NWP mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong calls for sewer pipes to be removed from Columbia Street within a week; says “enough is enough.”

“Our downtown businesses have faced a tremendous amount of pressure with COVID and crime and safety issues. It\’s time for Metro Vancouver to step up and remove those pipes and move them to a location that will not disrupt the business operations of our local businesses any longer”

New Westminster (February 16, 2022): New West Progressives (NWP) mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong says “enough is enough.” And he’s calling on Metro Vancouver and New Westminster City Council to work together to relocate the piles of sewer pipes currently being stored all along Columbia Street in the downtown area within a week.

“Our downtown businesses have faced a tremendous amount of pressure with COVID and crime and safety issues. It\’s time for Metro Vancouver to step up and remove those pipes and move them to a location that will not disrupt the business operations of our local businesses any longer.

“These businesses have gone through enough already, and it looks like Columbia Street will be a construction zone for the next four or five months by the time the sewer project is completed. These delays are unacceptable given the disruption the project has already caused to many small businesses. In December 2020, Metro Vancouver repeatedly told our City Council they wanted to minimize and mitigate the impact this project would have on Columbia Street businesses. They should be held to that and move the pipes.”

“There’s no reason these sewer pipes cannot be gone within seven days to another storage location. It’s unfortunate Council didn’t push for a better location to store them during construction as part of the overall planning process. Council should also have insisted more vigorously that the project be completed within a clear timeframe and with reasonable limits to the impacts to our small businesses.

“A council led by the NWP would have insisted on more guarantees or firm commitments from Metro Vancouver. Our city has had to bear the brunt of this major construction project that benefits the region. The least that should have been insisted on was better mitigations of the impact to our local small businesses. A good step now would be for the pipes to be transported out to set the Columbia Street businesses free and welcome people back into the downtown core.

“If elected, I will ensure that all major projects like this Metro Vancouver project would have more favourable terms negotiated in advance, with a clear, set timeline to ensure the least amount of impact as possible to small businesses. If not, financial penalties should perhaps be considered as an incentive to get projects done without delay.

“At a minimum, if that hasn\’t already been offered or arranged, Metro Vancouver should be contributing to the Downtown New Westminster BIA if they are not prepared to move the sewer pipes at this point. When the Canada Line was under construction in Vancouver, the project proponents contributed financially to marketing campaigns to support the local businesses. They didn\’t provide direct compensation to the businesses, but they did provide contributions to the local BIA to help promote and advertise the business district during the construction.\”

The NWP was formed in the fall of 2017 in an effort to provide independent candidates the opportunity to work in collaboration to help bring balance and a develop a strong vision for the future of our city and school system. NWP is a diverse group of citizens who live, work and invest in our city and are committed to supporting a non-partisan approach to municipal politics. Committed to a core mission and set of values, NWP is a grassroots registered elector organization that is committed to ensuring the voice of average citizens and neighbourhoods is listened to at city hall and the school board.

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For more information: 

Kamron Bajwa – Campaign Manager
604-537-6955