INSIGHTS [ ANIMALS oF BL? The Teast: -hoa 5 (Fri Lbaidas :) \ the Yabitat: Burouseep ints taxpayers pores Behavior: Wil ot a there beast € it sees the sf mio of a Sky Tain t NEWS VIEWPOINT Open spaces; open minds sensitive mountainside development in West Vancouver. It comes in the form of the Upper Lands Open Space Report, which was presented May 11 to West Vancouver District Coun- cil. Prepared by the municipality's parks and recreation department and the upper slopes planning committee as a workbook for future area development, the report outlines an enlightened philosophy and a reasoned approach to developing the con- siderable bank of West Vancouver land above the Upper Levels Highway and below the 1,200-foot elevation level. The report lists five major priorities that would guide any development on the sen- sitive and difficult mountainside terrain. Creeks, their care and conservation, are T HERE iS hope for sensible and at the top of that list. Other open space priorities include greenbelts and parks, pedestrian linkages and unique topographical and historical features. The report wisely considers creeks to be natural neighborhood, or precinct, dividers. They would determine how de- velopments fit into the surrounding en- vironment; they would be integral to any development, net obstacles to be rerouted, dammed up, covered over or diverted within culverts. The Open Space Report has obvicusly been authored by those with open minds and far-sighted visions. West Vancouver residents can only hope that it will provide the framework upen which future moun- tainside development will proceed. LETTER OF THE DAY No burning! WV is not ‘distinct’ Dear Editor: A December 1991 West Van- couver municipal survey indicated that 58% of West Vancouver res- idents favor a ban on all outdoor burning of garden refuse, 45% of them ‘‘strongly.”’ The GVRD recommends that municipalities eliminate outdoor Our North Shore neighbors, North Vancouver District and Ci- ty, have banned burning, as have Vancouver, Burnaby, and several other municipalities. A major North Shore municipal com- posting program is being estab- lished to recycle garden material. Despite all this, a number of West Vancouver residents, believ- distinct society, are pressing West Vancouver council to allow a con- tinuation of outdoor burning. We urge all West Vancouver residents who support a ban on outdoor burning to write to coun- cil immediately. David C. Davies Katharine Steig burning by the end of 1992. ing that West Vancouver is a West Vancouver 9 Punied on 10% recycted newsprint Nortn Shore managed VAN rors? Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Newsroom 985-2131 Adminisiration 985-2131 See Fe SRY aim SDA DIVISION Peter Speck . .Timothy Renshaw Noet Wright Publisher Managing Editor . Associate Editor . Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart Comptroller . .- .. Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1960 as an Set ODE Oss HOSTS AnaD WEST VOASCOATYER independent suburban newspaper and qualifies barth chara. under Schedule 111, Paragraph Hl of the Excise north shore Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and . Sunday PY North Shore Free Press Lig. nant . f istributed to ever; t on the Nort re ver ee ‘ Second Class Mail Registration Number S885. ¥ + MIORESDAY iM Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25per = + 439 Lonsdale Avenue, year. Mailing sates available on request. North Vancouver, 8.C V7M 2H4 S @ but we cannot accept ubmissions are welcome bu ¢ r 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday. Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Tesponsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelape. Merchandising ‘health gets to be complicated IF B.C. DOCTORS can’t get a fair shake from Victoria on fees, says B.C. Medical Association president Dr. Gur Singh, they’ll reluctantly opt out of medicare ‘‘and go back to being a business.”’ That means you'd have to bring your VISA card, cheque book or some large-denomination bills whenever you visited doc. You'd claim a government refund, of course, but meanwhile doc would have to be paid up front before he even asked you what the trouble was, Cash-and-carry medicare raises interesting questions, one being how B.C. doctors — as free en- trepreneurs like their U.S. counterparts — would retain, let alone increase, their present in- comes. The use of doctors’ offices as a kind of community drop-in by perfectly healthy patients would pretty clearly decline, once it was “‘cash-or-charge”’ at the entrance wicket. Ditto, routine check-ups. Even some patients with genu- ine minor complaints might Prefer to explore the non-prescription shelves at the focal drug store be- fore wrestling with form-filling and waiting weeks for Victoria’s refund. Moreover, certain medical authorities estimate as many as 30% of all doctors’ procedures result in no patient benefits. With a lower traffic volume these money-makers would also drop off. At curreat fee levels, therefore, rhe prospect for privatized medics is LESS income, not more. The solution for that appears to be simple — just raise the fees. But as long as medicare continues, this may not be as simple as in the free-wheeling U.S. Would health minister Elizabeth Cull risk future NDP votes by DR. GUR Singh... “back to be- ing a business."’ MAYOR JACK LOUCKS... Saturday birthday boy. Noel Wright : HITHER AND YON transferring to patients her current $1.27 billion ‘‘cap” on total doc- tor billings? If you had no claims, would your premiums be bumped sky-high, nevertheless. in order to pay for those with too many? Would the BCMA require ali doctors to charge the same fees for the same services, thus creating a commercial monopoly? In that case wouldn't Victoria be forced to legislate the medical profession into a government- regulated utility like Hydro and B.C. Transit? Alternatively, would individual doctors be free to boost sales in the classic free enterprise style by undercutting their competitors? Then, the final gut question for health merchandisers: what does a physician with a conscience do about medicare patients urgently in necd of help who have no VISA, bank balance or ready cash? Which would win — prof- it-oriented commercial medicine or Canadian values? And if we insist on the latter, would we end up importing planeloads of Russian medics because ours were ali fleeing to the States? Just asking, doc. Sorry to make life sound so complicated. een SIGN-OFF: Kiwanians of any age never seem to lose their fund- raising touch. To date this year the 40 senior citizen members of North Van's Evergreen Kiwanis Club have donated nearly $5,000 to good causes, including $900 to send five handicapped kids to camp, $860 to Meals on Wheels and $1,050 to the Home Support * Society — plus their recent $2,000 gift to the Guide Dog Association for the blind ... Tribute dinner honoring former West Van MLA and environment minister John Reynolds is set for Thursday, May 28, at Gleneagles Golf Club — call Shirley Anderson, 926-2951, for details and tickets ... And tomorrow Saturday, May 23, wish a very happy birthday to City Mayor Jack Loucks who’s not- ching up his 74th. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Three ways to get something done: Do it yourself. Hire someone to do it. Forbid your kids to do it.