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Break-ins prompt warning from police Cayley Dobie
cdobie@newwestrecord.ca
Lock your car and roll up your windows or you could be in for a rude awakening, according to the New Westminster Police Department. Last week, police reported a spike in thefts from autos in the Massey-Victory Heights area, between Richmond Street and 10th and Eighth avenues. Police say they received six reports of stuff being stolen from inside vehicles during the last week of August. But none of the incidents reported any forced entry, meaning all vehicles were either left unlocked or the windows were down, according to Sgt. Jeff Scott. “We encourage everyone to secure their vehicles and to remove all valuables from their vehicles,” he wrote in an email to the Record. Scott is also reminding residents to report any suspicious activity or people to police right away. In these cases, patrol officers are often dispatched to check on the situation, he added. “How do you know if someone is suspicious? If they are looking into parked vehicles, or they are going onto driveways between parked cars, or they are checking door handles on parked vehicles,” Scott wrote. “If everyone is vigilant, we can all work together to reduce theft.” Call the police department’s non-emergency line at 604-525-5411 to report suspicious activity. If you see a crime happening call 911.
SAGE ADVICE: Sunday was Grandparents Day at River Market, and volunteers Biyu Chen and Ester Yang (right) taught Yolanda Wang some origami.
PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER
New West finally has a race for mayor Theresa McManus tmcmanus@newwestrecord.ca
Downtown businessman Harm Woldring is hoping to give incumbent mayor Jonathan Cote a run for his money on election day. Woldring, owner of the Wine Factory on Front Street, will be running for mayor in the Oct. 20 civic election. “First of all, I don’t believe anybody should be acclaimed to public office like this.Why? Because first of all, it’s a public process,” he told the Record. “There’s
a lot of emotions tied up in this decision. In New Westminster and the Lower Mainland, we have problems all over the place.They are big problems. Problems with housing affordability, all kinds of problems.” Through the years, Woldring has expressed concern about a number of issues, including rising taxes, utility fees and user fees, poor condition of roads, rising costs of administration at city hall, and the impact that some projects have on local businesses. “I fix things.That is what
I do. I see things differently than other people, and I see where there is opportunity. I am not calling these problems – I am calling them opportunities,” he said. “There’s an opportunity to do a lot better in New Westminster than we are currently doing.” While Woldring supports the “rank and file” city employees’ ability to deliver services to the community, he doesn’t think staff in management and senior positions are being held accountable for their decisions.
He said the city is “spending a fortune” on managers at city hall and projects are being mismanaged. “I’ve got to the bottom of it, and that’s why I’m running,” he said. Woldring cites delays and cost increases for the Ewen Avenue road project in Queensborough and the city’s handling of the Front Street parkade and mews project as examples of projects that were poorly managed. “People see problems in New West. ... Underneath
all of that is the people problems that are causing it,” he said. “I want to go after the people problems that are causing it.” Woldring said he’d like the city to hire an outside auditor to analyze how the City of New Westminster spends tax dollars collected from the community. He would like to find ways to help the city do a better job of including people in the decisions, rather than getting people to provide feedback on ideas being put forward by the city. Continued on page 3
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