WEDNESDAY February 12, 1997 a try before you buy! Don’t pay too much! Venture 996-777. Pacifi Lose Corppany ¢ 1524 Pemberton 3 frank talk With Art! Arthur Griffiths talks about regrets and the future By Andrew McCredie Community Editor DRESSED in jeans and a Vancouver Grizzlies denim shirt, Arthur Griffiths is the picture of calm behind the desk in his southwest facing, fourth-floor corner office at GM Place. A wall of photos to his right bears testimo- ny to his family’s dedication to charitable caus- es and his love for hockey and basketball. A group of handicapped children smile for the camera in the Canucks’ old digs ar the Coliseum. There’s a shot of the Russian Rocket in full flight. A photo of Arthur sitting in the captain’s chair of the tearn’s jet is among the prized possessions. On the wa!) direclly behind him is one soli- tary image — that of his father Frank Sr., the family patriarch who passed away in 1994. A visitor sitting with Arthur catches a glimpse every so often of Frank’s face over Arthur's left shoulder. And although Frank Sr. now watches his beloved Canucks from the ultimate skybox, Arthur is still guided by the wisdom and values his father instilled. Ironically, it was one of his father’s greatest attributes, vision, that is the root of one of Arthur’s greatest regrets — losing, family own- ership of Northwest Entertainment, the com- pany that operates the Canucks, Grizzlies and GM Place. Unable to reach a deal with the scemingly clueless PNE management over skybox and concession revenue sharing a few years back, Arthur had no choice but to craft his own vision and turn soil in downtown Vancouver for a new stadium. Without the valuable extra stands, no NHE team can afford the top-flight players needed to compete — the Bures and MeLeans of the league. Call it pro. sports’ truest reality. But in one of life’s cruel ironies, the move that Arthur made to save his family’s ownership foretold the beginning of the end of that own- ershi N putting together the GM Place deal, it was apparent another tenant other than the Canucks was needed so that the numbers would make sense. i When GM Place opened its doors in 1994 Arthur had over-extended his family’s . Enter John McCaw. Exit the Griffiths’ majori- ty share. Today Arthur lists this as one of his two greatest regrets. The other? “The fact my father wasn't here for the opening of GM. Place,” Arthur offers. “But I can’t look back with too many regrets, I’ve got to look forward.” And what he most looks forward to is returning home cach night to West Vancouver's Caulfeild area where he and his wife of 13 years Joanne live with their four young children. A lifelong North Shore resident, Griffiths it’s hard to think of living anywhere else. “I've certainly travelled che world a lot, but every tre [come back [look around and say ‘Are vou kidding?’ ” he sis. “There’s just some- thing about West Van that just has a tremendous tecling. It's hard to rival elsewhere. “We're on a street, acul c, that has nine homes and 27 children. There’s a real sense of ryone looking out for one another.” rowing up in the tight-knit Griffiths fam- Arthur knows what looking out for one WE ATUED W knPUSOSTONE Tinrsday. Pertods of rai Higth 8 Clow 1. NEWS photo Cindy Goodmen anothers all about. Thrust into the limelight ac = STANDING tall, Arthur and Joanne Griffiths have weathered many storms as a high-profile West Vancouver couple. Arthur keeps life in perspective by retreating See Griffiths page 18 to the safe shelter of family life on a quiet Caulfeild cul-de-sac. Taxpayers, students lost in strike By lan Noble News Reporter (BCPSEA) will cost the provineially funded school district $16,500 more than one ratified by the school board and CUPE TAXPAYERS joined students as the losers in a North Vancouver public school strike that ended the same day it began. After much acrimony beoween CUPE and a provincial pov: ernment agency ostensibly in charge of keeping the purse strings tight, the two parties reached a deal that will actually be more costly to taxpayers than ong mediated more than two months ago. It’s a convoluted discussion only a dencly bean-counter could truly love. But the deal reached Friday night between CUPE and the British Columbia Public Schools Employers Association in November, said CUPE Local 389 president Mike Hocevar. The employers’ association, which must approve all deals signed by B.C. school boards, dismissed the original deal. ‘The association said the agreement crossed guidelines which cap the value of the 30-month agreement at 2.1%, The Novenvber deal represented a 2.3% raise. The November package called for a 15-ceat-an-hour hike retroactive to June 1996 for the 750 $12.54- to $25.92-per- hour emplovees. ft also snipulared a P5-cent-an-hour raise in March 198 and benetit improvements at that time. Friday's deal, reached with the help of a hastily appointed mediator, calls for an 1 }-cent-an-hour raise retroacuve to July 1, 1995, and another raise of 19 cents an hour on March 1, . Benefit improvements have been shuffled back to July feature p27 1998 and January 1999, said Hocevar. Hocevar said that including the high-priced help the employers” association had, the cost of the mediator and the Jabor relations board hearings, the total cost of the employers’ association's refusal to sign on to the original deat rises. In addi- tion, 2,000 school district employees did not earn a paycheque Friday. All of this was in order to allow the emplovers’ association to say the deal ruled out wage increases in 1996 and 1997, ne sai “We're just shaking our heads,” Hocevar said. “It's baffling. It boils down to incompetence on the part of the BCPSEA. It's as simple as that. A lot of stuff happened thac dida’t have to happen,” he said, including the str trike pane VO