THE WEDNESDAY
AUG. 7, 2013
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS
www.tricitynews.com
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Culture versus transit
Adanacs playoff action
SEE ARTS, PAGE 15
SEE SPORTS, PAGE 19
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/10 Letters/11 A Good Read/13 Community Calendar/14
DIANE STRANDBERG/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Lou Boisjoli, a technician with Xtreme Environmental Solutions, is on contract with School District 43, and many other agencies, to clean up graffiti. According to the district, graffiti is a growing problem as taggers use commercial-grade paint on school buildings and other infrastructure. Boisjoli uses concentrated chemicals to remove and neutralize the paint, then hoses off the residue with water.
Eagle eyes to stop vandals SD43 looks to reduce its repair costs By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
A campaign to encourage more eyes on schools and parks this summer has resulted in more Vandal Watch participants and a greater interest in protecting public property, says co-ordinator Tim Kelley. “We are looking for dog walkers and neighbours and people who use schools and parks to keep an eye out,” said Kelley, who runs a program for Port Coquitlam and School District 43 to deter vandalism. The ad campaign, which ran in The Tri-City News in June, resulted in new interest in the program that has run for many years to encourage people to report potential problems before they occur so security personnel can respond. (Kelley said people interested in participating should email him at vandalwatch@hotmail.com.) see REPAIRS COSTLY, page 5
Fish killed
That bit of rain that spruced up your lawn didn’t do Hyde Creek fish any favours. See story, page 3
Thieves go postal on Westwood Plateau Canada Post says it will test stronger boxes here By Gary McKenna THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart is calling on Canada Post to do a better job of securing community mailboxes after a major break-in over the weekend on Westwood Plateau. Police confirmed that approximately a dozen boxes were hit at Plateau and Parkway Boulevard
and investigators are still trying to determine exactly when the theft ocSTEWART curred and what was taken. Stewart told The TriCity News yesterday that more needs to be done to protect the mailboxes, which often contain personal information, such as IDs and credit cards, that can be used by identity thieves. “They have to make
these things secure or find another way to get people their mail,” he said. “We have the RCMP telling people not to leave valuables in their car, yet we are leaving valuables in a metal box on the side of the road... This isn’t an acceptable situation.” He added that the mail delivery system is twotiered, with older neighbourhoods in Coquitlam, Vancouver and Burnaby getting door-to-door service while newer areas rely on community mailboxes. Further exacerbating
Stewart’s frustrations is a recent Canada Post decision to charge developers $200 per home for the cost of installing community mailboxes. “It’s blatantly unfair,” he said. “One segment of the population gets to subsidize the folks in Vancouver and Burnaby.” Stewart wants to see stronger mailboxes as well as the use of some type of photographic or video surveillance. An alarm system would also help, he added. see MAILBOXES, page 6