Playing at the Clova from November 23 to December 6, 2012

Playing at the Clova from November 23 to December 6, 2012:

7pm - Rise of the Guardians

Only the one show playing for two weeks. Lets out around 8:37pm. Admission is $8 or $15 if there are 2 in your party. Add $4 for each extra person in your party.

Santa Parade of Lights on Sunday December 2, 2012

The Christmas lights are starting to go up around Cloverdale and you know what that means. The Santa Parade is almost here!

 

The Santa Parade of Lights is on Sunday, December 2, 2012 and starts around 5pm out of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds on 60^th Avenue. The parade will go down 176A Street, turn west on 58A Avenue and then along 176^thStreet. It sort of peters out at 57^th Avenue and the trucks and floats head onto the Cloverdale Bypass and they’re gone. Probably back to the staging area at the fairgrounds for take down.

Here’s the scoop on parking. Get to Cloverdale no later than 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. Streets are being closed and you will end up in a traffic nightmare trying to find a way out and a place to park. The old (demolished) Cloverdale Mall site still has plenty of parking. Access the parking lot from 57^th Avenue off the Cloverdale Bypass. You can also try to access it off the Cloverdale Bypass at 58^th Avenue but no telling when the volunteers will shut down 58^th. There is on street parking on 56A Avenue, 57^th Avenue, and 58^th Avenue east of 176A Street. There is on street parking on 177B Street. There are 2 public parking lots on 176A Street – one near 58A Avenue, the other at the backside of the Clova Theatre, between 57^th and 58^th Avenues next to the Bank of Montreal.

For viewing, the best place if you want to see Santa Claus light up the Christmas tree on top of the Dale Building is around Hawthorne Square on 176^th Street, midway between 57^th and 58^thAvenues. 176^th Street is crowded with the most spectators. I like to watch the parade on 58A Avenue where its less crowded. At least until the people searching for a spot on 176^th Street discover its got lots of openings, and then it gets jammed. If there are too many people, head north along 176A Street to find a good viewing spot.

Bring a non-perishable item. Volunteers from the food bank will be picking up donations.

 

Stabbing at The Henry

Yesterday on the news there was a report of a stabbing at the newly renovated/renamed bar The Henry, formerly known as the Clover Inn, located on the corner of 176th Street and 57th Avenue.

I don't know any other details except the brief description I heard on Global News and a little video footage of the emergency vehicles.

One odd thing I've noticed is Anne's cafe that has been operating in the Clover Inn for many years was closed for renovations while The Henry was renovating the old Legacy bar. The cafe still hasn't reopened. The tables and chairs are still there but no notice when/if Anne's will be back in business.

Recycling finally picked up

An update to my post about our street in Cloverdale was missed on Friday November 9, 2012.

As this was a stat holiday weekend and city hall was closed to phone in about the missed pick up, I called Harry Janda's cell phone on Saturday morning. I still haven't heard back from him. He could be on holidays and the message is automatically deleted by his carrier after a few days or maybe he works in a different department now.

I had to wait until Tuesday morning, November 13, to call the city. I got through on the phone just after the opened at 8am to receive a message that 14 callers were ahead of me. I figured that had to be everyone else on our street. However when speaking with the clerk I was the first caller to report our street had been missed. Once a missed pick up is recorded it takes up to 48 hours for a truck to be dispatched.

Nearly one week after we set out our recycling bin, on Thursday, November 15 our street finally was visited by the recycle truck.

Recycling not picked up in Cloverdale on Friday November 9, 2012

Yesterday - Friday, November 9, 2102 - in Cloverdale it was our day for pick up for green lid bin organics/garden waste and blue lid bin recycling.

The organics/garden waste was picked up.

The blue recycling was picked up from all the streets in our neighbourhood except for our street. For whatever reason the driver just didn't come down our street. Everyone on our street left their blue lid bins out all night hoping that on Saturday the driver might return for our missed street.

No such luck.

And as our luck goes, once again this missed pick up falls on a statutory weekend so that phone number for City Hall to report missed pick ups is useless because no one is working there until Tuesday November 13.

However I remembered a post I wrote last year after talking to Harry Janda at the City of Surrey. http://cherylrhodes.blogspot.ca/2011/07/have-answer-for-missed-garbage-pick-up.html

Mr. Janda was kind enough to provide his cell phone that he answers on weekends to assist residents of Surrey. I phoned him just after 10am on Saturday morning and it went to voice mail. I left him a message and let him know this entire street was missed for recycling pick up and asked him to call me back to let me know when we can expect the truck to return and take care of this because I don't want to leave the bin on the street at night where it can fall victim to young hooligans.

Its now dinnertime and I've still had no response from Mr. Janda. Its possible he's on vacation and has his work cell off. Or maybe he doesn't work in this department anymore and its not his problem.

I'll leave the recycle bin outside for another hour and then bring it in.

Our new waste collection services have missed 3 collections in our Cloverdale neighbourhood, affecting our house twice, since the new program started on October 1, 2012. Its not looking too good so far.

Cloverdale Remembrance Day Services 2012

At 10:15am on Sunday November 11, 2012, there will be a Remembrance Day service at the Cloverdale cenotaph. This is inbetween the Surrey Museum and Archives, 17710 - 56A Avenue.

Its best to arrive at least half an hour before the service to find a parking spot. All the streets in Cloverdale have free parking: 56A Avenue, 176A Street, 177B Street, etc. The museum has a parking lot but that will fill up quickly. There is a parking lot on 176A Street just north of 57th Avenue.

The museum has Remembrance Day events planned before and after the service. See this web page for more details: http://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/2388.aspx

If you're closer to the White Rock cenotaph, click here for more information on their Remembrance Day service from 9:15am to 11:45am http://www.whiterockcity.ca/EN/main/community/events/events/16338/22214.html

There will also be Remembrance Day service at the Port Kells cenotaph at 10:30am on November 11, 2012, located on the property of their community hall, 18918 - 88th Avenue.

Pancake Breakfast at Cloverdale Legion on Saturday November 10, 2012

The Cloverdale Legion is having a pancake breakfast this Saturday, November 10, 2012, from 8am to 11:30am.

Cost is $4.50 for pancakes, eggs, sausages, coffee, tea, and an orange juice/drink.

The Cloverdale Legion is across the street from the Cloverdale Firehall at 17567 - 57th Avenue.

Update: traffic lights at Cloverdale Bypass & 57th Avenue

I have an update about the traffic lights at the intersection of the Cloverdale Bypass and 57th Avenue.

Someone made a decision to paint lines on 57th Avenue on the west side of the Cloverdale Bypass making a left hand turn lane and the curb lane for through traffic and right hand turns. The problem with this is that the sensor that activates the lights is now only where the left hand turn lane is. Area residents know where the sensor is. It was covered over a few months ago when the road was resurfaced following the construction of Brick Yard Station. Not a problem because everyone knew it was there and stopped there.

At least it was not a problem until someone - probably in the engineering department who sits at a desk at Surrey's city hall and unfamiliar with the intersection - decided to paint lines here making the place where the sensor is left hand turn only.

Why they decided to do that I have no idea. This is not a high traffic area.

However this is a problem for a driver who wants to go east across the Cloverdale Bypass. They'll sit there for a long time waiting for a driver to get in the left hand turn lane or someone travelling west on 57th to activate the lights from the other side of the road.

Last week I watched a driver wait for about 5 minutes. It was 10:30 at night. No oncoming traffic. Nobody in the left hand lane. The driver finally ran the red light to cross the Bypass.

An accident waiting to happen.

I guess the city has finally received enough complaints from area residents.

I thought the least expensive solution would be to change the line painting and make the curb right turn only and the centre lane for through and left hand traffic.

But no the city went the more expensive route. Today I drove past and saw a crew digging up the street to put sensor on the curb side lane. Tonight I checked and both lanes have sensors.

Now they just have to put in a pedestrian activated light on the Brick Yard Station side and that intersection will by much safer.

Surrey's New Garbage/Recycle Program

How is everyone liking their new big bins for garbage, recycling, and garden waste/organics?

The new waste pick up program came into Surrey on October 1, 2012. Garden waste/organics (green lid) is picked up every week. The garbage (black lid) and recycling (blue bin) are picked up every other week, alternating with each other.

Friday is collection day in Cloverdale. The first time I saw the truck picking up the blue lid recycle bins for some strange reason he backed down our street. That meant the driver had to run out for all the houses on our side of the street, drag the recycle bin over to the truck, and then unload it. Then when the forks unloaded the bin it was now on the other side of the street. Instead of jumping out of the truck again and putting the bin back where he found it, the driver proceeded backing down the road. I happened to be at home at the time and figured it out pretty quick when I went outside to haul my bin back in and it wasn't in my driveway but my neighbour across the street now had two recycle bins: one in his driveway and one in his front yard. That's the only time I've seen any of the waste trucks back down our street.

On October 19th was Cloverdale's day for garbage pick up. A pick up that never came for our entire neighbourhood. I've seen the waste trucks working until at least 7pm on some occasions so we left out garbage bin out until around 9pm before dragging it back to the house. Then I put it back out in the morning hoping the truck was late in the Friday pick ups, couldn't finish his route, and would be back on Saturday. On Saturday morning I saw a Surrey Engineering Dept truck slowing cruising our neighbourhood and talking into his radio or phone. There must have been complaints coming in from Cloverdale about missed pick up or else the Engineering staff were in our area and noticed all the garbage bins still out and checked it out and then got after the waste company. The garbage was picked up later on Saturday. However some residents took their garbage in off the street and didn't put it out again and missed the Saturday pick up.

On November 2, 2012 for some reason the garbage truck didn't pick up any of the garbage bins on 173 Street between 57th and 58th Avenues. All the other streets in the neighbourhood were picked up. The driver forgot the one street. And the garbage bins stayed out. No pick up Saturday. Finally the garbage truck picked up those bins today, Tuesday, November 6.

If there is a problem and the bin is not picked up, the number to call is 604-590-7289. The problem is this number is only for Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. By the time someone comes home from work and sees the bin still sitting there its too late to call. That number is at City Hall and no one works on weekends. This doesn't help Cloverdale residents who have to wait until Monday to call to complain about the missed pick up.

There's a list of reasons why someone's bin was not picked up and most of the reasons suggest the homeowner is to blame: didn't put bin out on time, didn't set up bin properly (too close to cars, trees, or other bins), banned items in the bin. Though for that one I don't know how they'd know because the lid is closed and the driver doesn't normally get out of his truck to operate the forks that grab the bins.

I downloaded the My-Waste app for my iPhone with a 12 hour reminder and it tells me which bin goes out that day. If you go to this link, you can either download a collection calendar or follow the link to the app. http://www.surrey.ca/rethinkwaste/collection-schedule/

Playing at the Clova from November 2 to 22, 2012

Playing at the Clova starting Friday November 2nd until the 22nd, 2012 (yes for 3 weeks!) is:

7pm - Wreck-It Ralph

Show lets out at 8:40pm.

Seeing as how its a first run the Clova does not play a 2nd feature. Admission is $8 or $15 for 2 people. Ad $4 for each extra person in your group.