St. John’s council limits special crosswalks to rainbows
Multiple Sclerosis Society request rejected at council meeting
St. John’s city council has voted against painting a red and white crosswalk as a means of raising awareness of multiple sclerosis.
Council also indicated it is not interested in hearing more crosswalk proposals in the near future.
“We have to have a policy where what we do for one organization is what we do for another organization,” Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’leary told reporters after a regular meeting of council Monday night.
“Guaranteed, if we do it for one organization, we will get a barrage of requests to do it for many organizations within the community,” she said.
The MS Society of Canada’s Avalon Chapter requested that the city paint a crosswalk red and white, without stipulating anything more specific in terms of design or location.
The red and white crosswalk was considered, but not recommended by city staff, with reasons included in a note to council. The staff specifically asked council members to consider line painting is completed on a prioritized schedule and establishing a red and white crosswalk right now would delay re-painting crosswalks in high-priority areas.
Staff also said painting a non-standard crosswalk takes more time and could require overtime. Colours are applied to the road manually, given paint machines have to be flushed when colours are changed over, and a colour needs to dry before a secondary colour is applied. They stated the time for a red-andwhite crosswalk is estimated at about double the time for a standard crosswalk.
They noted colour crosswalks could also be requested by more groups in the future, if one were to be granted this time.
Coun. Debbie Hanlon asked council to vote to paint the crosswalk anyway. She was the only council member to vote in support of the request.
Before the vote, O’leary said the city already lights city hall, conducts flag raisings and issues proclamations in support of different interests within the community.
Both O’leary and Coun. Dave Lane said the rainbow crosswalk the City of St. John’s has painted in front of city hall is different, given it is an initiative of the city. It also addresses a broader message of openness and inclusion, O’leary said.
The council’s decision comes on the heels of controversy over a decision by the Springdale town council, turning down a request for a rainbow crosswalk in that community from the Gender Sexuality Alliance at Indian River High School.
Meanwhile, the City of St. John’s will raise a flag in recognition of May as MS Awareness Month. The flag raising is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at city hall.