WILL CHANGES MAKE EAST 8TH SAFER?
page
4
A CLOSER LOOK AT GREEN PLATFORM
page
6
VOLUNTEERING TOO MUCH?
page
12
WEDNESDAY
APRIL 10 2013 www.newwestnewsleader.com
A local dance troupe is staging debut of new dance style Saturday at The Columbia. See page A3
City to axe fees for rental housing Chris Bryan
editor@newwestnewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Tracey Opheim shows off the reply letter she received from St. James’s Palace after she sent an invitation to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge inviting them to New Westminster in 2014 to unveil the Wait for me Daddy statue that is to be erected in Hyack Square.
Local woman issues royal invitation Mario Bartel
photo@newwestnewsleader.com
Tracey Opheim wants to put the Royal back into the Royal City. So she’s invited the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit New Westminster in 2014, the year after the birth of their first child, to unveil the planned statue commemorating the famous “Wait For Me Daddy” wartime photo that is to be erected in Hyack Square. The reply, on crisp white stationery with the red crest of St. James’s Palace at the top, has given her a sliver of hope it could happen.
Or at least the encouragement that proper channels may pick up her flight of fancy and draft an official invitation. The last time members of the Royal Family visited New Westminster was 1983, when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip stopped by at the end of a tour of the West Coast of the United States. Opheim is no stranger to corresponding with the Royals. She’s authored letters of congratulations to various members of the family when they’ve achieved milestones or did something she admired ever
since she was first captivated by Princess Diana in the early 1980s. The replies, from various assistants and secretaries, fill a scrapbook. She’s even managed personal encounters on a few occasions, during Expo 86, the visit of Prince Charles, and his sons Harry and William, to Burnaby and Vancouver in 1998 and a private moment in the same hallway with Queen Elizabeth as she departed GM Place after dropping the puck before a Canucks game. “It’s nice to be able to get that close,” says Opheim, who was at the
Come Celebrate our 3rd Anniversary Join us April 12th for all of our anniversary festivities.
120-66 10th st, ColumbiA squAre PlAzA
arena that night to work in one of the private suites. Her invitation to Prince William and Kate Middleton started out as well wishes on the announcement of their royal pregnancy, but, she says, she thought that was “too boring.” She remembered reading about the “Wait For Me Daddy” photo in the NewsLeader, so she did a little research and shared that in her letter, as well as her own affection for New Westminster’s charms. “I was hoping to make it a little more interesting,” says Opheim. Please see ROYAL, A3
Free Financial review
when you book an appointment with one of our Financial Services Managers. 2 loCAtions: mention this Ad And • 6th And 6th reCeive A Free GiFt • 120-66 10th st ColumbiA squAre PlAzA
The City of New Westminster is considering chopping building permit fees in half for non-profit and secured market rental housing as one step to promoting housing affordability. The city’s draft Secured Market Rental Housing Policy, presented to city council in February, recommends reducing building permit fees 50 per cent for projects guaranteed as rental for 30 years. A staff report suggests taking it one step further to include non-profit housing. It cites the city’s Affordable Housing Strategy which encourages the city to use “financial tools and incentives to facilitate the development of nonprofit housing.” The city estimates one or two secured market rental housing developments may be approved in a given year, and that the loss of revenue to the city would be between $30,000 and $50,000 per project. It only anticipates a non-profit housing proposal every few years, and an estimated revenue loss of $10,000 to $20,000 in each case.