Real Canadian eying No. 3 Road for megastore

The Real Canadian Superstore hopes to build a 10,000-square-metre (115,000-square-foot) megastore on the current site of Toyota Canada's offices on No. 3 Road, just north of Alderbridge Way.

Three independent sources have told The Review that Real Canadian has tendered an offer to buy the site and that the transaction may be completed in early January.

The proposed megastore would be nearly twice the size of the Save-On-Foods on Ackroyd and No. 3 Road, which is about 6,000 square metres (65,000 square feet).

Brian Gaudet, vice president of real estate development for Westfair Foods Ltd. - which owns Real Canadian Superstore, Real Canadian Wholesale Club, Extra Foods and Super-Valu - confirmed his company's interest in the property and that Toyota Canada and Westfair Foods have held negotiations.

"We've been looking at Richmond for at least the last 12 to 15 years," he said Monday. "We just see a very large market area that we're not serving."

Westfair has for many years looked at various locations in Richmond, but none of those plans panned out.

Although Gaudet wouldn't indicate the status of the negotiations with Toyota, he didn't hide his interest in the property.

"I think it's in the right spot for the city and it's the right spot for us. I'd very much like to open in that spot. (But) we don't own that piece today."

Royal LePage realtor Bob Stokes said the purchaser of the site will close on the deal by the middle of January. But he wouldn't indicate the identity of the buyer.

Coun. Derek Dang, a realtor, said he first heard rumors about Real Canadian's interest in Richmond several months ago.

But if the megastore is built on the already-congested stretch of No. 3 Road, it will become a driving nightmare for locals.

"It will be like Saturday, seven days per week. I think it will be a mess myself."

Coun. Bill McNulty, a member of the city's planning committee, also has some concerns about Real Canadian's choice of locations. He said Real Canadian will have to complete a comprehensive traffic and parking study before opening its doors.

But Coun. Ken Johnston doesn't see a problem with Real Canadian opening a store here.

"I'm a free enterpriser. Richmond is certainly open for business and we're encouraging businesses to come here. I think it's a great thing on the surface."

Johnston said he recognizes that No. 3 Road is busy, but the same concerns were raised about Steveston Highway when Ironwood Plaza plans first came up. The owners of Real Canadian Superstore are professionals, he said, and will take the steps to ensure customers can readily exit and enter the site.

"They don't want the customers driving by."

City centre senior planner Suzanne Carter-Huffman said the Toyota Canada property is already zoned (C-6) for a large retail building. City staff were aware of Real Canadian's interest in the property, she said.

"In this case, it's a use that's consistent with the area plan."

If the Real Canadian deal goes through, Carter-Huffman said the city will make some suggestions on how to ease traffic gridlock in the area.

The city centre transportation plan includes a provision to extend Leslie Road west over No. 3 Road and onto the Toyota Canada property. That would facilitate the construction of a ring road and give drivers access to an alternative north-south route than No. 3 Road. A road would be built along the nearby railroad tracks and extend from Leslie Road to Cambie Road.

Real Canadian views Richmond as the "last urban market in Western Canada for us to enter," Westfair vice-president Gaudet said. "We've probably looked at every area of your city."

Gaudet said he's cautiously optimistic about the deal, and said Richmond needs another superstore.

"We are by far the price leader."

Despite the fact that Richmond already has two Save-on-Foods outlets, four Safeway stores, an IGA and a Costco, Gaudet thinks there's still room for more. Unlike those supermarkets, Real Canadian has something else to offer shoppers.

"This is a marketplace that we feel is understored relative to other markets in Western Canada." The Costco on Bridgeport Road is "probably the busiest Costco in Western Canada," he pointed out.

Traffic patterns and access points are "very important" to any supermarket, and will be two of the top priorities for the company to address, he said.

The new store could open in a year from the point Real Canadian receives all the required approvals from the city. It would employ between 275 and 325 full-time and part-time workers.

Senior planner Carter-Huffman said it could take from four to six months for Real Canadian to receive approval for a redevelopment.

Needle exchange to curb drug deaths

Richmond may break a new record and it's nothing to be proud of.

In only the first eight months of this year, the number of deaths due to drug overdoses has reached seven. That's equal to the previous record of drug-overdose deaths reached back in 1992, The Review has learned.

Many intravenous drug users in Richmond are also AIDS/HIV sufferers, according to the minutes of a private meeting held between Vancouver/Richmond Health Board officials and some Richmond city council members in late October.

Though the meeting was intended to discuss a variety of health issues, the health board officials disclosed to the city officials that it was setting up a new formal needle exchange program - the first of its kind for Richmond - to assist intravenous drug users.

Richmond has 78 HIV/AIDS patients. Approximately 45 per cent of them are also intravenous drug users, the health board officials told the city councillors in that meeting.

Currently, there are no AIDS/HIV services available in Richmond. Local patients must travel to Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital to receive medical attention. To help those patients receive better treatment in town, the health board is launching a new AIDS/HIV "outreach" program, including a needle exchange, based out of the hospital.

The AIDS/HIV outreach program will be launched in the spring as a one-year pilot project with the assistance of St. Paul's Hospital.

During the October meeting, city officials expressed concern that the needle exchange would attract drug users from other communities to Richmond, but Ron Climenhaga, Richmond Hospital's chief executive officer, told them the program would be "low key" and would not be advertised.

The hospital has already been exchanging needles for the past nine months, Climenhaga also disclosed to the city council delegation.

Richmond Hospital's Dr. Ann Vogel had earlier told The Review that the true picture of the number of Richmondites dying from drug overdoses isn't known. That's because many drug users travel to Vancouver's downtown to buy their drugs and that drug users are often transient.

News of the needle exchange program and drug overdose deaths comes as The Review revealed Sunday that hard drug use, primarily with heroin and cocaine, is increasing in the city. The Richmond RCMP report states police are worried about the spread of heroin and cocaine among teenagers and young adults, many of whom are smoking heroin. Police also note that the cheap price and increased potency has made the drugs popular.

Mayor Greg Halsey-Brandt, and councillors Lyn Greenhill, Corisande Percival-Smith and Derek Dang, along with community services administrator Mike Brow, attended the meeting with Health Board chair David Levi, board member John Kennedy, and health board chief executive officer Rick Roger.

Fact Box

Richmond Hospital figures show the number of deaths attributed to drug overdoses in Richmond over the past several years as follows:

The following are the number of deaths attributed to drug overdose throughout the region for 1997, provided by Richmond Hospital.

Note: Vancouver is projected to be the source of 216 deaths due to drug overdoses. As of October, Vancouver already experienced 153 such deaths.

McNulty balks at Rapid Bus plan

At least one city councillor is wondering whether the city should bother boarding the Rapid Bus bandwagon.

Coun. Bill McNulty said he's not sold on whether going ahead with the Rapid Bus project just to shave five minutes of travel time off commuting to Vancouver.

The cost of the deluxe-style bus service is expected to be about $75 million, with about $23 million spent on upgrading road work along No. 3 Road with a new centre-lane median and a series of fancy bus shelters.

The bus service was originally pegged to reduce commuting time by 15 minutes, but McNulty told The Review he was informed it will now only reduce travel time by five minutes.

At that rate, the service likely won't get many residents to switch from the car to the bus, he said. Perhaps, to get a better bang for their multi-million-dollar buck, BC Transit just buy a bunch of new, regular buses instead, he said.

"We need to improve transit there's no doubt about it; is this the answer for the cost that is coming?" he asked Tuesday.

Richmond and Vancouver city councils have already signalled their preliminary support of the bus project, but the service has not yet been approved. B.C. Transit has said it will take two years to implement the service, once final approval is received.

It's not the first time the bus service came under fire. The whole project was threatened by upset residents living along Vancouver's Granville Street. They were upset at the prospect of the bus service taking over their curb-side parking lanes, much to the chagrin of Richmond city officials who know full well that Rapid Bus is the only rapid transit-style service coming to Richmond because SkyTrain and light-rail transit are simply too expensive.

Council will get another chance to debate the service, in about a month when another report surfaces.

Community rallies to help orphanage

This is the type of problem charitable types prefer to have: they received too many donations.

The group of residents rounding up donations for a Guatemalan orphanage, called Casa Guatemala, which is assisting victims of Hurricane Mitch survivors, has received so many goods from residents last Saturday that the bus carrying the goods could only take a third of it.

The other two-thirds of goods received are sitting at Jessie Wowk elementary until organizer Bob Carkner figures out how to fly the rest to Guatemala. A woman in Ohio has managed to wrangle up a U.S. Air Force jet to fly some goods to that country. All Carkner has to do is get the rest to her. He is now asking for residents with vans and trucks to help transport the goods to the airport, where an airline - he doesn't know which one yet - will fly them to Toronto, where another airline will carry them to Ohio to meet up with the U.S. Air Force.

"We figure we had about 750 to 800 cartons with medical supplies, food and clothing," Carkner said Tuesday. "There's still two thirds of it there and people are still bringing stuff in."

The Guatemalan refugee still needs medical supplies like Band Aids, anti-biotics and creams to treat fungus. As well two doctors are needed, he said. The Richmond Sunrise Rotary Club is willing to pay for a local doctor to fly to Guatemala.

Lack of towing hasn't hurt owner

Paul Sihata hasn't towed a single car since Nov. 1, and he couldn't care less.

The controversial owner of City Wide Auto Towing told The Review he's received countless calls from clients requesting that unauthorized vehicles be towed from private parking lots, but he hasn't been able to help them.

"We're getting phone calls up the yin yang," Sihata said Thursday. "I don't care anymore."

On Nov. 1, a new towing bylaw came into effect which made it illegal for vehicles to be towed from private parking lots without the city's prior approval. The new bylaw was brought in shortly after The Review featured a series of articles in August about towing victims who felt they were mistreated.

Since 1988, the city has received a long litany of complaints from the public about outrageous towing practices involving tow companies including City Wide, with seemingly little progress on the city's part to appease locals. In one case, a Hong Kong Bank of Canada manager claimed in August that more than 200 vehicles were towed in a three-week span from a property adjacent to the bank.

Breaking a months' long silence, Sihata insists he hasn't been hurt by the lack of business.

"You think I'm going broke or something because I'm not towing?"

While Sihata admitted he has had to cut his drivers' hours and business is down, that's also reduced his expenses. And he's been keeping busy, concentrating on his trucking business.

Sihata repeated his claims that the city is unfairly targeting him with the new bylaw, which he described as the strictest in the region.

If the city tickets a car, and then tows it, the car's owner in many instances will wind up paying as much as City Wide is currently charging tow victims, he noted.

For example, if a $30 ticket is placed on a car parked illegally in central Richmond, and is subsequently towed, the cost will add up to more than $100, he said.

That's why it's unreasonable for the city to expect Sihata to make a living towing cars for just $50, something he's unable and unwilling to do.

But property use inspections supervisor Bob Lang said the city rarely tows away vehicles unless it is causing a safety hazard. He doesn't remember the last time the city towed a vehicle.

Sihata also claims it is unfair that the city is charging private parking lot owners $25 in order to have their sites approved for towing, he said. Sihata said he doesn't know of any other area that does that.

The city is taking away local landlords' rights and holding them ransom, he said.

The city's new bylaw contains wording similar to that found in Surrey's bylaws. But the City of Surrey doesn't charge for a parking lot inspection.

Sihata accuses the city of using the new bylaw as a cash cow.

But property use manager Sandra Tokarczyk refuted that claim, and said Friday that the cost of processing the application and performing the inspection far exceed the $25 charge.

Amendments coming to towing bylaw

A special council meeting will be held Monday to deal with a few anticipated amendments to Richmond's new towing bylaw.

"We're making it so if a car is parked in the wrong place for 24 hours, it can be towed even without (tow-away) signs," city lawyer Paul Kendrick told The Review Thursday. The other amendments are of a housekeeping nature and include a few minor wording changes.

Since the revised towing bylaw came into effect on Nov. 1, only one application - which wasn't properly completed - has landed on the city's doorstep. That's despite the fact that 72 requests have been made for application packages involving the bylaw, said property use manager Sandra Tokarczyk.

Some businesses expressed concerns to the city about the cost of putting up the required towing signs, she said.

It could take as little as a day to process an application, she said, but that will depend on the number of requests received.

Property use inspection supervisor Bob Lang said the new bylaw does not prevent cars from being towed from fire lanes.

The city can continue to tow from its own lots because they are public property and are subject to a different set of bylaws, Kendrick said.

Tokarczyk said a few businesses have grumbled about a lack of notification. Staff had recommended that the new bylaw come into effect on January first in order to give businesses proper notification. But council opted to fast-track the bylaw in response to the public's outcry.

The city plans to mail out notification of the new bylaw at the end of the month to local firms in their business licence renewal notification letters. But to spread the word about the bylaw, the city earlier requested that towing firms inform their clients about the new bylaw and its requirements. The city also posted a notice on its notice board.

Cops worry about teens drug use

Local police are fighting what they say is a "dramatic increase" in the use of hard drugs, like heroin, cocaine and 'crack' cocaine.

And they're particularly worried because the hard-core drug scene is no longer an exclusive sin among the wealthy sports-car crowd. Rather, heroin and cocaine have become popular among the city's teenagers, some of whom are a only 15 years old when they start using, according to a confidential report obtained by The Review under the Access to Information Act.

The RCMP report, which was presented to senior city officials earlier this year and kept confidential, paints a disturbing and alarming picture of the rising illegal drug scene in Richmond.

How alarming? In one case, more than a year ago, a nine-year-old boy overdosed after sniffing cocaine in an elementary school washroom. He stole the drugs from his older brother. Lucky for him, he survived.

Police are also witnessing the emergence of so-called 'crack' houses, where even "established community adults" have been spotted leaving, the police report states.

Heroin and cocaine have become the drugs of choice in Richmond mainly because they're cheap and they're potent.

The price of heroin is extremely low. Heroin these days is a whopping $740 cheaper than it was just a few years ago, the report states. In 1990, a gram of heroin sold for $900. Last year it sold for $160.

But there's more than just the bargain-basement prices that's setting off police alarm bells: the purity of the drug is much higher today, making the drugs that much more potent for users. A gram of heroin in 1990 was a mere 12-per cent pure. Today, it's a staggering 75 to 90 per cent pure, cops say.

A "point" of heroin (one-tenth of a gram) is readily available on the street for $20.

"At this price, it is cheaper for a teenager to purchase heroin than to go to the movies with a friend," the report states.

That easy availability and cheap price has police concerned the drugs are spreading quickly among the city's younger crowds. Many of those drug-using youths who are becoming addicted are committing crimes to pay for their habits, police report.

Although the Richmond school system does not have an "extremely serious" drug abuse problem, police are concerned that the ill-fated experience of other large urban centres may occur in Richmond. Once drugs infiltrate the schools, violence, property crimes and gang activity follows.

"Ultimately it can lead to a total disintegration of the community," the report states.

"It's the in thing and it's cheap," said Richmond RCMP Const. Bruno Paquette, a member of Richmond's drug squad of the boom in heroin use.

"Is there a problem out there? Yes, of course," he said Thursday. "You talk to the people who've been doing law enforcement in Richmond longer than I have and they are certainly seeing a very dramatic increase."

Heroin "has made a big comeback," Paquette said.

"If you go back 10 to 15 years ago, seeing a heroin addict in Richmond was certainly pretty rare. Now it's not. I see them everyday - mind you I know what to look for - but I see them everyday driving around the malls and they are sort of stumbling around."

Most disturbingly, police have discovered that youth are under the mistaken impression that if they smoke heroin rather than inject it with a needle, that it's safer, that they won't become addicted.

They're fooling themselves, he said.

"Smoking heroin has now become acceptable," Paquette said. "There is still a big stigma in sticking a needle in their arms, but for some reason they think that smoking is okay."

While heroin use is a new trend, cocaine, on the other hand, has always been a problem in Richmond. But whereas that drug used to be popular with the well-to-do crowd, today cocaine's rock-bottom prices means its popularity has spread to be within reach of most residents. And the use of crack, a more powerful form of cocaine, has also started to emerge in the last six months to a year.

"Now everybody is doing it," Paquette said. "The prices are such that people on welfare are doing cocaine."

Drug overdoses used to be more common among new, novice users, Paquette also noted. Not anymore. With heroin being so potent today, even veteran addicts are overdosing.

"Now you have the really long-term addicts who are dropping off," he said. "There is definitely a concern."

Richmond Hospital officials say that the rate of deaths due to drug overdoses in Richmond has remain steady at about two-to-five each year. But Dr. Ann Vogel told The Review that those statistics don't mean much because many addicts travel to Vancouver to purchase the drugs and users are often "transient in nature", meaning a true picture of the drug overdoses in Richmond is difficult to determine.

DRUG FACTS

Drug strategy needed: RCMP

Police would have a much more successful time nabbing drug dealers if they had more resources and money, say local cops.

Budget cuts over the past couple years have hit the RCMP's drug team by cutting into their overtime pay and pay for informants, said Insp. Al Speevak.

Last year the drug squad almost lost three federally funded police positions, that is until the city coughed up the money to keep the drug squad together, he noted.

Despite those cuts, Speevak said a solution to the city's drug woes could be on the horizon. Police and law enforcement agencies are considering proceeding with a new regional drug strategy that would see Lower Mainland police and civic agencies coordinating drug prevention, treatment and enforcement matters, he said. Richmond RCMP and city officials support the idea.

"The next biggest need in Richmond would be for resources for a drug awareness program," he said.

RCMP Const. Bruno Paquette is one of six members of Richmond's drug squad. Because of budget constraints, the team's work essentially focuses on targetting small-time drug dealers, he said.

"We don't have the money to do anything more than that," he said Thursday. "That's basically the extent of it. I mean, going after people bringing in kilos, forget it, we don't have the resources for that."

By far most heroin arriving locally comes from Southeast Asia and the trade is controlled by members of the Asian community throughout the region, including those in Richmond, states a confidential report obtained by The Review.

Because Richmond is a popular community among Asian residents, "one has to assume that along with the upstanding Asian citizens whom are attracted to our city, also the Asian criminal element is attracted here."

According to the report, Richmond RCMP's gang section confirms that "a large portion of the high level drug dealing within the Lower Mainland is conducted within Richmond restaurants and massage parlours."

Drug abuse crosses social, ethnic barriers

Heroin and cocaine know no boundaries.

The stereotypical image of the down-and-out huddling in Vancouver's skid row alleys isn't an accurate picture of hard drug abusers, say local police and drug counsellors.

"Richmond is very middle class, upper middle class, and some families are very wealthy," he said Thursday. "It really crosses all segments, socially and economically."

"It's pretty much common knowledge with people who do front-line work in the drug and alcohol field that the drugs like heroin and cocaine have increased dramatically," he added. "If you talk to anyone who works with drug and alcohol detox with teenagers they will tell you the same thing."

Fortunately help is available. Hirose's RADAT team will be hosting public meetings at local community centres beginning Monday, Nov. 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the province's "addiction awareness week".

They will be at Cambie community centre on Monday, South Arm on Tuesday, Thompson on Wednesday, the arts centre at the Minoru Pavilion on Thursday and at West Richmond on Friday. Attendance is free.

The group will hold another adult parenting program called Ready or Not in February, designed to help parents of kids between 8 and 12 prevent their kids from getting involved in drugs.

The group is also starting up a five-person "generation leadership" program using young people to help produce drug awareness programs.

RADAT has been working in the community for 25 years providing alcoholics and drug abusers with one-on-one counselling services and as a referral services for other programs. The group has a large network of volunteers who've been active in the community. The service is confidential and free. More information is available by calling RADAT at 270-9220.

- David DaSilva

Nurses escalate job action, refuse clerical work

Local nurses will be focussing their efforts solely on patients until they either get a new contract or opt to escalate their job action, which may include picketing.

On Monday, the B.C. Nurses Union issued their second 72-hour strike notice in hopes of pressuring the Health Employers Association of B.C. into making some concessions at the negotiating table.

Richmond registered nurse Marnie Poulton said a ban on non-nursing duties would take effect at 1 p.m. Friday, shortly after The Review's deadline.

That means nurses won't be cleaning spills, moving around patients, answering phone calls or doing clerical work, she said.

"We're concentrating on patients. We will not be lifting (the ban) until we get a contract."

Although nurses won't be answering phone calls after the unit clerk goes home each day, Poulton reassured the public that they will be able to get a hold of loved ones in the hospital.

And nurses will call a patient's family if anything of a critical nature occurs, she said.

Richmond Hospital spokesperson Peter Roaf said management is making "every effort" to ensure the nurses' job action will not impact patients.

"It is disruptive to the management and the organization."

A rumor that hospitals are contemplating a lockout isn't true, Roaf said.

"We're certainly not considering a lockout."

The morale level among nurses is mixed, ranging from frustrated to hopeful, according to Poulton.

The ban on non-nursing duties is a lot harder on nurses than walking the picket lines, she said. For instance, since nurses won't be cleaning up spills, they will instead have to contact other staff to do the job while making sure nobody steps in the mess. That can be frustrating, she said.

A request by nurses for a tally of overtime data hasn't been fulfilled by the hospitals, she said.

"They're disagreeing that overtime shows they need regular full-time staff. We're saying how could it not."

Last week, Richmond nurses released a list of management expenses they obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Roaf admitted that the expenses may on the surface look questionable, but said there's a good explanation for them.

Senior management has been reviewing out-of-country travel for the last year and has been cutting back wherever possible, he said.

But some expenses are a necessity for management to learn innovative ways of improving patient care, he said. Early next year, a hospital administrator will be sent to Florida to take part in a forum on quality healthcare. The information, which can't be obtained anywhere else, will be brought back and passed on to other managers.

Roaf pointed out that a union member was one of the four people described by the nurses union as "hospital managers" who used $600 of taxpayer money to take part in a charity golf tournament.

Although three managers did participate in the tourney, Roaf said their professional relationship with a key charity sponsor's staff made it vital for them to attend.

Richmond Hospital will not be holding a Christmas concert for patients at Minoru Residence or the acute care facility this year. Last year, the hospital spent $5,850 on a musical production.

"This year, that was another expense that was cut out."

Hospital administrators are continuing to scrutinize expenses, including travel expenses.

"It's been very difficult while trying to maintain the level of care." Roaf noted that it is standard for a manager's professional membership fees to be negotiated as part of his or her contract.

Papers near furnace cause house fire

A smoke detector helped save a local family from an early morning house fire Wednesday near No. 5 Road, just south of Cambie Road.

The fire broke out shortly after 5 a.m. in a split-level home at 4411 Deerfield Cresc., Richmond Fire-Rescue's Gordon Gill said Thursday.

There were seven people in the home at the time of the fire and all managed to escape unharmed. But the $80,000 blaze took the life of a pet cockatiel and could have killed the family dog if not for the help of local fire crews.

Richmond Fire-Rescue firefighters pulled the unconscious pet from the smoke-filled home and gave it pure oxygen. It was then taken to a local vet.

"He seemed fine at the time," Gill said.

The fire started in the 25-year-old home's furnace closet where a cardboard box of papers had been stored.

Gill believes that when the furnace kicked on Wednesday morning, a build up of gas caused a small flashback. That ignited the box of paper, which began to slowly smolder.

The house sustained heavy smoke and heat damage.

Fortunately for the family, the homeowner replaced the smoke alarm's battery just a week earlier.

The occupants of the home, including a family of four and some friends from Coquitlam, were not hurt.

The fire should serve as a reminder to locals not to store things near their furnace.

Combustibles shouldn't be stored within 47 centimetres (18 inches) of the front of a furnace, he said.