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 …

Yellow tights, architectural shoes, and exploding drop earrings might just be the continuous run of New York fashion week, but when it comes to eye glasses that make a statement, you don’t have to go further than New Westminster.
Brilliantly innovative, local designer Traff Green’s designs, Reflections by Traff, are a unique medley of hand-picked colours to show skin tones at their best!   The carefully contoured and connected shapes of his designs will match any face shape and eyes.
The result?
Bold, impactful eye glasses for the everyday woman. And with limited …

Image by ♥ he@rt ♥ via Flickr

This is a guest post by Mojgan Fay, who waxes rhapsodic about pie, chocolate and all things sweet. You can find her on Twitter posting as @somethinglemon. As you will see from the post below, she’s also a fan of the citrus!
This leading citrus assembly offers more than an appealing colour, odour, and flavour. It is a staple of summertime picnics and intimate wintertime gatherings. The cool brightly yellow lemon filling with the soft sugary meringue goodness is a perfect compliment to your afternoon …

I popped by a Public Information Session a few weekends ago at the Admiral Anson Bed and Breakfast. I’ve never stayed at the Admiral Anson, but it’s a pleasant member of my neighbourhood with a well kept yard. As a fan of B&B’s, I think I’d like it and although I’ve not slept there, I do recommend it frequently to family and friends and have heard no complaints. According to the website, rooms are offered at $45 – $75 a night – which is incredibly reasonable – beyond reasonable, to …

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 …

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 Festival of Volunteers took place this past Saturday at Royal City Centre and the anachronistic thrills my co-author Briana referred to here did not disappoint. 
There is something about bagpipe music that just makes me smile -I have no idea what it is. So when I finished my shift at the booth I was volunteering for, it was perfect timing to grab a cup of chai from the Beverage Station in the centre court of the mall and grab a seat and listen to a procession being piped in by …

Are you interested in volunteering some of your time to a good cause but aren’t really sure what sort of opportunities there are in New Westminster? 
The 7th Annual New Westminster Festival of Volunteers is happening this Saturday, January 31st, at Royal City Centre. There are a whopping 43 different organizations registered to be a part of what is a fun and interesting event for all members of the family. You can find out about volunteer opportunities right here in our community, as well as find out more about many different …

The mayor’s dream of citywide wifi notwithstanding, New Westminster is not a town that fetishizes digital culture. Until recently, we have not even had a visible local blogging presence (most local bloggers mark themselves as being in “Vancouver”). So you can imagine my surprise when four people in the small crowd at the recent Royal City Farmer’s Market AGM  told me they were on Twitter.  
Only about 1% of online Canadians are on Twitter, according to recent ComScore stats, but the service is growing incredibly quickly. According to Compete, Twitter grew an astonishing 752% in 2008, …

It was a dark day in New Westminster when the Orange Room closed. It was one of only a handful of restaurants in New West that one might classify as, well, cool. Amid the plethora of sports bars and diners, The Orange Room was a vital refuge for those among us who enjoyed tapas with a side of live music and local art.
I had given up hope that this favourite restaurant of mine might reopen, but I am happy to report that the Orange Room lives! 
The new owner is Paloma Eguiagaraya, who …

This is a media release from the City of New Westminster. We hope this New Westminster Park ‘N Ride solution will help some of the affected Pattullo commuters who are finding our blog via search.
New Westminster, BC –The City of New Westminster is offering Metro Vancouver commuters a new way to avoid travel delays across the Fraser River while repairs are done to the Pattullo Bridge.
Mayor Wayne Wright has announced that commuters can access nearly 800 parking spaces at the City’s parkade on Front Street and complete their trips …

This is a guest post from Waferboard. You can find him on Twitter @waferboard or on Friendfeed.

 
 
For the second year now I’ve noticed there are more people sleeping on Sixth Street in the winter than in the summer. The cold and the wetness of the season are probably contributing factors.

Following my commute route down Sixth Street from Sixth Avenue down to the Columbia Skytrain station, here are a few of the spots that have attracted overnight visitors. Obviously this is not exhaustive and perhaps not even representative of the city.
Shop …

This is Mooki:
 
Don’t let her fool you, she actually hates you. Well, that’s not true. She resents you being alive but appreciates any food offerings you might have for her. Mooki is a Shiba Inu, and if you know your dog breeds, you know that shibas are notoriously standoffish and act more cat than dog. Mooki is no exception. I have shared my life with Mooki for 6 years (she’s 9). We joke that Mooki is one part hate, one part lazy, and two parts fur.  Here is Mooki doing what …

New Westminster MLA Chuck Puchmayr has announced he is battling liver cancer, and will not be a candidate in the next provincial election. 
Puchmayr says it’s become clear in the past few days that he’s going to have to dedicate all of this energy to this battle.
He says it’s been an honour to serve the people of New Westminster as their MLA and city councillor for nine years prior to that.
Source: New Westminster NDP MLA not running in next election | News1130

New Westminster police are putting their snazzy new retro-styled cruisers through their paces. It’s seems like it’s been an unusually busy – and hazardous – week for local law enforcement officers. 
Last Sunday, cops were pepper-sprayed by two youthful ne’er-do-wells near 5th Ave. and 7th St.  The attack happened while arresting the pair, following a call about an attempted theft. One officer was temporarily blinded, but neither teen got away.
On Monday, suspects in a stolen car rammed two police vehicles after the cops trapped them in the McDonald’s drive-thru on McBride. Police …

The recent announcement by the ONNI development company has generated a lot of interest, a lot of questions and confusion and a lot of traffic to our website here on Tenth to the Fraser. To help clear up the deal, we asked a Real Estate Agents and good friends of ours, Greg and Liz Holmes of MacDonald Olympic Realty to run through the deal and the opportunities here in New Westminster. Remember! Always consult your own professionals when making investment and real estate decisions. Tenth to the Fraser is not …

I recently related the story of how Ross, my husband, and I met -he lived next door to me in a rented apartment here in New Westminster. I was utterly amazed at the sense of nostalgia that washed over me. That apartment gets shoved to the back of my mind most of the time due to preoccupying baby needs, mortgage payments, strata complexes, and all the other trappings of “adult” life. So I’d like to take a moment to reflect on how fond I am of the old apartment.
 It was one …

I’m an avid thrift shopper and have spent years seeking out thrift shops that offer quality products. I have a few requirements that makes the perfect thrift shop and they include:

gives some proceeds to local charity
has friendly employees who are at least semi-helpful
has a good selection of items that are relatively new
is reasonably priced

I think most people are familiar with shops such as the Salvation Army thrift store and Value Village, but one of my favorites here in New Westminster is the SPCA Thrift Mart.
One of the reasons why I …

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 …

Driving along 7th St in the West End two nights ago, we were drawn towards the festive glow coming from one end of the street. We meandered over and there it was, a Christmas light display that just had to make it on to the Blog!
I took some pictures with my trusty cellular phone and as you can see, the effect is less than crystal clear but this is only a beginning. I sense a series coming on, highlighting some of the best and brightest Christmas light displays in the …

Who really won the recent New Westminster 2008 municipal election? Not us, because we are a bunch of chumps that can’t make it to out to stuff a slip of paper into a box. Do we harbour some long hidden fears of elementary school gymnasiums? Terror at the nasty chance of an electoral paper cut?
Our manifest idiocy has not gone unnoticed by the scribbling classes. Even here, at Tenth to the Fraser, we have noted our past 26.2% participation lameness. Now, with renewed evidence of our callous disregard for our …

Photo of NWSS library doors by BuckyHermit (via Flickr)

A small geographical footprint is both one of New Westminster’s charms and one of its challenges. Density is inevitable. Sprawl is not an option. This is great, if you’re assessing public transit feasibility or walkability within the city. It means, however, that options are limited when it comes to new development.  

New West has long known it needs new schools. The current high school is in need of upgrades and isn’t adequate to house all of the city’s kids. The original idea …

Vancouver historian John Atkin has published a book about heritage walking tours near each SkyTrain station. Local blogger Just A Gwai Lo has made it a mission to try out (and blog, and photograph!) each one. 

He recently followed the New Westminster Station route, and what struck me was his assessment of our city:

New West holds a strong place in B.C. history, having the distinction of being British Columbia’s capital city, though it doesn’t hold much in my imagination, spending most of my time in Vancouver or its suburb to the …

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 …