Security, bus shields in new $20-million transit safety plan

Edmonton transit riders will see 24-hour security staff stationed at key bus and train stations starting this month after council approved $20 million worth of new security measures Tuesday.

The Edmonton Transit Service will also speed up the rollout of new bus shields to protect drivers on late night and sketchier routes. The shields can be pulled down during the day and other times when drivers feel safe.

That’s critical for drivers, said transit union president Mark Tetterington. “It’s huge for us. Our membership, there’s never been as much anxiety as there is right now. Our members are quite afraid to be working late-night service.”

The new measures follow two serious incidents on Edmonton transit last month — a random assault on a teen at the South Campus LRT station and an early morning assault on a bus driver in Mill Woods. There have been other incidents as well. This year, Edmonton has seen one police investigation for every 282,000 trips.

She wanted more information about neighbourhood demographics, development trends in the area and a community impact statement from the City of Edmonton on the effects of the potential school closures.

Dunn also said Brightview, Youngstown and Britannia are among the district’s most socially vulnerable schools. That may have affected the ability of residents to give feedback, she said.

“I worry without that additional data this decision could be biased against vulnerable neighbourhoods,” Dunn said.

Consultation sessions began in 2016, and by spring 2018, administrators weren’t convinced they had enough feedback to choose a favoured option. Other possibilities included replacing Youngstown School instead of Mayfield, or combining all four schools at Britannia.

Draper said staff did a thorough job of attempting to reach residents by hosting several rounds of public meetings at the schools, delivering flyers door to door, emailing people directly and posting surveys online. The district said 496 people gave feedback.

Kristy Chiasson, who has two children enrolled in the Logos Christian program at Youngstown School, said the school district has taken many steps to address parents’ concerns at public meetings.

Although the plan proposes closing Youngstown, the prospect of her children studying in modern buildings appeals to Chiasson.

Moving the Logos program to a larger K-9 school might also help with retention, she said. Some families move their children out of Logos to give them access to more program options.

It would be nice if they didn’t have to choose, she said.

All four of the existing buildings are more than 50 years old and would need a combined $34.5 million in repairs to keep them running, a district report said. Three of the schools are half empty and cost more to run than they receive from government.

“You don’t want to keep pouring money into a school that’s going to suck you dry,” Chiasson said.

The aging buildings are part of a $750-million deferred maintenance backlog the district “can’t seem to climb out of,” Draper said.

After the board voted to update its school construction wish list Tuesday — which they call the three-year capital plan — consolidating the four schools is now its No. 8 priority.

On top of the updated list is the first phase of a $79-million new high school in The Meadows.

Next is a request for a new $31-million, 950-student K-9 school in Keswick, then a $17-million replacement for Delton school in northeast Edmonton.

Superintendent Darrel Robertson repeated Tuesday the district is in “desperate need” of a new high school in Mill Woods because J. Percy Page High School hits 112 per cent capacity.

By 2022, all Edmonton public high schools will be full, even with construction of a new high school in Heritage Valley approved, Robertson said.