issue 09 / volume 41

How much do you love New Westminster?

» ‘Love Our City’ workshop takes place on Valentine's Day

Angela Espinoza
y News Editor

Minews
@theotherpress.ca

n February 14, the Anvil

Centre will be hosting
New Westminster’s “Our City
Neighbourhood Visioning
Process.” The event invites
current and future residents of
New Westminster to discuss city
plans to take place over the next
several years.

“We do a lot of engagement

processes any time we create
a new city policy,” said Jackie
Teed of New Westminster’s
official community plan (OCP).
“As a big part of that, [we]
engage the community to get
feedback and make sure we're

headed in the right direction.”

Teed stated that aspects of
the city such as communities
and businesses are represented
in the OCP workshops. But
while similar events consistently
take place to help shape New
Westminster, an event like
the Visioning Process has not
occurred for some time.

“In terms of a big workshop
like this, probably the last time
anything like this was done for
an OCP would’ve been back
when [the OCP] was written,
which was in 1998.”

While the Visioning
Process was set to happen this
year, Teed stated that planning
to hold the event on Valentine’s
Day potentially aids in making
the process more inviting to

members of the community.

“Having [the Visioning
Process] on February 14 makes
it pretty easy to turn it into
more of a fun event, a fun way
for people to start talking about
the future of the city.”

In discussing potential
changes to the OCP,
subjects ranging from New
Westminster’s environment to
heritage to social policies are
discussed amongst those in
attendance. Teed added that
there is importance in hearing
what younger members of New
West’s community have to say
about the city, and what they
hope to see in the future.

“What we're specifically
focussing on at this workshop
is, ‘how does the community

see their neighbourhood ...
developing into the future?’

“We wonder, are there
other big innovative ideas that
we should be looking forward
to and planning for? So those
kinds of things are really linked
tightly to the way young people
live in the city.”

“T think it’s always
beneficial for people who
are going to be living in the
community when something
like an OCP comes to fruition.
The OCP looks well into the
future, it goes out to 2041, so it’s
really starting to set the tone for
where the community will go,
out to the time where people
will be identifying the places
that they want to live and settle,
and where their children will be

news // 5

trying to decide where to go to
school, those kinds of things.
So it’s really about looking
forward to what kind of city do
you want to have in your future.
I think it’s actually an exercise
that very strongly should be
driven by younger people in our
community because they’re the
ones whore going to have to live
with it ultimately.”

The “Our City
Neighbourhood Visioning
Process” will run from 9 a.m.
to 3 p.m. and is open to the
public. Attendance is free, and
Teed stated, “everybody who
participates gets an opportunity
to speak ... in the workshop,”
but to secure a spot, online
registration for the event can be
done through Eventbrite.

 

Examining changes to the Ottawa
University basketball structure

Josh Peters
The Cord

Arenstormation is
underway in the Ontario
University Athletics (QUA)
basketball structure this
season. However, the jury is
still out on its necessity of
success.

Two years ago, the teams
were split into two conferences,

in the West. The top six teams
from each conference made
the playoffs and the spot you
finished determined your seed
in the conference.

The seeds determined
the bracket-style playoff
match-ups, culminating with a
championship game. One club
was heralded as the provincial
champion, but both earned a
ticket straight to the national
championships. However, last
season the league began to

extend its reach to the outskirts :
: reduced at all.

of Ontario, hoping to expand.
Enter the Algoma

Thunderbirds, the pride of

Sault Ste. Marie and the newest

has a combined total of five
wins in 29 tries since coming
into existence.

Their record proved to be
less of a problem than their
location. The scheduling
system in the QUA made
absurd travel times for teams,
as well as an increase of
imbalance in the league due

: to the inexperience of the

: program.

As the 2014/15 season

: approached, the OUA found

: itself in a familiar situation:

: they were set to introduce the

: newest addition to the league,

: the Nippissing Lakers, situated
: in the depths of North Bay.

The decision was then

: made to make an overhaul on
: how the league would be set
with seven in the East and eight :
: discarded in place of four

: divisions. Wilfrid Laurier

: University has found itself in

: the division with Western,

: Windsor, Waterloo, and

: Algoma. The divisions are

: made based on geography. Each
: team will play its divisional

: rivals twice and everyone else

: once. This aims to reduce travel
: and promote rivalries. As the

: season has gotten underway,

: Peter Campbell, head coach of

: Laurier’s men’s basketball team

up. Conferences have been

is doubtful that travel will be

“Unless you are changing

: all the games, you can’t reduce
: travel,” Campbell said.
addition to the league. The club :
: the women’s team, agreed with
: Campbell.

Paul Falco, head coach of

“These divisions were

: supposed to reduce travel, but
* | don't know if it is going to

overall if we keep adding teams
that are far away, because we
are going to have to travel there
anyways,” Falco said.

“We had games cancelled

[in 2014] in February between
Mac and Brock because of
weather, so now you are going
to try to bring a team from one
end of the province to another,”
Campbell said.

Aside from travel, a
concern has been that
splitting teams into divisions
sacrifices an equal playing
field, especially with one
division having an extra team
competing for the third playoff
spot.

“Any way you cut it, it is
going to be unbalanced, partly
because of the number of
teams,’ said Falco. “So I don’t
think there is really a perfect
solution, but possibly a better
solution than what we are
trying this year.”

Along with the overhaul
has come the use of the Rating
Percentage Index (RPI). This
is an advanced statistics
approach of determining
seeding in the playoffs that the
OUA is borrowing from their
counterparts across the border
in the National Collegiate
Athletic Association.

Instead of just using the
standings, RPI takes into
account the strength of the
teams’ schedules to determine
seeding, looking at their
results against only other
playoff teams. This means that,
theoretically, a team could
finish with more wins than
another but if those wins came
against non-playoff teams,
they would not be taken into

 

Image from Zoe Nguyen, The Cord

account.

One positive coming out
of this on the women’s side is
the top two teams, regardless
of location, will make it to
nationals, something that will
give Laurier a better chance, as
Windsor has often dominated
the West in the women’s
game. However, in its infancy,
the system is providing more
questions than answers and
still has some kinks to work out
according to Campbell.

“The scheduling has not
reflected a need to keep the
playing field level ... there are
a lot of things that probably
were not taken into account,”
Campbell said.