http://www.starfm.com

(photo courtesy of KAM Productions)

Abbotsford fire crews were busy dealing with a house fire this morning.  Assistant Chief Jeff Adams says they were called to the property on Blue Jay St just before 5.

“It was heavy smoke on the upper floor and there were flames coming out the back.  They (the crew) got it shut down pretty quick.”

He says everyone got out OK thanks to a working smoke detector.  The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

The people hoping to save the Paramount have formed their own non-profit society, as they will look to raise money to not only renovate the old theatre, but to operate it as well.  Laura Reid with the newly formed Chilliwack Paramount Film Society says they believe it’s going to cost around $500,000 for renovations.

“What we’re looking at is running it as a volunteer based cinema showing art films, niche films, film festivals a need that’s not being served in Chilliwack, or the valley for that matter.”

She says they have done a lot of research, and there are examples of this kind of venue having success now, despite having gone through tough times.

“The Revue Cinema in Toronto, The Bloor Cinema in Toronto, in Edmonton there’s the Garneau Theatre, there is a little town in Alberta called Bashaw that just renovated their Majestic Theatre.”

They want to go back to a one screen theatre, with a 600 seat auditorium and concession.  They’re looking to raise almost $700,000 for renos and operations, and will do so by having people sponsor seats in the theatre.  They’ve already had a number of people pledge to donate, but first they’ll need to present their plan to council, and get the keys to move ahead.

http://www.friendsofthechilliwackparamount.com/

We got an update yesterday on the spring freshet from Chilliwack’s environmental services department.  Tara Friesen says the warm spell we had at the end of April, followed by the rain, caused the levels on the Fraser to reach 3.7m at the Mission gauge, but then they went down again.

“and now with this most recent warm period that we’ve had over the past few days, we’ll start to see those water levels come up again.  We’re starting to see them rise in the Prince George area and on the Thompson so that’ll make it’s way down to here, but it wasn’t an extended hot period so it’s already starting to break up.  I think the highest temperature in Prince George was only about 21 degrees.”

She says the River Forecast Centre has been giving them weekly updates, and the latest is that they’re expecting the water to reach between 4.5 and 5.5m at the Mission gauge sometime in the next week.  After that, it’s really up to what happens weather wise in the interior. A lot of the higher elevation snow from the snowpack has melted, but it’s still at 129% of normal right now, so we could see a peak anywhere in the next 6-8 weeks.

Friesen also says the check dam the city was building at Carey Point is now complete, and residents there have been working hard on a temporary berm structure at Orchard Slough.

(photo courtesy of UFV Today)

Full time classes won’t start until September but UFV staff are already starting to move into the new Canada Education Park in Chilliwack.
A huge crowd packed the main hall last Friday as dignitaries cut the ribbon to officially open the campus.
UFV president Mark Evered says the building will house a variety of programs.

“A strong focus on the health sciences and the related disciplines but as well a full range of arts and science classes, some business classes, the agriculture folk will move to this campus….it’s all built around this notion of a town square.”

UFV has been operating well above capacity for a few years now.
Evered says while they still need more space, the new campus helps them catch up a bit.  The Canada Education Park provides space for 1200 students, with room to grow to 1500 down the road.

ICBC is hosting a series of open houses that could result in lower insurance premiums.
But only if you’re a good driver.
ICBC’s Steve Crombie says claims history follows the car and not the driver.

“We’re going to be looking at a number of topics including driving experience, crash history, if people have very serious driving violations…At the end of it, two thirds of our customers could end up paying less for their insurance and one third could end up paying more.”

There will be an open house in Abbotsford on June 6th at the Ramada, or you can go to:  http://publicengagement.icbc.com/index.html and give your input online.

It’s something the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce has been working on for a while, and it will finally be presented at the BC Chamber AGM this month.  It’s a policy, titled “Measures to address the issue of vacant and derelict buildings”.  Executive Director Patti MacAhonic says the community charter currently allows municipalities to encourage property revitalization through things like tax exemptions, but cities do not have the power to fine landlords who just leave their buildings empty and rundown, like the former Safeway property downtown.

“Providing some measures such as maybe escalating fines or taxation so we can take care of the problem so we don’t have something like the Safeway (building) that’s taking up a huge space.  It’s kind of like a black hole because it affects all of the businesses around it.  Downtown could be a vital place for people to come, and it just sucks the energy out of it when you have something like that.”

Councillor Jason Lum is the former Chamber President and he likes the idea.  He says it’s not about the big bad city going around and being aggressive with business owners.

“But in the case where there are buildings that are owned by large corporations or overseas landlords that have no interest here in the city of Chilliwack and really aren’t paying attention…they’ve bought properties speculatively or don’t care about the businesses and the neighbors…this is something where we are trying to get their attention in a positive way instead of going in there and fining people heavy handedly.”

MacAhonic says they’d like to see the community charter be amended to allow individual cities to decide how best to deal with these owners. If the policy gets approval, then Chilliwack would have to draw up a new bylaw.

The BC Chamber of Commerce AGM is set for May24-26.

(L) Matt Hutchinson and (R) Malcolm Gould

Hockey season isn’t quite over for Chilliwack Chiefs players Matt Hutchinson and Malcolm Gould, although this hockey will be a different.
They’re trading in their ice skates for roller blades to join team Canada at the Inline World Hockey Championships in Germany.
Hutchinson says Canada is climbing the rankings and says the traditional ice hockey countries play in this tournament as well.

“USA is a perennial powerhouse.  Last year the Czech Republic won gold and Sweden has always put out a pretty good team. Finland is there too.”

This is Hutchinson’s second trip to the tournament, helping Canada win bronze last year.
He says he’s hoping to expand his role this year.

“Kinda like ice hockey.  I just want to give my team a chance to win by doing my job on the defensive end and shutting their guys down, but with inline hockey there’s a lot more scoring and a lot more opportunity to score and put up points.  I’m looking to improve on my point totals from last year too.”

Hutchinson has to pay tournament fees and travel costs out of his own pocket and he’s looking for sponsorship help.
If anyone would like to sponsor him they can contact him at m.hutchinson@live.ca.

Even if you’re not up to riding for 160 km you can still get involved in the Prospera Valley GrandFondo on July 22nd.
Media relations manager George Lacny says they need about 400 volunteers to help out in all sorts of areas.

“From being a course marshal to assisting at the stations, where they would help the cyclists fill up their water bottles, or they could be at our start/finish line.”

Lacny says they also need help on the days before the ride to hand out packages to the riders.
The GrandFondo is a mass bike ride involving 1500 riders to raise money for Special Olympics.
If you want to sign up as a volunteer go to:  http://www.valleygranfondo.com/volunteer

This week the Chilliwack school board gave two readings to the budget for the next school year.
But because the vote wasn’t unanimous they couldn’t give all three readings in one night, meaning third reading will be on May 22nd.
Trustee Heather Maahs was one of two in opposition and says it wasn’t the budget itself, just the lack of a chance for public scrutiny.

“I may not vote against the budget at the next board meeting.  I may very well vote for it…I’m going to come in with an open mind.  But I really felt that the public needed a chance to see the budget, and see if they had any comment.”

The budget has a spending increase of over 3 million dollars, 1.7 of which is from the district surplus, which will go toward adding staff and upgrading technology.

To take a look at the budget, click this link and scroll down to page 38.

http://www.sd33.bc.ca/sites/default/files/Regular%20Board%20Package%202012-05-08.pdf