Municipal: Demolition spree in downtown Maple Ridge. 3
Education: Lions say, ‘Be More.’ 4
Arts: Opera, pop fusion. 13
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 ¡ mapleridgenews.com ¡ est. 1978 ¡ (office) 604-467-1122 ¡ (del ive r y ) 60 4- 4 66 - 63 97
Developer would pay for Pitt connector SmartCentres makes pitch to city council By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
All alone Marquesis Haintz of Davie Jones elementary is all alone as she sprints to the finish in winning Grade 7 girls’ division of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district spring cross-country championships Monday at Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park.
SmartCentres will offer the land needed for a North Lougheed Connector road and pay for construction of the two-lane route from Harris Road to Golden Ears Way, it told council in a letter dated April 20. The work will be done at no cost to taxpayers or the city, said David Major, the company’s land development manager. “This would allow the majority of the connector road to be in place, which would help to kickstart development of the North Lougheed lands, and in turn, allow the city to start collecting commercial property tax revenue within the area,� he wrote. See Road, 5
Mail boxes targeted for ID Not just vehicles being hit by thieves B y P h i l M e l nychuk pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Garry Harder of Bell Locksmith displays the replacement parts needed for vandalized community mail boxes.
While small-time culprits are breaking into cars and trucks, a more determined group is still after your mail – in particular, your identity. And there are enough of them that a local lock company has an employee dedicated full-time to
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repairing group mail boxes at apartments and condo complexes. “We have one truck, that’s all he does, every day, because mail theft is so bad in the Lower Mainland,� says Dawn Illerbrun, with Bell Locksmith. “It kind of comes in waves. But it’s been like this for years now.� She works closely with Canada Post and said the agency has taken the steps it thinks it needs to repair the public community mailboxes. “But it’s up to the public to de-
cide if that’s being done in time or not.� The Maple Ridge company repairs private group mailbox panels that are both inside apartment lobbies and outdoors in condo complexes throughout Metro Vancouver. Often, getting into a community mail box is as simple as using a big crowbar to reef open the panel. “But they’re getting into apartment buildings, as well, and breaking in that way, too,� she said. “It’s all about identity theft. They
want to get as much information on a person as they can.� She said the drug trade is spurring the crime. “The little guy breaking into that panel, he’s not doing anything with that information. He’s basically selling it.� In return for providing identification, the low-level thief is paid in drugs. Ridge Meadows RCMP wouldn’t say how many break-ins there have been to mail boxes in recent months. See Theft, 9 With windshield replacement,
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