Author archive for: Briana Tomkinson
Downtown, Headline, Queensborough, Sapperton, Shopping, Uptown »
New Westminster may soon have the distinction of having the most large grocery stores per capita in the Lower Mainland. Wal-Mart has applied to open a new grocery supercentre in its Queensborough store. Thrifty Foods has just been announced as an anchor tenant in Sapperton’s coming Brewery District mixed-retail/residential complex next to SkyTrain and Royal Columbian Hospital. A new Safeway is coming to the Plaza 88 development at New Westminster SkyTrain. And of course, the River Market will open this summer as a newly food-focused destination with an as-yet-unnamed anchor grocer.
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Lifestyle, Tenth To The Fraser »
A year and a half since launching Tenth to the Fraser, we are often asked, “Where do you find the time? My pat answer is that we don’t have cable television.
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Arts & Culture, Featured, Lifestyle »
They say that those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it. But for some folks, the past isn’t just for remembering. It’s for re-enacting.
It’s well-known that New Westminster has a deep love for the historical. As one of the oldest settlements in B.C., we are reminded of times past in the brick storefronts on Columbia St., the names of our boulevards and avenues, and even in the surprise discoveries of forgotten cemeteries.
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Environment, Issues, NW in the news, New Westminster »
Last year New Westminster had the unfortunate honour of being the Lower Mainland community with the fewest participants in Earth Hour 2009. For one hour, people all around the world turn out their lights in a symbolic gesture to show awareness that there are limits to the Earth’s resources. New West, however, said, “Meh.”
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Downtown, Featured, Restaurants »
Setting a new standard for café quality in New Westminster, Quantum Deli and Bistro brings a little slice of Yaletown to our Downtown area (cat-sized dogs not included).
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Businesses, Downtown, Events, Featured, Lifestyle, Shopping »
One of my many nerdy pleasures is games. Before having kids, I loved to play both computer games and board games. I even played a little Magic: The Gathering with friends (and liked it!). So you can perhaps imagine the little frisson of fun I felt when I stumbled upon a new board game shop just a block off New Westminster’s bridal boulevard.
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Parenting, Schools, West End »
Strong Start, a provincially funded, free program for children under six and their parents, is expanding with a new afternoon program in New Westminster’s West End. The program is a gentle introduction to school for preschoolers through play-based learning.
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Parenting, Schools, West End »
The school district is currently gathering feedback on a series of “options” for where to locate New Westminster’s programs of choice (French Immersion and Montessori). The author of the report, Sandra Pace, has been very careful to say “I’m not making recommendations, I’m just presenting options.” Yet based on the information I saw at the Tweedsmuir presentation of Pace’s report, there are good reasons why this review is going on. It is dishonest for the district to ask parents to comment on all these “options” as though they are all equally viable.
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Issues, Schools »
Today I planned to take my kids up to Ready, Set, Learn at Tweedsmuir Elementary. Alas, I was led astray by bad information on an undated (and apparently stale) PDF on the School District website. I’m picking on the school district today, but this problem is endemic to New Westminster institutions.
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New Westminster, Parenting, Queensborough, Sapperton, Schools, West End »
A few times a week, I pack the kids across town from our home in the West End to Strong Start over at McBride Elementary in Sapperton. Wesley love, love, LOVES to go to “school” and I love, love, LOVE that it’s both free and fun for all of us.
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