Frankly Speaking

Global News image The tent city on 135A Street in Whalley has been dispersed, as modular housing units have been set up to accommodate people who had been living there. Another step in the plan is to create more supportive housing units across the City of Surrey. The meteoric rise and fall of a proposal for 60 units of supportive housing in downtown Cloverdale is an instructive lesson on how elections play a huge role in influencing decisions. However, the most important lesson for residents might be this – pay close attention to development plans, both by the private sector and government agencies, in this case BC Housing. The movement to place one of several planned Surrey supportive housing sites in Cloverdale was proceeding mostly behind closed doors until BC Housing announced Sept. 4 that the proposal would move forward to public consultation. The proposed site was just off the main street, and would have utilized several city-owned properties. It is very close to...

Peter Fassbender's decision to run again for mayor of Langley City is one of the more noteworthy aspects of the municipal election campaigns in the two Langleys, thus far. This blog post has been updated to reflect the final list of candidates, after nominations closed on Friday. The upcoming municipal election in the two Langleys will be interesting, but not as lively as many other contests in the region. One reason is that there is not really much of a contest for mayor in Langley Township. Incumbent Jack Froese has two challengers, but neither (Alex Joehl and Anna Remenik) is well-known and it is unlikely he will get less than 70 per cent of the vote (assuming no other challengers come forward by Friday, the close of nominations). Seven of the eight councillors are running for re-election. They are Petrina Arnason, Michelle Sparrow, Blair Whitmarsh, Angie Quaale, Bob Long, David Davis and Kim Richter. Only Charlie Fox is retiring. As two of the challengers are ...

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson announced Wednesday he will not seek another term as mayor, after 10 years in office. His legacy is mixed, and he has done little to improve the conditions faced by South Fraser residents. Like most mayors, he has been parochial. The region's overall interests take a back seat to their own cities. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson announced Wednesday that he won't run for mayor this fall, after 10 years on the job. His leadership of the city has been notable, with no shortage of controversies. He vowed when elected to make Vancouver "the greenest city in the world," and it has made some significant steps in that direction. Here's how his announcement looks from a South Fraser viewpoint. His stewardship of Vancouver has been mixed. Vancouver is the largest city in the Metro Vancouver region, gets most of the media attention, and in many ways sets many of the directions for the region. Some of those directions have been very ...

A series of stories published in The Surrey-North Delta Leader on Friday, Feb. 26 (also available online at http://www.peacearchnews.com/news/370284771.html ) is called “No Fixed Address.” It sheds some welcome light on a challenge which Surrey and many other cities all across North America are struggling with. Most importantly, it features stories and photos of individuals who are or have been homeless. These allow readers to identify with and understand these individuals as people, who face very real challenges. The stories also point out that the road which leads to homelessness, and the road out of it, is complex and involves many very different factors. As is ever the case with human beings, each person’s story is unique. Each set of circumstances is unique. And solutions to this problem for each individual are also unique, which is one of the reasons the problem remains so intractable. Surrey’s response to homelessness has been somewhere in the middle of the pack, whe...