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CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Byelection good choice?
A little summer music
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JULY 12, 2013 www.tricitynews.com
INSIDE
Letters/A12 Tri-City Spotlight/A24 Elaine Golds/A25 Sports/A46
Could we pay for Van. poop? Cities battle over sewage plant costs By Jeff Nagel BLACK PRESS
DIANE STRANDBERG/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Coquitlam’s Djiba Camara (with his son, Noah, 8) has gathered a container of clothing, electronics and sports equipment to send back to his homeland, Guinea, in Africa, but needs help to pay for the shipping costs. He has some help from a shipping company but is now fundraising for the remainder of the costs. For more information, see article on page A20.
A push by Vancouver and North Shore civic politicians to spread the cost of a new Lions Gate sewage treatment plant onto the rest of Metro Vancouver is running into strong resistance in other parts of the region. The cost of the new treatment plant was originally planned at $400 million but is now estimated to be $500 million to $700 million. Unless there are huge contributions from the federal and provincial governments, North Shore and Vancouver residents face skyrocketing utility costs that could add hundreds of dollars to their annual bills. Under pressure from those municipalities to ease the hit to their taxpayers, Metro Vancouver administrators are contemplating changes to the cost-allocation formula that could sharply boost the costs to homeowners in areas such as the TriCities, Surrey and Langley. see TALK OF, page A17
PoMo park pay parking? City looks at trial run at Rocky Point By Jason Roessle THE TRI-CITY NEWS
What’s the buzz about backyard bees in PoCo, PoMo? See pg. A6
Pay parking — or, at least, a pay parking trial period — could be coming to Rocky Point Park. Port Moody councillors
voted Tuesday to request a staff report about a pay parking trial period in the popular park. Municipal staff had presented council with a suggested communications strategy for the planned move but at the committee of the whole meeting, many councillors said it wasn’t neces-
sary to spend $4,860 to learn what they already know. “All visitors will say, ‘No’ to pay parking. We’re wasting our efforts,” said Coun. Gerry Nuttall. “I question the whole consultation process. “If we recognize the problem, why not address it now?”
He suggested the city move straight into a trial period, and the idea found traction amongst the other councillors. As part of the unanimously approved motion (Coun. Diana Dilworth was absent), staff’s report will reflect no charge for residents, a four-hour limit and using revenue
for community amenities and improvements. The three paid parking areas include the lot south of the Boathouse Restaurant (lot A), and B and E, which are on the north side of Murray Street, near the swimming pool and spray park. see COSTS OF, page A8