My friends at Family Place sent me this note I thought I’d share:
New Westminster Family Place is pleased to announce that we are opening a new program at 1170 – 8th Avenue (corner of 8th Avenue and 12th Street, on the main floor of the building that has Sprott Shaw upstairs).
This program will run every Friday morning from 9:30 – 11:30 starting April 1st.   Join us for fun and games, circle time and wonderful crafts.  Meet your neighbours and make some new friends.  For information call 604 520-3666.

People looking down to the Fraser River from the West End and enjoying beautiful views from the River Walk at Port Royal or the Esplanade at Westminster Quay always notice the cottonwood trees growing tall and wild on Poplar Island. It appears untouched by anyone, but it actually has a long history. Many things, people and struggles have lived for 150 years on or about the unique island.

New West has always remained somewhat of a hidden gem, until lately. Seems the word has gotten out to those interested in building new homes, and the word is that New West has reasonably priced lots (relative to other areas) and their building codes are far more lax than anywhere else. There are some absolutely beautiful homes being built, in keeping with the style of the neighbourhood. My problem is with the character destroyers or ‘urban monsters’ that are being erected.

The West End’s annual 12th Street Music Festival is coming up on Sunday, August 1, and will feature free live music from local bands on two stages, children’s entertainment, displays by local businesses & community groups and events for kids and adults.

Summerfest in Grimston Park was a great success! Thanks to everyone who came. The turnout surpassed our expectations. We estimated that we had about 500 people at the movie alone, and maybe 1000 over the course of the afternoon. Our sleepy little West End park was packed with happy families!

Bring your swimsuits and a picnic blanket to Grimston Park on Saturday, July 17 for Summerfest, a new community celebration in New Westminster’s West End. Enjoy a family-friendly evening of play and live music, shop the mini-Farmer’s Market, and finish the evening off with a special free screening of E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial under the stars.

New Westminster Museum & Archvies’ Rob McCullough is working on creating an interpretive panel about the history of Grimston Park to be unveiled at the inaugural Summerfest in Grimston Park, Saturday, July 17. Rob is currently seeking photos, stories and comments from those who have enjoyed the park over the years since it opened.

The new playground at Grimston Park is now open, and it is AWESOME. The park’s designers have done an incredible job creating a welcoming and imaginative space to play for kids of all ages. While the temporary fence is still partially up, and there’s still some work to do (laying sod, painting the wading pool), the playground and pool are now open for play.

Boy, it sure doesn’t feel like summer outside. As some of you know, I am in the midst of planning a new summer festival for New West, appropriately called Summerfest in Grimston Park. It hardly seems possibly that we’re only a little more than a month away from the July 17 event with all this rain!

New Westminster MP Peter Julian and MLA Dawn Black will be hosting the sixth annual Twelfth Street Clean-Up on Saturday, June 5. Dawn & Peter will be there with their crew, with rubber gloves on and garbage bags in hand, and they hope you’ll join them in cleaning up litter along the street.

Connaught Heights homeowners are actively trying to block a specific business from setting up shop in the sleepy commercial strip on 20th St. just uphill from the SkyTrain The target of their opposition: 7/11.

New Westminster parents of preschoolers and gradeschoolers who hoped to enroll their kids in programs of choice may need to adjust their plans, as School District 40 prepares to shuffle the locations of so-called ‘Programs of Choice’ – Early French Immersion and Montessori. It all comes into play in the fall of 2012, or when the new elementary and middle schools are ready.

The Gordian knot of exits, on-ramps and highways at Stewardson and 20th St. near the Queensborough Bridge is one of the gnarliest intersections in the Lower Mainland, let alone New Westminster. I live just blocks away and regularly end up in Burnaby when I mean to go to Queensborough, or vice versa.

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.

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.

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.

After breaking a guitar string, Rob Jones strolls down 12th Street for the first time in search of a replacement.

Demolition is underway at Grimston Park, as the work begins to replace the aging adventure playground with safer, more modern equipment. After a series of public consultations, the final design seems to be pretty much settled.

Here’s what will be included in the $230,000 upgrade.

The latest crime statistics challenge popular belief of SkyTrain safety in New West. New Westminster SkyTrain, for example, was ranked as the second least secure in a 2008 survey of transit riders, but the actual rate of crime places it 13th on the list. I would have assumed that my home station, 22nd St. SkyTrain, would have ranked somewhere in the middle of the pack, but it’s actually the third-worst station on the line for crime after Surrey Central and Gateway.

(Today we are live-blogging from the 12th Street Festival – come find us in front of Village Coffee at 7th avenue and 12th Street!)
NW Firehall #2 firefighters turn the hose on a joyful crowd at the Thirsty Duck’s raffle – part of the 12th Street Festival here in New Westminster. Even the photos are refreshing…

(Today we are live-blogging from the 12th Street Festival – come find us in front of Village Coffee at 7th avenue and 12th Street!)
Here at the T2F booth at New Westminster’s 12th Street Festival, we are sitting across from three of the most beautiful cars that came out of the 1950′s and 60′s, and talking cars we love and wish we could own.
Will has a yen for the crazy Japanese import Delicas, wierd retro jeeps from the post-war period, and other cars whose names and number I don’t understand. Jen, …

Dawn Black and Peter Julian stop by the Chai by Night and TenthtotheFraser booth at the 12th Street Festival – check out the hard copy print of our second T2F newsletter Dawn’s holding!

The editorial board of T2F is here on 12th street enjoying the sun, breeze, good cover tunes and great conversations here at the Chai by Night booth just up from Seventh Ave by Village Coffee.
Some pictures so far:

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 …

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 …