NO NAMING RIGHTS FOR CIVIC CENTRE
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WHAT TO DO WHEN THE BUNS FLY
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PLATINUM AWARD NOMINEES NAMED
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FRIDAY
OCTOBER 26 2012 www.newwestnewsleader.com
Brent Pierce of New Westminster and his Royal City Curling Club team captured the Valley First Crown of Curling on the weekend. See Page A25
New name, location for Sprott Shaw Moves to be near SkyTrain Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader
GRANT GRANGER/NEWSLEADER
The crosswalk between Tim Hortons and Starbucks on Sixth Street is busy through much of the day.
Light idea at coffee crosswalk shelved City decides to postpone putting traffic signal at Sixth and Belmont Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
Although the city has set aside money for a traffic light to replace New Westminster’s coffee crosswalk it will stay the way it is for now. The city’s 2012 capital works program includes installation of a light to replace a heavily used pedestrian crosswalk that spans Sixth Street at Belmont with a Tim Hortons at one end and a Starbucks
mere steps away at the other side. When Bart Slotman of Uptown Property Group, which runs the Westminster Centre Mall that houses Starbucks, saw the light on the city’s capital works program website map, he contacted the city because he doesn’t believe a change is needed. Slotman said although it’s a busy crosswalk, it’s unlikely a traffic light would improve public safety. With signals already at Fifth and Sixth avenues, and cars going in and out of parking stalls along Sixth Street, traffic already goes at a slow
pace and drivers have no problem stopping when pedestrians enter the crosswalk. “Our gut feeling is just adding a light is not going to make it safer. The intersection works quite well. The presence of a crosswalk actually slows cars down,” said Slotman. “Is it a reality, or is it a perception that it is a safety issue? My gut feeling is it’s a perception not a reality. I can’t remember the last time there was an accident there…Our concern is that if you start to add another light, it’s undoubtedly going to add to the vehicular congestion in the area.”
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Slotman said a light might discourage walkers while the mall would like to see the street friendlier to pedestrians. He pointed out any traffic bottleneck on Sixth Street is more a product of the light at Sixth and Sixth because frequently drivers are forced to wait for pedestrians to clear that intersection’s crosswalks before turning right. Jerry Behl of the city’s transportation department said the plans for the new traffic light have been put on hold because the crosswalk appears to be effective.
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Sprott Shaw has a new name, a new look and a new location in New Westminster. The private career college officially opened its new, bigger digs on the fourth floor of old land titles building at 88 Sixth St., near Royal Avenue on Wednesday. It’s 9,000 square feet, which is 2,000 more than at its old location on Eighth Avenue at 12th Street, which was highly visible to drivers on those streets but difficult to access for students without a vehicle. The new campus is a short walk from both the New Westminster and Columbia SkyTrain stations. “About a year ago we decided the location wasn’t optimal on Eighth Avenue because it wasn’t close to the SkyTrain stations. So that was a big factor in moving closer, probably the biggest,” said Sharon Stapleton, director of the New Westminster campus. Please see NEW, A3