Friday - Feb 2 2024 - Skyrocketing rents

🌤️ High 11C

Good morning!

There are some sports whose invention makes sense—where a game can be imagined to have evolved from some kind of work or transport or other aspect of life. Archery comes to mind. Or swimming. Or sailing. Or cross-country skiing. But a lot of the most popular (or at least, in my opinion, most fun) sports don’t have a backstory easily traced from necessity to activity. They just seemingly erupted, at various points through history, from our enduring desire to play. Like when, in a cold Scottish February in 1514, a monk and a relative of the head of the Abbey started a contest that involved flinging stones across a frozen pond. The history (or at least, what is written of it) of curling began. Keep reading to learn about where to watch some curling in the Fraser Valley next winter.

– 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

Housing crisis pushed rents to new highs in 2023

The prices of houses across much of the Fraser Valley decreased or remained level in 2023. But the price of housing—the amount most people pay for their home—did not.

Owners staying in one place—or hoping to one day upgrade their housing—are facing higher mortgage rates that counteract any benefit that slightly lower house prices might have brought. And for those who don’t own, a new report this week underscored the massive rise in rents over the past year.

• Today, Tyler writes about rocketing rents despite sagging sale prices—and about the cost to take up temporary residence in one of the valley’s most famous buildings.

Related

Need to Know

🚚 Residents and stream advocates are asking Langley Township to end truck parking on nearby farmland [Langley Advance Times]

👉️ A new report on safer supply from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the government should expand the program [CBC]

🍭 Rogers Sugar workers have reached a deal with their employer to end a four-month strike [CTV]

👉️ Retiring Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe on death, hope, and meaningful change [The Tyee]

⛺️ RCMP were on scene as a homeless camp near Chilliwack was dismantled yesterday [Chilliwack Progress]

🚌 A deal was reached to end the Metro Vancouver transit strike [CTV]

🎨 A Langley student won a BC-wide art contest [Langley Advance Times]

🏒 The BCHL, which includes teams in Langley and Chilliwack, is bringing in five Alberta-based teams [Sportsnet]

➡️ A former Chilliwack pastor will begin his prison sentence for child porn charges after his appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed [Fraser Valley Today]

✈️ The Abbotsford International Airport broke its record for most passengers served in a year [Abbotsford News]

🥇 A gold medal-winning Olympic rower will speak at two events in Chilliwack for International Women’s Day [Chilliwack Progress]

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The Agenda

Langley to host provincial curling championships

The 2025 BC Curling Championships look to be on their way to Langley’s George Preston Arena next winter.

On Monday, Langley Township pre-approved funding to support the Langley Curling Club’s plan to host the championships. Although the event has not been officially approved, staff write that Langley Curling Club and Curling BC have requested to hold the 2025 event in Langley. The township has not yet specified whether the men's or women's event is coming to the community. The event is expected to draw 100 curlers from around the province at the end of next January.

While the tournament itself will be from Jan. 20 to 26, George Preston Arena will be needed for longer than that to allow it to be transformed into a curling facility. The entire endeavour is expected to cost the township more than $80,000, but tourism revenue is expected to offset the cost.

It won’t be the arena’s first crack at hosting a curling championship. The George Preston Arena also hosted the Canadian Junior National Curling Championships in early 2020.

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💾 Flashback Friday

On May 5, 1920, newlyweds Frank Kickbush and Mary DeWolf Richardson drove away from the church after their wedding in Chilliwack. Kickbush was a farmer with land on the Chilliwack River Road and he and his wife would later have two children. Kickbush would also take on the role of Chilliwack’s deputy sheriff. Richardson was an avid gardener who became known for growing beautiful flowers, which she would often give as gifts.

🗓 Things to do

👵 Senior’s advocacy: Meet BC Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie in person on Monday, Feb. 5 and learn about advocacy for seniors in the province at the Langley Senior Resources Society. Email [email protected] for more info.

💌 Stamp club: The Fraser Valley Philatelic Club hosts a meeting every second Tuesday of the month at 6pm at the W. J. Mouat Secondary School library. The club welcomes all newcomers. Contact [email protected] for more info.

🎼 Concert: The Fraser Valley Symphony is celebrating 40 years with a concert at Matsqui Centennial Auditorium on Sunday, Feb 4. Details online.

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Catch up

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