TRAFFIC, SAFETY, SOCIAL ISSUES KEY

It's one of the oldest - and youngest - cities in B.C. with a century
of history steeped in the rails and a population mostly under the age of 44.

Port Coquitlam's 54,000 residents enjoy all the benefits of being a
Vancouver suburb: commuter rail, single-family detached homes, good
recreation facilities and schools.

Still, it's not the "complete community" it strives to be.

Gridlock, especially along the Mary Hill bypass and Lougheed Highway,
is frustrating as more than 75% of people travel outside the city to
get to work. Policing is also an issue, with PoCo having one of the
worst police-to-population ratios in the country for a city of its size.

And social challenges are everywhere, with the city home to 89 rehab
beds for recovering drug/alcohol addicts versus 10 in Coquitlam and
none in Port Moody. Homelessness also remains a major concern for the city.

The Overpass

This fall, the city secured $60 million from TransLink, the region's
transportation body, to build a north-south connector over the CP
Rail tracks to link Coast Meridian Road/Lougheed Highway with
Kingsway Avenue/Broadway Street.

Though the city had originally said taxpayers wouldn't have to pay a
cent for the proposed viaduct, soaring construction costs and other
factors mean the city will have to dip into its savings to the tune
of $27.5 million ($17.5 million alone from the development cost charges fund).

City council and downtown business owners contend the overpass will
ease traffic, especially in the downtown core, and will be one of
many transportation links for TransLink and B.C.'s Ministry of
Transportation and Highways, including the new Golden Ears Bridge in
Maple Ridge and the Pitt River bridge.

But the city has been criticized for its handling of the mega-project.

In June, consultants with Context Research Ltd. recommended city
staff have better lines of communication with residents about the
project. The suggestion came after an open house in May, which
Context Research was monitoring, when city hall announced new plans
for the loop up to the viaduct on the northside - and some residents
learned by chance their homes were affected.

Bridgeman Avenue residents Aldo Grossi and Michelle Gagnon told The
Tri-City News yesterday they have yet to receive a visit or a letter
from the city about the viaduct or the new routing that they say is
destroying their neighbourhood. Both had tried to get information
from city engineers but to no avail.

"They said, 'We have no designs for you. We can't tell you
anything,'" said Grossi, who bought his property this past summer.

One of the Bridgeman lots the city recently bought was occupied by a
vagrant for about four days, he said. "I was phoning the city to
complain but nothing happened," Grossi said. "This guy smoked crack
and stole from our yards."

Gagnon, who moved to the area last May, said her realtor never
disclosed the pending Coast Meridian Overpass that will land close to
her doorstep. "My husband and I feel ripped off," she said. "We are
very, very angry because we were planning to stay here for a long time."

Another issue with the overpass project is that city hall has yet to
secure aerial rights-of-way with CP Rail to build over its tracks.

CP Rail spokesperson Ed Greenberg said both parties signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) last spring to work on a
feasibility study to show how CP Rail's operations would be affected.
"We want to ensure we can continue to serve Lower Mainland
businesses," he said.

Greenberg was not able to say how long the study would take.

Policing

City council took a number of steps this term to mitigate the spread
of marijuana grow operations and methamphetamine labs with a
re-worked grow op bylaw that would charge the property owner for
clean-up costs and a MethWatch program to educate businesses about
products used to make the deadly drug.

As well, city council passed the vacant homes bylaw to make owners of
abandoned properties more responsible for their premises (which
attracted vagrants and drug users).

Council also signed a business plan with the RCMP (it shares its
detachment with Coquitlam, paying about one-third of the costs) to
focus on problem issues and areas in the city.

Still, with 189 active Mounties, of whom 59 are dedicated to the PoCo
beat, the police-to-population ratio is low at one to 1,039 (last
year's number). Mayor Scott Young said council is making strides with
a goal to reach 1:850 in five years.

Homelessness

This term, city council came under fire after it suddenly changed the
rezoning bylaw for emergency shelters.

The move was prompted when the Salvation Army, which aids the
homeless locally, considered the Masonic Hall on Shaughnessy Street
for a shelter after it failed to secure a site on Kingsway
Avenue/Westwood Street for a 10,000-square foot shelter.

Mayor Scott Young said he would rather see the homeless accommodated
at a regional location, like at Riverview Hospital, which has the
services to treat people with mental health challenges and with
addiction problems.

Roxann MacDonald, Share's program director, said homelessness is not
just a PoCo problem. "It doesn't belong to one community or one
neighbourhood," she said. "It's a larger problem than that and I
think the solutions come when communities work together, whether it's
on this issue or another one."

MacDonald said shelters are not only needed in the Tri-Cities but
also in Langley and Burnaby. "Each of those areas will find their own
solutions," she said.