New Year’s Eve has arrived – and, for those of us in the newsroom, what better time to pause, reflect and remember all that’s happened in Burnaby in 2014.
When it comes to news headlines, Burnaby is never short of things to write about – from those stories that are very specifically local to those that garner national and even international headlines.
Earlier this month, the Burnaby NOW editorial team sat down to discuss the top stories of the year. Our collection of awards, honours and special mentions include The News Story of the Year, The Newsmaker of the Year, and several other awards, such as our Critters Causing Chaos and Grubbiest City awards.
Our choices are obviously subjective. How does one judge the relative merits of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion protest over the dozens of stories that came out of the 2015 civic election? Where do critter stories, like the case of Sienna the bandit cat’s stash of 50 gloves, rank?
We don’t pretend these “awards” can possibly touch on everything important that happened this year – but they do cover many of the highlights.
A big thank you to all of our newsmakers and those who pass on news tips and ideas – we couldn’t do it without you!
***
SACRIFICIAL LAMB AWARD – BFC’s Daren Hancott
Let’s face it: running against the Burnaby Citizens Association is akin to walking into Mordor.
And deep down inside, Burnaby First mayoral candidate Daren Hancott likely knew he was facing insurmountable odds in his efforts to unseat the now five-time mayor of Burnaby.
While Hancott and the BFC put out a strong campaign, it was only enough to secure 21.67 per cent of the mayoral vote – about 20,000 votes shy of incumbent Mayor Derek Corrigan.
Hancott’s colleagues didn’t fare any better, as the BCA swept the polls on Nov. 15.
Following the results, Hancott couldn’t say if he would run for mayor in 2018, but if he does decide to take on the juggernaut BCA again, he has four years to figure out how to at least get one person elected to one seat on either the school board or city council. Is that asking too much?
***
STRANGEST STORY AWARD – Sylvia Gung and gay serum
Any way you slice it, Burnaby’s 2014 municipal elections generated some of the weirdest stories this year.
But tied for top place have got to be mayoral candidate Sylvia Gung’s pledge to outlaw public displays of affection and the rumours of a campaign volunteer spreading tales among the electorate of the school district injecting students with a gay serum.
Gung threw down the gauntlet on PDAs early in the race, vowing in her City of Burnaby campaign profile to ban the “bridal kiss” once she was elected mayor.
Not to be outdone, Burnaby Citizens Association candidates Harman Pandher (since re-elected and acclaimed school board vice-chair) and school board newbie Katrina Chen told local papers that some local citizens told them that somebody claiming to be a Burnaby First volunteer was telling voters the BCA-run school district was injecting kids with an elixir to make them gay.
The BCA cried fearmongering. The BFC cried smear campaign. Fans of enlightened political discourse wept.
***
RUNNER UP for NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR – Development boom continues
It wouldn’t be Burnaby without a few more highrises, now would it?
This year saw the approval and development of the two 53-storey Brentwood towers, as well as two of the five Station Square buildings.
Mayor Derek Corrigan touted the creation of 3,000 jobs during the second phase of the Station Square development as it joins the Metrotown skyline. On the flipside, the ongoing development throughout Burnaby brought stories of residents who may be forced out of the city, like Tisa Nowak and her 200-some neighbours. Their affordable lowrise rental building is set to be torn down in favour of two towers, one at 26 storeys, the other at 41.
Any time a development of such a magnitude goes to a public hearing, residents pack council chambers. It’s an eternal hot-button issue, and development will certainly be in the running for 2015’s top news story.
***
SIGNS OF HYPOCRISY AWARD – Signs abandoned on boulevards
Leading up to the 2014 election, Burnaby First decried the placement of the BCA’s election signage on city property, which apparently violated the city’s own sign bylaw.
So why are the BFC’s signs still on boulevards? In neighbouring municipalities?
BFC signs are still along Stewardson Way in New Westminster (as of December 29) – a double whammy for bylaw violations.
When the BCA put signs on city boulevards – which turned out to be permitted, with prior consent from city council – Burnaby First called hypocrisy.
Now the NOW is calling hypocrisy. It’s hypocriception.
***
BEST BACKPEDAL – Flu clinic flip-flop
Burnaby seniors got flu shots at four local community centres this winter, but not before some Olympic-level flip-flopping by Fraser Health.
After years of providing the shots at Bonsor, Edmonds, Confederation Park and Cameron, the health authority pulled the plug on seniors clinics across the health region, directing their usual clients to get shots at pharmacies or their doctor’s offices instead.
Voices of Burnaby Seniors didn’t like that one bit, and the local advocacy group kicked up a fuss that reached the floor of the Legislature in November via NDP leader John Horgan, who grilled Health Minister Terry Lake on the cancelled clinics in Question Period
After the minister said he’d get Fraser Health to review its decision, clinics were reinstated at all four centres.
***
THE 19th HOLE AWARD – Free golf for city officials
Who knew we had so many avid golfers at city hall?
The NOW caused quite a ruckus when it came to light that current and former city officials charged $41,904 in golf to taxpayers in 2013, as part of Burnaby’s complimentary pass system.
Every year, the city issues passes to current and former councillors, commissioners, school trustees, library board members and other nominees, granting them free access to numerous city facilities, including the Riverway and Burnaby Mountain golf courses.
The news prompted letters of outrage from residents – and support from one freeman who benefited from the pass – yet the parks commission recently approved its list of 2015 complimentary pass recipients.
We’ll see if anyone cuts back on their tee times next year.
***
THE 'GRUBBIEST' CITY AWARD – Revenge of the Chafer beetle
When Linda Cappelletti called the NOW complaining about raccoons tearing up her lawn, we had no idea the problem was so widespread. The minute the story hit the press (or in today’s case, the web) letters to the editor started flooding in from people across the city complaining about the very same thing.
Turns out the raccoons weren’t to blame – they were only feasting on the European chafer beetles’ tasty grubs buried underground.
Soon enough people were writing and calling the newsroom to voice their own frustrations with the lack of action by the city.
Residents lamented that it wasn’t only their lawns that were the targets of the hungry little bandits but city properties, including boulevards.
The city eventually responded, saying it was considering reintroducing a city-wide nematode program, as it had done when the chafer beetle problem was at its height in 2004.
The city would offer nematodes for purchase at a subsidize price, and city properties would be treated as well. The program will likely be tabled as part of the 2015 budget.
***
MOST PREDICTABLE HEADLINE AWARD – The BCA sweep, again
Was anybody really surprised that the Burnaby Citizens Association went three for three?
Perhaps there was some doubt that Burnaby would be under one-party rule for the next four years. The incumbent party had some competition in the council candidates from the Burnaby First Coalition, but the opposition group just wasn’t able to garner enough votes to get a single member on city council.
That said, all but one of the BCA’s council members ran for re-election, with BCA school trustee James Wang taking the place of departing councillor Richard Chang.
So maybe voters went with the devils they knew, rather than the ones they didn’t.
Whatever the case, the BCA proved they have the support of most voters – or, at least, of the 41,000 residents who voted – and dominated the ballot once again. Better luck next time, BFC?
***
BEST BEASTY ‘TAIL’ – Sienna the cat burglar
Dawn Palmer had no idea where all the work gloves were coming from but she knew they must belong to someone.
The gloves just started appearing one day, in Palmer’s dining room, the back balcony, on the floor and at the front door. There were nylon ones, fabric ones, and never in a matched pair, just singles.
Turns out Palmer’s calico cat, Sienna, had gotten a taste for work gloves and she wasn’t about to stop anytime soon, she was proud of her stash and would often announce another catch with a few cheerful meows. Before Palmer knew it, Sienna had collected more than 50 gloves – but where oh where were they coming from?
Could they be from the nearby school? Or construction sites down the street? Or her neighbours? They were doing some landscaping work…
She contacted the NOWhoping some exposure would help locate the owner of the gloves and soon enough, Palmer got a call from her neighbour across the street, Louise LeBlanc, who was certain the gloves belonged to her.
While a little miffed (I mean, who wouldn’t be – the LeBlancs kept buying more gloves for their landscapers every time another one went missing, that’s a lot of money and certainly a lot of gloves), LeBlanc found the situation rather amusing noting that she had initially assumed it was a raccoon stealing the gloves. She even had video footage of what appeared to be a raccoon struggling to drag a coat across the lawn – turns out it was Sienna all along, what a little rascal!
***
CRITTERS CAUSING CHAOS – Beavers take out a coal train
The inaugural Critters Causing Chaos Award goes to the beavers that managed to take out a coal train early in the year.
Heavy rains breached a beaver dam on Silver Creek, just parallel to Government Street, and the high water washed out the tracks. A CP train carrying coal, among other things, derailed from a CN track on Jan. 11, spilling 82.8 cubic metres of coal into Silver Creek, a small waterway that leads into Burnaby Lake. The shores were coated in black, and the endangered Western painted turtles had to be taken into Environment Ministry custody, while remediation work took place.
The beavers have appeared to move on, and CN restored the creek banks. As for any long-term damage, we’re still waiting for the final report on this one.
