Burnaby’s first and favourite information source
Delivery 604-942-3081 • Saturday, August 7, 2010
Custom guitars to beat the blues
PAGE 13
Kittens dumped in road part of a bigger problem PAGE 3
Your source for local sports, news, weather and entertainment! >> www.burnabynow.com
Pick a peck of pickerel
ECONOMY
BOT pleads case for the homeless It’s a matter of good business and doing what’s right says CEO Janaya Fuller-Evans
staff reporter
The business community may seem an unlikely advocate for the homeless, but the Burnaby Board of Trade is setting out to change that perception. The organization has submitted a policy resolution to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce that calls for a federal plan to end homelessness. The resolution will be voted on at the chamber’s annual general meeting in September. Homelessness is an issue that directly affects local businesses, and something needs to be done, said Darlene Gering, CEO and president of the board of trade. “It was initially brought forward in 2008 by some members of the business community,” she said. Shoppers often don’t enter businesses if homeless people are outside, Gering explained, and financial institutions in particular are affected when homeless people use ATMs to sleep or urinate in. “People are afraid to go Darlene Gering into a business if people are Board of Trade CEO loitering about outside,” she said. The financial costs to taxpayers are also problematic, Gering said, citing increased health care, policing and public safety costs. It is also simply a matter of doing what’s right and having a social conscience, she said. “These people need help,” she said. “These people deserve to have a home.” Homeless Page 4
Jason Lang/burnaby now
Messy work: Workers net aquatic life in a pond in Burnaby that was infested with pickerelweed. The pond was then cleaned of the invasive weed.
2 Chickens, 3 Large Sides and 5 Portuguese buns for just $
4999
North by Northwest landscape workers collected wildlife for relocation after draining a pond in the Glenlyon Business pond last week to remove patches of unwanted pickerelweed, an invasive South American plant species that is threatening local waterways. Pickerelweed spreads easily due to the high number of seeds its flowers produce, which are then spread aquatically, and the plant has no local natural predators. “It is quite an issue,” said city parks worker Melinda Yong of the species that was only first discovered two years ago in Deer Lake. “It’s actually a very pretty flower and it’s possible somebody planted it thinking it was very pretty. We want to caution residents to not buy plants that are invasive, and, if they do have them and are getting rid of them, not to just dump them somewhere and instead dispose of them properly to make sure those plants don’t spread outside of their backyard.” Yong said most city waterways are not actively maintained, but staff have been trained to keep an eye out for outbreaks of this and other invasive species that have the potential to choke the life out of local ponds and streams. – By Andrew Fleming, staff reporter
BUYING or SELLING? Call Brian Vidas 604.671.5259
Our Party Pack A perfect treat on a Summer day!
Professional Real Estate Service with Award Winning Results
w w w.
centre realty
B r i a n Vi d a s . c o m