Issuu

Friday, September 28, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE

Crews work on Thursday morning to move into place the first of six pre-cast concrete pieces that will form a 9m x 4.8m chamber to replace a failed section of pipe at the sinkhole on Winnipeg Street.

City installing concrete chamber at sinkhole Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca The heavy lifting has started as city crews work to put an end to the sinkhole saga. With the help of a large crane, the first of the components making up a concrete chamber were being put into place on Thursday at the bottom of the hole that has occupied the south end of Winnipeg Street for several months. The chamber is made up of four bottom pieces and two roof pieces that were constructed and cured onsite over the past two weeks and weigh in at 23,000 kilograms in total. It will take the place of eight metres of

deteriorated metal pipe and hopefully put an end to a series of sinkholes that continually emerged over the past few years. The turbulence from the water rushing down off the adjacent hill whenever there was a storm appears to be the reason for the failure of the pipe, which was supposed to last 80 to 100 years but was only about half that age when the trouble began. “Concrete is what large diameter or large storm drains should be made of, so we’re replacing an old metal one with concrete,” Josh Kelly, the city’s supervisor of energy, environment and sustainability, told local media at the site. The last of the components should be in

place by next week and the stretch should be reopened to traffic by mid-to-late October. Restoring the site will be a bit more complex than simply filling the hole back in. “There’s a storm main that comes down Carney Street that needs to be connected into the chamber,” Kelly said. “As we come up a little bit higher, there’s electrical for the streetlights, and then as we come up higher there is curb and gutter, asphalt, pavement.” It was also more than a matter of just digging down to get to the source of the problem. Dams and three high-capacity pumps had to be installed to drain water from the site.

“We’ve been fighting groundwater full time,” Kelly said. “They finally got a handle on it late last week or early this week and it’s incredible to see how dry and clean it is down there compared to how it was a week and a half ago.” Cost of the work is still to be determined and while other projects to replace the city’s aging infrastructure are in the job jar, Kelly is crossing his fingers that another “major emergency” that was the sinkhole will not rear its head. “We’ve had some incredible work from our consultants and contractors and some amazing work from the city utility crews,” Kelly said.

introduces fees for Tahltan to be out of homes for months ICBC unlisted drivers, learners Citizen news service

Members of a tiny First Nation in northwest British Columbia remain scattered across the province in hotels and relatives’ homes after fleeing destructive wildfires this summer. It will take months to clean up the damage in Tahltan First Nation territory in Telegraph Creek, which was devastated by four wildfires that merged into one 1,180-square-kilometre blaze in August, said Chief Rick McLean. Crews must clear debris and burnedout houses, ensure the water is drinkable, restore police and health services and even restock store shelves, he said. Rebuilding 21 destroyed homes can’t even begin until spring, when the ground isn’t frozen. “It’s mixed emotions,” McLean said. “Some people are happy they got out and have their safety and lives. Other people are taking it a little bit harder

Today’s Weather Hi +9° Low -1° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

LOCAL HOROSCOPE NEWS OPINION A&E

after losing all their stuff, everything.” The 2018 wildfire season was the worst in B.C. in terms of land burned, scorching more than 13,000 square kilometres. The flames hit First Nations especially hard and sparked complaints of poor funding and communication with Indigenous groups. The federal government is responsible for funding emergency planning for First Nations on reserve lands, while the province funds regional districts. Indigenous groups say the result is a complicated, bureaucratic system that left them illprepared. McLean said the Tahltan did not have adequate resources to battle wildfires. Its fire department runs on $10,000 a year, he said, which is not nearly enough given that maintaining and fuelling a fire truck costs several thousand dollars on its own. But he said he spoke in mid-August with Premier John Horgan, who raised

1-4 2 5 6 7-8

COMICS CROSSWORD SPORTS MONEY CLASSIFIEDS

his concerns with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Since then McLean has had further talks with the province and Indigenous Services Canada and believes they’ll help the nation rebuild. “Between (government funds) and our insurance, if you put all the pieces together, we hope to come up with enough to rebuild those homes that were lost and rebuild the community,” he said. Mobile homes will eventually be set up in the community for people whose houses were destroyed, said Kristina Michaud, who lives in Prince George but whose family is from Telegraph Creek. “It’s been difficult,” she said. “There are still lots of people who are in need and who are still displaced from the fires.” A benefit concert was recently held in Whitehorse and the First Nation is also accepting donations of money and furniture, said Michaud. — see ‘EVEN HOMES, page 3

8 8 9-10 11 12-15

First Contact exposes ugly racism EDITORIAL 6

www.pgcitizen.ca

Rob SHAW Vancouver Sun B.C. motorists who might occasionally let a friend or family member drive their vehicle will need to pay a new $50 fee on their basic auto insurance next year or face the risk of large penalties if the borrower crashes. The “unlisted driver protection” fee is a littleknown part of the overhaul at ICBC that government announced in August and will take effect in September 2019. The changes are touted as a way to pull the Crown insurance agency out of its financial crisis. But critics say the driver protection plan is one example of several rate hikes masquerading as hidden fees that most drivers will feel pressured to pay out of caution or confusion. “If your vehicle is involved in a crash caused by an unlisted driver and you didn’t have the unlisted driver protection, there will be a financial consequence,” ICBC’s Adam Grossman said. — see ‘ALL OF THIS, page 3

Newsstand $2.00 incl. tax Home Delivered 95¢/day

58307

00200