Another great event for New Westminster is coming up on the rapidly changing 12th street area. Significant infrastructure upgrades and livability features have recently been installed and the merchants association sees a bright future ahead.
Merchants, associations and community groups will join with special events all along 12th street, providing a wide array of activities. Tenth to the Fraser will be there (just look outside the Village Coffee House).Come on out and be part of your New Westminster!
Sunday August 2nd. 11:30 to 4:00.
From the official announcement:
Set along 12th Street between 6th …

Smokers, here’s another reason to quit. The City of New Westminster is banning smoking in all city parks and trails to reduce the risk of fire in the summer heat. Charcoal and wood-burning BBQs are also a no-go, along with the obvious ban on open fires. Propane BBQs are still allowed, so long as they’re on raised, non-combustible surfaces.
If you see any signs of smoke or fire, call 9-1-1 immediately. Last Wednesday’s storm notwithstanding, it’s pretty dry out there. We don’t want another 1898.

This is a guest post by New Westminster city councillor Jonathan X. Cote. Upon hearing of City Caucus’ civic leaders car-free challenge, which dared Metro Vancouver mayors and councillors to give up their car keys for a week, we at Tenth to the Fraser asked New West City Hall if anyone here would take up the gauntlet. Only four civic leaders were willing to participate: Abbotsford Mayor George Peary, councillors Suzanne Anton in Vancouver and Brad West in Port Coquitlam, and of course our very own Jonathan Cote. Here’s Jonathan’s account of …

The Grimston Park playground consultation is chugging along. For those who are curious, two proposed design directions are now up on the web, and the Parks dept. is looking for feedback on which one most appeals to the community, as well as specific feedback on types of equipment we want to see.
It seems a few things have changed since the first consultation: now one of the options includes salvaged pieces of the old playground, possibly including the tower (roof removed to discourage late-night partiers and homeless sleepers) and the iconic …

One of the charming things about New Westminster that continually tickles my fancy is this habit of naming alleys. I walk a lot, and I like to explore neighbourhoods with my son as an afternoon outing. We frequently will duck down what appears to be an alley, only to discover amazing little pockets of houses, with perhaps one or maybe two actual front doors on some oddly little named “street” that in any other municipality, would simply be considered a lane way. It’s likely a testatment to the evolution of …

Waves Coffee House – 715 Columbia Street, New Westminster
Open Monday-Sunday (and holidays), 6am-12am
View Wireless Internet Cafes in New Westminster in a larger map
In a decision which must go down in history under the column “why didn’t we think of this before?” New Westminster’s first Waves Coffee House location opened June 1st in the first floor of the Westminster Trust Building, in the former Provincial Government Office space at the corner of Columbia and Begbie.

In a building full of small businesses, within spitting distance of newly remodeled Hyack Square, and at …

This is a guest post by Asifa, a confessed foodie, writing about one of her favourite restaurants in New Westminster. You can find Asifa on Twitter @asifa604.
Hello fellow New Westminster residents. As my first contribution to this blog, which is a great source of activities and city secrets for the New Royal City, I will be posting about my favorite thing: food.
Food is a journey to other cultures, passions and stories. I love a good story. They say, every life is a best seller; you just have to know how to …

Two contestant meetings have been organized by the Electoral District Association for the Conservative party; all candidate events for the upcoming Conservative Party nomination on July 25th.
The first event will be held between 6:30PM-8:30PM at the Justice Institute Theater, 715 McBride Boulevard, New Westminster. The second event will be Wednesday, July 15th between 6:30PM and 8:30PM in the MacDonald-Cartier Room of the Dogwood Pavilion, 624 Poirier Street, Coquitlam. As previously reported, four candidates are up for the nomination: Diana Dilworth of Port Moody, Mark Lea-McKeown of Coquitlam, Andy …

This time next year, Grimston Park could look substantially different.
The summer wading pool and winter toboggan hill will remain untouched, as will the lacrosse box and tennis courts. But the towering adventure playground with the plunging slides and the rattling drawbridge will be gone. So too the iconic tires cupping the border of the playground at the edge of the steep slope to the lacrosse box. Replacing these will be … well, we don’t know exactly what yet.
Today was the day of the first public consultation about the park. After the …

This is a guest post by Rob Jones, who shares some of his first impressions of New Westminster as a new resident of our city. You can read more from Rob on his blog, The Delete Bin, and also find him on Twitter @clippernolan.
There are elements of every city that makes it unique, makes them feel like home.
My experience with big-small towns is well established, even if I am a recent resident of New Westminster. Like New West, my hometown of Oakville Ontario was founded next to a busy waterway; …

This is a guest post from Glenn Gaetz from Liberation B.C. , an animal rights group that advocates for a vegan lifestyle and an end to all exploitation of animals. You can find Glenn on Twitter @liberationbc.
A new business opened on Canada Day in New Westminster: Karmavore, an all-vegan store. This is the metro Vancouver area’s only vegan shop (short-lived Vegetate on Robson was the first).

Why a vegan shop? The owners wanted to run a business that was entirely in line with their values. A portion of profits are donated to animal-friendly charities, …

Canadian Conservative officials from the New West-Coquitlam electoral district association report that four candidates will vie for the Conservative nomination in that riding including:
Lorraine Brett, New Westminster
Diana Dilworth, Port Moody
Mark Lea-McKeown, Coquitlam
Andy Wickey, Coquitlam
The Royal City’s own Lorraine Brett has been a former candidate for city councilor, Queens Park RA chair, long-time Hyack Committiee member and has been involved with a host of community initiatives:

Our region will benefit from a strong voice at the government table, and I want to be that voice. As a communications consultant, I know …

My 2009 goal of getting more involved in the community is going great. The #NewWest Tweetups have allowed me to meet some of New Westminster’s digital community and heading out to the Royal City Farmers Market gave me the opportunity to mingle with the offline community, as well as get some great local foodstuffs.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have also been helping out with the New Westminster Downtown Residents Association‘s Annual Neighbourhood BBQ, so wanted to invite you all to join us Thursday July 30th, especially any …

Note: Updated at 8 p.m. with new information from the Globe & Mail, CBC and Province websites.
New Westminster’s Canada Day celebrations took an upsetting turn towards the close of the Queen’s Park festivities when an elderly driver crashed a car into a park bench in the Rose Garden, injuring at least two people – one critically.
News reports about the injuries vary. CBC says four people were hurt in the crash, but the Globe & Mail and Province say only two. All sources agree that a couple in their sixties were …

Our family unit and other Tenth to the Fraser crew are heading out to Queen’s Park today, like so many other Royal City citizens. I have been attending Canada Day in this park almost my whole life. For a long time, I thought of it as a big town party just for me – and a thousand of my closest friends.
The boys and girls from town would stampede from one end of the park to the other (unsupervised – this was the 1980s) looking for flag pins, balloons, cookies, cake and …