New West Council - At a Glance - July 2019

It\’s been a busy time at New Westminster City Council over the last six months. Here are a few items that have caught our attention!

Council is currently controlled by politicians who all belong to the same political party. As of this spring, they voted unanimously 97% of the time.
The city’s cherished recycling depot located next to the Canada Games Pool is about to be closed down in 2020. Local residents are being told they can drive to Coquitlam as it takes only a few extra minutes to get there. This has upset many people and is clearly a decision that goes against our commitment to environmental stewardship. The city’s supervisor of solid waste and recycling said “the added five minutes’ drive time, if you are coming from somewhere further west of the depot, is probably not too cumbersome when you think of the new facility being able to accept far more items and being a one-stop shop rather than having to go to multiple locations.”
The two new towers being constructed on the city’s waterfront near Pier Park continue to disrupt the traffic flow and the worse is yet to come. There is word that Begbie Street may have to close to vehicular traffic for a much longer period of time than originally expected. If this were to transpire, it could have very negative ramifications for the small business owners who operate in the Riverside Market – and the local residents who support them.
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Once again city hall had a difficult time controlling spending. They proposed a general rate increase of 5.28% this year. This is well above the inflation rate and is not acknowledging that our pay cheques aren’t increasing anywhere near as quickly. The annual increase for water rates was 7% while sewer rates went up 12%.
After indicating there was not enough funds set aside to produce voter cards for the civic election, it would appear that pressure from organizations like the New West Progressives will result in a change come 2022. It would appear voter cards will be mailed out to all registered voters which will hopefully increase the voter participation rate.
Due to many resident complaints and a poor design concept, the city’s “Tim Horton’s Parklet” on 6^th Street needed to be completely revamped. Taxpayers had to foot the bill to construct Parklet 2.0 which has now removed all the patio seating and replaced it with cedar planter boxes and some shrubs. The jury is still out as to whether this will do the trick!
City Hall lawyers are in court to defend a rushed decision they made to arbitrarily downzone a number of stratified properties and convert them to rental. The initial by-law was so poorly written and lacked any meaningful consultation – local politicians were even forced to half-heartedly apologize for the mistake and start part of the process over again.
A federal election is looming and still no major commitments by senior levels of government to provide our city with infrastructure dollars to redevelop the Canada Games Pool. Let’s hope some of those funds come through which would help offset the cost a competitive 10-lane pool.
The Mayor and Council ran in the 2018 election last fall and knew what the compensation package was for elected officials. Shortly after they took the reigns of power, they hired an independent consultant who told them what they wanted to hear. Effective January 1^st, they all received a pay hike that will be funded by local ratepayers and business owners.
In June 2018, council forced residents to stay at city hall until the wee hours of the morning before they approved a temporary modular housing project in Queensborough. Residents were told the decision had to rammed through or the provincial government would not provide the necessary funding. The project was to be completed by March 2019. To date, there are still no shovels in the ground.