6 — Friday, March 5, 1999 ~ North Shore News Shore RIVATE and public rights must be weighed carefully in the bat- tle brewing between owners of waterfront Iand in the Deep Cove- Dollarton area and proponents of an initiative to open the shoreline to the community. North Vancouver District is devel- oping long-term plans to increase public access to the waterfront between Maplewood and Deep Cove. At the moment a municipal task force is considering opinions from the community. Council is expected to receive recommendations from the task force as early as Aprii. Among the many draft plan zecom- mendations: a public trail system and the purchase of numerous waterfron* homes as they come up for sale to make it all possible. north shore news VIEWPOINT lines motherhood issue. Everybody wins, right? Wrong. Some of the cwners of homes and properties identified by the task force for potential purchase in the future are alarmed by what this process is doing to the values of their invest- ments. The fear is that their land val- ues have been eroded by the very act of public pronouncement of a desire to acquire the land. One need only look westward to the Ambleside experience where a similar long-term municipal scheme to open up the foreshore to the pub- lic has resulted in the degradation of market values of the private homes remaining. The Panorama Drive Ratepayers Association is calling the scenario de facto expropriation. The hyperbole is warranted. Public access to the shoreline is a miaibox Accountability to the people needed Dear Editor: B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Stewart recently ruled that 76 of 78 charges against a Campbell River doctor be stayed because of comments made by the prosecutor. The comments made were done so in front of the Judge alone with no jury. Judges are supposed to remain impartial and are required to make difficult decisions all the time. Stewart refused to make a decision on releasing medical records and instcad dropped 76 of 78 charges. In defence of his decision Stewart stated the criminal justice system is more important than any case. T wonder how he decided that 64 victims equals one case? I wonder how much contidence he has inspired in victims to come forward and report incidents of sexual misconduct by their doctor. The damage being done to our judicial sys- tem by a few people continues tu crode the public’s support. We constantly hear of judges that make decisions for the safety of our judicial system, he case allowing a pedophile to possess child pornogra- phy outraged people throughout Canada so much so that Poth the province and che federal government have become involved. . It is time to make some fundamental changes in our judi- cial system. Accountability to the people not to a system plagued with problems is long overduc. Mast people in the system will not speak ouz agaiust it. The politicians whom we elect seem unwilling or unable to effect much change. Perhaps because most politicians are lawyers first they tind it difficult to take on the problems in our judicial sys- tem. John Tuckey CAVEAT B.C. West Vancouver Worth Shore Kewe. tounded in 1969 as an Independent subuitin newspaper and Quakfied under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excuse Tae Act, 9s puttened each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and destrited to every door on the North Shore Canada Post Canadian Publications Mad ‘Sales Product Agreement No 0087233 Masteng rates avadabie on request Sorbara Distribution Manager 986-1337 (126) Jonathsa Bel! Creative Services Manager 985-2131 (127) G61 S82 (avernge catcutation, Wednesday, Ftusay & Sunday} Address WV arts centre issues now A big if: If West Vancouver councillors seriously think the proposed arts centre is a live issue, when it comes before them again on Monday night I have complete faith they will have ... One: Checked with the North Vancouver Arts Commission (NVAC) about whether the West Vancouver Arts Centre Trust (WVACT) has been discussing how the proposed West Van cenire fits in with or complements existing arts facilities on the North Shore. Of course, you WVACT supporters on council will have a pretty good grasp of this relationship and be able to explain it. Two: — and this is so elementary I fear it might insult council’s intelligence — will naturally have formed a clear understanding of precisely what the aris centre would be. Perhaps this isn’t so insulting after all, One very well-informed participan: in the process, after listening to WVACT Icader Maggie Pappas, went away wondering if the arts centre’s prima- ry function was as a school, a kind of arts academy, Interesting, My impression too, In my interview with her, Ms. Pappas stressed the centre’s technological, new-millenni- um potential. Especially she was enthusi- astic about arts audio-video conferencing. She used the example of Itzhak Perlman, from wherever he was in the world, listen- ing to and watching on a sercen a student at the West Van arts centre. Think of TER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (191) 985-2131 (177) Valeria Steghextoa Classified Manager 986-6222 (202) Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) cae Enlite contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. +s Pabltsher Peter Speck Perlman being able to say: “Good, now, let’s stop there and go back to the last bar .-” or Whatever. _ Imagine, a world-class musician like Perlman giving individual instruction from miles away to a student here! Fine. But surely world- class musicians would charge world-class prices for such teaching. The same for baller, piano, painting, sculpt- ing, Opera, theatre or whatever. Ir doesn’t sound to me as if little Johnnie, saw- ing averagely on a vio- lin, would be a candi- daie for such instruction — unless little Johnnie’s West Van parents had more cash than common sense. Which brings me to ... Three: Doubtless councillors who sup- port the art centre will have cheeked the views of present operators of commercial arts enterprises, like Anna Wyman. Ms, Wyman, for instance, has run a nationally known, artistically acclaimed dance school and dance troupe based in West Vancouver for 30 years. That’s 30 years of paying our town’s taxes and teaching hundreds of dancers. How would teachers like Ms. Wyman and the many private piano and other musie and other teachers feel if they were competing with classes in an arts centre sitting on millions of dollars worth of public Jand, and built with $15 million in private donations? As it is, West Van’s private art gallery owners aren't happy competing for sales cf paintings in the municipally owned Ferry Building, the Silk Purse and the public library. Too bad if WVACT’s efforts drifted away like earlier arts castles in the air, such as those around the old Odeon Theatre and post office sites. But in my view there are-big problems thar haven't been resolved. 009 Because Mayor Patricia Boname has long had a strong following in the arts- loving community, I presumed she would be among supporters of WVACT’s pro- posal. Not necessarily. She Gads herself “irus- trated by how things have gone.” Better solution: Go “back to square one”? — with a council-driven, independent study. More gung-ho is Coun. Ron Wood. If WVACT ean raise the money and get the 13th Street site, Mr. Wood sees it — like Ms. Pappas — as a “tremendous catalyst and shor in the army” for Ambleside busi- nesses, That view, it says here, misuses art as a development siraregy. 000 Gert those tickets for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum! Mitchell Mackay will be terrific! 009 Dog-walkers in the Cypress Park (municipal) area, beware! A month ago a rotuweiler suddenly turned vicious and took a chunk out of the side of a peacctul dog. The aggressive dog's owner didn’r — or pretended not to — see the attack, 1m told the owner belongs to the consular corps of a certain Spanish-speak- ing country — and, having diplomatic immunity, can’t be charged. Scandalous. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, tuil address & teleptione number, VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Compuatie 905-2131 (133) Promotions Manager * Acting Display Manager ‘General Office Manages 985-2131 (105) Internot- http://www. nsnews.com » from 1139 Lonsdale Avenaze North Vancouver, B.C., V7M 2H4 985-2731 (218) 962-0511 (307) Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax Michael Becker - News Editor 965-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie - Sparts/Community Editor 985-2131 (147) :