Tuesday - Feb. 18, 2025 - Mission ponders curb change

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Good morning!

Last week, I took a little detour into the Chilliwack gift shop Spruce Collective, found across the street from Smoking Gun Coffee Roaster where I occasionally do this newsletter. It’s a fun, kitschy little store, filled with locally-made and locally-focused paraphernalia. But my absolute favourite item in that store is a sage green t-shirt. In bold letters across the chest, it proclaims: Chilliwack: It’s not that bad.

It makes me laugh every time I see it, and I really should just pull out the cash and buy one of my own. It makes me think of the months I worked in Vancouver, and the horror in the eyes of my city colleagues when I told them I lived in the Fraser Valley. “It’s not that bad,” I would say time and again. I should have just gotten the statement printed on a shirt.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

Welcome to Braden Adams’ memory palace

Chilliwack’s Braden Adams knows how to flex his muscles. He trains. He strategizes. He has world records he aspires to break. His competitions, however, aren’t as spectator-friendly as hockey games or tennis matches.

Adams is what people in the competitive remembrance circuit call a memory athlete—someone who memorizes card decks and lists of numbers in pursuit of competitive excellence. This November, Adams won his sixth consecutive Canadian championship, memorizing 605 numbers in 10 minutes, 294 images in five minutes, and numerous fake facts. He has also been dubbed the “showman of memory sports” and applauded for his entertaining style in a field that is often lacklustre for audiences.

But even after breaking his own Canadian records this year, he has bigger goals in mind—record-shattering feats on the world stage that he believes he can accomplish with enough practice (and a plane ticket to Europe).

• Today, Grace talks to Adams about cards, mind palaces, and the world of memory sports, including the difference between Canadian and American competitions.

Related

Need to Know

🏆 A Langley digital marketer has been recognized as the Young Indigenous Entrepreneur of the year [Langley Advance Times]

💸 Of all BC cities, Abbotsford will be the most affected by American tariffs, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says [Abbotsford News]

🚔 Langley Township and Langley City continue to spar over policing costs [Langley Advance Times]

🦉 One of the endangered spotted owls released near Spuzzum last year starved to death, a necropsy report shows [CTV] / We wrote about the owls first released into the wild back in 2023 [FVC]

🤠 A country music festival is moving to a Langley movie set [Aldergrove Star]

👉 Mission’s emergency department was closed Saturday because of a lack of doctors [Mission Record]

📽 Grainy video from the 1970 Abbotsford Airshow has been converted to 4K quality [Castanet]

🚔 No one was injured during a ‘heated dispute’ in Mission that resulted in gunshots [Mission Record]

❤ An Abbotsford youth has made and delivered nearly 300 samosas to shelters in Abbotsford, Mission, and Maple Ridge [Abbotsford News]

💐 Langley’s Rotary Clubs are looking for female nominees for their annual Women of Distinction Awards [Langley Advance Times]

❓ Chilliwack’s school board candidates share their thoughts on FSAs, collective bargaining, and other issues in advance of the March by-election [Chilliwack Progress]

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The Agenda

Mission council faces curb decision for final stretch of path

Two-thirds of the way into the construction of a prominent new multi-use path through town, Mission council is being asked to consider changing the curb separating it from 14th Avenue.

It's a seemingly small change, but could cost the city another $100,000, while presenting various new benefits—and challenges. The 14th Avenue path project has so far avoided some of the criticism levied against a path project along 7th Avenue that entailed the construction of more extensive infrastructure improvements intended to separate pedestrians and cyclists from vehicles.

The 14th Avenue path has been separated from the roadway by a simple rounded curb. The curb design was chosen because it was easier to build, assisted the drainage of water, and was seen as less of an imposition on properties.

But with two phases of the project complete, staff are suggesting a different curb design for the final central stretch of path between Tanager and Grand streets left to finish. At its meeting next week, council will be asked to consider green-lighting a square “barrier” curb for the final stretch. Staff say doing so would better protect pedestrians and cyclists, deter illegal parking (and require less time for enforcement by the city), and reduce accidental parking in front of driveways. But it is also expected to cost $100,000 more and potentially annoy residents who may find it harder to park their vehicles.

Council will make its decision at its meeting today.

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