SCC to host Forum for Surrey’s Trucking community on November 4

SCC     News Releases, Rina Gill     0

The Surrey Civic Coalition will be hosting another forum for the trucking community Friday, November 4 at 7pm at its campaign office, 109-12414 82 Ave. Rina Gill, an SCC candidate for City Council, has been working with the trucking community for years in an attempt to “find solutions to lack of safe, adequate truck parking facilities in Surrey.” She said the main focus of the forum is to address the “lack of action on truck parking issues by the current Surrey City Council,” and, just as importantly, give the truckers a platform to discuss other issues they may be experiencing.Read more

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Happy Diwali

SCC     Blog     0

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Laurence Greeff reflects on Provincial Professional Development Day, October 21

SCC     Laurence Greeff     0

Mohammed Yunus, 2006 Noble Peace Prize winner, founder of Grammeen Bank and developer of the micro-credit loan system to help poor people escape poverty said, ”Each of us has much more hidden inside us than we have had a chance to explore. Unless we create an environment that enables us to discover the limits of our potential, we will never know what we have inside of us.” On October 21, more than 9000 teachers who live and work in Surrey will be participating in the provincial professional development through your provincial specialist associations and Local Associations. The Surrey Civic CoalitionRead more

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Letter to Kevin Falcon

SCC     Charlene Dobie     0

Linda Stromberg and the Ad Hoc Committee deserves a lot of credit for their continued hard work to keep the need for Capital Funding for Surrey Schools in the spotlight. But it’s a shame the education crisis got to this point in the first place. We can only hope the hard work of these individuals and the citizens of Surrey helps Minister Falcon to see the desperate situation caused by six years of neglect, six year of saying no to capital funding for new schools. For the sake of the families in Surrey, I will remain optimistic but here weRead more

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Op-ed on TransLink fare hike, broken governance structure

SCC     Opinion Pieces, Stephanie Ryan     0

Translink’s Board continues to show it has lost touch. Commissioner Martin Crilly recently confirmed that Translink will hike fares by a whopping 12 per cent in 2013. TransLink likely doesn’t care that most Surrey residents take exception to a 12 per cent fare hike on top of what are already some of the highest per-kilometre fares in the country. Combine fare increases with a recently-announced two-cent-per-litre gas tax, tolls on the Golden Ears, Port Mann and Pattullo bridges upwards of $3 each way, and inadequate public transit service, and it’s clear Surrey is paying more and getting less. Every transportationRead more

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SCC Trustee candidate slams Surrey School District for not allowing teachers to attend French immersion conference

SCC     Moh Chelali, News Releases     0

  Moh Chelali wants the Surrey School District to reverse its decision forbidding Surrey teachers from attending a national conference for French immersion educators. Chelali, a candidate for school trustee with the Surrey Civic Coalition, said, “educators, parents and students are very upset about the decision not to allow French immersion teachers, principals and educators to attend.” The Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers (CAIT) conference will be held in Victoria November 3 and 4. Chelali, who is also one of the conference’s organizers, said many Surrey educators from French immersion programs have attended CAIT conferences in Montreal, Winnipeg and MonctonRead more

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It’s time for this Council to fold says SCC candidate

SCC     Gary Robinson     0

Re: “Casino Property ‘flipped’ says city” September 15, 2011 A speculator flipped land, promises were broken, and a 25 million dollar scheme failed. Surrey Council placed its bets and we lost. Stop gambling with our City. The public does know something. We know your blind faith with development – any development, all development –doesn’t work, The current City Council have become slaves to big money and big promises. The haphazard way Surrey Council dealt with this casino application forced far-too-many people to take sides in the Newton casino scheme.  It pitted Not-for-Profit groups against the community and residents against Not-for-ProfitsRead more

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TransLink proposes out of touch 12% fare hike

SCC     News Releases, Stephanie Ryan     0

Transit riders in Metro Vancouver are about to take another major hit at the fare box. TransLink Commissioner Martin Crilly confirmed Thursday that 12 percent in fare hikes are planned for 2013. This is in addition to the two-cent-per-litre gas tax recently approved by Metro Vancouver mayors to fund the construction of the Evergreen Line and other transit improvements. “Transportation is becoming a real pocketbook concern for commuters in Surrey and south of the Fraser,” said Surrey Civic Coalition City Council candidate Stephanie Ryan. “Surrey residents are looking at this new two-cent gas tax, on top of the 15 centsRead more

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Newton bingo hall fails to contribute $25M promised for rezoning

SCC     News Releases, Stephanie Ryan     0

Surrey residents have learned that the Newton Bingo Hall, rezoned in 2009 to include slot machines, has been flipped to another owner. The property was sold despite the fact that the original owner has not delivered on $25 Million worth of investments it promised to make to the rest of the property in exchange for the rezoning. “This rezoning was approved on a razor-thin margin of 5-4, in the face of significant opposition by neighbourhood residents who feared that an expansion of gambling would simply exacerbate the neighbourhood’s problems of crime and addiction,” said Surrey Civic Coalition candidate Stephanie Ryan.Read more

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Keeping an Eye on the Surrey City Development Corporation

SCC     Grant Rice     0

I recently attended the smallest AGM ever in the Manager’s Boardroom at Surrey City Hall. It was a cordial meeting with Jim Cox, the CEO of the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC), and City Solicitor Craig MacFarlane. Yes, just the three of us. None of the other directors, which include Mayor Watts, Councillor Hepner and City Manager Murray Dinwoodie, were present.   Jim provided an update of the development projects the corporation is involved in and an explanation of the relationship between the city and the SCDC. I finally had a chance to view SCDC’s 2009/2010 financial statements (I hadRead more

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