Earlier today New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone stood in front of a crowd of supporters at a privately-owned casino in Queensborough and delivered his first ‘State of the City’ address. Interestingly, the event took place at a venue owned by Gateway Casinos, rather than one of the multiple city-owned properties scattered throughout the city.
Guests were asked to pay $43.93 a head to hear His Worseship extol the virtues of his new Community First government. Johnstone allowed only 15 minutes for a question and answer session from the paid guests. It is unclear as to whether any complimentary tickets for this event were made available (to support equity, diversity and inclusion) to low-income residents who may not be in a position to pay the $44 fees.
As a public service, the NWP are offering a few alternate talking points to help provide a more fulsome picture of the state of our Royal City. In no particular order, they include:
- Earlier this year, by a vote of 5-2, Community First councillors implemented a record 6.4% property tax increase. They also rejected exploring what a budget would look like at 3.95% and putting a freeze on electricity rates in 2023.
- Council approved 5-2 moving forward with shutting down the cherished Queen’s Park Petting Zoo and replacing it with a half million dollar space that will incorporate a mushroom wall and an insect farm.
- When the City of White Rock lost their pier in a windstorm, the Mayor committed to replacing it within a year – and he did. In New Westminster, a large chunk of the eastern part of our Pier Park burned down in 2020 and there still isn’t a shovel in the ground yet to rebuild it.
- A motion to set up a new Crime and Safety Committee in New Westminster was voted down 5-2, with all Community First reps voting against it. Meanwhile, crime and public disorder continues to get worse on our streets.
- Community First voted down a motion 5-2 requesting that the Mayor write a letter to the Premier asking for significantly more funding to construct new mental health care facilities in the Lower Mainland.
- Despite numerous attempts by the NWP to save the Royal City Moniker, Community First is forging ahead with a new rebranding process – with costs yet to be determined!
- An attempt to save the Centennial Community Center building and repurpose it was defeated 5-2 by Community First.
- An attempt to initiate a Snow Summit to find out why the region’s transportation system shut down in a mild snow storm in November 2022 was defeated 5-2, without so much as a minute of debate!
- We still don’t have access to pleasure craft moorage on our downtown waterfront as Community First voted against every attempt at setting it up.
- The City’s Strategic Plan did not get unanimous support as Community First was unable to accept even a small amendment to include a reference to the 22nd Street SkyTrain planning process in Connaught Heights.
- Community First unsuccessfully made an attempt to limit elected officials to bringing forward only one motion per council meeting.
- A plan to review our six year old tree removal by-law for its effectiveness was shot down 5-2 by Community First
- Our attempts to immediately allocate funding for a new artificial turf field in Queensborough was soundly defeated.
- An attempt to include the public in a staff led consultation regarding the future of our City committees was defeated 4-3. Only Councillors Fontaine, Minhas and Community First representative Nadine Nakagawa were in favour of involving the public.
- While Council touts how much they have done to support renters in the past 8 years…the Record newspaper just reported that “among mid-size markets, New Westminster staked its claim as the fourth-most-expensive rental market in B.C. and 13th in Canada for purpose-built and condo rental apartments”.
It is unlikely any of the talking points listed above were highlighted by our Mayor in his address to key supporters. But there is always next year! Hope springs eternal.