DIESEL SPILLED INTO BRUNETTE RIVER
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LOWER COSTS, GREATER CONVENIENCE
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Produced by Feld Entertainment FAKE CARS FROM page POPULAR MOVIES
FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 22 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com
SHOW STARTS NEXT WEEK! Nov 27-Dec 1
PACIFIC COLISEUM Buy tickets at ticketleader.ca © Disney
Pet store defends sale of animals Rescue group says funding, facility needed for abandoned small animals Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
VIA ARCHITECTURE
Plans for the renovated station next to Metropolis include a wide pedestrian plaza and a retail component.
$37M makeover for Metrotown Station New station to be more comfortable, accessible Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
The new, renovated, Metrotown SkyTrain station will be brighter, safer and more comfortable. It will also be more accessible to people with mobility issues and, for the first time, cyclists. Dale Rickard, the director of transit architecture for VIA Architecture, the Vancouver firm that has designed the new-look station, said there were a multitude
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of challenges to devising new ways to move people in, out and around the station which was built in 1986 as part of the original Expo Line. “When the station was built, it was surrounded by single family houses,” said Rickard. “It’s phenomenal how much growth has been around that area in 30 years.” That growth has made the station too small, too crowded and for some, too difficult to access. It’s now the second-busiest station in the SkyTrain system with 50,000 trips per day. Another 25,000 transit
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users go through the bus loop across the street every day. “The pressure on that station has made it dysfunctional over the years,” said Rickard. For instance, there’s only one small elevator at the very end of the platform for people with mobility issues or parents pushing strollers. And when TransLink decided to allow bicycles on SkyTrain in 2004, they were still banned from Metrotown station. The new station will have two centrally located elevators and “bicycles will be accommodated,”
said Rickard “There’s an enormous emphasis on accessibility.” Rickard said while part of the redesign was driven by the implementation of fare gates, it’s mostly a response to the huge volumes of people who use the station. “You have to design for the busiest days of the year, for emergencies, for worst case scenarios,” said Rickard. “You need bigger areas to accommodate the crowds, it makes the station concourses bigger.” Please see COMPLETION, A3
SANTA’S ARRIVAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23
Visit LougheedTownCentre.com for more details
Starting at 10:30am with How the Grinch Stole Christmas Show
Groups calling for a ban on the sale of animals in pet stores are well-intentioned but misinformed, says the owner of Pet Habitat’s Metropolis at Metrotown store. Tom Peters was commenting on presentations at Monday’s council meeting on Burnaby’s proposed new bylaw to regulate pet stores. In his own presentation, Peters addressed allegations that his store is supplied by puppy mills by noting that his supplier, the Hunte Corporation, has sourced animals from breeding facilities regularly inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since the 1990s. Since then, there has been a “drastic improvement” in puppy breeding facilities they use, and they also don’t purchase animals from breeders who have had a “direct violation”—which directly impacts the health of the animals—in recent years. Please see PUPPY, A4