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WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014
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Union prez on the line at NWSS BY NIKI HOPE REPORTER
nhope@royalcityrecord.com
British Columbia Teachers’ Federation president Jim Iker joined New Westminster Secondary School teachers on the picket line for the first day of “Stage 2” strike action on Monday. Iker turned up to take questions from media and to support local teachers, who were generally upbeat, waving when motorists drove by and honked in solidarity. “We here taking a stand for a fair deal for teachers, which includes better supports for our students,” Iker told The Record Monday. “We are hoping that our first day of our Stage 2 action will get government to come to the bargaining table this afternoon in good faith and bring the necessary funding that it will take to get that fair deal.” New Westminster and Vancouver were the first two districts in Metro Vancouver to participate in the rotating strike as teachers escalated job ◗Dispute Page 3
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Stand off: Local members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees walked in solidarity with teachers during Monday’s strike in New Westminster. BCTF president Jim Iker also dropped in to join teachers on the picket line at New Westminster Secondary School.
Parkade demolition to start in 2015 BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
A portion of the Front Street parkade could be coming down in less than a year. New Westminster city council has directed staff to proceed with actions needed to deconstruct a portion of the Front Street parkade and restore Front Street Frontage Road. “What we are proposing is demolition to start in January 2015,” said Mark Allison,
CINDY GERING 604.779.1292
the city’s manager of strategic initiatives and sustainability. “Of course, there are a couple of places for us to check in on the way. The first would be when we did our initial cost estimates. We are hoping to have them early in the summer. The second would be early in the fall, September or so, when the tender goes out. If council decides to go forward, based on the preliminary cost estimates, then the second phase would be in September. That’s when we would issue the tender, and hopefully
within a month or so we would have all the numbers, and we would check to see if everything is what we expected.” While council has been supportive of the concept of demolishing the parkade, it still has an opportunity to put the brakes on the concept if it has second thoughts. The city is hiring someone to do the cost estimates, prepare the tender documents that would be sent out to companies wanting to do the work, review the tenders to make sure they’re doing everything
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that needs to be done, and to oversee and supervise the work to make sure it’s done properly. According to Allison, initial estimates suggested it would cost about $2 million to deconstruct the parkade and do a basic restoration of the Front Street frontage road. He said soil conditions in the area could affect the cost, which is why the first phase is to do a cost assessment.
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