Municipal: Pitt Meeadows wo on’t cleean up its own fallen tree. 3
Electtion: Fifth candidate joiins federal race. 4
Sports: Ridge team fights adversity at nats. 22 Fr i d ay, S e p te m b e r 4, 2 015 ¡ mapleridgenews.com ¡ est. 1978 ¡ (office) 604-467-1122 ¡ (del ive r y) 6 0 4 - 4 6 6 - 6 3 9 7
Leadership lacking at Pitt airport ‘Economic opportunities being missed’ By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
No matter who runs Pitt Meadows airport, there are disgruntled business owners and tenants to satisfy. Dysfunction in leadership is depriving the communities of the full potential of what could be an economic driver, says Ron Blakely, who has had a long relationship with the airport. He has flown a plane out of YPK since 1980, had an aircraft repair shop there in the 1990s, and continues to own a hangar there. He has also lived across Ford Road from the airport since 1991. “I have observed with interest the performance, since about 1997, of three successive regimes of airport administration. It has not been a story of success,� he said. In 1986, Transport Canada transferred control of YPK to Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. See Airport, 16
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Ron Blakely wants better leadership at Pitt Meadows Regional Airport.
‘Do we want to host shelters?’ Maple Ridge to hold homelessness forum By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Work is underway on fixing up the former Sleep Shop building and by October the 40-bed temporary shelter will open and the dismantling of the Cliff Avenue homeless camp can begin. The two are connected because unless people have a place to go,
bylaws and police cannot tell campers to move along. But what happens at the end of March when the city shelter closes is another question. Maple Ridge council and the community need to address that, says Coun. Corisa Bell. “I think we need to see more feedback on what the community wants to see.� She voted against the location of the temporary shelter, not against a shelter, just putting it downtown. “It’s a really challenging, multi-
layered conversation. There’s no right answer. In Canada, we need our federal government to step up.� It’s unacceptable that Canada doesn’t have a national housing strategy, she added. Bell said Mayor Nicole Read is working on holding a community forum, at which people can share their views on how to address homelessness in Maple Ridge. But the city and community has some decisions to make. “We have to decide too, as a community, if that’s what we want, is
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to be a community that provides permanent shelter. Once you build one shelter, then you probably very likely need to build more permanent shelters,� Bell said. “Maple Ridge needs to decide, how does it feel about being a community that is one of the main shelter providers?� Maple Ridge council has asked B.C. Housing to stop the $1 million it pays the Salvation Army yearly to run the 25-bed emergency shelter at the Caring Place. See Shelter, 10
THE NEWS/files
The city is starting renovations for a shelter at the former Sleep Shop building. With windshield replacement,
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