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Tank farm under fire
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THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND FRIDAY MAY 15, 2015
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LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
SEE PAGE 31
Bumped by development – again Seniors forced to move when their apartment blocks were set to be replaced by highrises
By Janaya Fuller-Evans
jfuller-evans@burnabynow.com
Just as his previous home in Metrotown was being torn down, Don Gorman received notice that he and his wife Eleanor would have to move. The couple had lived at 6579 Marlborough Ave. for 27 years when they were evicted just over a year ago.The rental apartment building was part of parcel of land being redeveloped for a highrise condo building. “My wife and I are seniors,” he told the NOW. “We’re sick and tired of moving around. I was born here.” The couple had to give up their pets when they moved into their new place, he added. Last month, Gorman received a notice stating the Metrotown apartment building they’d moved into had been sold and would also be redeveloped in the next year or two. “They said they wouldn’t be tearing it down and guess what? It’s going to be gone,” he said, adding they don’t know when they’ll have to move. Gorman, who is in his late 70s, works nights as a security guard and says he and his wife can afford to move again. But not everyone can, he pointed out. “I’m sure there’s lots of people that are getting kicked out of their places to make way for high, expensive condominiums,” he said. “I’m sure it’s happening to more than
ON THE MOVE Don and Eleanor Gorman were forced to move from this property at Marlborough and Dunblane avenues last year, as the owner is
redeveloping it for a highrise condo tower. Now they’ve received notice they’ll have to move from their current Metrotown apartment. PHOTO LARRY WRIGHT
just us.” Gorman has since joined the Burnaby chapter of Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) Canada, whose members are from low and moderate-income families. The Metrotown area is a particular problem, as many of the renters there currently
cannot afford the new condos being built, Murray Martin, another Acorn member, said. “At the meetings, a lot of the members are worried they’re not going to be living in Burnaby any longer,” he said. The City of Burnaby is not doing enough to protect rental stock, he added.
Recently, Coun. Colleen Jordan told the NOW the city’s hands are often tied when it comes to rental housing. “There is nothing the city has the authority to do that could stop an existing owner from redeveloping an existing building with Continued on page 4
‘None of us will ever be truly happy again’ Driver involved in fatal collision receives fine and a 20-month driving prohibition By Cayley Dobie
cdobie@burnabynow.com
A $1,000 fine and a 20-month driving prohibition – that’s the sentence a 47-yearold Burnaby man was given for his role in a fatal crash in 2011.
The Burnaby resident, who was in court Wednesday afternoon for his sentencing hearing, pled guilty to one count of driving without due care and attention, a charge under the Motor Vehicle Act. The charge stems from a collision that happened on April 19, 2011, when the cement truck Mohammad Abdolmalekpoor
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was driving ran a red light at Holmes Street and East Columbia, striking a compact car travelling east on Columbia Street, sending it through the cement barrier at the bottom of Holmes Street and into Hume Park below.The driver, 26-year-old Mark Holmes, died at the scene. Tracy Demears, Holmes’ mother-in-law,
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attended the sentencing hearing with her daughter Kim, Holmes’ sister-in-law. After it was announced, she told the NOW she wasn’t surprised. “The prosecutor dropped the ball,” she said. “It was like postponement after postponement, that’s why he’s pleaded out, it’s got nothing to do with him coming forward Continued on page 9
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