TICKETING BLITZ AT SCHOOL ZONES
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ICBC’S RESERVE MUCH TOO BIG
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SMALL INFRACTION, 5-YEAR BORDER BAN
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FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 6 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com
We may be gearing up to hobble TransLink at our own expense, says Gordon Price. See Page A6
SFU needs a big fix: students Leaks, cracks and mould among the issues Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Susan Taylor and Harvey Martens say residents of a townhouse complex near the Sperling SkyTrain station are fed up with pedestrians cutting through their complex to get to the station. They say a lock on an access gate was broken, grass has been trampled and there’s been an increase in break-ins.
Trespassers make life miserable for residents People cut through on way to SkyTrain station Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
For the first 27 years of its existence, Sperling Townhouses was just another Burnaby residential complex, located in the 6700-block of Kneale Place. But in 1999, it also became a shortcut for people heading to the newly opened Sperling SkyTrain station down the hill on Lougheed Highway. Instead of walking up the hill
to Broadway to connect properly lot as their own personal park-andcomplex’s 31 units are noticing with the sidewalk installed by city ride, leaving their cars there for “vagrants” have been hanging out hall down Sperling, people cut hours while they travel on SkyTrain, there. through the complex and use the Martens said, or as a drop-off spot In one case, someone defecated gate installed for transit users. on the steps of a walkway in the as the residents’ And there’s complex. access to the been an increase “They left their underwear for us, Susan Taylor, strata president walkway. in break-ins in though,” noted Susan Taylor, the It didn’t even last 12 hours. Somebody In recent the complex in complex’s strata president. took a sledgehammer to it. years, the the past year, When they attempted to put a problem has with one home lock on the gate in question, “it gotten worse, as more people have being broken into several times in didn’t even last 12 hours,” said started using SkyTrain, said Harvey one day, apparently by someone Taylor. Martens, secretary for the complex’s who made off with the stolen goods “Somebody took a sledgehammer strata. using SkyTrain, he noted. to it.” 4x1.25_book_drive_ad_final.pdf 1 12-03-05 1:20 PM People use the complex’s parking Now the residents at the Please see STRATA, A3
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Recycling and garbage bins are a familiar sight around Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus. Not due to any particular green bent of students, but because of their usefulness in catching leaks from above. “Garbage cans that collect leaks are insanely common on this campus,” said Julia Lane, coordinating and external relations officer for the SFU Graduate Students Society (GSS). Leaks are just one of the more visible symptoms of the ongoing issue of deferred maintenance at the university on Burnaby Mountain. The GSS and SFU Students Society (SFU SS) are working together to advocate for increased funding to address the ongoing maintenance issues. SFU’s five-year capital plan, released in 2011, stated 54 per cent of the Burnaby campus’ buildings are classified as being in “poor” condition, with another 27 per cent described as “fair.” Please see WHO, A3