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FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015
Steveston playground eyed for change One of Richmond’s oldest playgrounds slated for rebuild as new design sought by Matthew Hoekstra
Super Bowl brings out flocks of football fans Pubs expecting busy day, but team jerseys hard to find
Staff Reporter A third million-dollar playground could soon slide into Richmond—this time in Steveston—as park planners prepare to swing the idea past council. Fresh off the opening of the play environment at Terra Nova Rural Park last fall, staff are now eyeing a planning process to rebuild Steveston Community Park’s popular Moncton Street playground. The Steveston Community Society board has approached city hall with the idea. The society is willing to pay half the cost of planning work, estimated by the city at $50,000. “Our goal is to have a new playground that meets universal access guidelines and provides a stimulating and challenging play environment for children of all ages and abilities,” said Beth Ovenden, society president, in a letter to the city. The well-used Steveston playground is one of the oldest in the city, according to a report from park planner Jamie Esko. It’s built around a fishing village theme, and includes a trawler play structure. It’s seen changes over the years—the last in 2003 when the city, with financial support from the society, invested $636,000 into an upgrade. Overhauling the playground is no small job. Community consultation would be the first step. Then a consultant would be tasked
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by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter
Matthew Hoekstra photo The Steveston Community Society is looking to replace the aging Steveston Park playground.
with crafting an overall playground concept. A plan would then have to be landed on to upgrade the park in phases. In Terra Nova, building a one-of-a-kind play environment incorporating 35-me-
tre ziplines and a super-sized spiral slide came with a big price tag. Council approved $2.2 million in spending for the playground features, landscaping and supporting features. At Garden City Community Park, the city spent $1
million building another oneof-a-kind playground in 2008. The complete replacement of the Steveston Community Park playground “could be expected to have a similar cost,” noted Esko in her report.
They don’t play here, but the Seattle Seahawks football team has the next best thing to a home-based following north of the border. The defending champions are returning to the NFL’s title game in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday for Super Bowl XLIX against the New England Patriots. And that’s meant a wel“The economic come economic boost localimpact has ly, as fans in Richmond and been absolutely the rest of the Lower Mainland have long considered positive.” the nearby Seahawks—just a — Jennifer Yates couple of hours south of the border—their adopted NFL team, and are buying merchandise with the Seahawks logo on it seemingly everywhere they turn. Unfortunately, finding a jersey is tough at this time of year. At Champs Sports at Richmond Centre, Seattle Seahawks jerseys are long sold out, and judging from comments from shoppers, other retailers don’t have any stock in either, according to Andrew Gruber, assistant manager at Champs. As was the case last year, people jumping aboard the Seahawks bandwagon buy their jerseys as the regular season nears a close, and by the time the playoffs begin, they’re nowhere to be found, Gruber said. Local pubs are also looking to cash in on the big day. At Legends Pub, at Blundell Road and Garden City, last year’s Seahawks team’s successful run to the Super Bowl—the team’s first NFL championship after entering the league in 1976—was great for business. While the team is looking to repeat, local businesses are hoping to capitalize in the same fashion. Jennifer Yates, co-owner of Legends, said people started making reservations two weeks ago for a spot in the sports bar for the big game that kicks off this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. “They want to be here on Super Bowl Sunday,” she said. “We had to cut off reservations. Now it’s first come, first served. Otherwise we would be full with no walk-ins.” See Page 3
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