Tenth to the Fraser

From Kale 3 to 6 months

Excerpt from the

Street Traffic Bylaw No. 6027, 1991
Passed January 6, 1992

506. A person being the owner or occupier of real property shall remove snow, ice and rubbish from any sidewalk and foot path bordering that person’s real property and from the roof and other part of a structure adjacent to or abutting on any portion of the street, not later than 10:00 a.m. of the day
after the snow, ice or rubbish is deposited thereon.

From Kale 3 to 6 months

Labels: bylaws, children, city, civic duty, rants, snow

Although there are a lot of children in New Westminster, it can be hard for new parents and newcomers to our city to meet other parents and establish a network for social interaction and support. During the summer it's not so hard - just head out to your local park, the Queens Park spray park or Grimston Park wading pool and you'll find a ton of parents with their kids.

During the cold, wet winter months, it's more complicated. While there are a number of well-established local parenting groups, a lot of information isn't yet online, and most of our groups are not affiliated with well-known national programs. When Googling for information La Leche League, for example, parents have to turn to neighbouring municipalities because there is no representation in New West. 

Some local parents are stepping up to create the parenting communities they seek. Jen from The Arbolog, for example, has created a new Facebook group for parents in New Westminster to "swap, buy, sell, give away, chit chat, and compare notes."

As Jen wrote in an email to me today:

"The sad thing is there are hardly any parent type resources. I learned the closest La Leche League is deep dark Poco or into Vancouver, so other than the Family Place and the Mom's morning thing at Olivet Baptist I haven't found hardly any! I also look at www.yoyomama.ca a lot. Even though its sort of Vancouver-centric they do list NW a lot."

After our son Wesley was born, I attended the Public Health-sponsored Baby Talk program at Centennial Community Centre (Wednesdays, 1-3pm), for instance. The program is geared towards new parents (though it is mostly moms), and includes a speaker on a parenting-related topic and social time for parents and babies. I didn't meet a kindred spirit through the program, but it was great to check in with the public health nurses, weigh my baby and just plain get out of the house.

It was through Baby Talk that I learned West Coast College of Massage Therapy occasionally has free baby massage classes for parents. I can't find any information about it online, but if it interests you, give them a call and ask if/when they'll be offering it again. When I went, it was loads of fun. I've never seen so many babies in one room!

I also attended Olivet's Mom's Daybreak group a few times. I had a good time, and they have the HUGE bonus of providing free childcare for the duration. Unlike most other groups, the point is not for you to socialize your child, but rather to get a break and have some adult conversation! Olivet's group also has speakers and craft sessions to keep things interesting. They are not especially 'churchy', although when I attended they did include a short Bible story session. Despite this, I felt no obligation to attend the church or even be a Christian to participate.

The Family Services of Greater Vancouver site lists a bunch of parenting resources for our community. There are drop-in programs in pretty much every community centre for parents of kids under the age of six, plus some interesting specialized programs. Running quickly through the list, a lot of programs seem to be targeted at Aboriginal parents, and also single parents and teen parents.

Some programs that I haven't experienced personally, but which sound interesting are:

• Dads' drop-in at New West Family Place, Thursday nights, twice a week. I am always glad to see father-specific parenting programs.
• Toddler drop-in at Canada Games Pool Wednesday and Sunday mornings
• Motoring Munchkins at Queen's Park Arenex Wednesday and Fridays, described as 'a playground on steroids' in a recent Newsleader article 
• Community Kitchens, where parents can come to learn new recipes and meet new people

 As I was doing some research for this post, I came across the Tiny Tots Coupon Book again, which is like an Entertainment Book for parents of young children. Little did I know - the ladies behind the Tiny Tots book are based right here in New Westminster! You can buy the Tiny Tots Coupon Book at Dimpleskins and Pedagogy Toys in Sapperton.

Labels: children, city, dads, moms, parenting, Things to do

If you've been thinking about getting a pet, please first take a look at the New Westminster animal adoption site. The city's website says that the shelter is currently at double capacity and desperately needs to find homes for cats and other small animals like chinchillas and bunnies.

This high shelter rate places animals at an increased risk of illness and injury. It is critical that these animals are placed into good homes as soon as possible. Small animals such as rabbits and chinchillas are also available for adoption.

If Barack Obama can do it, you can too.

Labels: city, pets

If you've tried to put out a bag of weeds and leaves on garbage day lately, you'll have discovered that yard waste collection has ceased for the year here in New West.

If your leaves are piling up, you're in luck this week: the city will be collecting them for one week only this month , between Nov. 17-21. (and again for a week in December, from the 15th to19th). The city says to use labeled garbage cans or biodegradable paper bags (gold stars for you!).

Thou shalt not use plastic bags, lest NWEP smite thee.

Labels: city, compost, garbage, waste

Labels: city, history, photos

Reading the earlier posts on Lynda Fletcher-Gordon, it reminded me of my early teenage years growing up as a part of the engine of civic democracy.

When I was in Grade 7, I remember having a bit of a mishap, cracking my knee and spending about 3 weeks at home on the couch in front of the Christmas tree with my leg in a splint. One day in the midst of that, there was a phone call for me: I didn't want to move (understandably at that point, the splint on my leg was bigger than I was) but my aunt insisted that this is one call I wouldn't want to miss.

It was then-Mayor, Betty Toporowski, calling to ask me if I'd like to be on an advisory committee - one of several committees open to public and business involvement, run by city council and help to advise on policy issues, research and citizen interest in certain areas.

The previous summer, Dad and I had worked with Gunther - a neighbour who was a park planner at city hall (I'll always remember he lived in the tan-yellow house on 1st street with the owls on it) - to offer some input on the development of a wheelchair-accessible playground in Queens Park (across the street from my childhood home). He had seen me so many times as a little kid, wheeling from my house at 1st Street and 5th Avenue, up and over about 5 blocks to get to the only curb ramp up and into the park. I'm told that he championed this park idea, and so brought it to our family when it was time to make the big decision... and how many kids get to pick out the playground equipment for their own park? (I tell you, this did nothing to keep my budding ego in check.)

Apparently as a result of that, word got back to Mayor Toporowski about the collaboration with our family, and she put out the invitation to my parents to have them sit on the Special Services and Access Committee, advising issues of accessibility all over the city. Unbeknownst to me, they declined, stating that I was the expert and perhaps she should invite me instead. (!) So that day when I was stuck at home with my leg in a huge splint, I was the youngest city appointee in New Westminster's history - at the age of 12.

I marvel at this in hindsight, as an aunt of 2 teenagers and 4 little boys, how a room full of adults - our council mandate included 2 or 3 city councillors, the City Engineer, a rep from Parks and Rec, 4 New West citizens and the Engineering Department secretary - coped with a VERY chatty teenager in their midst... I'm not sure if I could have been so gracious if I were to be forced to do so with my almost-14-year-old nephew in such a formal setting.

But they did, and that experience remains one of the most formative in my life. I regularly attended the meetings, on the first tuesday of the month at City Hall. I had special permission from school to leave early, and the Engineering Department secretary, Betty, would call and arrange a Handy-dart to bring me down to City Hall (until I became too cool for the loser cruiser and started getting there on my own). I met lovely people like Martin Bowles, a gentleman who had had polio as a child and had spent his life doing volunteer and civic service, who was a true model of an advocate for people with disabilities to me.

Our work was measurable and rewarding: we directed the city to install audible crosswalk signals at major intersections for people who are visually impaired. We gave out awards to buildings and agencies in the city who made special effort to become more accessible, and directed City Engineering to upgrade curbs to ramps. We issued warnings and took complaints from people with access concerns on public land, and gave feedback to City departments like Parks and Recreation for how things could be made better. (Ever used the wheelchair change room at Canada Games pool? You're Welcome.)

I was able to work with and learn about politics at a very early age, and became familiar and interested in the electoral and governance process in a way that I'm not sure I would have otherwise. I learned a lot from the people I served with, but even more, I think that their enthusiastic (and patient) acceptance of me as I was in my early teen years gave me an enormous amount of confidence that has shaped the way I tackle obstacles to this day.

One of the things I am most proud of that I participated in was our effort to partner with then-BCTransit to increase the amount of accessible bus stops throughout the city. Back then, riding the bus was hit or miss for me, because only a very few of the bus stops were designated as accessible stops. When I brought this to the committee, we used our allocated funds that year to match BC Transit's funds so they could upgrade twice as many bus stops all over town - something that no other city was doing.

At the age of 16, I was the longest-serving member of the committee. I had worked with 5 city councillors, accepted an official proclaimation ("National Access Awareness Week"), and been in the paper a bazillion times. This is one of the brilliant things about New West - I remember my childhood, and particularly my experience on this Advisory Committee - with such a sense of volunteerism and cooperation that I see in New Westminster's people even today. I wouldn't say it's necessarily unique to our city, but it certainly does make it better.

So - my thanks to all who served with me and made me into the advocate I am today:
Betty Toporowski Lynda Fletcher-Gordon
Pat Connolly - City Engineer Helen Sparkes
Betty G. Martin Bowles
Casey Cook Gaby Gasztonyi
Betty McDonald ...and others whose names I can't remember!

So - citizens of New West. Don't just sit there and gripe about your city... volunteer on an Advisory Committee!

Labels: city

Council candidate Lynda Fletcher-Gordon has provided a link to a PDF file with some stats on homelessness in New Westminster. She and Jaimie McEvoy have been the candidates who have, in my opinion, placed the most emphasis on the issue in our city so far. 

Labels: city, homelessness, jaimie mcevoy, lynda fletcher-gordon, poverty, purpose society, research, statistics

New Westminster council candidate Betty McIntosh said she'd like to see the new South Fraser Perimeter Road completed to siphon off some of the traffic that now runs through New Westminster, which, as the geographical centre of the region, has a disproportionate number of vehicles travelling through it

"New Westminster is a compact, well-planned city with a large volume of transit users. We can work, live and play within our city boundaries," she said.

Lorrie Williams, also running in New Westminster, said the city could "easily become just the crossroad to other places" and it needs well-planned commuter and truck routes and cooperation with other municipalities to share the burden.

Labels: betty mcintosh, blair armitage, bob osterman, city, election, jaimie mcevoy, lorrie williams, lynda fletcher-gordon, matthew laird, politics, terrance owen, traffic, transit, vancouver sun, wayne wright