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April 28, 2010
PoCo’s Karen Madill will be taking her football official’s whistle to Sweden to officiate a world championship this summer.
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Your source for local news, sports, weather and entertainment. www.thenownews.com
Homeless numbers down
City has questions for Metro
How it would work, who would do what and which governing body would take precedence are just a few of the questions Coquitlam wants answered before any progress is made on the regional growth strategy. The city’s land use and economic development committee voted to defer sending any amendments or recommendations to Metro Vancouver until the committee’s next meeting on May 10. In the meantime, however, staff will be tasked with addressing the latest round of concerns coming from the committee and council: how a dispute between a member municipality and Metro Vancouver would play out and whether land-use decisions will be made in a collaborative way or using a more centralized approach. City manager Peter Steblin said Monday that while Coquitlam agrees with the general vision of the draft document — encouraging compact communities, for example — the city is concerned with how decisions made at the regional level would affect individual municipalities. “Where we differ, and where we have some very significant concerns, is how they are implemented. We believe there may be a host of unintended consequences in the implementation of those goals if they’re not done very sensitively and very wisely,” he said. Monday’s talks relate to the region-wide effort to update the livable region strategic plan, which was first drafted in 1996. That document has long been referred to by some on council as an arbitrary agreement with few legislative powers. However, how and whether those powers will shift in the CONT. ON PAGE 3, see OTHER.
Stories by John Kurucz jkurucz@thenownews.com
Paul vanPeenen/NOW
MARKING 100 YEARS: David Spence, treasurer of the Port Moody Commemorative Society, displays some naval artifacts in preparation for weekend celebrations honouring the centennial of the Canadian Navy. Several events are planned, including a Battle of the Atlantic dinner and a parade through Moody Centre. See story, Page 8.
The Tri-Cities Cold/Wet Weather Mat Program recorded its most successful year to date, according to figures released to the city on Monday. Forty-five homeless people either found housing or entered detox centres between November 2009 and April 1, 2010, despite the fact that overall shelter usage numbers were down from last season. “This was the third year of our shelter program, and it’s the highest number of success stories in all three years,” said Rob Thiessen, director of the Hope For Freedom Society. “Because it’s such a low number of people to draw from, the success percentage goes up exponentially.” March 31 represented the end of this year’s instalment of the mat program, which sees homeless people temporarily housed at night at churches throughout the Tri-Cities between November and March. A total of 144 clients — 124 men and 20 women — accessed the service this year, representing a marked drop from the 447 people who used the program one year ago. A mild winter and a surge in Vancouver-based shelter beds have been attributed as primary reasons for the decline, along with the fact that society workers have now been working with the local homeless population for four consecutive winters. “We’ve established the contacts we need with the resources and other service providers. We’ve got a system in place and it’s really starting to benefit the homeless populations — that’s the bottom line,” Thiessen said. “Even with the political landscape, the way people generally feel about homelessness and doing something about it has changed pretty dramatically over the last four years.” On top of the shelter use statistics is the fact neither the city nor the society received any complaints about the service over the course of the last five months. “If you look back to a few years ago, there was some ugliness at the beginning. But the bottom line is that it’s turned out really well because it really did make people aware of what’s going on,” Thiessen said. “All three cities are engaged where they weren’t before. You’ve got two police departments engaged where they weren’t necessarily before. The bylaw officers co-operate and CONTINUED ON PAGE 3, see CITY COOL TO SHIPPING.
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Lincoln Centre, Coquitlam
Unit 215 - 3030 Lincoln Ave.
one block east of Coquitlam Centre