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The Josh Bath Team

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Realtors to Collect Blankets for Homeless this Winter

11-22-11
The Josh Bath Team
blanket drive 2011Hundreds of realtor offices will again to receive blankets and clothing donations for the needy starting November 28 till December 5 all across Lower Mainland for the 17th annual Realtors Care Blanket Drive. These offices will be drop-offs and its Realtors will collect, sort and deliver the donations.

Realtors shared their experience with both donors and recipients: Some recipients live in their vehicles with very few belongings, others spend nights on the streets or in emergency shelters. Donors also ranged from the affluent to the simple folks who shared what little they could give. Indeed each people involved in this project have their own story to tell.

Much needed donations are the following:

New or gently used
  • Blankets and sleeping bags
  • Warm clothing-coats, jeans, pants, sweaters
  • Scarves, mitts, gloves and hats


New items for men, women and children
  • Socks
  • Underwear

Keller Williams Elite Realty will also be receiving donations at out offices at A123-2099 Lougheed Highway, Port Coquitlam, as well other local real estate offices.

Donations will be delivered to numerous organizations in the following cities for distribution. Check this link for the exact addresses of the Blanket Drive recipient charities.

Greater Vancouver

Coquitlam

Lower Mainland

Maple Ridge

New Westminster

Squamish

Vancouver


Fraser Valley

Langely

Mission

Surrey

South Surrey


Chilliwack and other areas
Agassiz

Hope

Chilliwack


Blanket Drives had been a partner of charitable organizations assisting homeless families. This 8-day drive aims to collect 4,300 bags of gently used blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothing and coats plus socks and underwear for men, women and children. The donations get to stay in the cities in which they are donated, surplus volumes will be delivered to other recipients in the province.
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Dog Parks in the TriCities: Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody

11-16-11
The Josh Bath Team
Visit any park in BC and it is not difficult to see at least a dog or two on a weekday, more on weekends. We love our best buddies and they are fun to be with. But when it come to other people’s dogs any our own children, you may find it wary to bring children to a park with stray dogs around. That’s why in most public parks, humans are prioritized by requiring dogs to be on the leash.

But dogs need to run freely too. So communities are now starting to designate dog-friendly public spaces which both the dogs and the owners themselves find beneficial.

Coquitlam
  • Bramble Park- 2275 Panorama Dr.- Westwood Plateau
  • Miller Park- A forest-trail with nice views. -870 Oakview St
  • Mundy Park-The cities largest park, the best example of an urban + nature combined. -64 Hillcrest Street
  • Ridge Park-located on top of the Parkway BV, Westwood Plateau. Enjoy hiking and picnic too.


Port Coquitlam

Shaughnessy Park Dog Off-Leash Area is the only public space in Port Coquitlam where dogs can run and roam freely. Glad news for everyone in the community who would love to play catch balls, frisbee and dog tricks with their canine buddies. This new community space is to reduce conflicts in other parks where dogs are required to be on-leash on any public place except for private property.


Port Moody

Unfenced natural areas:
  • South end of Hugh Street cor Henry Street- a patch of public land where dogs can be off-leash.
  • Bert Flinn Park- Find the right of way trail in the east-west connector of this park. -Heritage Mountain Bv at David Ave.
  • Westhill Park- find the north end part of the park to unleash your dog. -200 Westhill Place


Fenced park where dogs can run:
  • Rocky Point Park- has a great view of the Burrard Inlet, no sand, just grass & water. -2800 Murray St
Do you have a dog? Having such public will surely bring that wide grin on your doggy’s face. You can search more online for more information about other dog friendly parks in Greater Vancouver area.
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The “Glad to Know” information about Burnaby

11-15-11
The Josh Bath Team
burnabyThe Cityhood of Burnaby is located between Vancouver and Port Moody, Coquitlam with New Westminster on the southeast. Further north boundary is the Burrard Inlet and the River Fraser on the south. Voted by Maclean’s Magazine in 2009 as the “Best Run City in Canada”, this once agricultural community is now a bustling green city with a highly-sustainable local economy.

Geography

Land area is 98.6 km2, which is about 4% of the Greater Vancouver region. Burnaby boasts of having the one of the widest lands dedicated for parks and green space in the country. With 200 parks scattered around, green space makes about 25% of all Burnaby’s land area, as well as the highest park to resident ratio in BC.

The highest point is Burnaby Mountain, which summit is at 1,200 ft above sea level. Terrain is diversified to hills, valleys, plains and forest areas. The city boasts of highly-conserved bodies of water such as the freshwater lakes, Burnaby Lake and Deer lake, as well as Barnet Marine Park, a salt water beach.

Climate in Burnaby is mild, very similar to Vancouver’s. The city gets 2,000 hours of sunshine yearly and average annual rainfall of 147 cm.

People

In 2010, Burnaby has an estimate of 223,000 people. This makes the city the 3rd to the largest city in BC in terms of population-about 10% of the province’ over-all population. There are an est. of 2,275.6 people in every square kilometer, making Burnaby one of the most dense city in the region.

Religion and ethnic groups are diverse, mainly because of migrants from US, Italy, China, Taiwan, South Korea and the former Yugoslav. According to 2006 census, about 54% of the population has a mother tongue that is neither English nor French.

Education

Burnaby is home to Simon Fraser University, located on top of Burnaby Mountain as well as the British Columbia Institute of Technology which offers a wide range of courses and highly specialized career training. School District 41 administers all 8 elementary and 8 secondary public schools from kindergarten to Grade 12 -with English and French immersion. School services and educational programs with provincial and regional relevance.

Industry

Burnaby offers a very diversified local economy, it is home to major industries such as Telus, Electronic Arts, Creo, and Ballard Power Systems. Strong sectors include film, telecommunications, life science, new media, tourism and retail. Heavy industries such as Chevron and petroleum refineries are operating on the shores of the Burrard Inlet. Film production companies, TV networks, rapid transit, real estate companies thrive stably as well.

Commercial centers also something to beast in this city. BC’s largest and Canada’s second largest commercial mall, the Metropolis at Metrotown is located in Burnaby.

Real Estate Market

Benchmark pricing of single family homes and townhouses in the city has decreased slightly, while the prices for condos rose up. New listings has increased decently in both detached homes and condos, townhouses declined at the same time. Sales-open listings ratio remain under 50%.


Generally, Burnaby is a well-administered city, with lots of opportunities for those who seek a more dynamic career or lifestyle. Why not try to pay Burnaby a visit to see more things the city boasts of.
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86 city election candidates signs contract to keep property taxes low

11-10-11
The Josh Bath Team
Local elections just ended and the some of the successful candidates are already putting their future salaries on the line. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has announced recently the 86 candidates from British Columbia who signed CTF’s Contract with Taxpayers. This document has a 10-point agreement, which includes keeping property taxes level or below provincial rate of inflation, encouraging democracy, transparency and accountability of cash flows and prioritizing infrastructure and public safety projects.

Candidates who signed contract has promised to introduce a Taxpayer Protection Bylaw in their community if they were elected, with a provision to slash off 15% of city mayors and councilmen salaries if property tax is increased beyond inflation and without due taxpayers’ approval.

Note that this post is not a endorsement of any kind, merely a list of candidate who promised to bring in the Taxpayer Protection Bylaw once elected and help keep property taxes low. We already have heard a lot of election promises before. With this contract, we shall see if the candidates can live up to what they have actually signed-up for.

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Contract with Taxpayers 2011 Signees

Listed by community, in alphabetical order:

Abbotsford: Mayoralty candidates Meghann Coughlan and Travis J. Daleman; Council candidates Kevin Chapman, Vince Dimanno
Burnaby: Mayoralty candidate Tom Tao (TEAM Burnaby); Council candidates Jeffrey Chiu (TEAM Burnaby), Jim Favaro (TEAM Burnaby), June Jeffries (TEAM Burnaby), Lee Rankin (TEAM Burnaby)
Central Saanich: Mayoralty candidate Christopher Graham, Council candidate James McNulty
Colwood: Mayoralty candidate Brian Tucknott; Council candidates Teresa Harvey, Duane MacNeill, Rick McKay, Ernest Robertson
Coquitlam: Council candidate Andy Shen
Courtenay: Council candidate John Van Egmond
Creston: Council candidate Ingrid Voigt
Duncan: Council candidate Cassandra Barfield
Fort St. John: Mayoralty candidate Don Irwin
Hope: Council candidates Cindy Koszegi, Walter Rawlinson
Kelowna: Mayoralty candidate Cal Condy; Council candidates Tasha Batt, Doug Cass, Elizabeth Fehr, Mark Thompson
Langley City: Council candidate Darrell Krell
Langley Township: Mayoralty candidate Mel Kositsky; Council candidates Bert Chen, Steve Ferguson, Charlie Fox, Rick Manuel, Sonya Paterson, Carey Poitras, Kim Richter, Dan Sheel, Misty van Popta
Maple Ridge: Council candidates Wendy Cook, Graham Mowatt, Graeme Ross, Grover Telford, Randy Wagner
Mission: Council candidates Roman Bojczuk, Bobby Brar, Lee Hanlon, Arnold Muir
Nanaimo: Council candidate Brunie Brunie
New Westminster: Council candidates John Ashdown (VOICE), Gavin Palmer (VOICE)
Port Coquitlam: Mayoralty candidate William Issa
Port Moody: Council candidates Tom Bell, Shane Kennedy
Prince George: Mayoralty candidate Bruce Fader; Council candidate Brad Gagnon
Revelstoke: Council candidate Linda Nixon
Richmond: Council candidates Peter Mitchell, Cliff Lifeng Wei, Michael Wolfe (RITE), Jun L. Wuyan
Saanich: Council candidate Ingrid Ip
Sooke: Council candidates Herb Haldane, Shaunna Salsman
Squamish: Council candidate Douglas Neville
Surrey: Mayoralty candidates Vikram J.S. Bajwa, Ross Buchanan; Council candidate Paul Griffin
Thompson Nicola Regional District: Director candidate Sally Watson
Vancouver: Council candidates George Affleck (NPA), Sean Bickerton (NPA), Ken Charko (NPA), Cord “Ted” Copeland, Rick Orser, Bill Yuen (NPA)
Vernon: Council candidates Scott Anderson, Bob Spiers
View Royal: Council candidate Ron Mattson
West Kelowna: Council candidate Gordon Ficke
West Vancouver District: Council candidate Gregg Henderson
Whistler: Council candidate Steve Anderson
White Rock: Mayoralty candidate Larry Anschell; Council candidates Brad Forster, Bruce McWilliam
Williams Lake: Mayoralty candidate Walt Cobb, Council candidate Steve Forseth
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Port Moody: Live, work and play in one of most livable cities in the world

11-08-11
The Josh Bath Team
The City of Port Moody is a growing community of more than 33,000 residents, on the west of the Burrard inlet. Just 30 minutes away from Vancouver and 45 minutes away from the US boarder. Little was known in the city until it was assigned as the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Rail in 1886. Although a branch rail to Vancouver was built, Port Moody has long served as a crossroads of major thoroughfares in the region. Sadly only but a few can describe about how it is to live in this city.

Live
It is voted as one of the most livable cities in the world, Port Moody retains the old city charm incorporated with nature and the love for the arts. Landscape and views are captivating -enough to inspire artists to take these scenes as subjects in their art. Average real estate pricing in this city is the lowest in Greater Vancouver. As of June 2005, the benchmark for a single-family home is $500,000 which is 5% lower that the average in the region. According to poll to 100 homeowners in the area, 49 of them has expressed their commitment to stay in their city as well as work near their home.

Work
Eagle Ridge Hospital, School District #43 and the City of Port Moody are the largest employers of the city. While other residents prefer to work in neighboring cities, home-based jobs are also thriving in Port Moody. Connected with national rail, sea ports and major highways, Port Moody is a crossroads of different people and opportunities.

Top industry sectors in PoMo:
  • Health care and social assistance
  • Retail
  • Education
  • Manufacturing
  • Business services
  • Professional services
  • Hotel and Food
  • Public Administration
  • Construction


Play
The City is now eyeing on ways to utilize its natural assets to create more balanced living to residents of Port Moody. Different sports facilities from soccer to aquatics (kayaking) are available to the public. Shop, dine and stroll around any of the three shopping districts: Funky Newport Village, trendy Suter Brook Village and the charming Port Moody Center. Appreciate art with the city’s public art, architecture, park themes, galleries and numerous music festivals. You will never get bored with the kind of lifestyle this city offers.
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