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Ask Richie Hussett what a neighbourhood would look like when people have a strong sense of community belonging, and he’ll describe a very different streetscape than the one that surrounds his small Surrey business.

Hussett is the owner of Di Reggae Cafe, a Jamaican food outlet on King George Boulevard at 108th Avenue in Whalley. It’s in the heart of Surrey Central, an area that ranked dead last for “sense of belonging” in a community health survey that polled 33,000 across the region in 2013 and 2014.

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There’s a small park off Binnie Lane directly behind Hussett’s café. It’s spartan — little more than an open field bisected by a footpath. It’s also a place that Hussett says would be perfect for a dog walking park, basketball court or a playground.

“Having young people playing or shooting basketball or kids going down a slide? That’s a community,” Hussett said in a recent interview.

“Surrey has children … and parents and people with dogs, just like every community. But, especially here, we’re not presenting it. So people don’t see that side of it. What they see in our parks are people that are homeless setting up tents or pushing carts down the road.”