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FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014
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◗ CRIME IN THE CITY
Broken in downtown
Vandalism frustrates business owners working to build a better downtown BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
The Saturday before Mother’s Day was a busy one for the owners of Brick & Mortar Living on Sixth Street, and they closed shop feeling good about the day. But that good feeling came to an end when they got a middle-of-the-night phone call from their alarm company saying the police were at their business. A vandal had smashed a city sign into their large storefront window. “We are working so hard to create a new New West, a new city and to have these hoodlums or whatever they are, drunk, running around, behaving badly and making it difficult; it’s kind of like one step forward, two steps back,” said Jennifer Pistone, who helps her daughters Julia Dewhurst and Emma Nash with the business. The incident made for an exhausting Mother’s Day for the ladies, who were at the shop from 2 to 5 a.m. waiting for the broken window to be temporarily boarded up.
For a video, scan with Layar
Busted: Jennifer Pistone, with pup Begbie and her daughters Julia Dewhurst, left, and Emma Nash, who own Brick & Mortar Living. The window at their store, which is just steps away from the New Westminster Police Department, was smashed by a vandal on Saturday night. Larry Wright/
THE RECORD
They opened the next day – an hour late – and tried to stay positive despite the costly headache. For Pistone, the episode has made her look around the downtown business district and see that other shops have been hit as well. “I see that Money Mart has a smashed window. I was told that at the bank today that the postal services place – that they had smashed windows,” Pistone said. “Once
you started talking about it, I’m thinking, ‘Is this a bloody epidemic?’” The vandalism means one more cost for small businesses, like Brick & Mortar, that already struggle to make ends meet and to compete against larger stores. “As far as cash, we don’t have a lot. People say, ‘Oh yes, the store is doing great,’ but I mean there’s debt, there’s so many expenses involved,” Pistone said. KendraJohnston,executivedirectorofthe
Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Area, said they aren’t getting more calls than usual about vandalism. “There are occasionally cases of vandalism, unfortunately, but from our communications we have not seen an increase,” she said. Still, she suggested that business owners are diligent, have insurance and lock up properly. ◗Vandalism Page 4
Lancers won’t be waltzing with the girls BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
The Royal Lancers won’t have to put away their dancing shoes just yet. City officials recently met with some of the Royal Lancers to discuss ways of modernizing the dances between the Lancers and girls in the May Queen suite at the May Day banquet.
“I think we have come to a nice compromise for it,” said Mayor Wayne Wright. “There will be some changes to modernize the dance and using the young lads – the knights – in a more significant way. I think that’s going to put that to bed for this year.” Last July, council approved a motion by Coun. Chuck Puchmayr to enter into discussions about modernizing the Royal
Lancers’ dance at the annual May Queen dinner. While some people support the long-standing tradition, Puchmayr said he’s hearing more and more criticisms about the dance and understands it makes some people uncomfortable. The Royal Lancers, which is comprised of men who have been active volunteers in the community and longtime residents, and girls in the May Queen Suite practise the
traditional English dances three times and then dance at the May Day banquet held on the evening of the festivities in Queen’s Park. Wright said a few changes will be introduced this year, including giving the Royal Knights more of a role at the banquet. Some people had expressed concerns that the ◗Lancers Page 4
Parade info and much more: Check out the official Hyack Festival program and section starting on pg. 15
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