ews & Features sororanores avrnony THE DAILY VOICE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014 7 FREE CAKE FOR FOUNDERS' DAY VANESSA SZPURKO photo Langara president Lane Trotter and others distributed cake to hungry students yesterday. Skate park has residents divided Mount Pleasant citizens giving feed- back on proposed development By BEN ZUTTER proposed skate park in Vancou- ver’s Mount Pleasant neigh- bourhood has run into opposi- tion. A public consultation meeting on the project will be held on April 3, and peo- ple are already rallying in opposition. The consultation will help the park board determine where to put it - Jona- than Rogers Park or Robson Park - and give people a chance to voice their con- cerns. In an email sent to media and com- munity members, Margery Duda, pres- ident of the Vancouver Society for Pro- motion of Outdoor Pools, said the public is woefully misinformed about the new project. She also went on to say similar mis- information was partially to blame for the last skate park built in Mount Pleasant. “Many of us as individuals support the benefit of skate parks to our soci- ety,” Duda said. “But many Mount Pleasant residents are upset that a skate park was built at Mount Pleasant Park after public consultation indicat- ed that it was the lowest priority for the community.” According to Duda, the Vancouver Park Board’s 2005 Skateboard Strategy is outdated and doesn’t include many of the changes to the city that have oc- curred since, including the Mount Pleasant skateboard park. “T do think that the consultation should be postponed until new and ac- curate information is posted for the same period of time,” she said. It also resulted in a disproportionate number of skate parks being built in the northeastern quadrant of the city. This is in contravention of Action #2 of the Skateboard Strategy, which aims to “provide a better geographic distribu- tion of skate parks in Vancouver.” There are organizations and individ- uals who think the project would be beneficial, however, including Carolyn Tuckwell, president and CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of South Coast BC. The organization has a club located near Robson Park, one of the proposed areas for the new skate park. “We support the development of places that are safe and are going to be well structured for any kinds of activi- ties that will draw youth,” Tuckwell said. Following Thursday’s public consul- tation, citizens will be encouraged to fill out the online questionnaire and continue to offer feedback. Canadian autism strategy needed, says UBC prof Feds, provinces blamed for insufficient response to autism spectrum disorder By DAVID LA RIVIERE tions-sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day, but Canadians might not be aware of the country’s lack of a national autism strategy. Autism spectrum disorder in chil- dren is more prevalent globally than it was a decade ago and it is still not known why. According to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in March, one Te: is the seventh United Na- 66 There’s been areal push fora national autism strategy since 2007 PAT MIRENDA in 68 children in the U.S have autism; two years ago the ratio was one in 88. Canada’s contribution to research in the fields of autism and early preven- tion is considerably less than that of organizations across the border, and certain groups have voiced concerns about Canada’s lack of action. “There’s been a real push here for a national autism strategy since 2007,” said Pat Mirenda, professor of counsel- ing psychology and special education at UBC. In 2007, the Senate Standing Com- mittee on Social Affairs released a re- port called Pay Now or Pay Later: Au- tism Families in Crisis, which recommended the government pay for autism services and support early on or they would end up paying more down the road when the autistic chil- dren become adults. Mirenda added that the report made a case for a national autism strategy but there is still no coordinated inter- provincial strategy that allows stable funding, national public awareness campaigns or knowledge exchange net- works. One of the major issues autistic chil- dren and their families are facing in Canada is that their required autism intervention protocols are not covered by medical services plans. “What we have here is a federal gov- ernment that points at the provinces because they control health care and we have provinces that are reticent to put autism treatment in the same fund- ing envelope that provides treatment for cancer or any number of similar situations.” said Michael Lewis, the first vice-president of the Autism Soci- ety of Canada. Lewis said that B.C. is better than some other provinces in terms of the amount of social services funding that’s allocated to children with autism but it’s not sufficient. The 40 hours a week of care an autis- tic child needs costs $40,000 to $60,000, but B.C.’s social development ministry provides $21,000 up until age six, after which point it is reduced to $6,000. STATS: driving Drivers not getting the message Distracted motorists threaten lives: Vancouver police HI Distracted driving contributed to 34 per cent of crashes for young drivers in B.C. from 2008 to By MEGAN BOBETSIS olice recently issued a Vancouver man his 26th ticket for distracted 2012. ; driving - a common offence across HE Speeding contrib- uted to 19 per cent of crashes couver police. the Lower Mainland according to Van- Distracted driving, most often in- volving a driver using an electronic de- HE simpaired driving contributed to nine per cent of crashes. vice behind the wheel, is a concern for the Vancouver police, according to spokesman Const. Brian Montague. Police data from ICBC’s website said M15 youth are killed and 4,700 are injured in crashes every year in the Lower Mainland 91 deaths per year. distracted driving was the third lead- ing cause of fatal crashes in B.C. be- tween 2008 and 2012, resulting in about If you are caught driving while using M39 youth are killed and 7,100 are injured in crashes every year in B.C. carries a $167 fine. an electronic device in B.C., the ticket But that didn’t stop the Vancouver man who has received more than a few tickets and has now had his car im- Source: ICBC pounded for a week. Besides the fines, officers also “con- duct and participate in enforcement and education campaigns on a regular basis to try and combat the problem,” Montague said in an email. Langara College student Derrick Fraser said he has been in car acci- dents before and has been ticketed for bad driving habits, but never for dis- tracted driving. Fraser said he doesn’t use his phone while driving very often. “The road changes so quickly... you think you’re safe when you're just look- ing down for a second,” Fraser said. Montague said distracted driving is not just a problem in Vancouver. “Throughout the Lower Mainland, the province and nation-wide, people are risking the safety and lives of oth- ers because they are using their phones or engaging in other distractive behav- ior as they drive,” Montague said. Fraser also said he thinks short driv- ing suspensions will teach people a les- son, but anything beyond that is too MEGAN BOBETSIS photo Police are encouraging drivers to not use their cell phones while driving. harsh. Any suspension of a person’s license is determined by the province’s Super- intendent of Motor Vehicles and not by the police. Montague said he hopes distracted driving will eventually decrease as people get into safer habits and “be- come more educated about the dangers of distracted driving.”