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July 25, 2013
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E N T E R T A I N M E N T abbotsfordtimes.com
Adlem in favour of barging on Fraser CHRISTINA TOTH CToth@abbotsfordtimes.com
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– JEAN KONDA-WITTE/TIMES
Homeless camp residents (from left) Denise, Tom and Nick, read emails from City of Abbotsford staff regarding the dropping of chicken manure on the camp site on Gladys Avenue. The copies of the emails were given to them by a television crew that visited the camp on Tuesday.
Chicken manure plan widespread ROCHELLE BAKER RBaker@abbotsfordtimes.com
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nternal emails indicate that numerous City of Abbotsford departments took part in formulating a plan to dump chicken manure on a homeless camp last month. What’s more, one email suggests the Salvation Army was aware of the plan to use fertilizer at the Gladys Avenue camp across the street from the charity’s Centre of Hope. Managers from Abbotsford’s bylaw, forestry, roads and parks departments shaped the plan, according to emails made public through a CBC freedom of information request. In an email the afternoon of June
Numerous city departments were ‘in the know’ prior to last month’s fertilizer dump on homeless camp
3, Eric Fong, a foresty official, asks acting director of parks services, James Arden, for approval to proceed with the manure dump at the “Honey” tree on Gladys Avenue the following morning. “After a meeting with Bylaws (Gord Ferguson and Dwanye Fitzgerald), Roads (Tony Schmidbauer), the agreement is to spread the chicken manure around the tree to deter homeless encampments being set up under it,” read the text of Fong’s email. “We just need your approval to go
ahead and spread the manure.” A rd e n re s p o n d e d w i t h h i s approval. “I am okay with giving this a try to assist with the other agencies and this ongoing issue. I am glad we were able to get the product for free and avoid cutting down a healthy trees (sic) to see if that resolves the issue,” he wrote. The day the manure was dumped, Arden stated in an email to city manager George Murray that the Salvation Army knew about the plan.
“I followed up with my team and the Salvation Army staff were talked to by By-Law as to our plan with the fertilizer and were in agreement,” Arden wrote. To which Murray replied, “This is quite often what happens in our business. Groups are 100 % behind us . . . right until it turns to s--t (rather than manure).” Patricia Cuff, Salvation Army’s B.C. divisional director of public relations, stated Wednesday the charity didn’t green-light the city’s manure plan. “The email is inaccurate,” said Cuff. “We’d never give an OK to treat the homeless with anything less than dignity and respect.” see MANURE, page A7
hile much of Mission’s waterfront is zoned for industrial activity, there are few places to load barges. Now the district’s mayor wants to look at ways that could allow businesses to more easily establish docks for barges on the Fraser River – and the best locations to do it. “ We t a l k a lot about making the TED ADLEM river into a transportation corridor, but we don’t do anything about it,” said Mayor Ted Adlem said last week. “I think part of the river should be open to barge loading. I think it’s a reasonable thing to look at.” More barges would mean far fewer gravel and logging trucks rumbling through downtown Mission, lower shipping costs for resource operators and lower greenhouse gas emissions, said Adlem, who asked district staff to compile a report on the issue. One barge loaded with gravel, for example, could transport the volume carried by about 100 trucks, according to one barge operator, and “that’s a lot of diesel, a lot of greenhouse gases,” the mayor said. “I’m not against truckers, but even old guys like me are concerned about the environment.” And gravel traffic will likely increase as more pit operators open or expand in Mission and in communities to the east. The current bylaw adopted in 2007 restricts barge loading on Mission’s waterfront but does not ban the activity. see BARGES, page A4
The Salvation Army of Abbotsford and Mission Independent Financial Services
Bote Miedema, CFP
201-2190 West Railway Sreet, Abbotsford, BC V2S 2E2
bote.miedema@raymondjames.ca
Conservative Investment Advice
Financial Advisor 604-851-4295
Member CIPF
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