THE FRIDAY
2010 WINNER
OCT. 22, 2010 www.tricitynews.com
TRI-CITY NEWS Man versus woman
Something’s fishy
SEE FACE TO FACE, PAGE A11
SEE THINGS-TO-DO GUIDE, PAGE A21
INSIDE Letters/A12 Tri-City Spotlight/A22 Elaine Golds/A24 Sports/A45
CRAIG HODGE/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Mike Bowen, a former city councillor, chairs the Port Coquitlam Community Sports Strategy.
Sporting chance for kids in PoCo By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Imagine a community where everyone is involved in sports, and fields, gyms and arenas are busy around the clock with games and activities. A new sports group believes that could be Port Coquitlam’s future. JENNIFER GAUTHIER/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Taking advantage of a warm afternoon sun, a jogger runs around Como Lake in Coquitlam. Weather forecasts predict anything but sun this weekend.
Coq. arrest in a credit card fraud case
PM battles on for MCC PoMo council says it may pull its support of Evergreen Line
By Dan Ferguson
By Sarah Payne
BLACK PRESS
THE TRI-CITY NEWS
A 2 2 - ye a r- o l d wo m a n f r o m Coquitlam was one of six people arrested in Vancouver for suspected involvement in a major credit card fraud ring as a result of a joint investigation by identity theft police teams from Surrey and Vancouver. The members of the ring were allegedly using fake credit cards to buy items from online auction sites, then reselling the goods at cut-rate prices for cash. About $129,000 worth of goods were sold, police estimate.
Port Moody council may pull its support for the Evergreen Line if the Murray-Clarke Connector isn’t built. At a special meeting Tuesday, council again discussed the 32 requirements it says are critical to its support for Evergreen. Among them is building the connector before construction of the rapid transit line. But with TransLink struggling to cover the funding gap just to get Evergreen built — and pay for other needed transportation projects throughout the region — Murray-Clarke has fallen off the radar once again. “It’s one of the prerequisites of us going along with the Evergreen Line,” said PoMo Mayor Joe Trasolini of the connector. “We’re
see RAID IN SEPTEMBER, S , page g A4
see PARTICIPATION C O KEY, K , page g A9 9
very concerned that now it seems the Murray-Clarke Connector is being orphaned again. It’s nowhere on the priority list of TransLink” even though the previous board not only approved the project in 2008 but also allocated $50 million for its construction. Costs for the connector, which will have to be extended to reach over the SkyTrain line, are now estimated at more than $70 million. PoMo has set aside $4 million for the project. “Today, when we’re expecting it to be completed, all of a sudden TransLink doesn’t have it on its priority list,” Trasolini added. “It’s a great concern to us and should be to everyone east of us. It throws doubts on our support for construction of the Evergreen Line.” TransLink must come up with $400 mil-
IN QUOTES
“This is not just a Port Moody problem, it’s a northeast sector problem.” Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini lion for its share of the $1.4-billion Evergreen Line and Metro mayors have recently balked at suggestions to hike property taxes to pay for Evergreen and part of the North Fraser Perimeter Road (Option A: $465 million) or a handful of regional projects including expanded bus service and station upgrades (Option B: $338 million). Trasolini says Murray-Clarke must be built regardless of those funding issues. see NOT URGENT, URGENT, page A14