The push to replace the deteriorating parking lot at Salisbury Regional School has paid off.
The spokesperson for the Anglophone East School District Stephanie Patterson confirmed this week, that the province is providing around $450, 000 for the work.
Last year, parent Dave-Allan Gouthro mailed asphalt pieces to every New Brunswick MLA, “The province came through about ten months after that mailer. That’s on the back of 15 years of campaigning from the student body, the faculty and the town council. The town was definitely advocating for itself for a very, very long time, and that mailer was, I think, just a little bit of sort of dramatic theatre that might have pushed it over the finish line.”
(Photo: submitted 2022)The Department of Transportation is now surveying what is required to replace the lot. Gouthro says they’re going to tear what is left out, fix the substructure and put in proper drainage, which he says was sort of the culprit of all of the decay.
“The plan would be that this summer it gets done, that’s both the north and south parking lot. Depending on the scope of the work, the north parking lot may get done this summer, and the south parking lot next summer, but the intention is that the full complex is repaired,” he adds.
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Unfortunately, Gouthro adds, this has been more than a decade of decay and bandaids.
“I guess one convenient thing is when the government allows infrastructure to fall apart, it becomes so small that you can lovingly parcel it up and ship it back to them. That is convenient for advocacy,” Gouthro joked.
He plans to keep a piece of the asphalt in memory of the whole process, “It’s a good story to tell, and it’s a fun story to tell. We did it in a respectful way. That was probably embarrassing for some but you know, sometimes you just have to call things out very loud and consistently and respectfully. And you’ll ultimately get the job done. The town’s been advocating for itself quite successfully on this and many other issues. It’s just a shame, it took over a decade for the government to act.”
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