6 — Friday, May 29, 1998 — North Shore News north shore news __ VIEWPOINT seven free thinkers of North Vancouver District. Council all crossed their hearts on the elec- tion podium and swore to support an inclusive public process. Neighborhood planning would be driven by the neighbors, Seymour planning to be driven by Seymour res- idents, not municipal planners. Some of them, it seems, had their fingers crossed behind their backs. Apparently, its OK to support a Waterfront Task Force in concept, but in practice deny the working group access to a large piece of the puzzle. Ditto the many citizens involved in the planning process for a new Seymour ‘area plan. There’s little point in council ‘asking for long-range planaing sugges- tions for the North Shore’s industrial waterfront and the Seymour area, then If it is rue that Canadian Occidental Petroleum’s aging chlorine plant in Dollarton could be closed in five to 15 years, why is North Vancouver District council tying itself in knots over land- use planning for a small portion of the site? Fifteen years is a short time in plan- ning years, especially district planning years. It makes more sense to look at the CanOxy site in conjunction with the abandoned Tolko site, the future use of the McKenzie Barge site and the other pieces of the district’s waterfront puzzle. But Mayor Don Bell and Coun. Trevor Carolan, Glenys Deering-Robb and Janice Harris are tired ‘of debate. They want to do something. Let’s hope that in their rush to suc- ceed they will prove infallible. The future of our waterfrontdepends on it. ONE MINUTE I'm FEEDING MY FACE AT AN ‘ALL You CAN EAT’ BUFFET IN JUNEAU AND | THE NEXT THING You KNOW, SOME ALASKAN'S GOT making those decisions itself. mailbox _ 2 | Councillor corrects leaky condo story “ov Dear Editor: ; “ST was’ shocked by the inaccuracies of the quotes attrib- | \. uted to me in the Sunday, May 3, North Shore News arti- ~ Cle titled “Leaky Condo Costs,” \.. <1 did not-say thar builders shouldn’t be blamed because * “iti clear the builders deserve a lot of blame for the crappy condo construction. - v * « tHowever, in my opinion, the leading cause of faulty and | . leaky, home “construction in. southwestern B.C. is our * national building codes followed by poor construction in. “second plac condly- Iidid not say ‘that homies should be guaran- ; Hy =, teed for a. tetime: What [-did-say is that they should be’ , buile'to last.a lifetime and that a three-year leak warranty is insufficiens. I personally. favor a 10-year leak warranty. “\2P also went. into some detail with your reporter about trategies that some builders use, such as limited shell com- 4nies, to escape lawsuits. If the Mr. Bob Elliot mentioned a the article thinks h¢. has a case against his builder then 1 ay go:for.it. because, L-agree that “the builder should be ccountable for his or her work.” ~ , * Now legislation by the provincial government to heli deal with the leaky /faulty home construction epidemic will most likely’ be put off for another year and more innocent -«, people's lives will be ruined. We needed action to help fix “3 the problems not a political gasbag like Dave Barrett to fix “the blame. ae Bob: Fearnley, Councillor “.. North Vancouver: City. “MAILBOX: POLICY LETTERS, to the editor must be legible (preferably type- written) and include your name, full address and telephone -<.number.Due. to ‘space constraints the, North Shore News ; cannot publish all letters. ; ; North Shore Mews, founded in 1969 as at ey cENSBEEERESS Mid Schade 11 Parga at iccab Fao : Gxcrce Tax Act is published each Weanesday. Friday and Sunday by Nocth Shorr Free Press ‘Oreo Barbara “ Distribution Manager : 986-1337 (124) $85-2931 (501) Creative Services Manager, eet 985-2131 (127) "61,582 (average cireskation, Wednesday, Endy & Sondgy} have their say. Well, I lie. The truth is that I (a) selfishly resent . Sharing my space and (b) feel I'm cheating my emplover when { don’t fill it with my own paid words. ‘But you may agree that this anonyn:ous reader deserves some ink. Four weeks ago } -- opined that when someone ~ threatens to jump from “Lions Gate Bridge, don’t stop traffic, don’t inconve- nience thousands for these to-jump-or-not-to-jump Hamlets. ‘The reader calls the column cruel, underlined twice. “You never know, some day it might be you or one of your fami- hes.-.:.. It could be a kind loving sensitive person up there, mine was. You have your wife to, put your arms around and your children have you to do things with. ... “Mr. Lautens to me you are a gutless bastard, no compassion, feeling or love. ... It could be a day, it could be 40 years, it " never goes away, because people like you never tet us forget. [ct really upset me, J went to bed so sad. ... I think you owe people an apology.” The letter is signed “One of the “Hamlets’.” 900 Ah yes, the bridge. It’s a goad thing Lower Mainlanders are so fond of it, because it appears that — barring The Big One, or maybe defying it — Lions Gate will be with ys for the next 30 years. One by one the proposed alternatives i Te PETER SPECK Publisher : -Com Photography Manager 906-2151 (168) The Worth-Shore News Is published by:North Shore Free Pr 925-2131 (133) Stephesean Classified Manager ‘936-6222 (202) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Ltd, All sights reserved. self-destructed: , @ The Hans Bentzen solution: Build a tunnel across the harbor, create a 150-acre island that it would pass through, and sell the real estate. So, .. Imaginative, for sure. And Benrzen was no dabbler: He'd built the Deas Island (George Massey’) Tunnel. But in hindsight his vision was dead from the outset. Apart from the engineering, naviga- tional, environmental and other consequences, just imagine his island’s ctfect on other Vancouver developers, especially giants like Marathon and Concord Pacific. @ A cunnel, any tunnel: Pretend you're a consultant called in from Dubuque for a fresh outside opinion. You are driven over the bridge to familiarize yourself with the - problem. It is a glorious day. And you look around and you gasp: “You folks have a view like this — you have tourists coming from all over the world — and you want to staff them in a hole in the ground under water? You must be smoking the strong stuff” . But there are other big objections: Huge power-sucking fans would be neces- sary to move fresh air into and exhaust fumes out of the tunnel, and powerful lights co iilurinate it, including six or seven hours a day when traffic is minimal.. And imagine being in a tunnel when The Big One strikes. That’s Nightmare Alley. @ Anything — a second, parallel bridge, or a tunnel from North Vancouver’s Welch Street to Vancouver's Main Street or * haven’t got. TELL ME AbouT IT! thing they were). . es a B An over-and-under restructuring of. Lions Gate, one deck for northbound and_ one deck for southbound traffic. I though thar made sense, but the bridge’s chi ‘ished woven-by-spiders appeararice wo have been sadly compromis @ Tolls. No: Not ona bridge; no! tunnel, never no ‘never on anything. _ So, after-five years of intense. study, | provincial governnient finally made-a deci sion: an enhanced status quo. Renovate, don’t innovate. If ir-ain’t broke, don’t: fix it — much. And don’t'spend money you That seems to have won overwhe support. It gets mine. Michael Rushton, speaking Mo day ‘te West Vancouver council on behalf of some * Glencagles area residents, got it right: The: proposed community centre sharing the - Gleneagles Golf Course site is wrong. » Tune in next week for-yer another. : powerful dissenting view. |<. - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, ° full address & telephone number. 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