Mayor of Maple Ridge cuts appearances after threats: city official
Posted May 1, 2017 5:16 pm.
Last Updated May 2, 2017 6:44 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) – The mayor of Maple Ridge has cut her public appearances following online harassment, says the city’s chief administrative officer.
Ted Swabey says, in an emailed statement, that officials recently received “credible information” about a personal threat to Mayor Nicole Read.
He says Read has “curtailed her public appearances” while the RCMP investigate.
Swabey says the situation has been difficult for Read and her family and that the mayor is hopeful she can resume her duties soon.
He says all elected officials and staff should feel safe and be able to do their work free of harassment.
Councillor Craig Speirs says trouble began two years ago when the City of Maple Ridge created a temporary homeless shelter for people living in a tent city. “There’s a group in the community that don’t want shelters. They don’t want any kind of help for folks that are suffering addictions or find themselves homeless.”
He says the Mayor has been absent from council meetings for at least three weeks. “Council forced a temporary shelter to take people off the Cliff Avenue encampment and bring them inside… But it did make a bunch of people quite angry and they’ve been lashing out, especially on social media. And somewhere amongst there, there were some threats made to personal safety. It was a lot more than the background chatter that happens on social media.”
