Wayne Wright loves New Westminster. He has been mayor for over 10 years; a job he came to, he says, because he wanted to make a difference to a city that has been good to him. In this article originally featured in the New West Record, Mayor Wright talks about the city's history as well as its future.
A special place within Metro Vancouver
"We have the history and heritage that comes from being one of the first cities in British Columbia," said Wright. "The old city of New Westminster was a thriving metropolis probably the most active city in the province and the people who lived and worked here were the movers and shakers. We're trying to go back to that while maintaining our sense of being a community people feel part of."
With the city's central location within the Metro Vancouver region as well as its position along the river, New Westminster offers many benefits that city council is making the best of.
"We've been very determined in the last 10 years to take advantage of our location and to expand our base," said the mayor. "An important thing that people often miss is we're one of the fastest growing cities in the Lower Mainland in terms of percentage of growth. Downtown has been a major focus; we're growing prolifically there.
We're also doing the same uptown; we're just opening a huge Bosa development that's terrific. We've also done the same in Sapperton. It's got the Wesgroup which is one of the biggest multi-developments in the province, if not the country. And the same in Queensborough with Aragon. We've taken care of every area of our city and we're growing everywhere."
Planned growth
Mayor Wright cautions that council does not want New Westminster to become a stale place to live.
"We want to keep our communities family-orientated. We want to attract people who will become part of the community, not just sleep here and then leave to go to work every day. We're working on creating local jobs and making New Westminster a place to live and shop and play."
The innovative and award-winning Mayor Wayne Wright, City of New Westminster Westminster Pier Park is one example of the city providing new outdoor space for its citizens.
"It's eight acres on the waterfront right downtown and accessible to all including the new young families moving downtown who no longer have front yards and backyards and need to have public space to grow and play outside," said Wright. "The same thing is happening in Queensborough. We're just finishing up our an expansion to our community centre there. We're giving residents the infrastructure that's needed to keep them in the community."
New Westminster has a large number of rental units and council is determined to retain these. As much as possible, there is a moratorium on redeveloping rental properties into market condominiums. When this does happen, council works with developers to ensure rental spaces or community amenities are included in their new projects.
Wright appreciates the progressive nature of our city's councillors with their business acumen as well as their social consciences.
"We've not only done market development, we've also created housing for our homeless," he said. "We're almost eradicating homelessness; I don't want to say we've completely done that because no one can. But the second-stage housing we have built is something we're extremely proud of and it's really making a positive difference."
Getting down to business
New Westminster was once one of the biggest mill towns in the world. As the mills closed and the jobs in those operations were lost, the city has been left with several large empty sites.
"We're looking at that and putting a plan together with the port authority of what new businesses we can put in there and what types should go in. On that issue, we're looking at trying to bring back some of the big businesses but we know it will never be the same as it was," remarked Wright.
Instead, the mayor is leading the call to make New Westminster one of the first "smart cities" in western Canada, harnessing information and communication technologies as well as social and environmental capital.
"We've put in the fibre optics and we're going forward," he said, pointing to the coming state-of-the art Anvil Centre and office complex as examples of facilities that will spur economic development. "We're very positive towards business coming here."
Greening the city
With densification happening at SkyTrain stations, more people are using rapid transit and leaving their cars at home.
"We've got a good bus transportation system here," commented Wright. "From east to west we've got a very strong SkyTrain system. We're making the greenways; we're making the cycle paths. Inside the city, we're making it walkable. If you live downtown you don't have to drive anywhere. You could actually live in downtown New Westminster without a car and get to almost anything that you want."
Beyond encouraging green forms of transportation, the city is building all municipal facilities, including the Anvil Centre and office complex, to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. And, the city is currently investigating tying in some large new developments with the district energy system mandated for the Royal Columbian Hospital expansion.
"That will be huge in bringing our greenhouse gases down," said the mayor.
'Wait for Me, Daddy'
While New Westminster is poised to retake its place as a thriving metropolis, Mayor Wright is also determined to remember the city's past.
One of Canada's most famous photographs from the Second World War, called 'Wait for Me, Daddy', was taken at Eighth and Columbia and captures a child running towards his father, who was a member of the British Columbia Regiment. City council is now working on an event in 2014 or 2015 to commemorate the occasion.
"The infrastructure changes we're making, the Anvil Centre and the office complex, are going to be right there on the spot where that photo was taken," said Wright about the city's plans to create a war memorial that commemorates the famous photograph and the story behind it. "We're looking at the possibilities of being able to have a stamp and a coin at the same time as the inauguration and there's a very big possibility of the square being designated as a historic heritage site."
