Newsletter: October 6, 2024
- andrew60963
- Oct 6, 2024
- 2 min read
Whitehorse Elementary update
After almost six months of no information, on October 1, the Government of Yukon issued a press release, “Government of Yukon announces location for new École Whitehorse Elementary School.” The release confirmed that the government has finalized the northwest corner of the Takhini Educational Land Reserve as the location for the school
We were surprised to learn that a document, “Choosing the future site for École Whitehorse Elementary School,” had been published on the Government of Yukon website on September 26, in advance of the news release. No one at the Government of the Yukon alerted the association to the document or the news release. It’s thanks to the Leader of the Opposition, Curry Dixon, and our MLA, Kate White, that we became aware of them. Another surprise for us was a statement in the document that suggests the location the government chose for the school was the preferred option of the Takhini Neighborhood Association. This is not true.
We have never confirmed support for this area or any other area in the reserve. We have instead continued to ask questions and express concerns about the lack of public engagement and the lack of information regarding the site before the site was selected. The Yukon government has still not done the essential step of analyzing the impact of the school on Range Road traffic. We are waiting for this information before we can bring a decision about whether we support this school to the board and to members.
We will send a letter to Minister McLean this week to dispute the statement, pointing out its inaccuracy and asking that they revise this document and issue an apology to the Association for misrepresenting our position. We will also issue a news release to this effect.
The Association continues to sit on the advisory committee for this project and will bring forward any new information to members as it is given to us.
Range Road Pedestrian crossing relocation
On Friday morning (October 4) the City of Whitehorse announced that they will begin work Monday morning (October 7) on some safety improvements to Range Road: “Safety Improvements Continue For Range Road.”The pedestrian crossing at Normandy will be removed due to safety concerns and two new crossings will be installed at Falaise Road and Rhine Way. “Both will feature new curb ramps, pedestrian crossing signage and road markings.”
Please travel with extra caution on Range Road this week as this work occurs.
The City did not contact the Association regarding this work, so we are as surprised as everyone. This is frustrating given that the Association was very recently in contact with the City regarding the Alaska Highway/Two Mile/Range Road intersection and we emphasized our strong interest in supporting active transportation at that meeting.
We’ve communicated our concerns to the City about lack of advance notice or engagement, and emphasized that we need user-activated flashing lights at crosswalks to truly improve safety for pedestrians.