New Westminster residents receiving their electricity bills this week will get a special little insert featuring none other than His Worship Wayne Wright cajoling us to take action and join Team Power Smart, and reduce our electricity consumption by 10%.
Most BC Hydro customers have already been asked to do the same, but those of us here in New West with our quirky independent utility department haven’t yet received the usual BC Hydro mailouts. As an incentive to BC Hydro customers, they are eligible for a $75 rebate if they commit …

There are as many ways to deal with your child’s excrement as there are stars in the sky. Talking to ‘pros’ about cloth diapers helps you narrow your choices! Here are some tips for newbies to help get you started with cloth diapers.

For over three years, New Westminster Environmental Partners has been the voice of sustainable living and development in New Westminster. As a founder of the group, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished in such a short time. To continue with this agenda, NWEP has incorporated as a non-profit society, opening new doors to expand its work.
With this in mind, we’re very excited to announce our first AGM on Tuesday, October 13th in the New Westminster Library auditorium. We’re even more excited to announce our keynote speaker for …

Food security is a buzzword right now in the media, governments and also academia, however, many community members are still confused about what it means. Simply put, it means no one goes to bed hungry. It is important, though, that the food we consume is both nutritious and local.

With nearly 3.5 million metric tonnes of garbage being produced in Metro Vancouver every year, waste management is one of the largest environmental concerns facing the Lower Mainland and a political hot potato that many politicians would rather transfer to a neighbouring municipality (or nation) than face head on.

New automated garbage collection trucks will be rolling down city streets in spring 2010. The City of New Westminster has ordered three new automated collection vehicles, following council’s approval of a plan to switch to state-of-the-art automated collection throughout the City. The expected delivery date for the new trucks is March 2010. The vehicles will be used to collect both garbage and Clean Green materials.

The City of New Westminster has secured nearly $22 million in funding under the Build Canada Fund, administered by the federal government and Province of British Columbia. Projects earmarked for funding include the Westminster Pier Park ($8.3 million from each level of government) and streets and sidewalk revitalization ($2.66 million from each level of government).

About a year ago, my friend Briana sent me a link to an interesting proposal. She knew I was an active bread baker (and still am, although my production has slowed with the hot summer months) and she felt I would be interested in the Urban Grains Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for grain. The Vancouver Grain CSA started by Martin and Ayla Twigg is simple – spurned on by the ever-popular 100 Mile Diet, Martin and Ayla researched, found, and planned a way to live in Vancouver and eat local …

As a former smoker I am just beginning to realize the impact that smoking has on the environment. Environmentalists are all over plastic water drinking bottles, idling and pesticides. But never a whimper about butts, butts.

Change is a-comin’ for New West’s garbage pickup. Sadly, it’s not text-message reminders on garbage day (I always forget!). Starting next year, New Westminster will begin replacing our aging fleet of garbage trucks with automated trash pickup – and potentially also begin integrating a kitchen waste collection program.
Trash, and what to do with it, is of great concern right now in the Lower Mainland as a whole. It’s not just a question of whether to bury it, burn it, or truck it to the United States. It’s a question of how …

Admittedly, I’m a little biased. I was recently appointed as the market manager for the Royal City Farmers’ Market, but I am so excited about the market’s reopening coming up!
The second incarnation of the Royal City Farmers’ Market is about to kick off June 25th with a special “Welcome to Summer Vacation” market, featuring kids’ activities including toys and crafts, a magician, face painting, and a special appearance by Mayor Wayne Wright who will start the market season off with a bang! The market runs June 25 to October 8 …

Some time ago, I was part of meetings in the library, at pubs and shops in town and in the Parks office on 8th street, all with the common purpose of establishing an operating Community Garden project and society for the “mainland” of New Westminster. While Queensborough has had a successful garden operating for a few years now, the many gardeners in New Westminster that would like to get that soil under the nails feeling and yet they have no space available for their work. With one of the highest rental rates …

The Garden Nerd series will look at gardening issues in New Westminster. Suggestions for topics, guest submissions, and questions are all welcome. We’ll try and address it all! You can find other posts, as they are added, by clicking here.
This past week I popped out to my favourite seed store, West Coast Seeds, and picked up 225,000 mixed seeds in a blend called “Pacific Northwest”. It contains a mix of 17 different annuals and perennials, and all of the plants are indigenious to BC and our zone. They are also …

Our family is not as green as we’d like to be, but little by little we’re trying to change our habits. We’ve dug up our front garden and filled it with herbs, lettuce, strawberries, brussels sprouts, tomatoes and beans. We try to turn off the lights in empty rooms and don’t run the tap when brushing. We compost and we recycle. And now, we have a clothesline.  
A few weeks ago, Will came home with a couple of metal poles salvaged from a discarded chain link fence on the …

Image by janusz l via Flickr

New Westminster Residents affected by the closure of the Pattullo Bridge last January will no doubt know what is coming as Translink closed the bridge again this season for a significant overhaul of the paved surfaces. Depending on where in the city you reside, festering traffic jams or placid car free streets resulted from the last bridge shut down, caused by a fire set by a transient, that spread to a wooden flex-brace structure. Areas around 20th st. and Queensborough had a nightmare on their …

 
New Westminster is working on a new sustainable development plan for our downtown area thanks to a $136,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities‘ Green Municipal Fund. 
The plan will guide development in a proactive manner by identifying policies and implementation strategies to ensure sustainable growth of the downtown as a high quality, liveable, transit-oriented regional town centre.
The plan will:

Review land use/zoning policies
Research innovative ways to provide public open space
Foster adaptive reuse of heritage resources
Identify options to mitigate the noise, air quality and connectivity issues relating to the regional goods movement …

I need to be clear that I am speaking on behalf of Jen Arbo, here, and not Tenth to the Fraser. Tenth to the Fraser does not endorse any particular candidate.
Most Tenth to the Fraser readers will recognize that I generally write about things like gardening, lifestyles, spa treatments, local businesses, and people who don’t shovel their sidewalk. I usually leave the politic-y stuff to Will and Briana because, well, I am definitely no expert. But with election fever at an all time high and me having cast my …

We’re kicking off a new series here at Tenth to the Fraser. The Garden Nerd series will look at gardening issues in New Westminster. Suggestions for topics, guest submissions, and questions are all welcome. We’ll try and address it all!  You can find other posts, as they are added, by clicking here. Today’s post is written by Ross Arbo, CHT. Ross spent 14 years as a landscaper on Vancouver’s West Side. He also happens to be married to Jen Arbo, a regular contributor, and occasionally authors posts over at the Arbolog.  
That Time of …

In my mailbox today, I got a little piece of paper that appears to be junk mail. Upon further inspection, it was a blurb from the Metro Vancouver letting me know they are seeking to amend their solid waste plan, by exporting our garbage to the United States. The Cache Creek landfill, long one of the Lower Mainland’s dumping grounds, is closing down in 2010 and the powers that be apparently went, “Huh. Well. What are we going to do wih all that garbage?”
So they have two proposals they want …

The Urban Wildlife Series will take a look at wildlife we share our city with. This is the first in a series. You can view the others, as they are added, by clicking here. 
 I have a skunk who lives in my neighbour’s yard, under an old garden shed. I’m told by another neighbour that “Suzy”and her family have lived in the area for almost ten years. Whether it’s the original Suzy or not, I doubt – their lifespan is about 6 years.  But a skunk makes her way around our …

The City of New West has received a grant from the feds to boost green transportation in the city. We’re already fairly well served by transit, and our small footprint makes New West more walkable than many places. The funds, which will be matched by the city, look like they will target awareness programs. 
The city is receiving a $120,000 grant from the federal government for environmentally-friendly transportation programs to get people out of their cars and encourage walking and cycling to local schools. The funding, matched by the city, also …