THE WEDNESDAY
JULY 30, 2014
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS
www.tricitynews.com
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Making music after stroke
A B.C. record for runner
SEE ARTS, PAGE 20
SEE SPORTS, PAGE 23
21,888 cookies – 76 dozen a week – and $60,000 later, Hazel Akai retires
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/10 Letters/11 A Good Read/17 Community Calendar/17
Lock out crooks in the heat Some victims of B&E’s have left windows open By Sarah Payne THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Don’t be tempted to leave your windows open to get relief from the blazing summer sunshine, Coquitlam Mounties are warning. A rash of residential break-ins in Port Coquitlam’s Woodland Acres neighbourhood (between Glen and Westwood parks) appears to be the work of an opportunistic thief. Of the seven break-ins reported to police, about half were accessed through open windows — and mostly occurred during the daytime on
weekdays. Other areas highlighted in the Coquitlam RCMP’s bi-weekly CompStat Alert include Burquitlam (Como Lake Avenue to Smith Avenue and from Emerson Street to Townley Street), where another four daytime residential break-ins were reported. Access was mainly through forced window entries into houses and basement suites. Coquitlam RCMP are recommending residents close and lock all windows, doors and patio doors when leaving the house — and when they’re at home sleeping — emphasizing that a window screen will not keep a burglar from getting inside. see PREP FOR, page 7
The high cost of living (here) By Janis Warren THE TRI-CITY NEWS
SARAH PAYNE/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
For the past 10 years, Port Coquitlam’s Hazel Akai has baked dozens and dozens — and dozens and dozens — of cookies each week to distribute in the downtown Vancouver office where she works, raising tens of thousands of dollars for charity. Now, she’s retiring. Read her story on page 3.
Does it cost too much to live in Coquitlam? According to a new city report, many residents — both owners and renters — are struggling to make ends meet. And the future doesn’t look much brighter, with rents and mortgages expected to soar as the population booms, especially near the Evergreen Line. In Coquitlam, a quarter of households — more than 11,420 of the city’s 41,245 homes — spend more than 30% of their in-
SANDY BURPEE come on housing and 9% — more than 3,500 households — allocate more than half of their earnings on accommodation. see HOUSING, page 7