Overdose Awareness Day in Douglas Park on Sunday

If you walk through Douglas Park, you’ll notice little purple flags. These flags denote the lives lost due to overdoses in Langley. Overdoses and overdose-related deaths are unfortunately widespread. If you haven’t been impacted, you likely know someone who has been. While many people link overdoses and people who are experiencing homelessness, overdoses primarily impact young men who have a job and housing. Many people don’t talk about their struggles with problematic substance use because they feel judged.

My dad, who has since passed (not due to overdosing), injured himself and started a long and problematic relationship with opioids, including overdosing. It impacted our family. He was eventually able to get help and put on a methadone maintenance treatment program.

Sadly, there are still significant gaps when it comes to preventing overdoses in this province.

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day. It is an opportunity to remember all those impacted by overdoses, come together to support each other, and also acts as a call to action to reduce overdoses.

An Overdose Awareness Day event will take place in Douglas Park on Sunday, August 31, 2025, starting at 6:30 pm. A candlelight vigil will take place at 8:30 pm.

There will be resource tents, performers, and speeches. The Lions Club will also host a BBQ that begins at 6:00 pm.

2025 Data Shows Langley City has the Third Lowest Property Taxes & Utility Fees for Detached Homes in Metro Vancouver

When people look at their property tax bill, it contains charges from the province, School Board, TransLink, Metro Vancouver Regional District, and their municipality.

In some municipalities, you get a combined property tax and utility bill (water, sewer, garbage), such as in Langley City. In other municipalities, you get separate property tax and utility bills.

When you see reports about municipal taxation, you’ll hear a lot about property tax increases as a percentage. This isn’t very useful as it doesn’t actually capture what the bottom line is that people pay.

Every municipality has different needs based on the desires of local residents, which means they will have different levels of taxation. Because it can be useful to compare municipal tax rates, the provincial government releases an annual “Taxes & Charges on a Representative House” report which compares the “all in” taxes and fees for an average-priced detached home in each municipality. Langley City is a bit of an exception, as we have close to 80% of households living in attached homes (apartments and townhouses). However, in most parts of BC, the detached home is the most common form of housing.

The province recently released its 2025 data. You can download the full dataset from the provincial government's website, but I thought it would be interesting to show the “all in” value for all municipalities in Metro Vancouver.

Municipalities	Typical Detached House Value	Total Residential Property Taxes and Charges
Port Coquitlam	$1,455,127	$6,457
Pitt Meadows	$1,184,823	$6,721
Langley City	$1,369,186	$6,977
Langley Township	$1,511,423	$7,021
Delta	$1,491,495	$7,176
Surrey	$1,709,547	$7,510
Coquitlam	$1,789,496	$8,000
Burnaby	$2,157,640	$8,051
Maple Ridge	$1,282,828	$8,380
North Vancouver City	$2,110,967	$8,547
Richmond	$2,050,462	$8,624
North Vancouver District	$2,277,299	$9,300
Port Moody	$1,912,333	$9,315
White Rock	$2,032,064	$9,687
Belcarra	$2,001,564	$10,547
Vancouver	$2,678,306	$10,811
Bowen Island	$1,633,484	$11,055
New Westminster	$1,639,283	$11,548
Lions Bay	$2,253,369	$11,610
Anmore	$2,533,798	$12,028
West Vancouver	$3,676,139	$13,721

I wanted to call out that New Westminster is higher in part because they also have their own electrical utility, while the rest of us are on BC Hydro. I also wanted to call out that while the province doesn’t provide the typical “all-in” value for attached housing, Langley City normally does. We don’t have 2025 data yet, but we typically have the lowest or second-lowest in the region. I expect this to be maintained in 2025.

Vacation Alert

I will be taking some time off and will be back blogging on Monday, August 25th.

The History of Langley City: Part 1

Have you ever wondered why Langley City feels like a crossroads? Or why many of the roads don’t run perfectly north/south or east/west? Or why Portage Park is called Portage Park and Glover Road is where it is? Or even how Langley City came to be?,/p.

Langley City, formerly known as Langley Prairie, has a rich history of connection. The prairie was always a crossroads for travellers. From First Nations Portages, to gold smugglers, old railways, and the Micahuds. Langley City is a story of connection and the quest for independence with the famous saying, “not a nickel for street lights!”

TRAILER - The History of Langley City: Part 1

Why does Michaud Crescent exist? Who is Innes, and why do we care about his corners? What’s with our road system? Where did people party at the turn of the 20th Century? And how did a random trip down the road lead to the eventual creation of Langley City?

Find out in “The History of Langley City: Part 1”. Coming Soon!

Walking and Transit Trips Up in Langley City. Exploring How People Get Around in Metro Vancouver.

When people examine how folks move around in our region, they typically refer to data from Statistics Canada. Unfortunately, this data only examines how people travel to their place of work. This is why, approximately every half-decade, TransLink commissions trip diaries, which provide a sample of all trip types people take throughout Metro Vancouver.

Metro Vancouver Regional District staff have recently created maps to look at the changes between TransLink’s 2017 and 2023 trip diaries for walking and transit trips.

With the exception of West Vancouver, walking trips are up throughout the region. Port Moody, Pitt Meadows, and Langley City have all seen a doubling of walking trips between 2017 and 2023. In Langley City, approximately 14% of all trips originating in Langley City were made on foot in 2023. For trips that stayed within Langley City, about 32% were walking trips.

Change in the number of walking trips between 2017 and 2023 across the region. Select the map to enlarge.

While overall transit ridership remained flat between 2017 and 2023, the following map shows that there has generally been a decline in transit trips in the western part of our region, whereas in the eastern part of our region, transit trips are significantly up. In fact, Langley City saw the largest growth in transit trips within the region between 2017 and 2023. In 2023, approximately 3% of all trips originating in Langley City were made by transit.

Change in the number of trips made on transit between 2017 and 2023. Select the map to enlarge.

In Metro Vancouver, the number of overall trips made by bike increased, while trips by automobile decreased between 2017 and 2023. For more information, please visit TransLink’s 2023 Trip Diary dashboard.

VIDEO: Langley City’s Crime Severity Index and Total Crime Rate at Lowest Level in Over 25 Years

As I mentioned last week, there is good news regarding the crime statistics in Langley City. Over the last five years, the overall crime rate has decreased by 40% and the Crime Severity Index has decreased by 50%.

At the same time, people are still calling the police. The number of police “files” or service calls is steady at around 12,000 annually in Langley City, with a peak of 12,676 in 2022 and a low of 11,703 in 2020, about a 7% difference. In 2024, the number of “files” was 11,997, which is about a 5% difference from the peak.

For all suspicious activity that is not an emergency, you can call the non-emergency police line at 604-532-3200 or use the online crime reporting tool.