RemembeRing mandela
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Ottawa’s pipeline push
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cORnish canada’s athlete Of yeaR
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wednesday
December 11 2013 www.newwestnewsleader.com
love C H R IS
it’s the holiday season, so it’s time to bring on the love. see Page a13 IN SI D
E: Ho w to ha ve a ha ppy
TMAS
- an d sa fe ho lid ay
| Lo ca l
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m ag ic
City agrees to recycling change Residents will no longer be able to put glass to curb Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
rob newell/newsleaDer
Vali marling, anvil centre’s general manager, is joined by blair fryer, the city’s communications and economic development manager and Ralph heard of pcl construction in the theatre of the anvil centre during a tour of the facility on friday.
Anvil Centre starts to take shape Already 2014 bookings being made for conference centre Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
As Christmas approaches, the atrium of Downtown New Westminster’s Anvil Centre is a concrete canyon flanked by glass, girders and grand staircases. It’s filled with construction equipment and scaffolding as hardhatted workers scurry around the site in their steel-toed boots.
It isn’t quite Santa’s workshop at Eighth and Columbia, although the weather had a North-Pole feel to it as local media toured the site Friday. However, it will be another six months or so before it is unwrapped for everyone to see and use. Although it’s bare bones right now, the “Wow Factor” seems to be already there. At the main entrance, running from the front of the building to the back is an area that’s been nicknamed “the canyon” for the way
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the narrow opening soars 60 feet and has a wall on one side and three cylindrical columns on the other that all lean at an 11-degree angle. It wasn’t yet visible on the tour, but once complete, there will be a skylight at the top that will fill the area with natural light. Bringing the outside in has always been a talking point when the city has discussed the design of the Anvil Centre. And to that end, the front of the building features four floors of glass facing a southern exposure that
leaves the entrance awash in natural light, and offers an up-close look at what’s happening on Columbia Street. Still to come is the Carrara marble which will cover the atrium floor and the staircases. The main floor will hold the centre’s 10,000-square-foot convention space that can accommodate up to 725 for a conference or 500 for a banquet. It can also be subdivided into six smaller spaces. please see city, a3
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New Westminster council has reluctantly relinquished its recycling program to Multi Material BC. They did so to prevent taxpayers from paying double for recycling, although Coun. Chuck Puchmayr predicts they’ll still pay more than they did previously. MMBC is an industry organization set up by the provincial government to take charge of blue box pick-up next May. It will be responsible for collecting and recycling all packaging and printed paper, but will not collect glass bottles. City council did not vote to join the program in September, and after the Union of B.C. Municipalities gave overwhelming support to the city’s resolution opposing it, some solutions were sought. “We really didn’t get very far,” said Puchmayr. So, with a Nov. 30 deadline looming, council held an emergency meeting the day before and voted to join the controversial program. see ProGram, a8