Wednesday - June 19, 2024 - New park, new development

☀ High 25C

Good morning!

People seem to like it when I write about the books, movies, and TV I’ve enjoyed recently, so I’m going to quickly rattle off some recommendations. As always, I’m interested in hearing your suggestions.

I don’t read much fantasy fiction, at least compared to my youth, but I really enjoyed The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman. By contrast, I read every book David Grann writes and his latest non-fiction masterpiece, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, was as enjoyable as usual. My wife also recently picked up Untold Tales of Old British Columbia, a fascinating book by historian Daniel Marshall. (I hope to get Daniel on the phone fairly soon for an interview too.)

On the ol’ screen thing, I’ve got through The Gentleman (the TV show), which I liked better than The Gentleman (the movie). I also just revisited Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, a very rude and very funny movie that went under the radar a few years ago. Finally, the other night, I watched Glengarry Glen Ross for the first time. It was OK, but I mostly need to recommend the program I used. Kanopy is a video-on-demand company that is available to anyone with a Fraser Valley Regional Library account. It works a lot like Libby does for digital books. Having mostly exhausted Neflix and Prime, I was excited to find a whole new swath of (free-to-watch!) classic movies to enjoy. Downloading and setting up the program was easy too. (If you find it tricky, I’m sure a librarian can help.)

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

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🛣 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

More swimmers, fewer jailbirds

Most modern municipalities like to brag about their use of data, but few provide that data in formats that can be easily accessed by the public. Instead, most require residents (and journalists) to dig through documents, beg municipal staff, or file freedom of information requests to learn about how a municipality is performing.

Mission, though, just put it all online.

The city recently compiled and released a collection of dozens of statistics, with five years of simple, annual data on everything from cemetery burials to parking tickets to human resource grievances to demolition permits to local speed checks.

• Today, Tyler combs through the document to see how one Fraser Valley community and its government have changed over the last five years.

Related

Need to Know

⚖ Prosecutors are seeking a 19-year prison term for Naomi Onotera’s husband and killer [Langley Advance Times]

🏠 Four homes slated for demolition in Coquitlam will instead be floated down the Fraser River to Sts’ailes First Nation near Harrison Lake [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

👮‍♂️ A Chilliwack Mountie facing charges for shooting a suspect and who was also reprimanded for an alleged road rage incident is back on duty [CTV]

🚔 Abbotsford Police officers were justified when they shot and killed a man in December, BC’s police watchdog has ruled [Abbotsford News]

🚂 CN Rail says train whistling will continue in Chilliwack until it can strike a new rail safety deal with the municipality [Chilliwack Progress]

👎 A Mission property has racked up thousands of dollars in fines for violations dating back more than 15 years [Mission Record]

🚧 Construction has finally begun on Agassiz’s new aquatics centre [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

👉 BC’s health authorities spent more than $160 million on for-profit health care staffing agencies in 2022/23 [CTV]

🏎 Mission’s soapbox derby will have 42 participants this year [Mission Record]

👉 Union Gospel Mission is opening a new recovery centre for women in Langley [Fraser Valley Today]

🏢 Across Canada, three-bedroom rental units are extremely rare and expensive, leaving families cramped into smaller units [CBC]

🌟 Best of Vancouver: Nominations are now open for the Georgia Straight's annual Best of Vancouver awards. Give some love to your favourite shops, arts and entertainment venues, and so much more.*

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SPONSORED BY THE HARRISON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

The Harrison Festival celebrates 45 years of Roots Music

From July 12-21, the Harrison Festival of the Arts will be celebrating its 45th edition. The festival includes two stages, backed by the panoramic vista of Harrison Lake, as well as an evening of theatre, hands-on workshops, an art exhibit, and a Children’s Day midweek. With an intimate and laid-back feel, the event will feature the best in roots music from Canada and abroad.          

For this anniversary year, the festival has invited back some old friends. Names like Harry Manx, Barney Bentall, and Locarno are well known out here in BC, and certainly have been frequent returnees to the Harrison Memorial Hall stage over the past few decades. Also returning is one of Scotland’s legendary Celtic bands, Shooglenifty, known for it’s “acid croft” music that blends traditionally-influenced highland melodies with trance-like grooves.

The Agenda

Harrison Mills development to get an improved pond, playground

Harrison Highlands is the District of Kent’s biggest development, and it’s set to get upgrades to its park over the next three years.

Located on the south-facing slope of Mount Woodside, Harrison Highlands is a 300-home planned community. Dozens of homes have already been built, with many more expected over the coming years. The area currently has an open park space near the top of the development, with a pond and open lawn area. This year, the District of Kent plans to add a nature playground, focusing on parkour elements, and minor amenities like doggie bag dispensers, signage, garbage cans, benches, and some trees.

There are more amenities that Kent could potentially bring to the park. In 2025, the district staff said they hoped to add a viewing deck over the pond—something that would require structural, geotechnical, and environmental considerations. That year could also see the introduction of a covered picnic area. In 2026, the district staff proposed the construction of a multi-sport court—although not one for pickleball.

The second two phases are just proposals based on resident engagement from last winter. The park, and its exact final scope, will depend on financing from development cost charges. The 2024 plans will be going ahead this year, and the district has set aside $200,000 in its capital budget for those upgrades.

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SPONSORED BY CONCORD PACIFIC DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

Get ready this weekend for the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival

Summer starts THIS WEEKEND on False Creek! Catch the continent's biggest dragon boat race, Vancouver's first public drone show, the TD Main Stage with Hey Ocean! and MANILA GREY - all for free on False Creek! Did we mention it's on the biggest licensed patio around?

Plan your weekend now!

📸 Current Cam

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🗓 Things to do

Pride Festival: The Chilliwack Pride Festival returns to downtown Chilliwack Friday, June 21 from 10am to 4pm to celebrate belonging and inclusivity. The festival will feature 150 local vendors, food trucks, face painting, drag performances, a beer garden, and kid-friendly activities. Details online.

Catch ‘em all: Teens are invited to Langley’s Muriel Arnason Library to pick up a card template and design their own Pokémon. Participants have until June 30 to design a Pokémon and enter it for a chance to win a gift card. Details online.

Paula Abdul: Paula Abdul is coming to the Abbotsford Centre in September. Tickets are now available.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

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