Pancakes plus toys equals more than 350 Christmas gifts for New Westminster kids
By Alfie Lau, The Record December 9, 2011

For the fifth year in a row, New Westminster residents have shown how much they care for local kids at the Christmas for Kids toy drive held Wednesday morning at the Paddlewheeler Pub at Westminster Quay.

Mayor Wayne Wright, left, does a ceremonial pancake flip. Photograph by: Jack Murray contributed photo, THE RECORD

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New West on board with housing plan
Mayor Wayne Wright sits as co-chair of national coalition looking at rental housing
By Theresa McManus, The Record December 9, 2011

New Westminster’s mayor is a founding member of a coalition that’s been creating a Canadian Rental Housing Coalition Charter.

A coalition of industry, non-profit and government leaders recently signed a Canadian Rental Housing Coalition Charter, which outlines a nine-point plan to increase the supply of affordable rental housing across the nation.

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City has ‘blazed a trail’ – Mayor cites new pier park and downtown revitalization
By Theresa McManus, The Record December 7, 2011

The City of New Westminster has “blazed a trail” and borrowed from others to make progress in the past few years, says Mayor Wayne Wright.

In his 2011 inaugural address, Wright said the city has come a long way over the past few years.

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The full inaugural address…

Read more: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/news/City+blazed+trail/5823099/story.html#ixzz1fsmaKQ4Q

The Province reports:

Photograph by: Larry Wright, The Record

New Westminster Mayor Wayne Wright breezes into fourth term.

Wayne Wright swept to a fourth term as mayor of New Westminster with 62 per cent of support from voters.

While many perceived there would be a two-way race for mayor between the incumbent and challenger James Crosty, Wright easily won with 6,633 votes. Next came Crosty with 3,139 votes, Vance McFadyen with 826 votes and Francois Nantel with 207 votes.

Read the full report in The Province…

The Vancouver Sun reports:

Wayne Wright back for fourth term as mayor in New Westminster

Photograph by: Les Bazso, PNG

“New Westminster mayor Wayne Wright, who doubled opponent James Crosty’s votes on Saturday, said voters returned him to his fourth consecutive victory based on his record.”

Read the full Vancouver Sun article…

Campaigning at Dunwood

Why am I smiling? And what does this have to do with feet? Well, everything.

This was the last door I knocked on late yesterday (Dunwood Place). I was campaigning, but my feet were complaining.

I am smiling because I have met so many nice, supportive people all day, but also because I could see me putting my feet up in just a short while…

Campaigning is hard work. Thank you to all the many nice people I talked t0 and who were so supportive and encouraging!

Wishing Brek Boughton a Successful Trip

It’s more than 8,000 kilometres from Sapperton to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. and back, but New Westminster resident Brek Boughton and his “Surly Big Dummy” bicycle plan to make the trip in three months.

Brek will be carrying our City’s flag – he is a great ambassador for us!

Read more in the Record…

”Two mayoral candidates in New Westminster – incumbent Wayne Wright and challenger James Crosty – are at odds over things such as a $34-million waterfront park”

Read the full report…

The project depends on goverment funding. If it were stopped or delayed at this point, we would lose that funding (approx $16m).

For background have a look at my  related blog posts on the subject
Wayne’s Wharf
The Development Question

One of the more insidious tricks in the arsenal of negative campaigners is to spread rumours. They use phrases like “rumour has it…” or “the word on the street is…”, but of course the source is never given.

One such nasty rumour is that if I were re-elected, I would just be a “caretaker mayor”. I would just be finishing the few outstanding projects as I would be leaving for Australia soon after!

Whoever started such a malicious rumour must either be desperate or does not know me at all. Anyone who has ever worked with me knows of my passion for New Westminster, and my drive – I could never just coast along. My close associates know of the dreams I still have for New Westminster.

Me, a caretaker mayor – never! To find out the real Word on the Street, be sure to read the many testimonials on my website – they are real people from New Westminster and are representative of all walks of life – no rumours needed.

Right from the start I saw the potential of our waterfront for the enjoyment of our citizens and tourism. I made it my goal to buy back as much of the waterfront for public use as possible.

A recent Royal City Record article reports “Wright firmly believes that Westminster Pier Park, which is set to open in early 2012, will be an amenity that the public will welcome but will also become an economic driver for the city. One of Wright’s first goals upon becoming mayor was to reclaim the waterfront, so he couldn’t be prouder than when people refer to Westminster Pier Park as Wayne’s Wharf.”

Problem Statement

A big problem is that waterfront property is scarce and desirable so it tends to be expensive. Many of the properties on our waterfront were heavily polluted after years of industrial use.

Part Of The Green Way

Discussion

With careful negotiation and by using external funding, we have managed to acquire most/all of the waterfront.We now have a green way running along the river all the way from our border with Richmond to the Sapperton Landing Park on the other end.The Quay with the River Market and Fraser River Discovery Centre form the hub of our waterfront development. And don’t forget my favorite big addition – the Tallest Tin Soldier.I have not been successful in all my endeavours though. For example, we had an opportunity to get a marina at the Quay. However, it was opposed by local residents. I was disappointed but that is democracy – I listened. I was also sorry to see the Royal Casino paddlewheeler leave New West.

The Result

The waterfront has already become an integral part of life in New West. It is the venue for many events and festivals like Artists on the River and the Multicultural Festival. I can only see it increase as the Westminster Pier Park is completed.

Allow me to digress a little here. I am fed up with the negativity of some candidates in this campaign. They headline “Pier Park not on time, not on budget”! But do they mention the design award that the project has won? No! Guess it is easier to criticise than to be constructive.

An exciting future development is to connect the Quay and Queensborough for pedestrians and cyclists. The challenge is that we still have to allow shipping to pass. That could easily cause a bridge to be so high that people will be scared to use it. The City is exploring several options including a gondola system and the expansion of the existing rail bridge.

Conclusion

As a city we are truly blessed to have an asset as the Fraser River and I am proud of what we have achieved with our waterfront development. It is sometimes, somewhat disparagingly, referred to as “Wayne’s Wharf” by people who lack vision – but I don’t really mind as I did play a part in bringing it to fruition.

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Be sure to read the City’s report on the economic potential of the Pier Park. ]]> http://wayne-wright.info/11/in-the-press/waynes-wharf/feed/ 0