Some of you may have noticed that it’s been a while since I last wrote on Tenth to the Fraser, though thankfully I have had Jen’s prolific contributions to carry the torch while I’ve been quiet. Sometimes I get quiet because life gets too busy to blog, and sometimes I just need a bit of space alone with my thoughts. I am coming to accept that it’s just the way it is: there is a time to blog, and a time to step away from the blog and just live your life.

It’s time for the sixth annual Light Up The Quay, a fun and friendly competition put on by the Quayside Community Board that helps increase donations to the winter food drive and encourages neighbours to duke it out for awards.

While my list of pie-in-the-sky wishes for our city includes a complete overhaul of our city’s animal services*, the reality is any city’s animal services department is going to be low on the priority list if the powers that be don’t get told it should be a priority.
Do you know how municipalities determine how important animal services are? In part, they use the data collected by the number of licenses purchased to tell them what kinds of dogs are living in the city and where those dogs are. (I’m saying …

Sonse Home Design is a store that offers so much tucked into a small space. It’s lovely having a shop open in uptown New Westminster that offers what she offers – from small gifts to furniture to art and accessories.

Christmas music is at the top of many minds, given that seasonal favourites seem to follow us wherever we go – work, school, the mall, and on and on. So, what I thought I’d do is list of some favourite Christmas anthems that, perhaps, you’ve never heard (or haven’t heard quite as often), as opposed to the ones you’re tired of.

Everyone has their shopping weakness, and mine is a well stocked pet boutique. Not the kind selling doggie strollers and puppy sweaters – although my pit bull does look cute in pink – but a place with knowledgeable staff, natural foods, and well-made equipment and toys.

Cadeaux Gifts in Sapperton never ceases to impress and entice. It is “a trendy boutique and gift store providing the best in essential indulgences” and is easily one of the Lower Mainland’s best-kept secrets.

Piccolo World Gifts is a small Sapperton storefront with a global worldview. Inside, you’ll find an assortment of bright, beautiful, and sometimes random treasures from around the world. It’s interesting enough on its own, but chatting with store owner Nancy Patrick brings a whole new appreciation to her collection.

Never heard of energy resiliency or energy transition planning?  Neither had I until a few weeks ago, however will become a growing topic of importance in New Westminster over the coming years.
New Westminster Environmental Partners (NWEP) would like to invite the public to learn more at a forum on Energy Resiliency and Energy Transition Planning on Monday December 5th. This forum will be preceded by the NWEP’s Annual General Meeting and election of directors for 2012. The AGM will start at 6:00 with the public forum presentations starting after 6:30pm. …

As the Christmas shopping season arrives with Black Friday in the US, I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than camping outside of a store in order to buy stuff. Except for shooting, trampling or pepper-spraying your fellow shoppers in order to get at said stuff, of which there were many reported instances this year.

The day Shelley Rothenberger came to sketch my portrait, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Like most of the subjects of the New West Artists Perfect Strangers show, I had never sat for a painter before. I was one of 25 New Westminster citizens, chosen to represent a broad cross-section of people, including the mayor, a local historian, and a barista. Each subject was randomly paired with a member of New West Artists, an upstart artist-run group supporting both career artists and emerging talent.

British Columbia tot pop stars Bobs & Lolo are coming to New Westminster for a free concert to kick off Royal City Centre’s Christmas activities this year.

A drug-addicted single mother of a 10-year-old girl trying and failing to hold her life together. A father of two, the sole breadwinner in the family, laid off from his job and desperate for work. Families like these struggle to scrape together money for groceries, let alone presents. As evidenced by the long lines at Metro Vancouver’s largest food bank here in New Westminster, many local families need help. They need you and me to step forward and offer it.

New Westminster author and nominee for the Governor General’s Literary Award JJ Lee will talk about his new book The Measure of a Man at the New Westminster Public Library on Thursday, December 1 at 7 pm.

With its fenced dog parks, beautiful green spaces, and riverside trails, New Westminster is a pretty good place to be a dog. That is, unless you have the misfortunate to be born with a big head, stocky body and short coat. If you resemble one of the “pit bull” or mastiff breeds targeted under the city’s animal control bylaw, you face a very different kind of lifestyle.

It’s been with a keen interest from the perspectives of both a New West kid and that of a Realtor I’ve watched a positive renewal of many a New Westminster neighbourhood. Everyone operating within the city, visiting, or just driving through, has made note of much change. A while ago I had the opportunity to sit down with Mayor Wayne Wright and chat about this growth. Today I’ll share a few thoughts from my perspectives and conclusions from that meeting.
As a New West kid I grew to know downtown as …

In an homage to ‘silly season’ shenanigans, we’re co-sponsoring an upcoming New Westminster all-candidates’ event that will feature a comic along with the candidates. We’ve teamed up again with NEXT New West and New Westminster Environmental Partners to co-host Fun & Politics, an non-traditional, informal all-candidates’ mixer aimed at encouraging younger voters to become more engaged in city politics.

Halloween is a magical time of year, when visibly normal neighbours often show their most macabre tendencies with their Halloween decorations. Sometimes, it’s pretty subtle – a single Jack O’ Lantern with a psychotic grin, for instance. But, other times, they come up with something original when it comes to Halloween decorations. So, with that in mind, and being something of a Halloween fan, I decided to venture forth to find out what some of your neighbours here in New West are up to, decoration-wise. Some things I found were kind of cute. Some were garish. Others, I have to say, really freaked me out.

Halloween is just around the corner, so here’s a handy dandy list of events for everyone (and we do mean everyone) in the family. The pets in your life will be snout over tail for the Petrifying Pooch Parade, the horror fan will scream with joy for the Haunted Hall and you can even get a chance to PUMP yourself up with a Halloween workout!

If you and your pet are into dressing up, this event is for you!

I have a confession. I have a Thrifty Foods problem. I grew up in Mill Bay BC (home of one of the first Thrifty Foods) so it holds a special place in my heart. I dream about the cheese scones and I wax philosophically about the marinated meats. It’s grocery nirvana.

A group of dedicated women from each of the twenty-three North American 30-Minute-Hit locations is participating in the KICK THE *&%! OUT OF CANCER event. They have pledged to “hit” (complete the kickboxing workout) a certain number of times during the month of October in exchange for donations to the British Columbian Cancer Foundation.

Well, it’s the Thanksgiving long weekend. And I thought that it might be a good idea to look around me, and take stock of all of the things that I have to be thankful for, particularly here in my adopted home of New Westminster.

Local author JJ Lee’s new book, “Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit” is so much more than its title suggests.

I was lucky to win a couple of tickets to this years incarnation of Freelance Camp, an ‘unconference’ hosted by The Network Hub. It’s certainly a nice change to see an event promoting freelancing, networking, and technology come to little New Westminster.