Sprouting Concrete

This is the time of year when all the bulbs and buds are starting to wake up. Within a week or two cherry blossoms will be screaming in a chorus of pink. The sap-sucking trees will soon begin to cover their nakedness.

Yet it's not nature's show that demands my attention when coming into downtown New Westminster this spring. I am most aware of the plethora of high rise residential buildings reaching towards the sun.



We settled in New Westminster because of easy SkyTrain access. In 1996 downtown was in a bit of a shambles having given up its Golden Mile status forty or fifty years beforehand. When we moved here, drug dealers were more numerous than shoppers. We figured all the pieces were in place for renewal. A decade has now passed. There are easily, at least, four towers under construction with others on the drawing boards. During this year and next, I can easily assume the residential population of downtown New Westminster will double. That's excellent news for the vibrancy of my neighbourhood.