WS TS ‘NEWS VIEWPOINT To B ORTH VANCOUVER District should seize the opportunity and annex the huge area of wilderness known as Electoral Area B currently being offered to it by the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The e2dditional area, bounded by Capilano River on the west and Indian Arm anG Indian River on the east, covers 96 square miles. lis northern boundsry includes much of the Greater Vancouver water supply catch- ment area, the upper portion of Lynn Headwaters Regional Park, Mount Seymours Provincial Park, provincial Crown fands and some privately held land. The annexation would more than double the preseat size of the 64-square-mile district and make it the largest municipali- ty in the Lower Mainland. But more than merely adding size to North Vaacouver District, the annexation would extend the district's current Aipine Area Official Plaa north, thereby giving the district some control over the area’s future use and securing much of it as wilderness in perpetuity for the use and enjoyment of all North Shore residents. ~ The only added responsibilities attached to the acquisition would be bearing the costs of provincia! fire-fighting services on Crown land within the annexed land and conducting search and rescue operations in the arca. A staff cost/benefit analysis has pro- jected a revenue surplus of over $260,000 for the annexation. With all that is (o be gained, the downsides of the acquisition seem almost non-existant. Collins crosses line into Dear Editor: He laments in great ‘hate mail’ ernment. length By equating homosexuality and I have never been so appalled upon reading a newspaper article as I. was after reading ‘‘Media thick with oddness’’ on Sept. 16 by Doug Collins. As a former radio journalist, I am all for the freedom of the press and the expression of one’s opinion. Unfortunately, Mr. Doug Col- lins has crossed the line into what I will term ‘thate inail.’’ The nomenciature of the article has taken gay rights and awareness back 30 years. Publisher Managing Editar . Associate Editor Comptroller ... Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Sales & Marketing Director... Linda Stewart . Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 3969 as an indepsndent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph It of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and about ‘‘pensions for pansies’’ in Ontario. As a young, heterosexual Canadian, I think Ontario should -be commended for having the guts to come forth with such ground- breaking legislation. At a time when gay bashing in East Vancouver is becoming a chronic problem, {| do not think we need this kind of message from a member of the media. The most unnerving comment in. the article suggests that we will soon have a ‘'Minister for Sodomy and AIDS” in our gov- Display Advertising 980-0511 Rea! Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Administration 985-2131 Newsroom 985-2131 Td MONEE O8 seteerT Pe AND WEST WNC OUWER Distribution Subscripzions 986-1337 the deadly AIDS virus, this ultimately demonstrates Mr. Col- lins’ Jack of knowledge on the subject. This disease is the worst ever introduced into mankind and affects everyone, not just ‘‘pan- sies.”" ('m sure {| am not the only one who is taken aback by Mr. Col- lins’ having the audacity to even joke on this subject. G, Craig Davidiuk North Vancouver 986-1337 & Printed cn 10% recycled Aewsprind 985-3227 MEMBER SR" Loony parking tax threat to + sick economy LARGELY UNNOTICED so far by recession-battered Lower Mainianders is the latest stealthy plan by their so- cialist masters in Victoria to raid their pockets. Bill 51, quietly slipped through the legislature in July, allows the Vancouver Regional Transit Commission — $28.5 million in the glue — to offload its debt on to Greater Vancouver’s retail trade. But to the extent that shoppers themselves refuse to pay, the end result can only be more jobless and further businesses go- ing belly-up. Transit czar Len Traboulay, mayor of Port Coquitlam in his spare time, can now tax every last non-residential parking space in the metropolitan area. That means every type of com- mercial operation — merchants, office tenants, restaurants, hotels, you name it — many of them now only barely keeping their heads above water. The politica!ly correct socialist theory behind this loony bill is to punish the wicked public for its insufficient use of buses and a SkyTrain that don’t come near their homes or don’t take them where they need to go at the time they have to get there. “Punish”’ is the operative word, because Traboulay’s tax won't make one jota of difference to transit usage. And those unable to escape punishment will be businesses, not Sam and Suzy Shopper. Based on official data, the an- nual tax needed from each business parking stall to mop up Transit’s $28.5 million of red ink this year could run as high as $300 to $400 -— say $2,400 extra for a corner store with six spaces. Nake that around $1.5 million for Park Royal. So what do cash-strapped businesses do? Cut staff (or its hours) still further? Or pass on the cost to their already pen- nypinching customers and risk los- ing them altogether — to com- petitors blessed with no on-site parking or big discounters able to absorb the tax? How many borderline survivors up to now will simply go under? Since Victoria has no money but ours, rescuing B.C. Transit has to mean pain for someone, but the wider it’s spread, the less it will hurt. Hence an alternative scheme now being pressed by 15 Greater Vancouver business. groups, including the North Van Chamber of Commerce. They propose a levy on the Noel HITHER AND YON area’s million insured vehicle owners, To pay off the current debt it would come to some $28.50 an- -nually, or about 55 cents a week. Over-taxed motorists don’t need even this — but in these grim times it’s at least infinitely betrer sense than adding more bankrupt- cies and U1 applicants to a very sick economy. Don’t hold your breath, howev- er, for Finance Minister Glen Clark and his colleagues — con- vinced that God endowed the NDP alone with wisdom — to grasp that crystal-clear fact. DATELINES: ‘‘What’s new and current in West Van’’ will be Mayor Mark Sager’s topic at the Tuesday, Oct. 13, breakfast meeting of West Van Chamber of- Commerce — 7:30 a.m. in the Ambleside Inn. Members of the ‘‘no-fixed-address’’ Chamber may have some questions even closer to home for His Worship ... Meanwhile, local" Yes-No glad- iators will entertain at the North Van Chamber of Commerce’s “Constitutional! Renewal"’ breakfast meeting- Wednesday, - Oct. 14, at 7:30 a.m. in Cheers Restaurant, {25 East 2nd St. Slugging it out at the podium will be Senator Ray Perrault, MPs Yion. Mary Collins and Chuck’ Cook, and Harcourt's messenger, ° MLA Esavid Schreck — call 987- 4488 pronto for any remaining tickets. Sunday ey North Shore Free Press Aig. and ¥ é distnbuted to every door on the North Shore. a -- 7 Second Ciass Mai) Registration Number 3895, ““"O*" " “eeMEnney « rmmay Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per veat. tailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and nictures which should be accornpanied by a stariped, addressed envelope. 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, SDA DIVISION North Vancouver, 6.C. V7M 2H4 Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights :eserved. MAYOR MARK SAGER... mat- ters close to home. GLEN CLARK... more jobiess, 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) bankruptcies.