A look at Surrey in 2018, by the numbers:
333: The number of portables Surrey opened the 2018-19 school year with – 14 more than last.
58: The number of years Two EE’s Farm market operated in Fleetwood, until development pressures forced the popular business to close for good in October.
10: The number of hours it took to clean up Surrey’s annual Vaisakhi parade in April, compared to 10 weeks for Vancouver’s big 4/20 event held that same week.
45,564: The number of votes earned by top mayoral candidate Doug McCallum in the Oct. 20 civic election this fall, over nearest rivals Tom Gill (28,553) and Bruce Hayne (28,007).
32.5: The percentage of registered Surrey voters who cast a ballot in the Oct. 20 civic election.
13: The number of players on Whalley’s plucky Little League World Series team which, as Team Canada, won a pair of high-drama games in Williamsport, PA, before falling to Puerto Rico in an elimination game in front of 2,600 fans.
13: The age of Dio Gama, the Whalley baseball player whose immigration issues nearly prevented him from joining his teammates at the Little League World Series.
23.2: In the riding of Surrey-Whalley, the B.C.-worst percentage of voters who cast a ballot in the Referendum on Electoral Reform.
61.3: The percentage of participating voters in B.C. who opted to stay with the first-past-the-post electoral system, in the fall referendum on electoral reform.
15: The number of homicides in Surrey in 2018, as of Dec. 27.
$31.37M: The amount collected in pay parking fees at Surrey Memorial Hospital since 2011.
30: The number of thefts of flowers over the past seven years, according to Markita Kaulius, at a roadside memorial for her daughter, Kassandra, who was killed by a drunk driver near the corner of 152nd Street and 64th Avenue.
21: In April, the number of people who attended the very last meeting of the B.C. chapter of the Morse Telegraph Club, in room A123 of the Oasis building at Fleetwood’s Elim Village retirement community.
$185.2 million: The amount City of Surrey employees were paid in 2017 (the latest data available), up from $175.5 million in 2016 and $162.5 the year prior.
$341,861: The amount paid to Surrey City Manager Vincent Lalonde in 2017, as the city’s highest paid employee that year.
120: The number of unionized employees of the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel who went on strike for four weeks in May.
5-4: The council vote to approve Surrey’s draft financial capital and operating plans during a Dec. 19 council meeting, which put the new Cloverdale arena on the back burner, among several other previously approved civic projects.
30,000: The number of comic books auctioned at the Able facility in Newton on a Saturday in September.
92: The number of Ironman triathlon races completed by Downtown Surrey BIA CEO Elizabeth Model, the only woman in the world – and one of only five people – to complete every single Ironman race on the calendar.
$1,500: The amount some paid for a dinner seat at “An Evening With the Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau,” an event held at the Crystal at York banquet hall in Newton in early September.
45,000: The number of ticket-buying music fans who filled Holland Park for the two-day FVDED in the Park festival in July.
40,000: The estimated number of vinyl record albums that flowed into Newton’s Innovative Audio store in the fall, from the personal collection of Howard Tsumura, who previously ran the record bins there.
$200,000: The amount Surrey budgeted in 1968 to build its Centennial Arts Centre at Bear Creek Park; the facility, now known as Surrey Arts Centre, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special concert in March.
1,700: The number of personal invitations mailed to B.C. kids and youth with autism, for a special 10th birthday party thrown by Canucks Autism Network, or CAN, at Surrey Civic Plaza in July.
55: The combined number of years served on council by Linda Hepner, Judy Villeneuve and Mary Martin, all of whom did not seek re-election in the Oct. 20 civic vote.
0: The number of cannabis stores expected to open in Surrey in the first several months after Canada decriminalized pot in mid-October.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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