I don’t like to admit defeat, but I am forced to admit that sometimes life becomes jumbled with too many commitments. Life is full of surprises. These past few months have been personally tumultuous (in a good, ‘this is helping me grow’ kind of way). I’m in a very different place than I was when Will and I launched this blog. My attention is elsewhere, and it’s become obvious. This post is partly an apology for that neglect and partly an appeal for help to decide what to do next. Tenth to the Fraser is more than just my blog. I feel like it “belongs” to the community too. Given that, I’d like to hear from you before I decide what to do.

This week we ask: where is your favourite outdoor relaxing spot in our fair city?

One of my favourite things about running Tenth to the Fraser is reading what my New West neighbours have to say about our town. In the hopes of inspiring more discussion about our city, I’d like to announce a new feature on Tenth to the Fraser: New West Wednesdays. What do you think should be the first topic for discussion?

A little while ago we launched our first ever readership survey on Tenth to the Fraser. We had a great response, with 44 of you taking the time to share your thoughts on the website. I shared some of the preliminary response in an earlier blog post, and as promised, here are the full results.

Bloom Art Studio at River Market is a safe place for kids to get messy – without driving parents crazy. At home, I like to craft with the kids, but I’m always a little leery of anything truly messy. It’s fun, but I always worry about the cleanup. In a space like Bloom, the kids are free to play with colour and form in a space that’s designed to handle mess.

Yesterday I launched Tenth to the Fraser’s first readership survey, and although it hasn’t been up long we’ve gotten a great response already! I thought I’d share a few of the highlights of the early responses with you all.

A while back we partnered with River Market to host the P.S. New West poetry contest. River Market selected the winners and gave them the prizes, but their email to me with the winners’ names got lost in my email inbox. I just rediscovered the note today (oops). My inbox is a scary, scary place. Anyway, a bunch of you have been asking me about the winners, and here (belatedly) is who won. Sorry about the delay!

Until now, we haven’t had a formal comment policy at Tenth to the Fraser. While I do moderate comments as they come in, so far there have been only a handful of comments I’ve had to block. Our commenters have, for the most part, been passionate community boosters. When they’ve disagreed, they’ve done so respectfully. Criticism has, for the most part, been of the constructive sort. But our readership is growing. And with it, so are the numbers of commenters I’d call trolls.

Warning: this is a bit of a rant. I was recently warned by an anonymous commenter here that they’re “on to me,” that I was “under the microscope” along with senior city staff. He capped it off with a warning that I have had almost verbatim a few times on this blog, “This is a small town. Be careful.” The ridiculous part is that it was on a “good news” post. In New Westminster, as far as this blog’s comment trolls are concerned, if it looks like good news, something evil is afoot.

A little less than two years ago, I went looking for an online community of New Westminsterites online. The virtual version of New West was a pretty lonely place back then. I found a few bloggers. A few more on Twitter. A handful of Facebook groups.

I was thinking of launching a blog about life in New West, but when I saw how little local activity there was, I wondered whether anyone would even read it.

This week is I Love Transit Week over at the Buzzer Blog, and on Thursday, July 15, Jhenifer is hosting an evening transit meetup called I Love Transit Night at New Westminster’s Heritage Grill. Plus, The Buzzer has offered us a Summer Commuter Prize Pack to give away to our readers. To win, just leave a comment on this post sharing an anecdote or commentary that illustrates what you like about public transportation.

I’ve had a few people post comments about a current court case in New Westminster on unrelated posts on this blog. The City of New West is involved in a case currently before the Supreme Court of B.C. relating to the former owner of the Windsor Hotel’s unsuccessful attempts to relocate a liquor store to 12th St. a few years ago, and the commenters I mention would like us to write about it. (Note: I haven’t approved the comments, as they are off-topic, and also because I am concerned about …

River Market’s grocer may not officially open its doors until September, but the team behind the market’s renaissance is already reaching out to the New Westminster community. The market’s ambition reaches beyond milk, bread and bok choy. It is to be a place of culture and community, a place of inspiration. It begins with a simple contest in collaboration with Tenth to the Fraser called P.S. New West.

As announced at the last New West Downtown Residents Association meeting, tomorrow is the ‘big reveal’ of the River Market‘s anchor grocer, and an equally mysterious top-secret program called ONE.
We’ll find out what it’s all about tomorrow, but until then, let’s have a little fun. If you’d like a spot on the guest list at an exclusive VIP launch party courtesy of River Market and Tenth to the Fraser, leave a comment on this post with your best guess about what ‘ONE’ could be.
Here’s a hint: a Tenth to the …

Even people in the best relationships have times when they disagree. The key to maintaining the relationship isn’t so much preventing fights, but learning how to fight well. In a “good” fight, the tension experienced is a catalyst for growth and positive change by both parties. The same is true for political disagreement. Unfortunately, in both political and personal fights, it’s all too easy to let your anger get the better of you, jeopardizing your cause. A particular pitfall of those who are passionate advocates for change in their community is to forget that “the city” or “the government” is first made up of people. The same guidelines that can help partners and colleagues fight “well” also apply.

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.

Today we asked our readers on Facebook and Twitter if they had any New West questions that we could try to answer. I’ll be working through the list over the next few days. Today, we start with an easy one: Celine Pitfield-Heidrich asked us something that I’m sure many local Olympic fans have wondered about: what is the parade route of the Olympic torch?

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest to win a $100 gift certificate for Bamboo Yoga. We’ve read through the entries and chosen the winner: Marcy Koopmans, for her double-length Haiku. ‘Cause deep down, we all love someone who stretches the rules.

As 2009 winds down and we begin to look forward to 2010, I thought I’d take a look at some of our top posts and do a bit of a retrospective for auld lang syne. As it turns out, our top five most-read posts are all about food …

A theatre represents the heart of a community; a single performance can unite strangers and evoke a sense of belonging and understanding. New Westminster cannot lose its beloved Massey Theatre. During this period of economic breakdown and resulting budget cuts, we must continue to recognize what is integral to our city’s livelihood. Moreover, we cannot turn a blind eye to the many benefits this particular stage has provided to the students in our district. We must make every effort to preserve and save an aging building that has presented its users with so many opportunities throughout its sixty years of history.

Is the gulf too wide between the citizens who came before and the young adults rising up to take our place in media and public life? According to Michael Valpy’s recent opinion piece in the Globe & Mail, indeed, this is so. I don’t agree with everything Valpy’s got to say in his piece, but it’s beautifully written and full of food for thought. While Valpy is writing about Canada, I would say that the demographic and behavioural shifts he writes about are evident here in New Westminster as well …

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!

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 …

This is a guest post by Marcy Koopmans, who recently moved to New Westminster. This is her take on our most recent Tweetup.
As Jocelyn mentioned in her post on Friday, a large part of what gives New West its sense of self is its sense of history.
Moving here, Wes and I were surprised and, I’ll be honest, a bit amused by what to us seems such an unusual preoccupation with the past. But perhaps this is only because we came from a city which one Twitter user called a …

Will’s post on Bill Chu and his organization Canadians For Reconciliation was picked up by the New Westminster Newsleader, and an edited version ran in the paper today as a guest column. Chu has been very successful using the power of the press release to get ink on historical mistreatment of Chinese Canadians in New Westminster, but as Will points out in his post, the other side of the story has been underrepresented in the media. If you’re here from the Newsleader, you may want to read the original, which …