midweek edition WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2011 Vol. 102 No. 23 • Established 1908 • West
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Arts Club’s 500th show
Whiteout
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Residents oppose methadone clinic proposal Strathcona association pans plan Sandra Thomas Staff writer
James Johnstone, chair of the Strathcona Residents Association, says a proposed pharmacy and methadone clinic at 678 East Hastings St. is a “recipe for disaster.” photo Airika Owen
Representatives of residents and businesses in Strathcona are concerned about a proposal to relocate a methadone clinic and pharmacy to their neighbourhood one block from an elementary school and the same distance from a future library complex, which the city announced this week will include units for single mothers. “The children living in this neighbourhood already have a lot to observe and think about,” said Joji Kumagai, executive director of the Strathcona Business Improvement Association. “There’d be more purpose to that space if it could include mixed use
for the community.” Dr. Gary Horvath with Doc-Side Medical at 125 Main St. has applied to the city to relocate the clinic to 678 East Hastings St. In his letter of application, Horvath describes the services to be offered would include a walk-in clinic, primary care, addiction services—such as counselling and psychiatry, infectious disease care and a small pharmacy. Horvath noted in his letter he will recruit family physicians. Horvath wrote that the clinic doctors and staff will abide by the city’s Good Neighbour Conditions, which include minimizing loitering, line-ups and congregations of people outside the clinic by offering scheduled appointments. See STRATHCONA on page 4
Bus route change raises concern for seniors and disabled False Creek passengers destined for Broadway stops will transfer at Cambie and Broadway Cheryl Rossi Staff writer An upcoming change to the No. 50 Waterfront Station/False Creek South bus route has an 87-yearold resident of South False Creek worried about her less mobile neighbours.
Margaret Chalmers notes her False Creek community is concentrated with co-ops, homes for seniors and people with disabilities who depend on the No. 50 bus to carry them up Cambie Street and then west on Broadway for medical appointments, banking and shopping.
“It is a lifeline for people for all those different hospitals and clinics,” she said. Passengers destined for stops west on Broadway will have to transfer to another bus at Cambie and Broadway, effective April 19. “Think of all the people who
have loaded on, ladies with walkers, people that are crippled, people that are blind, these are all [living] in this area,” Chalmers said. She notes people with mobility concerns will have to use a ramp to get on the bus in False Creek, use a ramp to get off it at Cambie
and Broadway, then use a ramp again to board a westbound bus. “It’s the misery of waiting between buses because sometimes when the No. 9 bus comes along it’s full already,” Chalmers said. “And I have to look sort of helpless to get a seat.” See TRANSLINK on page 4
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