BUSINESS 11
NEWS 3
Changing the face of Edmonds
Electoral reform gets kiboshed
COMMUNITY 17
Student up for top award Valentines Day C O N T E ST
S E E P G. 1 9 FO R D E TA I L S !
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2017
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
There’s more at Burnabynow.com
Crews battle house fire
The Burnaby Fire Department was called to a two-storey single-family home late Monday morning to fight a fire that flashed through the building’s basement walkout suite. By the time firefighters got to the house at 7038 Fielding Ct. off Bainbridge Drive just before noon, heavy smoke and flames were coming from the back of the building. Ten trucks and 33 firefighters were deployed and contained the blaze from the outside because of the intensity of the fire. “Definitely there will be some significant damage due to the fire event,” Deputy Fire Chief Chris Bowcock told the NOW. The owner of the house said he believed the fire was sparked by a faulty pump. – Cornelia Naylor
FIRE AND ICE: A Burnaby firefighter prepares to do battle against a house fire at 7038 Fielding Ct. that broke out in the home’s walkout basement suite just before noon on Monday. PHOTO CORNELIA NAYLOR
DEVELOPMENT
Should Metrotown be a ‘people’s downtown’?
Advocacy group is working to come up with an alternative plan that will save space for affordable housing Tereza Verenca
tverenca@burnabynow.com
The City of Burnaby has wrapped up the second phase of its community plan for Metrotown. Between Nov. 22, 2016 and Feb. 1, staff gathered public feedback on a draft of the Metrotown Down-
town Plan, which seeks to establish Metrotown as Burnaby’s downtown. The last phase will have staff compile a final document, to be presented to council sometime in March for approval. But one housing advocacy group hopes to sway the final decision.
Alliance Against Displacement, who oppose “demovictions” and say the construction of new condo towers will evict up to 6,000 low-income people, met last week to create an alternate plan, one they called the People’s Plan for Metrotown.The idea is to present it to council before it
RRSP DEADLINE MARCH 1 604-419-8888 • gffg.com/RRSP
greenlights the community plan. Some 35 community members attended the brainstorming session. “(They) were deeply concerned and troubled by the demovictions that are happening and afraid of being displaced,” said the organization’s Dave Diewert. “We
had residents there from the Silver (Avenue) buildings, who received these unofficial eviction notices.” Under the city’s tenant assistance plan, adopted in 2015, developers must give tenants three months’ notice and three months’ rental compensation, as well as offer interested tenants
units in the new development or other housing managed by the applicant. But Diewert said that’s not happening for some who moved in after the city approved the developer’s rezoning application. “So (they’re saying), ‘We’re only paying you one Continued on page 10
This is the year, Financial confidence
Investment and saving specials on now. Call or visit today to determine which choice is right for you.