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Chilliwack Airport Coffee Shop ladies duct-tape themselves to trees in protest

The 'I Fly For Pie' coffee shop, which has been around for more than three decades in Chilliwack, has been asking the city to step in
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Chilliwack Airport Coffee Shop owner Judi Good and her sisters duct-taped themselves to trees on the patio Thursday to make a statement that the business will not survive without their patio.

Chilliwack Airport Coffee Shop owners are still fighting the closure of their patio.

Owner Judi Good, with sisters Tracey and Jacqueline, were protesting Magnum Management's decision to go ahead with tree removal and pulling up the concrete on the patio.

Good's protest sign reads: "Please save our airport!" and "Why won't the City of Chilliwack help us?"

Good and her sisters duct-taped themselves to the trees on the patio Thursday to make a statement that the business will not survive without their patio.

"Honestly I just want to run my business and not be treated like a doormat," said Good.

The coffee shop, which has been around for more than three decades, has been asking for city officials to step in to the landlord-tenant dispute — to no avail.

Mayor Sharon Gaetz told The Progress recently the city has no authority in the coffee shop matter, and its only role is funding capital improvement projects at the airport.

The building is owned by City of Chilliwack, but Magnum Management is the head leaseholder, and has the contractual obligation to maintain it to standards for public use.

A flurry of correspondence went back and forth between the coffee shop and landlord in an attempt to resolve issues, and get the repairs done since last fall.

Magnum Management manager Garry Atkins stated to the Progress recently that the concrete repairs and tree removal had to be undertaken for safety reasons.

From the safety/liability standpoint the trees planted on the patio have to be removed, said Atkins. Regular pruning and patio maintenance were the coffee shop's responsibility, which forced Magnum to step in.

Good said they always do the patio repairs and pruning every spring and that she had obtained offers from those who would do the work.

"This is about so much more than just the patio," she said. "We've got the whole aviation community behind us now. We are a family. It didn't have to be this way."

She's owned the coffee shop for eight years, and worked there for 21 years.

"We could have been growing together."

 

 



Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering the arts, city hall, as well as Indigenous, and climate change stories.
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