"Living downtown, the great advantage is you are so close to everything. You've got access to retail shops, you got access to the shops, and you've got excellent access to transit," says Coun. Jonathan Cote, who lives in a highrise in downtown New Westminster with his three daughters and wife Alix.
He also loves the neighbourhood's River Market, the Quay boardwalk and Westminster Pier Park.
The Cote family sold their Queen's Park character home and moved closer to the action downtown, where they've carved out a family-friendly life in the bustle of downtown.
Others who live and work downtown share with readers what they love about their neighbourhood.
?
"Redbrick, of course, that's the silliest question I've every heard," Michael Richardson from Redbrick Home says, laughing, but then gets serious, adding, "I would have to say the character. All of the character is still here - other communities are trying to re-create it and we already having it."
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"I like the mixture of the history, and it's also very modernized. I'm noticing it's getting a lot busier. It's like a smaller version of Vancouver," says Hannah Garett, a staffer at Karmavore, a vegan specialty store.
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"That when you walk down Columbia Street that you are still embracing the past because the history is all around you, but it's like you are walking into the future. There's so much character around here and we've got some of the best stories to tell as a city," says Tej Kainth, executive director of Tourism New Westminster.
