City staff listen to Surrey residents and say no to increase in monster homes

However, there is a catch, albeit one I think many Surrey-ites can live with.
In last nights council meeting, city council said no to the proposed increase requested by the Surrey Ratepayers Association, and told city planners to approach a neighbourhood by neighbourhood zoning approach. In this manner, anybody wishing to increase the home size in [...]

Demoralized staff, unsafe homes and questionable motives – the issue of Surrey’s ” Monster Homes”makes front page news in The Province

Welcome news greeted me on the front page of the print edition of The Province this morning , one that left me thanking the author of the article, Kent Spencer, and the powers that be for giving this issue some  much-needed attention on a larger scale.  Unionized employees from the city of Surrey have come [...]

If the Queen of B.C. says it’s good for the city, then that is all that matters.

The announcement came yesterday, and to no one’s surprise, the city of Surrey is the lucky recipient of one brand spanking new remand centre.Whoo hoo! Come on now, I know a resounding cheer rang through the city on that one.  The existing Surrey Pre-trial centre that has been the bane of local residents who live around that area for [...]

Welcome Home facility for addicts and court-ordered offenders NOT welcome in my old neighbourhood.

Surrey city hall is going to have a couple of big fights on their hands tonight, one of  them taking the form of a public hearing that gives Newton residents the chance to voice their concerns over an unwanted and controversial rehab facilitythat The John Volken Foundation wants to build in the heart of residential [...]

Newton neighbourhoods still rife with prostitutes,drugs and crime – despite city’s Newton Revitalization Plan

It has been  just over one year since I spent the afternoon taking Susana da Silva and her cameraman on a driving tour of Newton. 
One year.
In response to increasing frustration among home and business owners in the neighbourhood regarding the cities lack of action, I decided enough was enough and called the CBC to suggest they [...]

This is what’s wrong with our “Justice” system

Earlier this year, on March 13th, I blogged about a shooting that had occurred in broad daylight, in a residential cul-de-sac where children play freely.
Some men were arguing in front of one of the homes. The verbal disagreement became a physical fight and at that time another man puled out a gun and shot another [...]

Salvation Army in process to acquire the old Surrey Public Market property at King George and 64th avenue

Brian Venables, Major and Divisional Secretary for Public Relations & Development with the Salvation Army, confirmed to me in an email yesterday afternoon, that  they are ” currently engaged in a transaction that, if successful, will mean the subject property will become ours.”
I also asked Brian what the plans were for that property, and this [...]

Bullets fly in residential cul-de-sac, home to many families with children.

Sometimes I think I know what it must have been like in Vietnam…. the steady chopchopchop sound of the rotors overhead, the shouts, the wails of sirens and stench of fresh blood and acrid fear filling the air…
Only I live in Surrey, and the chopper overhead isn’t a med-evac unit, it’s RCMP Air 1.  The shouts aren’t a soldiers [...]

Is this about fixing people – or saving their own jobs?

Due to illness, there will be no Bits and Bites today. God knows why, but this year  it seems as if I’ve been destined to catch every freaking bug my kids bring home – something that is extremely unusual for me. I go years without getting ill.
However, for you Newton readers,I did spot  a story [...]

Surrey ranks in the Top 10 Most Dangerous cities in Canada – so why not add slot machines to one of the poorest neighbourhoods?

Funny, I was just in the local RCMP detachment yesterday reading that theft from vehicles in Surrey is on the rise. This little tidbit was found in the Block Watch newsletter.( As is all crime, I suspect – wait until the next bunch of stats come out) I’ve been writing about this for some time , only [...]