I drove to Langley City Hall a couple of weeks ago to watch our friend Nathan Pachal take his oath as the newest member of City Council. He collected just over 35 per cent of the vote in a local by-election; in a race with nine candidates this was good enough for a win.

Nathan is a student of urban issues, a dedicated transit user and the editor at the South Fraser Blog. Langley City is a densifying municipality of 25,000 people bordered on the south, north and east by the sprawling Langley Township and on the west by the massive City of Surrey. A 2014 community profile sets out the hope that Langley City will become the commercial and artistic hub for a suburban market area of 250,000 people. Continue reading →