During these recessionary times New Westminster has __ shown itself to be a forerun- ner in the areas of unem- ployment and the lack of consumer spending. The by CARL SVANGTUN number of people collecting unemployment benefits stood at 4295 in January ‘84, up from 2439 in the same month in 1982, Although the number — of ~ unemployed, with some slight reductions, remained fairly stable in the. past eight months, the rate still connotates a serious -problem in the New West- minster economy. It seems the problem is simply that firms don’t view New Westminster as a prof- itable area to locate in reala- | tion to areas like Surrey, Richmond, and_ Langley. The New Westminster area, with its mixed economy, presents many problems to _ the new investor. Coupled with a lack of adequate parking, the Columbia Street district is old, run down, and _no attempt ap-- pears to have been made to refurbish the area. Although Fit does have a central loca- tion in the Greater Vancou- ver area, consumers are drawn to other districts be- cause of newer shopping - malls with more _ parking, more services and more shops. Some may argue that the light rapid transit sys- tem, which will end in the core of New Westminster, will help to boost the retail economy. This may be nuli- fied by a proposed seventy store shopping mall three stops up the line at a location planners are calling Metro-Town (Sussex at Kingsway). Ted Brown, at the econ- omic services branch, pessi- mistically views the New West area as ‘economically quite stagnant’’., and sees no real room for develop- ment in the near future. This is evident when you enter the local Canada Em- ployment Centre. The job opportunity boards — are sparsely posted, with only. two out of approximately fiftly jobs in the New West area. New Westminster seems to have a great many pitfalls and anyone trying to tackle the problem will have their hands full. One such organi- zation will call themselves the Royal City Development Group. Their objectives will be fundamentally aimed at reducing unemployment, at- _tracting new _ investment, ie Thursday, February 16, 1984. es pele gan 'ygroups Economy fuels beaurocracy — ‘tions aimed at and promoting expansion of existing business. The steer- ing committee will be head- ed by Scott Paper’s Ven- tures Manager Al Riches. The group will split into two committees: the Economic Development Group and the Community Development Group. The first will be headed by Marie Tomko, president of MTC Business College, with it’s goals be- ing ‘‘attracting new and expanding existing business enterprises within the city.’’ The Community Develop- ment Group will be headed by Carol Badger, .Manager of the local Canada Employ- ment Centre with it’s ac- “identifying specific community based projects that would enhance the quality of life in the area via government, private sec-. tor, and volunteers/com- munity group cooperation. ”’ The Economic Develop- ment Group will start it’s fight from the bottom of the dogpile. They don’t seem to have too much going for them and if investors don’t feel New West is a profit- able area they will be simply talking to air. The Community Develop- ment Group will be propo- sing projects such as the successful Latch-key _ pro- gram that opened up oppor- tunities for the mentally ‘handicapped. Other success- ful groups have dealt with seniors, daycare groups and educational assessment for ex-mental patients. All of these programs. either crea- ted jobs or created income on top of people’s Unem- ployment Insurance bene- fits. The group will be mak- ing proposals for this kind of work but in realistic terms this is not a big part of the New West economy, and will probably be just a drop in the unemployment buck- et. Another problem that pre- sents itself is the size of the local labor force in relation to the size of the area. A high percentage of the local residents are pensioners, students, people collecting UIC and others on welfare. This area attracts this mix because of low cost accomo- dation in relation to the outlying areas. This creates more problems: 1) The local residents don’t have money to spend (in New West or “anywhere else). 2) Any new or expanding business may tend to get alot of it’s employees from outlying areas, therefore taking dol- lars out of the New West economy. All in all, the two subcommittees that in fu- ‘ture meetings will attempt to expand the New West economy, will be fighting an uphill battle. The odds are against any great achieve- ment and we will have to wait and see if this is a project with some potential or if it is merely another pile of - bureaucratic chips. buffalo page3 $1950 for 15 students president, said he was disap- pointed with the amount of money given to the group of business. students. “We just gave-=003 per cent of the students 49.6 per The student society has now begun doling out $4000 for the funding of ‘clubs-and associations at Douglas Col- lege. To date, money has been given to the Douglas College Hockey Association for jersies, and $1950 has’ been given to a group of 15 business students for a trip to Montreal. The society is also consid- ering a proposal from the women’s volleyball team to help fund a trip to China this year. Sean Balderstone, the ir- repressible student society cent of the money,”’ he said, ‘That's pretty sad if you ask me.”’ Apparently, Balderstone was upset by council’s refu- sal to give money for a Wen-Do program at the col- lege. Wen-Do is a_ self- defense course for women, and some council members considered funding a wom- en’s club a sexist policy. DCSS wants microwave oven Nope. There isn’t a micro- wave at Douglas College. But several members of our student society think that there should be. Jane Essex, a council rep, said last week the student society should pay for a microwave oven at the New Westminster campus be- cause ICL caffeteria prices are so steep. ‘1 don’t buy at the cafe- teria because it’s too expen- sive and there’s thousands of other students in the same boat as me,’’ said Essex. ; However, ICL owns the rights to distribute food on campus and council , will have to ask administrations permission before — placing anything on campus. “The old campus had a microwave,’ complained Lee Beile a university trans- fer rep on council. A decision is expected after the February 15. coun- cil meeting. And now for the weather Students, staff and faculty can expect some tempera- ture fluctuations because workmen have begun mak- ing improvements to the ~ New Westminster campus’ heating and air conditioning system, college president Bill Day said at the Feb- ruary 14 management com- , mittee meeting.