquitlam Recreation Complex. see A FOCUS, FOCUS, page 3
JANIS WARREN/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Realtors Jill Oudil, president of the Burnaby/New Westminster/Tri-City division of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, and Ray Harris, REBGV vice-president, used their contacts to call for help — and cash — from a mock jail cell set up at Coquitlam Centre mall on Wednesday as part of the Cops for Cancer fundraiser. Other “arrestees” included Derek Passaglia, principal of Glen elementary; Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart and Coun. Selina Robinson; and Al Boire of the Maillardville Residents’ Association. Organized by paramedic and Port Coquitlam resident Bob Lee, the annual Jail and Bail day collected about $15,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society through the “Awesome Foursome” — made up of Coquitlam RCMP’s Jen Goodings, Matt Berinbaum, Danick Nolet and Michael Murray — who are taking part in the Cops for Cancer Tour de Coast later this year.
Group promotes 3rd station Evergreen stop in PoMo would bring amenities By Sarah Payne THE TRI-CITY NEWS
A g ro u p o f Po r t Moody property owners wants a third Evergreen Line station in their
neighbourhood. The West Port Moody Property Owners Group, currently consisting of about two dozen property owners, says they have a plan for a privately-funded station near the bottom of the Clarke Road hill. “If we don’t get a stop there that whole sec-
tion of west Port Moody and Moody Centre isn’t going to get the chance to do what it can do,” said Jillian Hull, who represented the group as a delegation at Tuesday’s council meeting. Hull was joined by Urbanics Consultants president Philip Boname for the pitch
to council. About five years ago Urbanics worked with the Andres Wines owners on a detailed mixed-use development proposal for their property, but it was eventually shelved because of council’s concerns around the lack of infrastructure to support any significant
new development and the property’s proximity to heavy industry. In his presentation Boname said PoMo’s western edge has seen very little growth and suffers from a dire lack of city-owned facilities and community amenities like grocery stores, pharmacies and conve-
nience stores. “This offers the opportunity...to correct the imbalance of service and amenities that needs to be addressed and to give residents in the west the services that are sorely needed,” he added. see MORE MORE,, page 3