NEWS 3
CITY 5
Evicted with nowhere to go
Meet city’s newest millionaire
COMMUNITY 11
Matsuri festival returns FOR THE BEST LOCAL
COVERAGE WEDNESDAY AUGUST 31, 2016
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
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HOUSING
Process unfair, says group Renters should have been consulted first in Metrotown redevelopment By Tereza Verenca
editorial@burnabynow.com
A housing advocacy group is criticizing the City of Burnaby’s public consultation process around its Metrotown development plan update, calling it “inadequate” and “ill-conceived.” Members of B.C.’s Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) voiced their concerns at a press conference on Monday. At issue is the plan, which has existed since 1977, and if updated, could see a number of buildings in the Metrotown area demolished to make way for new highrises (also known as demovictions). ACORN is arguing the first phase of the public consultation process, which started in June and wraps up today, did Continued on page 4
SPEAKING OUT Michael Blais and Elena Tolkaeheva, both members of ACORN, were part of the press conference on Monday that criticized the City of Burnaby’s handling of the Metrotown redevelopment plan. They say the city didn’t properly consult with residents of the area who are now being affected by demovictions. PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR
NEWS
Fate of bears in city residents’ hands
Mother bear and cubs feeding on fruit trees, food waste and roaming around Burnaby Lake By Cornelia Naylor
cnaylor@burnabynow.com
The fate of a mother bear and her cubs foraging near Burnaby Lake will depend on how well residents in the area secure their food waste and other attractants. “The biggest thing to make sure that they’re not going to get to that place
where they have to be trapped and destroyed is to just make sure that everyone’s doing their part in controlling attractants,” conservation officer Shawn McNaughton told the NOW. He said the sow and cubs have been on the B.C. Conservation Officer Service’s radar since late July, after a
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number of reports the bears were getting into backyards in the area between Lougheed Highway and the west end of Burnaby Lake. After setting a trap and talking to neighbours about controlling attractants, however, encounters with the bruins appeared to taper off. “I kind of got some of the main attractant under con-
trol,” McNaughton said. “There were a few properties that were having trouble.There was one large fruit tree in a backyard as well as a few people just weren’t securing their garbage.They just had them by the side of their house.” But the bears made a reappearance last Thursday. Caroline Stokes encoun-
tered them as she and her nine-year-old son were driving near the end of Piper Drive ready to take a walk around Burnaby Lake. “Just as I was about to turn around the roundabout thing right at the bottom of Piper, the bears ran out,” she said. “The mother bear stopped and then charged at the car. Fortunately it didn’t
do much else.” After the bears wandered away, Stokes and her son got out and warned people to get out of the area. “There was a lot of people, a lot of people playing Pokémon GO,” she said. “I don’t know how they missed it.” Continued on page 10
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