A request for a special crosswalk treatment isn’t getting any special treatment from city council.
At the Nov. 4 council meeting, Coun. Paul Minhas sought to have a motion added to the agenda that related to the installation of veterans’ recognition crosswalks near two locations on Sixth Street – the Royal Westminster Regiment’s Armory and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 2. Minhas’s motion would have asked council to direct staff to determine the feasibility of painting two crosswalks in recognition of the service of veterans prior to Nov. 11, 2024, and to have staff report back regarding these two crosswalks having a permanent recognition for veterans.
The City of New Westminster’s council procedures bylaw outlines the process for consideration of motions – with council members having the opportunity to give notice to council of a motion which they will make at the next meeting of council. In this case, Minhas did not present council with a notice of motion but asked that it be dealt with at Monday night’s meeting – a request discussed by council.
In cases where no notice has been given, council can add items to the agenda under “new business” if it’s something that deemed to be time sensitive, said Mayor Patrick Johnstone.
In a 5-2 vote, council voted against amending the Nov. 4 agenda to allow for consideration of Minhas’s motion at that night’s meeting. Coun. Daniel Fontaine supported Minhas’s motion.
Johnstone and councillors Ruby Campbell, Tasha Henderson, Jaimie McEvoy and Nadine Nakagawa did not support consideration of the motion – saying it should be dealt with through the regular notice of motion process. They also said the intent of the motion is not something that could be achieved with only a week to go before Remembrance Day and should have been presented to council earlier if that was the goal.
“I don't see why this is an emergency motion,” Nakagawa said. “I recognize that Remembrance Day is coming, but that's a known holiday … so I don't support changing our procedure bylaws to put this on the agenda in an emergency manner. I think that that's an abuse of our processes.”
Campbell said there’s not enough time between now and next Monday to do the work being suggested in Minhas’s motion.
“This type of work takes a long time, so I won't be supporting this today,” she said. “I think it's important to do this in a thoughtful way that follows a process that staff can make sure that they implement.”
Fontaine said council has the ability to adjust the agenda and supported giving Minhas an opportunity to present his motion for council’s consideration. He said it may not be possible to act on his motion because Remembrance Day, but he’d like to have the opportunity to see if it could be done.
“We do have a week, and there is time,” he said. “If we don't do it tonight, the earliest this could happen is next year, so I think that's why I'm supporting the addition of that onto the agenda for tonight.”
Johnstone said the motion should abide by council’s notice of motion procedure, noting everyone knows Remembrance Day is always on Nov. 11.
“I don't think it's a surprise here,” he said. “I think this is a perfectly valid notice of motion, and I think it should respect the council's process. So, I don't think we should be adding this last minute.”
A number of Canadian communities have introduced veterans’ crosswalks including Ladysmith (BC) and in Barrie and Sarnia (Ontario). Designs include a row of poppies and red and white stripes with the words Lest We Forget.
The Record contacted the City of New Westminster’s engineering department for details on the process that staff would follow if, and when, council approves a motion related to a special crosswalk treatment.
Lisa Leblanc, the city’s director of engineering, said the City of New Westminster does not have a documented process for addressing these types of requests and generally tries to discourage them for a few reasons. In an email to the Record, she outlined some of those reasons.
- They are not simply “painted”, but instead require specialized thermoplastic materials, applied in a specific way under certain (dry, relatively warm) conditions. “Now is not generally a good time to do this type of installation.”
- They’re expensive to install and they wear out, which requires reapplication, again at expense. “Another compounding factor is that they typically want to be in a highly visible location, which often coincides with heavy traffic, further contributing to rapid wear.”
- There is not great research on the impact of specialized crosswalks on road safety.
