W. E. R. A. General Meeting
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March 23, 2010; commenced 7:04 p.m.
Chair: Elmer Rudolph
Recorder: Gavin McLeod
1. Approval of minutes of previous meeting: Moved Seconded and Carried to approve corrected minutes of the January 26, 2010 meeting.
2. Approval of agenda/ additional items: Report from Citizens’ Police Committee representative and Traffic Advisory Committee representative.
3. Presentation on H.A.S.T.E.by Mike Smith: Mike Smith presented information on the project to map safe efficient routes to schools; the intent is to have more students walking to school thereby reducing emissions and traffic congestion. Three schools were mapped in New Westminster, F.W. Howay, Sir Richard McBride and Lord Tweedsmuir; the maps were based on surveys. Mike has received support from the School Board, PACs, school principals, the police board and the traffic advisory committee. The HASTE project in New Westminster was initiated by the City of New Westminster. Mike is looking for further participation by interested groups. More information on HASTE can be found at the website at: http://www.hastebc.org/
4. Westminster Pier Park proposal update: A presentation and workshop on the Waterfront Park was presented at City Hall on March 17, 2010. Discussion at the WERA meeting centred on remediation, usage and accessibility of the park. The park is supposed to part of a larger plan to extend a greenway along the river.
5. Smart Gardening Workshop: New Westminster’s Cosmetic Pesticide came into force on March first of this year, there will be a presentation at the Library on Sunday March 28 from 1pm to 4pm; the presentation will explain how to maintain gardens and lawns organically; preregistration is required for this free event.
6. Pedestrian Overpass.: Elmer Rudolph received a phone call from a representative of CBS Outdoor Canada regarding the City of New Westminster requesting a proposal for funding from signage, Elmer has phoned and written to the City inquiring about the destination for the funding but has not received a reply to this date. WERA would like to see funding for a long promised pedestrian overpass to replace the closed crosswalk on 6th.
7. WERA input to City’s 20th Street Traffic Study/ London Bike Route: The heavy traffic and associated “rat running” on 20th and its side streets has been a topic of conversation lately. A traffic study is supposed to be planned for the near future. There has been concern about a bike route on London and the difficulty cyclists will have crossing 20th at London. A motion by Mary Wilson and seconded by Gavin McLeod was passed to have a letter sent to City Council about the problems associated with 20th and the proposed London bike route.
8. Exhaust Brake use by trucks near River Drive: Elmer has received complaints about noise from truck exhaust (Jake) brakes being used by trucks coming off the north end of the Queensborough bridge; Elmer phoned the Ministry of Transportation and was told that the situation would be investigated..
9. Summer Solstice Event at Grimston Park (Summerfest): Briana Tomkinson, John Ashdown and Gavin McLeod met to discuss creating an event for the west end in order to raise community spirit and to promote citizen participation, the event was tentatively scheduled to be in Grimston park close to the Summer Solstice but may have to be postponed to July due to Parks Board construction. Volunteers will be needed to achieve a successful event.
10. Additional Agenda Items: Gavin McLeod reported on the last Citizens Police Committee meeting and Andrea Francis reported on the last meeting of the Traffic Advisory Committee, Gavin requested that Andrea bring forward reports of speeding on Hamilton in the 30km zone next to the school and complaints about rat running on 20th.
Adjourned: 8:57 pm,
Next meeting: scheduled for Tuesday May 18th @ 7pm at Tweedsmuir School Library.
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