midweek edition WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010
Vol. 101 No. 60 • Established 1908 • East
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Not loving laneway Cirque du Soleil shines
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Park board scuttles Kidstreet Clubhouse daycare Cut affects more than 100 kids Sandra Thomas Staff writer
Christa Norgren has to scramble to find before and after-school care for her daughter Mackenzie.
photo Dan Toulgoet
Despite the park board’s efforts, the out-of-school care program at Champlain Heights Community School will likely not return in September. That means the parents of more than 100 children registered or on the waiting list for the Kidstreet Clubhouse before-and-after school care program are scrambling to find alternatives just weeks before the school year begins in a city infamous for its lack of affordable daycare. Champlain parent Christa Norgren said she has no idea where her nine-yearold daughter will go for before-and-after school care starting this September. “So far all I know is it
will mean a lot more running around,” said Norgren, a single parent with four jobs. In February, parents of children attending Kidstreet received a letter explaining the Champlain Heights Community Association could no longer oversee the operation of the program due to park board budget cuts. Facing a $2.8 million operating budget shortfall for 2010, last November the park board announced it would be forced to close facilities and cut staff positions. Those cuts include the funding for one parttime programmer at Kidstreet. Norgren describes the lack of clarity since the announcement of the program’s closure as “unnerving.” See PARK on page 4
Police board orders cops to check email more often Policy amendment aimed at patrol officers Mike Howell Staff writer
Hey, police patrol officer—check your email, already! Apparently, Vancouver police officers who patrol the city are not checking their email messages as often as they should, according to a report that went before the Van-
couver Police Board last week. The board approved an amendment July 21 to its email and Internet security policy that calls for all officers to check their inbox “at least once daily during their tour of duty and respond appropriately.” Previously, the board’s policy requested “operational members
without dedicated workstations” to review their email at least once per week, or work block. The amendment to the policy is aimed at patrol officers, who do not have access to email on laptop computers in their cruisers. The computers are used to search police databases. “Officers that sit at a desktop computer every day, there’s
no problem for them,” Police Chief Jim Chu told the Courier. “It’s our officers that are operational and on patrol who have to run out on the road right away, that we’re having to reinforce that when you get a chance, check your emails.” Drazen Manojlovic, the director of the Vancouver Police Department’s planning, research and au-
dit section, outlined in his report the need for officers to regularly check email. “There are numerous internal work-related occurrences when email is used for administrative messages necessary to the operation of general police duties and business,” Manojlovic wrote. See COMPUTER on page 4
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