Headlines from the past is a recurring feature looking back at stories we've covered over the past 40+ years.
Could video save the old Ioco townsite?
That was the thought of two Port Moody councillors in 1997.
Coun. Gayle Carter said Ioco has the kind of setting that could be Anytown, U.S.A., Littleburg, America or Smallborough, Canada for film and TV productions.
“It’s a clean industry,” said Carter, who was also the chair of the city’s economic development committee prior to being succeeded by Coun. Joe Trasolini.
To encourage production to Port Moody, the city began streamlining its permitting processes and began pitching its visual splendours.
Trasolini said pitching the old 23=acre Ioco townsite as a backdrop for productions could help save it as its owner, Imperial Oil, ponders its future.
But a public affairs advisor for the company told the Tri-City News it still had not plans for the Ioco townsite that once served as a home for many of its workers.
That gives Port Moody time to lure more productions than the eight that alighted in the city in 1996, said Carter.
“It would be really nice in a couple of years to have 30 plus films here and be know as a city that does have a film industry,” she said.
The Tri-City News has covered civic affairs, local crime, festivals, events, personalities, sports and arts in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody since 1983. Bound back issues of the paper are available at the Coquitlam Archives, while digital versions of several past years can be found at issuu.com.
