Retro
arcade
seeks
rezoning

A 1980s video game
business in New West
is looking for a new
lease on life

By KRISTIAN TREVENA

four-year journey to open
and run a retro arcade game
business in New Westmin-

ster has one more major hurdle to
overcome.

Brad Eyres and his wife, Mary-
anne, spent four years talking to
various city councils across Metro
Vancouver before finally getting
approval from the City of New
Westminster for a two-year tempo-
rary permit in 2019 to open Capi-
tal City Arcade at 457 Columbia
St. The arcade is currently under a
rezoning application to cover later
operating hours and the ability to
serve alcohol with a family friendly
endorsement, something Eyres said
was requested constantly by his
customers.

Their business permit expired
March 1, but the arcade is permit-
ted to remain open until the rezon-
ing is decided.

Through the process of opening
the arcade, Eyres said he has put
$20,000 from his life savings into

the arcade.

“This was not in our
future at all, this
was a hobby.”

— BRAD EYRES, ARCADE OWNER

The arcade started as a hobby.
Eyres said he and his wife initially
got into arcade games for fun. He, a
former professor from the Art Insti-
tute of Vancouver, and she, a genetic
scientist, decided to turn their
pastime of collecting arcade games
into a full-time job.

“This was not in our future at all,
this was a hobby,” Eyres said.

Capital City Arcade is the only
arcade of its kind in Metro Vancou-
ver and offers 70 arcade games from
the 1980s.

Eyres said the community that
comes to the arcade has shown its
full support for the owners. From
regular customers, revisiting tour-
ists, and a 91-year old pinball
fanatic, Eyres said that the arcade
has brought people together with a
mutual love for nostalgia.

According to a city council
rezoning handout provided by the
city, applicants for rezoning must
undergo several steps before getting
considered for a rezoning. This
includes public consultation, various
meetings with council, and a public
hearing.

Brandon Braun, a first-time visi-
tor at the arcade, said that his inter-
est in retro things and a desire to do
something new brought him to the
location.

“In a day and age where we're
consumed by big picture movies
and entertainment, it’s nice to play
simple games like this ... plus there’s
something so cool about old things.”

By KRISTEN HOLLIDAY

he problem at the creek
started 20 years ago,
according to Nick Kven-
ich, president of the
Eagle Creek Streamkeepers.
Kvenich said he noticed golf balls
would wash down Eagle Creek and
collect downstream at Burnaby Lake
after a heavy rain.
“When I used to go into the creek,
I had a superstition,” Kvenich said.
“If I found a golf ball every time I
went in, I had a good day. There were
extremely few days where I didn’t
find a golf ball.”
Kvenich said the golf balls come

from the city-owned Burnaby
Mountain Golf Course, located
along the creekside. Although he
doesn’t believe they are a threat to
the wildlife or fish, he'd prefer to see
them cleaned up.

On Jan. 29, the City of Burnaby’s
environmental committee reviewed
a letter sent to city council by George
Clulow, former president of the B.C.
Field Ornithologists. The commit-
tee also reviewed a response submit-
ted by David O’Connor, the City of
Burnaby’s assistant director for golf
services.

In his letter, Clulow says the creek
“deposits literally hundreds of golf
balls” into the lake each year, and

he asked council to investigate it
further.

In an interview with The Voice,
Clulow said the creek area is home
to around 40-50 species of birds,
while over 200 species can be seen
using the whole of Burnaby Lake
park today.

“It’s plastic pollution in a creek
that is used by salmon and birds
and all sorts of other invertebrates,”
Clulow said. “It’s aesthetically ugly,
and it’s a clear form of pollution that
we can probably get rid of.”

O’Connor said city staff will be
looking into upgrading and main-
taining a screen system that is
installed at a culvert near Broadway,

A photographer takes photos of birds at the mouth of Burnaby's Eagle Creek. Naturalists are worried about the proliferation of golf balls in Burnaby Lake
washed down the creek from nearby Burnaby Mountain Golf Course. Golf balls settle under the creek bed sediment and water edges. KRiSTEN HOLLIDAY PHOTO

olf balls a ghastly sight

City of Burnaby looks to eliminate hundreds of wayward golf
balls in Eagle Creek that some say adds to plastic pollution

and would be open to working with
the Eagle Creek Streamkeepers to
ensure no harm is done to stream
ecology.

“We would probably change the
size of the [culvert] grill to a smaller
size and do a weekly cleaning,” he
said.

O’Connor said protecting and
maintaining the environment
around the golf course is a “contin-
ued priority.”

John Richardson, a professor in
UBC’s department of forest and
conservation sciences, said runoff
from roads, containing heavy metals
and other pollutants, is a bigger issue

than the golf balls.

Counsellor says
teachers are
finding it difficult
to catch vapers

By LINA CHUNG

tudents are getting stealthier
S at vaping in order to evade

restrictions in Vancouver high
schools, according to a district youth
counsellor.

Ted Holkestad is part ofa team of
youth counsellors at the Vancouver
School Board working directly with
students and staffin Vancouver high
schools. Vancouver School Board
policy prohibits students from smok-
ing or vaping on school property.

“These [vaping] devices are so

stealth, you cannot catch kids. This

is what I try to tell the adults. It’s like
trying to chase ants,” Holkestad said.

Holkestad said a new vaping prac-
tice he’s seeing among students is
“zeroing,” when a vaper holds the
aerosol in their lungs longer so no
tell-tale plume of aerosol is released.
Vaping cannabis is also virtually
odourless with the increased usage of
dab pens. Vape pens use oil or liquid
cartridges, while dab pens use wax,
known as a dab. Dabs have high
concentrations of tetrahydrocan-
nabinol (THC), the main psycho-
active compound in cannabis.

According to a 2018-19 Health
Canada survey of youth, 34 per cent
of students in grades 7-12 have tried
a vaping product and 20 per cent
have reported using them within
the last 30 days.

Maria Hubinette, PAC co-chair
of a Vancouver high school agrees,
student vapers are getting smarter.
“IT know vaping exists [here] just

like everywhere else because my
kids tell me this,” Hubinette wrote
in an email response to the Voice.
“Whether [our school] has less of a
problem than other schools ... is it
true or are kids just hiding it better
from teachers and administration.”

Emilie Reyes, a Grade 10 student
at Killarney high school, said vaping
is an attempt to gain popularity.
“Some people think it's cool or they
want to fit in.”

Instead of ostracizing kids,
Holkestad’s recommendation to
school administrators is connection,
prevention and education.

According to Holkestad, the key
question to explore with youth is
what actual need their vaping is
fulfilling. Do they have social needs,
mental health needs, or are they
anxious about something that vaping
helps them with?

“If we can get to that, then we
can work with it,” Holkestad said.

Students get away with vaping

“That’s where my passion is. I trust
young people can make good choices.
They just need support, information
and trust. Don’t demonize them for
things that everyone struggles with.”

34% of students have tried a
vaping product, with 28% using it
with nicotine.

Most students using vaping
products have also tried out
traditional cigarettes.

54% of students feel it's easy
to get hold of e-cigarettes with
nicotine.

SOURCE: WWW.CANADA.CA