PROTEST CAMPS DISMANTLED
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‘DRIVERLESS’ CARS ON WINTER ROADS?
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PORT MANN SEEING FEWER DRIVERS
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FRIDAY
JANUARY 30 2015 www.burnabynewsleader.com
A boost in the number of surgeries and scans is poised to reduce waitlists. See Page A7
Protesters seek limits on payday lenders Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Shawn Wade says residents in the Riverside neighbourhood have ongoing concerns about the rural area’s narrow roads, lack of sidewalks and lighting, as well as vacant properties that attract dumped garbage and building materials.
Residents rail against rural neglect Cite lack of street lighting, claims increase in crime, fires Wanda Chow
worries about increased property common to urban areas are starting crime and a seeming rash of fires to encroach. the last couple of years. Not to So much so that about 35 mention marijuana residents met with grow-operations, Burnaby-Edmonds ratrunning traffic, MLA Raj Chouhan the furtive dumping Frank Mesich and representatives Sometimes [the marijuana of garbage, and from Burnaby smell] is so overwhelming what he feels is RCMP, Burnaby it knocks you right off your a neglect of the fire department, feet. Big Bend area by city council and Burnaby city hall. school board on Jan. 17 about their The South Burnaby concerns. neighbourhood is still rural, with Mesich said he heard one woman most homes sitting on lots up to speak of finding needles at the little an acre in size, but issues more playground on 12th Avenue and
CHOICEquotes
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
When Frank Mesich moved into his home in the Riverside neighbourhood 30 years ago, he could hear the pheasants from his deck, watch hundreds of barn swallows flitting about and listen to frogs and toads singing from the ditches. That’s no longer the case. Instead today, at age 67, Mesich
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believing there are homeless people living in the woods nearby. Another described the street lighting being as bright, or not, as a 40 watt bulb. The discovery of a drug lab on 10th Avenue a few weeks ago, and an industrial-sized medicinal marijuana grow operation on Thorne Avenue have just raised the anxiety level for residents further. In addition to the industrial grow-op, which may be legal, there are plenty more that are not, Mesich said.
This week’s feature: ature:
Montreal startss the auto show season…
drivewaycanada.ca anadaca
Please see BREAK-INS, DUMPING, A3
Their chants expended, a small group of protestors from the anti-poverty advocacy group ACORN tucked their placards under their arms on Tuesday and strolled from in front of a Cash Money payday loan outlet at Kingsway and Griffiths to a Money Mart 200 metres east. Which was just the reason for their ire. Monica McGovern, the chairperson of ACORN’s Burnaby chapter, said there’s too many short-term lending establishments too close to each other in the city. That makes it too easy for low-income people who may not use conventional banks to access expensive loans. Eventually they’re snowed under by their obligations to the lenders, further miring them in poverty, said McGovern. “This is the poor they’re exploiting,” said McGovern. “They set people up for failure.” The Cash Money outlet where ACORN members protested opened on Jan. 14. But with another payday lender close by already, McGovern said it’s time the City of Burnaby start limiting the licences for such establishments. Please see PAYDAY, A5