‘SHOP DOWNTOWN’ CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES
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PERILS OF AN ‘ENTITLEMENT STATE’
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YOUTH FESTIVAL LAUNCHES FRIDAY
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WEDNESDAY
OCTOBER 30 2013 www.newwestnewsleader.com
Sixth Avenue will be Zombie Avenue on Wednesday night. See Page A5
Big crowd at coal protest Jeff Nagel Black Press
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Lynn Quesnel visits the site of the downtown fire every day, hopeful she’ll be allowed in to see what she can salvage from her shop, Moody Beads.
Reality bites for burnt-out businesses ‘Everyone is operating in uncharted territory’ Mario Bartel
photo@newwestnewsleader.com
Reality is starting to sink in for some of the business owners burntout in the Downtown fire on Oct. 10. Rebuilding isn’t going to be easy. Nor is it going to happen quickly. Lynn Quesnel was walking her dog Norbert early that morning when she strolled by the fire scene. At first she wasn’t worried; her business, Moody Beads, was a few doors away from the conflagration
and firefighters seemed to be getting with the help of her husband Andy the upper hand. Guertin. Hours later she watched in She visits the site daily, hoping stunned silence as her shop was she’ll be able to get access to find buried under a pile of rubble when the fireproof safe in which she the Hamley Block, in which stored all the shop’s records she’d operated her store and whatever else she might for the past five years, was be able to salvage. demolished. Without those documents It was too damaged by fire and receipts, compiling and water to be left standing the information her safely. GERMIQUET insurance company needs More than two weeks later, to process her claim is a she’s still in shock. laborious, time-consuming “It’s like losing a child,” said task, comprised of using photos Quesnel, who operated the venture of inventory taken in 2009 and
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visualizing how the shop looked and where everything was before the fire. Victoria Lambert also lost all the records for her business, The Fat Paint Company, when both computers on which they were stored were irreparably damaged by water and smoke. As she and her accountant work to rebuild the books by contacting suppliers for their copies of receipts and dealers for invoices of future orders, as well as just trying to remember the values of everything in her shop, the clock is ticking. Please see ‘I NEED TO HEAR’, A3
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More than 200 people demonstrated at a rally in New Westminster Sunday to register their opposition to expanded exports of coal through Port Metro Vancouver. It came as Fraser Surrey Docks is expected to soon release the results of an environmental impact assessment ordered by the port authority to further address public concerns about the project. The terminal proposes to open a loading facility that would transfer coal coming by rail through White Rock and South Surrey to barges that would sail down the Fraser River and across the Strait of Georgia to Texada Island, where it would be transferred again to ocean-going ships. Protesters said they’re not satisfied with assurances from Fraser Surrey Docks that coal dust will be carefully controlled and won’t escape and pose a health risk. Many also oppose increased exports of U.S. thermal coal to Asia on grounds it will accelerate climate change. Please see SURREY, A3