CONDO INCENTIVES MEAN BIG DEALS
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THE THORNY ISSUE OF HERITAGE
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CONCERNS ABOUT COAL ON HEALTH
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FRIDAY
JUNE 7 2013 www.newwestnewsleader.com
Frank Giustra has gone a long way since graduating from Douglas College. And so, incidentally, has Douglas. See Page A11
Group slams special ed cuts Inclusion BC upset with New West layoffs to SEAs Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
GRANT GRANGER/NEWSLEADER
Gavin McLeod of the West End Residents Association surveys the stretch of Stewardson Way and Sixth Avenue where he’d like to see a pedestrian crossing reinstated.
Residents want Stewardson overpass Calls for pedestrian link between Grimston Park and River Drive Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
As Gavin McLeod described why a pedestrian crossing between Grimston Park and River Drive should be brought back, cars were honking on Stewardson Way. The drivers were alarmed by a jaywalker who brazenly climbed over a barrier or two and was walking across the busy, complex
section of road where Sixth replaced, but that hasn’t happened. Avenue and Stewardson funnel McLeod says the West End onto the Queensborough Bridge Residents Association will be and Marine Way. The approaching city council unapologetic pedestrian, as calling for a new one to be he sauntered through traffic, built. was unwittingly verifying “We’re gathering our McLeod’s point for him. ammunition,” said McLeod. Before the bridge’s north “There seems to be a end was reconfigured a reluctance to do it.” LOWRIE few years ago, there was a What the Ministry of crosswalk—part of the BC Transportation did build Parkway—that connected Grimston was a pedestrian/cyclist connection to the other side. McLeod maintains on the west side of the 22nd Street it was supposed to have been SkyTrain station, several blocks
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away from the previous crossing. McLeod said that crossing was supposed to be for bicycles and wasn’t intended to be a replacement for the old crosswalk that required users to push two buttons to trigger traffic control signals, often with a wait on a median in the middle of traffic in between them. “It could be a little anxiety producing,” admitted McLeod. “But for our residents on River Drive that was the only access they had.” Please see MINISTRY, A3
Inclusion BC has blasted the New Westminster school district’s decision to eliminate 27 special education assistant (SEA) positions to help balance its 201314 budget. Faith Bodnar, executive director of the organization that advocates for people with developmental disabilities, said New Westminster’s actions, along with decisions made by the Coquitlam and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows school districts, raise questions about the right to have a quality education for children with special needs. “Whenever I see cuts like this, it’s very, very concerning. We don’t have enough support right now. We need to be providing support and not be taking it away,” said Bodnar on Wednesday. The New Westminster board of education recently approved cuts to more than 40 full-time positions, including the SEAs, to cover an expected shortfall of $3.5 million for the upcoming school year. Please see CUT, A10