Royal City Record October 15 2014

Page 1

N E W

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014

W E S T M I N S T E R

INSIDE: Who are you calling a senior? Pgs. 15-22



NEWS,

SPORTS,

OPINION

&

ENTERTAINMENT

 www.royalcityrecord.com

All that remains

One year after a fire tore through a downtown New Westminster block, some tenants are still trying to rebuild and move on BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com

It’s been one year since a piece of New Westminster’s history was left in rubble after fire ripped through two heritage buildings on Columbia Street. When fire crews arrived at the E.L. Lewis Block about 3:45 a.m. on Oct. 10, 2013, they found a building completely engulfed in flames. By the time the blaze was extinguished hours later, the 1904 E.L. Lewis Block (also known as the Crescent Block) and the 1899 Hambley Block were in ruins. “The tenants we had in the stores, I feel so bad for them. They are the ones who took the brunt of it because they are down there creating a living for themselves,” said Terry Brine, who co-owns the E.L. Lewis property with Bill Lewis. “A lot have moved on.” Some of the tenants retired, while others relocated to other spaces. Brine and Lewis own the E.L. Lewis Block property, while Jim Chappell owned the Hambley Block. The fire exposed them to a whole new world of property ownership.

For photos of the fire last year, scan with Layar

Jennifer Gauthier/THE RECORD

Rubble is gone: The site of a Columbia Street fire last October has been cleared and stands vacant one year later. To date, the city has had only “very preliminary” discussions about the future of the site. “What a headache,” Brine sighed. “The loss is one thing, but the things that have to go on behind the scenes to straighten it out is a nightmare. It really is.” In addition to dealing with insurance companies, the property owners have had to get the site cleaned up – no small feat when heritage buildings containing asbestos are involved.

“The cleanup was a huge undertaking. The cleanup is completed on both sites. Jim just finished his. We had ours finished up a couple months ago,” Brine said. “Ours took about four months to finally get it cleared away. When the building went down it had some asbestos in it, very, very small amounts, but enough to determine that it was contaminated.”

Although heritage facades for buildings like the Trapp Block can be retained when redeveloped, that wasn’t in the cards for the Crescent or Hambley blocks. Nothing, not even a brick, could be salvaged from the E.L. Lewis Blocks. Everything had to be shipped to a special site in Alberta that deals with contaminated waste. ◗Fire Page 8

Doctors get poor grades in handwashing at RCH BY CORNELIA NAYLOR REPORTER editorial@royalcityrecord.com

Hand washing among health-care providers at Royal Columbian Hospital is up since two years ago, but doctors continue to lag significantly behind their colleagues, according to the latest report by

B.C.’s Provincial Hand Hygiene Working Group. Healthcare workers’ hands are the most common vehicle for the spread of potentially deadly infections – like C difficile and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) – around hospitals, according the B.C. Ministry of Health’s

Best Practices for Hand Hygiene. Hand cleaning is considered the best way to combat them. Since 2011/12, when Fraser Health first started reporting the results of handhygiene audits at its hospitals, compliance among Royal Columbian personnel has dipped as low as 45 per cent for some

Dr. David N Burdett

Wines, Affordable!

A headstart for your child.

Wine on your dinner table for less than your morning coffee...

THE WINE FACTORY 649 Front Street, New Westminster 604-540-8907 ■ www.winefactory.ca

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

◗Hands Page 4

EXPERIENCED DENTIST ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS

New West’s best kept secret We Make Great

quarters. In the latest audits, however – for the period between April 1 and June 19 – that number is up to 80 per cent – still two per cent below the provincial average and three per cent below the average for Fraser Health, but up.

2013

French FrenchImmersion Immersion Opening a New Montessori Now taking registration Preschool Classroom in Regular fee waived if registration is done l us EdithsMontessori.com Cadl ay! through website edithsmontessori.com September 2014! to

twitter .com/TheRecord

604-522-1586

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

❖ ❖ ❖

General Dentistry Crowns & Bridges Crown, Bridge & Dentures Implant Related Procedures

Phone 604-521-7633 www.drburdett.com Suite 403, 625 Fifth Avenue NewWestminster, BC *Please call for an appointment

(Farsi translator available)

facebook.com/RoyalCityRecord


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.