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 …

I am having a real problem writing this post. I am a white guy and as my ancestors came to New Westminster in 1909. I am one of the very, veeery few New Westminsterites whose oldsters may have actually participated in active or passive discrimination of Chinese Pioneers in this city’s past.
I fully understand my position in this story but as a bleeding heart liberal and as a BC elementary and secondary student whose history education consisted of French Canadians, Aboriginal Canadians, Chinese Canadians and South Asian Canadians to the …

Tenth to the Fraser regular reader and commenter, John Ashdown, from the Village Coffee Lounge (free wi-fi! Good food! Support local!) is a busy guy. Among other things,  he is also is on the board for the Royal City Farmer’s Market and is the newly elected president of the 12th Street Merchants’ Association. He has also graciously found time to agree to host a tasting party for little old me, and my fledgling tiny company-in-the-making, Chai By Night.  
On Saturday, February 28th, from 12PM to 2PM (or while supplies last), I’m inviting …

I’m attending the Northern Voice blogging conference this weekend along with a few of New Westminster’s Twitterati: @ruthseeley, @duckbeaver, @themarina, @somethinglemon (and maybe a few more who I haven’t seen yet). As I mentioned on this blog last month, I’m speaking tomorrow on hyperlocal blogging at 11:30 a.m. My talk is called “Passionately Local” and I’ll be sharing my experience launching and co-authoring Tenth To The Fraser, and describing the community response and personal impact of this site.
I first began blogging in 2003 as “breebop” (though that blog is long …

This Saturday (Jan. 24) it’s de-lurking day in New Westminster. Whether you Tweet or blog, comment or lurk, come on down to the Heritage Grill around 3pm for a little face-to-face coffee chat and analog dialogue.
Thanks to Ruth Seeley for suggesting the Tweetup.

I am delighted to announce that I [Briana] will be speaking at Northern Voice (the blogging conference in Vancouver) on the topic of hyperlocal blogging. The title of my presentation is Passionately Local: Blogging about your own backyard.
Here’s the synopsis of the talk:
Blogging may be an opportunity to reach a worldwide audience, but with Tenth To the Fraser, we’ve narrowed our focus considerably to cover only issues and ideas that relate to the city of New Westminster. 
In this talk I’ll share the benefits of hyperlocal focus to both blog authors and …

SEE OUR CHALLENGE BELOW – TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE WIRELESS CAFE HOTSPOT!
I am one of those people who works better when I have a din of white noise behind me, when I’m in a place with a good feel, surrounded by people but not in demand. For me, coffee and good work go hand in hand, so it’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I have spent the majority of my university years (both undergrad and post-grad) doing my studying and schoolwork in coffee shops.
When I lived at …

I was just re-reading an post on the Burnaby Politics blog about a rumour that former Conservative MP Paul Forseth could return to politics in the Burnaby-New Westminster riding currently held by Peter Julian. As a resident of this riding, I am mildly interested, though at the moment it is nothing but a rumour. This blog post is not about the rumour, however. It’s about the reader response: thirteen comments on the post, all anonymous.
I struggle with this on Tenth to the Fraser. We have our own semi-regular commenters who …

Here at Tenth To the Fraser, our editorial team has been kicking around ideas for localizing our Christmas celebrations this year. Our family will attempt to source most of our food locally, and I had in mind to explore local shopping opportunities as well. One of our readers is taking it one better, and plans this year to do all her family Christmas shopping locally.

Hey there.  I just checked out your blog for the first time today at the suggestion of my husband, Blair Fryer [ed. note: Blair …

In TenthToTheFraser’s short little life, we’ve made a big splash. Okay, I can’t take credit for any of it – I was just approached as a civic-aware, once-a-new-westie-always-a-new-westie girl to pen my piece for this blog only about 6 weeks ago – but we’ve been cited in the paper, recognized on other blogs, scooped almost every other major outlet, big or small, on New West’s electoral standings, and now we’ve been nominated for the Canadian Blog Awards, in the “Best Local Blog” category.
It’s up to you, New Westies …

Okay, there is simply no accounting for my previous post, and for that I apologize. It doesn’t make that much sense, I know. Just chalk it up to election overexposure. Too many burger polls at Burger Heaven.
But I had to post again after reading so many of the comments, especially those from Poli-Sigh and Anonymous in exchange with the City Communications Manager and both Briana and Will (co-editors of the blog) on this post and others. Can I just say how great it is to see people getting into discussions …

Many newspapers and websites have chosen through history to forgo complete objectivity and endorse a candidate or candidates in an election. Often, the choice made is an illustration of that publication but it is often the intent of the endorsing journal to present a choice that, in their view, would be preferred by their readers. Such is the value of knowing ones audience. The New York Times, for example, first endorsed a presidential candidate with Republican Abraham Lincoln, who would later lead America in a war to emancipate the slaves …

I was just reading Pat Tracy’s neat blog From the Editor’s Desk . Her most recent post is about the difficulty in remaining unbiased while relating political events. Or at least being perceived as unbiased. As the editor of the Record and the Burnaby Now, she has to keep on top of those concerns as her papers cover the municipal elections:
And then there’s New Westminster, where The Record has been accused of both being for and against the new civic slate, Voice, which is running a full-throttle campaign.
I have also …

New Westminster was the ideal location for a bustling metropolis, built up by the Royal Engineers as British Columbia’s first capital. Today it is known as that suburb you drive through to get downtown.

My family is from here. My great grandfather came to this city through Montreal from Manchester, England. He raised a family in a duplex, still standing, on the corner of 10th avenue and third street. He was a carpenter at the BC Electric trolley factory at the bottom of 12th st. My grandfather studied at UBC and …