Environment: Fundingg boostIÄ&#x20AC;DÄ&#x201E;EĂż<Ä? 1 for KEEPS centre. 11
Lifestyle: Lif View from above. 3
Sports: Burrards load up on lefties. 33
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Friday, Februar y 20, 2015 ¡ mapleridgenews.com ¡ est. 1978 ¡ (office) 604-467-1122 ¡ (del iver y ) 60 4- 4 66 - 63 97
Budget hurts school district Trustees will have to make more cuts now By P hi l M e lnychu k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Sally Ann short Salvation Army Caring Place volunteer Lloyd Higginbotham (left) joins food service coordinator Rob Field as they prepare lunches for clients on Wednesday. The Salvation Army may cut as many as three dinners a week because of fundraising shortfalls. See story, 5.
While the provincial government trumpets a balanced B.C. budget, the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school board is paying a painful price for doing its part keeping the government in the black. Tuesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budget included cuts of $29 million in administration costs for school boards in B.C. for 2015 to 2016. In Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, that works out to a funding cut of $700,000. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on top of previously planned expense reductions this year of $1.5 million. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had not anticipated that,â&#x20AC;? said board chairperson Mike Murray. See Budget, 4
Lougheed dividers long ways off Eastern stretch no more dangerous than others: study By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect improvements to Lougheed Highway any time soon, despite pleas from the mayor and RCMP for safety enhancements. But at least the first step has taken place on the long-awaited
widening of the highway between Maple Ridge and Mission. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has started a â&#x20AC;&#x153;conceptual planning study and business caseâ&#x20AC;? for widening Lougheed Hwy., between 266th and 287th streets, as well as from Silverdale to Nelson Street in Mission. The study is a high-level planning exercise, the first step in planning a project, and began last year, said Ashok Bhatti, with the ministry.
However, there are still no costs or timeline for when any work might begin. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The ministry is committed to working with local communities along Hwy. 7 to meeting their future transportation needs and prioritizing future expansion of the Hwy. 7 corridor.â&#x20AC;? The study includes widening and improving the Haney Bypass, from 222nd Street to Kanaka Way. Four-laning Lougheed Hwy. has been a campaign promise for a decade, but a narrow stretch of
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two lanes at the east end of Maple Ridge still remains, while a longer stretch of two-lane road remains in Mission. As for installing concrete dividers along the road, the ministry said that is part of its â&#x20AC;&#x153;long-term strategyâ&#x20AC;? to four-lane the road. Ridge Meadows RCMP, last week, said theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d ask the ministry for concrete barriers to be installed along the centre line of the road and that more cat-eye reflectors be installed in lane markings. See Highway, 8
THE NEWS/files
Mike Gildersleeve leads a campaign for concrete barriers on the highway.
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