A CLEAR MESSAGE ON THE PATTULLO
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TANKER DEBATE SINKS TO NEW LOW
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CONVICTED NWPS OFFICER QUITS
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WEDNESDAY
MAY 9 2012
www.newwestnewsleader.com
Watch for the As We Age seniors section in today’s newspaper.
Jaccard arrested at coal protest
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
After hearing from the Elizabeth Fry Society about its plans for Sapperton, residents rejected it in a unanimous vote.
A resounding rejection for EFry Grant Granger ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
The McBride-Sapperton Residents’ Association is ¿rmly opposed to the Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver’s expansion plans in its neighbourhood. The society has applied to the city to change the Of¿cial Community Plan designation for two properties on Sherbrooke to allow the group to proceed with plans to build a 21,000-square-foot extension on its current building on East Columbia. On Wednesday evening, EFry executive director Shawn Bayes
and city planning staff met with the residents. Following two hours of discussion the association voted 36-0 to oppose EFry’s application, noting in their motion that if the project proceeds “it will be a massive and irrevocable intrusion into the single family neighbourhood.” “What it boils down to is the intrusion of a commercial property into a residential area,” MSRA president Geoff Pinkerton said in an interview. Pinkerton said for many residents safety is also a concern because society clients and visitors loiter in the
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area. “My kids and I walk across the street and that was the sentiment by many at that meeting.” Pinkerton said there’s a lot of distrust in the community because the city has allowed EFry’s plans to get this far. “There’s an appearance the city is backing [the expansion] because they’re going ahead with an OCP amendment,” he said. “It’s my belief there’s some tacit support for this already, even though they have to keep an open mind. There’s a feeling in the community the process is a done deal. It doesn’t make sense that
it would not happen [or it wouldn’t have been brought forward].” Pinkerton said although EFry has said it can’t afford to, the society should either be purchasing the properties adjacent to its current building along East Columbia or move to another part of New Westminster such as Downtown. “There’s a real anger in the neighbourhood about why should we suffer for all the problems they are associated with there, just because EFry can’t afford to do what they should be able to do,” said Pinkerton. Please see NOT A DONE DEAL, A3
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Simon Fraser University professor and New Westminster resident Mark Jaccard was arrested during a protest in White Rock on Saturday. Jaccard, an environmental economist and head of SFU’s school of resource and environmental management, and 12 others were arrested by RCMP for blocking a Burlington North Santa Fe Railway train carrying coal. In a public statement prior to the protest, Jaccard said he was willing to engage in civil disobedience and risk arrest “to emphasize how important it is that we take urgent action to stop the actions that cause climate change.” Jaccard said the window of opportunity to avoid runaway and irreversible climate change is closing quickly. “Within this decade we will either have steered away from disaster, or have locked ourselves onto a dangerous course,” said Jaccard. “Our governments continue to ignore the warnings of scientists and push forward with policies that will accelerate the burning of fossil fuels. Please see JACCARD, A3