Vancouver city council has approved a new flat rate of two dollars per hour for parking meters throughout the Chinatown neighbourhood.
Mayor Ken Sim says the community has called the cost of parking a barrier to visiting and doing business in Chinatown.
The new flat rate will take effect June 1st and run from 9 a-m to 10 p-m, seven days a week.
The pilot program will be in place until the end of 2024.
At 7:30 p.m. on July 6, a 24-year-old woman reported she had been sexually assaulted while on the escalator at the Granville SkyTrain Station by a suspect who ran away. The investigation was completed by Metro Vancouver Transit Police. A second incident occurred the following day on West Broadway at Ash Street. Just before 2 p.m. a 38-year-old woman was sexually assaulted.
The victim – a neighbourhood resident for 30 years – was walking to a bakery near Main Street and East Pender when he was pushed over by a stranger around 3:15 Tuesday afternoon. Several witnesses stopped to help the senior, who was taken to hospital.
Emergency Management BC says when rain falls after long dry spells, the parched soil can increase runoff and river flow. It says the transition to the rainy season doesn't typically cause extensive flooding and the devastation wreaked by last year's atmospheric rivers was rare.
The B.C. government says in a statement the Facilities Bargaining Association, which represents about 60,000 people delivering health services throughout the province, has ratified a new contract. It says the nine-union association is led by the Hospital Employees' Union, which represents about 93 per cent of the health workers covered by the agreement.
A statement from the regional district of Metro Vancouver says water use is up by 20 per cent for this time of year because of the extended dry, warm weather. It says the area's watersheds have received about 50 millimetres of rain since the start of August, when it would typically see about 400 millimetres between Aug. 1 and Oct. 1.
Joseph Saulnier told a sentencing hearing in B.C. Supreme Court that his client is already serving an 11-year sentence for similar offences against 33 young victims in the Netherlands and more prison time would be "unduly harsh."