Monday - Nov. 25, 2024 - New Mission high school timeline revealed

🌧 High 6C

Good morning!

My kids spend seemingly every lunch hour at school playing a game called “Mantracker.” No, it’s not a recreation of the awesome TV series from years’ past. It’s basically a form of tag where every kid tagged becomes part of a larger and larger group that is “it.” But the details don’t matter. The point is that kids have their own vernacular and games and, indeed, culture. This, as Andrew Potter writes in this exceptionally thought-provoking piece, is called “childlore.” In his essay, Andrew wonders how social media will affect childlore, which has traditionally been incredibly resilient. In my experience, it seems to be doing fine thus far.

– Tyler

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope (We have had to temporarily change our forecast links to the Weather Network due to a technical error.)

🚘 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

In search of a happy ending

ACT I

The lights come up, illuminating the interior of a small theatre. A city official wearing a hard hat and reflective vest holds a clipboard and looks toward the ceiling. He grimaces in an exaggerated fashion and shakes his head. A woman, the theatre operator, holds her head in distress. Beside her, a wide-eyed young actor looks on with worry in his eyes.

INSPECTOR: Yeeeeeep. You see those sprinklers up there?

THEATRE MANAGER: What sprinklers?

INSPECTOR: Exactly! You need sprinklers.

THEATRE MANAGER: We’ve been renting this space and staging plays here for a decade!

INSPECTOR: Well, this is 2024. You need sprinklers in a theatre. This place is a death trap.

THEATRE MANAGER: A death trap!?!?

INSPECTOR: Well, that’s the official terminology. The building itself is more or less fine, but it’s in violation of at least three provincial building codes so it’s got official Death Trap status that means you can’t stage plays here.

The inspector slaps a prominent red notice over what had been an official-looking sign showing the building’s occupancy limit, prompting an extended moan from the theatre manager.

SCENE

• • • • •

You know what happens next in this fictional play. A community rallies; the building inspector gets some kind of comeuppance; a new relationship is formed; a last-minute problem threatens to doom the whole endeavour; and in the end, a local institution is saved, proving to grumps and idealists alike that a theatre is a vital part of a community.

But real life comes with no guarantee of a satisfying third act, and months after being told its home base of nearly two decades could no longer host plays, Mission’s Opening Nite Theatre continues to search for a happy ending.

• Today, Tyler talks to Opening Nite president Camille Atebe about the theatre, why it belongs in Mission, and the challenges to finding that elusive third act.

Related

Need to Know

🐓 Fraser Valley poultry farmers are facing an ‘emotional time’ with bird flu forcing them to cull their flocks; there have been nearly 50 flocks infected in BC this fall [Canadian Press]

⚖ The City of Abbotsford is asking the court to reconsider the steps the city has been told to take in order to remove the encampment outside city hall [Abbotsford News]

🗳 Five candidates are now running for the vacant Cloverdale-Langley City MP position [Cloverdale Reporter]

🚓 Abbotsford police are investigating after a woman fled a vehicle after the driver made ‘unwanted advances’ early Sunday morning [Fraser Valley Today]

🥫 Archway Community Services says it needs more than $1 million to meet growing demand for affordable food [Archway Community Services]

🚒 A Friday morning crash on Highway 1 in Chilliwack ended with one car bursting into flames [Chilliwack Progress]

🚔 RCMP say they will be increasing police visibility in Harrison to help residents feel safer [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

🏘 Chilliwack waived $1.2 million in fees on an affordable housing development project on Spadina Avenue and has concerns about how slowly another housing project on Trethewey Avenue is progressing [Chilliwack Progress] / That Trethewey development has been in the works for years, and is located right next to the Fraser Valley’s deadliest rail crossing [FVC]

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The Agenda

Contract to build new Mission high school to be awarded next fall

The Fraser Valley’s largest school project is on pace for a 2029 completion, with the contract to build a new Mission Secondary School set to be awarded next September.

The Mission school board announced in 2023 that the province was finally following through on its promise to replace the city’s largest school. The province formally announced the project this year. A new Mission Secondary School is expected to have space for 1,500 students and cost $175 million.

Mission’s school district has been receiving, and publishing, monthly reports on the project’s progress. November’s update was provided to school trustees at their meeting last week. Although a previous update saw some timelines moved back, the latest update suggests the awarding of the contract to build the project will take place in September, a month earlier than initially planned. Construction is expected to be mostly finished in the summer of 2028. The school is expected to be fully complete by the following fall. The province has previously said the school would be finished in 2029-30.

The project is being managed by Infrastructure BC. In September, the board heard that six companies have expressed interest. Three will be shortlisted and invited to compete in a request for proposals later this month. The proposals will be due next summer, with a final report evaluating them due by the start of August.

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🗓 Things to do

Snitches get cookies: The Chilliwack Cultural Centre hosts Winter Fantasia, a concert, art show, and storytelling of The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher on Tuesday. Details and tickets online.

Philosophy discussion: Kwantlen Polytechnic University hosts its Philosopher's Corner at the City of Langley Library on Thursday from 11:30am to 1pm. Share in a lively discussion on a variety of topics. Admittance is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Details online.

BCHL hockey: The Langley Rivermen host the Penticton Vees Thursday at George Preston Arena. Tickets online.

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Catch up

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