City moves to save offiCe spaCe
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attaCk of the U.s. Celebrities
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trUstee defends sd40’s repUtation
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wednesday
OctOber 24 2012 www.newwestnewsleader.com
things are getting a little spooky around here. See Page A25
X-ray unit has super powers Allows minimally invasive procedures for stroke, cardiac patients Grant Granger NewsLeader
MArIO bArteL/NeWSLeADer
silvana engelke has set up an obstacle to try to dissuade or slow down vehicles rat-running from 20th street to stewardson way through the alley behind her west end home.
Rat running rankles residents Woman wants city to block off commuters dodging long lineup to get to Queensborough Bridge
the lane when a car coming down the hill came to a screeching halt. He started yelling at her, “Get the hell out of my way.” She got out and shouted, “Excuse me! You’re not supposed to be here.” “If you’re not going to move, I’m going to move it for you,” he retorted. And he did just that, jumping out of his car into her van and parking it back in the carport. He turned off the engine and got back into his car and continued on his merry way to easily access the Queensborough Bridge and in the process avoiding
Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
Just the memory of an angry rat runner screaming at her and jumping into her van in her back lane has Silvana Engelke seething. She was off to work one morning last month when she backed out of the carport behind her 20th Street home just above Sixth Avenue. The back-end of her van was well into
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the gridlock on 20th. Engelke was shaking in fear as she called police, and even after she made it to work at Burnaby Hospital. “That was the last straw,” said Engelke as she watched a steady stream of rat runners come down her lane on a recent rainy afternoon rush hour. The frightening incident spurred her into going to city council last Monday, to seek some relief. The driver, like many others every rush hour, was avoiding the long line that backs up in the right lane
on 20th Street as commuters head for the Queensborough Bridge. The left lane on 20th is restricted to vehicles turning left at the lights to head into the centre of New Westminster. Generally there is little or no backup in that lane. Many drivers seeking to avoid the right lane line nip over to the left lane, zip down the hill and just before the traffic lights turn left into a lane that parallels the SkyTrain line, a manoeuvre that is illegal from 6 to 9 a.m. please see eveN cIty vehIcLeS, A3
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William Siu is grinning as he shows off his new toy with its six video screens, a panel full of joysticks, and fancy-dancy cameras on a boom that can see inside people. It’s a big toy for big boys and girls like Dr. Siu, a neuro and interventional radiologist, and head of medical imaging at Royal Columbian. And it’s all part of the hospital’s new $5-million multipurpose interventional suite which was officially opened Tuesday. “It’s very cool,” says Siu. The suite has an X-ray machine with super powers of sorts. The bi-plane unit can continuously provide images to the surgeon or doctor from over top or underneath the patient, and from side-to-side at the same time—a virtual 3D video X-ray. What they see on the screen lets doctors spot blood clots and aneurysms in patients that have either had a stroke or are suffering from heart trouble. see techNOLOGy, A3