Community: Hammond hosts second giveaway day. 14
H Health: Living life like a carnival. 3
Charity: Spring drive for food bank. 9 Fr i d ay, Ma rc h 27, 2 015 · mapleridgenews.com · est. 1978 · (office) 604-467-1122 · (del iver y) 6 04 - 46 6- 6 39 7
Homeless can be housed: mayor Nicole Read putting other cities on notice B y T i m Fi t z g e r a l d newsroom@mapleridgenews.com
Walk downtown and there’s evidence of the problem of homelessness from street to street. And it’s not just the people who’ve fallen on hard times, but the empty stores and lack of development in the area. In October of 2014, would-be mayor Nicole Read sent a letter to the Salvation Army’s director Darrell Pilgrim, outlining her vision to solve the homeless issue and addiction-based crime in a 48-month span. In the letter, Read said, based on the information on the latest homeless count, the city has a manageable number that can be housed. She tells Pilgrim the Caring Place’s “no questions asked” policy to accepting clients allows other communities to off-load their problems onto Maple Ridge. “We need to put neighbouring cities on notice that we no longer intend to accept intentional or unintentional off-loading,” she wrote to Pilgrim. Read states that while she believes everyone deserves compassion, dignity and respect, the community has “fallen into a pattern of prioritizing those in need in a way that overshadows some very legitimate concerns of Port Haney residents.” Now Read’s task force is trying to get to the heart of the answers. Pilgrim said he fully supports the idea of the city looking to deal with the homeless issue in Maple Ridge. See Homeless, 12
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Cole Castonguay, 10, and sister Caden, 7, have best friends who live on Sheridan Hill, and went to Wednesday night’s rally to stop the proposed quarry.
Rally to save Sheridan Hill Katzie prepared to stand in way of quarry By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
T
he Katzie First Nation is willing to physically block a new quarry operation on Sheridan Hill, Chief Susan Miller told a rally in Pitt Meadows on Wednesday night. “We’re preparing our signs, and we’re preparing our drums, and
if it means we have to stand on Sheridan Hill, then that’s what we’re going to do,” said Miller. “We’re prepared to be very public, and very much protest.” Pitt Meadows residents and Katzie First Nation held a rally on Wednesday night at the Pitt Meadows Recreation Centre to oppose the proposed quarry on the south side of Sheridan Hill. The Meadows Quarry application would haul 240,000 tonnes of rock from the site each year for five years, reducing the elevation
are organizing opposition. Tables were set up near the front door of the meeting, and residents were given samples of letters to be sent to Bennett and other government officials. A letter writing campaign is part of the strategy. “Email is better than nothing, a letter is better than email,” said Becker. Opponents have until April 18, the end of a 30-day period, to send in their written comments. See Quarry, 13
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of the hill by 30 metres, to 45. Miller and Pitt Meadows Mayor John Becker are planning a trip to Victoria, where they will meet with Mines Minister Bill Bennett, they told the full house at the gymnasium at the Pitt Meadows Family Recreation Centre. Becker will present the minister with the written opposition to the project, in the form of letters and a petition, “in hopefully a number of bankers’ boxes.” They hosted the rally along with residents of Sheridan Hill, who
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