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FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015
Beneath the model flight path
Chinese leaders say education, not regulation for signs New group to follow route of city staff in urging businesses to include English by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter A group of Chinese leaders is vowing to visit businesses with Chinese-only signs and urge owners to include English. Calling itself the Signs of Harmony Group, members say they aren’t in favour of a bylaw regulating language on signs. Instead, they plan to “locate, communicate, educate and improve.” Their strategy includes encouraging businesses to use English, while working with other business owners to improve signs that “may cause misunderstanding,” such as those with multiple languages set in different colours, and specialty shops that aren’t able to translate all products. “Without English…signs may confuse some people and may cause frustrations,” according to the group’s Tuesday news release. Group members are: Capilano University business professor Allen Zhu; president of Royal Pacific Realty Group David Choi;
Matthew Hoekstra Alan Resinger demonstrates the acrobatics of his control-line airplane, created from balsa wood. This city-owned green space on Rice Mill Road is the domain of hobbyists who pilot control-line model aircraft—a space they say is getting crowded because of a controversial bylaw. See story, page 3.
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RICHMO 2015
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former radio host Han Yan; Simon Fraser University professor Jan Walls; Ken Tung, president of a Richmond information technology company and former SUCCESS chair; developer Magdalen Leung; business owner Michael Chiu; and former SUCCESS CEO Tung Chan. The group encourages people to report, with photos, any business sign lacking English to signsofharmony@hotmail.com. While Richmond Hill, Ont. requires at least 50 per cent of a sign’s text be in English or French, Richmond doesn’t regulate language on signs of businesses, development sites or advertisements. Last fall Richmond city council adopted a plan to consult the public on the language issue and asked staff to confront business owners to encourage the addition of English on signs. At a March 12 public forum, Cecilia Achiam, the city manager responsible for the sign file, said staff had already visited over 600 City Centre businesses. “In talking to people face-to-face we’re reminding people we’re an inclusive community, you need a sign permit to do business, and by the way, if you don’t have signage in English you are losing at least 50 per cent of potential customers,” she said.
Signs with little or no English on them are frequently seen in Richmond.
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