6 - Wednesday, July 17, 1991 ~ North Shore News Te io PUT TO G00D U5¢ iN OTTAWA... Ww SS INSIGHTS Willis CLLR % yi eee NEWS VIEWPOINT Public property EST VANCOUVER District Council should take quick action to reclaim municipa) waterfront fand appropriated recently by a resident in West Vancouver’s Stearman beach area. The homeowner's lawyer appeared be- fore council recently to argue her client's case, warning the municipality that it could be facing legal action if a permit previous- ly allocating the 800 square feet of land to the homeowner by municipal staff was revoked by council. But the issue is well worth any legal! bat- tle because it represents far more than just the case in question; it represents the whole issue of private properties en- croaching piecemeal upon public lands throughout the municipality. To let it go would be to set a dangerous precedent in West Vancouver. Council should also clarify the policy that allows municipal staff to permit such encroachments without public approval. The Stearman beach situation is perhaps the mosi extreme example to come to light — allowing a homeowner to expand his property by 800 square fect in an area where public waterfront property is at a premium and against council policy that is aimed at preserving dwindling waterfront lands fer the public. The homeowner’s lawyer argued that the acquisition of her client was merely ‘‘a lit- tle notch" of property. But it is another ‘little notch’’ taken from the public for the use of a private citizen. And it is a litte notch with a potentially huge public price tag. LETTER OF THE DAY Ambleside pool needed for kids Dear Editor: I am always astounded at the sight of a municipal worker mow- ing the lawn on the old Ambleside Park outdoor pool. This was a pool that once did a_ thriving business. | often swam there. it was a safe and pleasant alternative from a busy and dirty Ambleside beach and currents. I frankly find it incredible that the old pool still exists except it is full of grass that must be cut. Are they maintaining this archeological piece for posterity or possible future rehabilitiation or is it some form of new abstract artwork? I Publisher . . Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Comptroller ... Peter Speck . Timothy Renshaw Noe! Wright Linda Stewart Doug Foot suspect it is just feeble planning and stupidity. My understanding, unless someone out there wants to cor- rect me, is that the boiless finally gave up the ghost on the old Ambleside pool and they were “too expensive”’ to repair. The alternative was the beach which once had a slide and then a raft. The raft finally went into disrepair but only after it was left unrepaired with a warning sign nailed to it. Instead of leaving the Ambleside pool as it is, full of grass to be cut, I suggest they ei- Display Advertising 986-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Newsroom 985-2131 North Shore News, founced in 1969 as an independent subutban newspaper and qualifred under Schedule 111, Paragraph II of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Fnday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every coor on the North Shore. SUNDAY + WEOWEBOAY - FmDAY Second Class Mat Registration Number 3885. Subsenptions North and year. fest Vancouver, $25 per Mailing tates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for uncedicited maternal including 1139 Lonsdale Avenue. North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. Distribution Subscriptions Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration ther revitalize it or else dismantle the remainder of it and extend the existing kiddies park portion from the west of the concession stand to where the old pool still sits, east of the dressing rooms and caretakers’ quarters. To leave it as is, with grass to be cut, is an embarrassing and sil- ly display of typical municipal bungling. As it stands it is a useless, unused area taking up valuable space that could be used for park extension, kiddies’ play area, or even parking space. T.E, Peck Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 985-2131 North Shore SDA DIVISION 61,582 tavetage circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Suite nonsense not shared by the community ALD. JOAN GADSBY doesn't want poor people who can’t afford $600-plus rents or $1,000 mortgages messing up nice North Van District. She’s calling anew for a “crackdown’’ on secondary (aka illegal) suites in the single family homes infested by these social termites. ‘The reality,’’ says Joan, ‘‘is that people are just not able to live here.”” I thought we'd heard the last of this nonsense after former mayor Marilyn Baker's failed blitz a couple of years ago against suite owners and the wretches they shelter to help with the mortgage. Conservative estimates put the number of such ‘‘criminals’’ at 10% or more of all District homeowners. That alone is a measure of the affordable housing problems that District sidestepped again a couple of weeks ago, when Mayor Murray Dykeman sided with the ‘‘do-nothing’’ half of his council — Aldermen Buchols, Cuthbert and Gadsby. So no action will now be taken on an overall housing strategy recommended by a community task force and council's socia! planning staff headed by Rupert Downing, who walked out of the chamber in disgust after the nega- tive vote. Defending her Marie Antoinette stand, Gadsby sounded off last week about ‘absentee landlords,”” tenants ‘throwing beer bottles over fences’’ and ‘dishonest suite owners."’ One wonders if she’d ever read what the 1989 report of the Social Planning & Research Council (SPARC) — commission- ed by the District itself —- had to say on the subject. it found only 12% of suite owners were absentee landlords. Two out of three owners DEPENDED on the rent money and without it one-third would have had to move. Their tenants, on average, had lived on the North Shore for 12 years and in their present suite for over two. Most were single or sharing adults and only 29% had children. SPARC also found overwhelm- ing public acceptance of the NEED for suites in today’s hous- ing crisis. Properly controlled, of course, which hardly seems a problem for a positive-thinking council. The odd rowdies — whether tenants or homeowners — who throw bottles over fences are a matter for the courts, not for housing policy. Ag a community leader, Joan, isn’t it cime to catch up with the common sense and compassion Noel HITHER AND YON expressed by a majority of rea- sonable North Van District citi- zens? WRAP-UP: Promoted recently to Inspectors filling wo top West Van Police Dept. jobs were Frank Aikenhead and Grant Churchill, 26-year and 20-year WVPD veterans respectively. Insp. Aikenhead in charge of ad- ministration and Insp. Churchill heading operations both started their careers in Edmonton ... New president of the North Shore In- termediate Care Society which operates Cedarview Lodge in Lynn Valley is Doty Cartwright, grande dame of West Van Legion Branch 60, supported by vecpee Bruce Wallace and treasurer David Stone ... Apologies to Capilano Sportsmens Club presi- dent Alan Howlett for ous error in ascribing his title to club member Fred Mark in Friday’s photo showing Fred receiving a cheque from MLA John Reynolds ... A 93-candle salute today, July 17, to legendary Oscar-winning cinematographer and longtime West Van resident Osmond Bos- radaile ... And many happy returns of tomorrow, July 18, to West Van’s Margaret Humphreys. WRIGHT OR WRONG: It takes a mighty conscientious man to tell the difference between being tired and lazy. Photo bmitted NEW TOP COPS... Insp. Frank Aikenhead (left) and Insp. Grant Churchill (right) with (centre) WV Chief Const. Hai Jenkins and Mayor Mark Sager.