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Sunday, July 21, 2013
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Shuttered school to be sold Brent Richter brichter@nsnews.com
THE North Vancouver school board has voted to sell the shuttered Ridgeway Annex to property developer Anthem for roughly $5.1 million — the first of what could be several school sales in the years ahead. The decision passed with a 4-2 vote this week. While the majority on the school board agreed selling the land was a tough but necessary decision, there was spirited opposition on the philosophical grounds that the land should remain public. Trustee Susan Skinner led the charge to stop the sale, saying selling Ridgeway Annex would be set a precedent. “I don’t feel we have enough information on community needs for today and the future,” she said. Skinner said the mandate of the school district has expanded to include other communityneeds,andsuggested surveying other relevant public service agencies to gauge their current and future requirements. See Students page 8
Shakin’ not stirred
NEWS photo Paul McGrath
THE Cuban band Brisas del Palmar livens up the Salsa by the Sea Latin dance party at the Ambleside Landing in West Vancouver. Every Thursday evening until Aug. 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for a $6 drop-in fee, residents can learn salsa dance steps and enjoy a variety of Latin music. See page 3 for more photos of summer concert series on the North Shore.
Family fleeced by ticket scammers
Jeremy Shepherd jshepherd@nsnews.com
A Craigslist scammer has left at least one North Vancouver teenager empty handed after successfully pawning off phony tickets for One Direction’s July 27 concert at Rogers Arena. After exchanging emails, North Vancouver mother Shawna Baker met with the seller at Pacific Centre mall in the hopes of scoring tickets on behalf of her teenage daughter. “Her wall is full of their pictures and she’s got a big stand-up
Teen’s concert hopes head in wrong direction with online fakes
poster,” Baker said. The asking price of $650 for two tickets seemed steep, but Baker’s daughter sold her Taylor Swift tickets in the hopes of raising enough cash to catch the English quintet’s pop stylings live and in person. The vendor, a teenage girl with long black hair, told Baker the money from the ticket sale was going toward a family trip
to Honduras. Baker compared the tickets with passes from other shows. She noted a bar code, sponsorship information, and a disclaimer. “She seemed very genuine and sweet, and I said to my husband right after we left, ‘They’re too young to be scammers,’” Baker said. She took the tickets home and eventually discovered the subterfuge after reading a Province article about event codes on fraudulent tickets. “I had to look at them three times just to make sure,” she
See Teen page 5
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