A new rainbow crosswalk is finally coming to LaSalle.
Nancy Campana of Run for Rocky says this has been a process of over two years now since LaSalle resident Brenda Bot-Drake approached her.
Back in March, LaSalle council approved a policy when it comes to specialty crosswalks.
Once the policy was finalized she says they did put a proposal in, but the idea really picked up when they had a partner come on board, which was the Zehrs store on Malden Road.
Speaking on AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show, Campana says as they saw stories about crosswalks in other areas being vandalized and thought more and more that the Zehrs location was a good place to put the rainbow crosswalk due to visibility.
She says they approached Zehrs and the manager was nothing but open however the store doesn't own the property so they had to go through Choice Properties.
Campana says it was another process that took a lot of patience, but they found out that all of the approvals went through last week.
"We thought more and more that the Zehrs crosswalk looked like a really good place to put the rainbow crosswalk and that's a place in LaSalle, I would probably bet quite a bit of money on saying, that it is the most crossed crosswalk in LaSalle on a daily basis, so very visible," says Campana.
She says Zehrs has been a great partner.
"Zehrs was very much on board," says Campana. "They actual held a pride day in June and raised $2,000 towards the crosswalk."
Campana says the crosswalk in front of the store will be very visible.
"We think it's going to be the first Zehrs in Canada that has a pride crosswalk, so that's kind of exciting," says Campana. "We like the location because there are cameras there and it is an area where people don't stop and start, people have to go slow in their cars there so the wear and tear of it will be a little less than at a main intersection."
Campana says they're currently putting out quotes for local companies with asphalt and line painting experience to be able to maintain the cross walk.
They're also going to be starting a LaSalle Proud campaign, which will give out brochures to local stores around what it means to be inclusive.
She says through the donate button on Run for Rocky website, residents can make a donations towards the crosswalk.
Campana says the goal is to have the crosswalk painted down by June.
— with files from AM800's Rob Hindi