NM. Van City endorses Diamond NEWS photo Terry Peters I¥’S OPEN! His Honor Brew Meredith, mayor of Whistler, (left) hefped celebrate the grand opening of the Chateau Whistler Resort on Friday, and is shown here congratulating the resort’s general manager, David Roberts. Canadian Pacific’s Chateau Whistler Kesort is the largest chateau-style hotel built in Canada since the turn of the cen- tury. interchange NORTH VANCOUVER Ci.y Council passed a motion Monday night endorsing the Diamond design for the Westview Drive and Upper Levels Highway interchange. Council also recognized the preference of Westview residents for the Diamond over the Loop in- terchange design. The move by council followed a presentation by Homeowners Against the Loop Overpass (HALO) spokesman Rosemary Roberts that showed Westview area residents and _ businesses strongly in favor of the Diamond design. Roberts said after the meeting she was extremely happy with the decision by North Vancouver City Council. “This is the first time in four years that the city has come out in black and white and stated a pref- erence for the Diamond,"’ she said. “We are relieved and happy. It’s the best we could have hoped for.”’ HALO has opposed the Loop option for the Westview highway interchange since it was first pro- posed in 1985, arguing that the Loop would have a far greater negative impact on area environ- ment and overall quality of life than the Diamond. Roberts said HALO recently canvassed approximately 300 By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter Westview area homes with its peti- tion opposing the Loop design. A total of 77 per cent of residents in those homes signed the petition. In addition, 80 per cent of Westview shoppingcentre businesses signed a similar anti- Loop pstition prepared by HALO. In aa Oct. 15 News story chronicling resident opposition to the Loop interchange design, Highways Ministry spokesman Dave Cunliffe said a decision as to which of the wo designs will be chosen for the $20 million overpass will only be made following an updated evaluation of the two designs. The Highways Ministry has been leaning toward the Loop design in part because an original evaluation conducted in 1984 rated it slightly better than the Diamond in traf- fic-handling ability. Cunliffe also said the Loos construction could be staged without disrupting traffic flows. Ferry service planned From page 1 Ltd. in conjunction with the Rogers family, which owns the property and has resided on the island since 1899. The estimated population of the resort once it is fully built would be around 600. Bowen Island, whose population has doubled in the past 10 years, currently has approximately 1,700 residents. A private passenger ferry service is also being developed to provide transportation to the resort. It would run from the Vancouver SeaBus station to the resort’s pro- posed marina in Seymour Bay. Hank Jasper, vice-president of development for the Praxis Group, said his company and the Rogers family are dedicated to preserving the rural character of the area through a comprehensive devel- opment that will ensure limited overall density and incorporate management plans for all social, recreational and environmental aspects of the project. “We hope that it will set the standard for development on all the Gulf Islands,’’ he said. ‘‘We think the magic of the island can be presented to the world in a nice setting on Bowen Island. It will be a real boost for tourism.” The resort, he added, would likely take up to 12 years to be ful- ly occupied, ‘‘so there would not be a big influx of population all at once.”” 3 - Sunday, November 19, (989 - North Shore News German-Canadians glad to say Auf Wiedersehen to the WHEN THE Berlin Wall came tumbling down unex- pectedly Nov. 9, the reper- cussion was felt around the world. While the dust has yet to settle in both East and West Germany, on_ the North Shore, German- Canadian reaction to the event has been mixed. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter North Vancouver City resident Renate Tonn, 54, was born ia Berlin and still has relatives living in West Berlin and distant relatives in East Berlin. She was among a wave of young West Germans who emigrated to Canada in the 1950s. Tonn visited West Berlin two years ago and decided then that she had made the right decision to Jeave the city. Tonn called her aunt Dora Trenkel, who lives in West Berlin, Thursday. ‘She said she believed that the wall was going to come down in her lifetime but not so quickly the way it went. She’s happy that the wall is down, but it’s still as difficult as ever for her to cross over into East Berlin to visit. But her relatives have already visited and have stayed overnight with her. She says they are still celebrating — it’s like carnival.” But Tonn, who lived through the Berlin blockade just after the war when the allies were fighting over how to carve up the city, can’t br- ing herself to believe the changes in East Germany are real. “If you ask me, I don’t think that this is permanent. It sounds unbelievable. It’s some kind of gimmick and they’re going to change iheir minds. I don’t trust the Russians, because when we had the blockade, we got food in by train. The Russians said they wouldn’t stop the trains, but they stopped everything. They say one thing and do exactly the op- posite,’ she said. *‘And what upsets me is that everybody who comes over gets i NORTH Vancouver resident Hank Andresen ...big business for Canada. 100 DM from the West German government because their money isn’t worth anything. And there were thousands of people coming over this last week. The taxpayers over there resent that of course,”’ Tonn said. North Vancouver businessman Hank Andresen, SI, sees the move towards a freer society in East Germany as a positive and neces- sary political development. “The wall coming down means big business for European coun- tries and Canada. When you travel through East German villages by car to get to Berlin, it’s as if they’re 50 years behind. But the people there are skilled and have something to contribute,” An- dresen said. Andresen plays down the fear raised .by some that a reunified Germany might lead to a repeat of the historical conditions that resulted in the outbreak of two world wars. ‘The re-education program of the Americans after the war has worked. The Germans are deeply- rooted in democracy. I am one of these guys. It’s a completely dif- ferent generation. The Nazi gangsters are gone,’’ he said. Andresen, born in the town of " Leck near the border of Denmark, said the new generation of Euro- peans is closely knit economically, Golfers optimistic about A NEW North Shore public golf course could be ready for play as early as the spring of 1991, according to Don Davis, chairman of the North Shore Public Golf Course Society (NSPGCS). The group would like to see North Vancouver Disirict Council designate a goif course in the new Northlands neighborhoods as a 1991 district centennial project. District council recently moved a step closer to the golf course pro- posal by requesting staff to prepare a revised Northlands plan. The plan would include a golf course and residential housing densities that would minimize the financial impact of building a golf course rather than more housing. The golf course society has planned for an 18-hole, par 72 course which would include five Gary Bannerman Business Classified Ads. . Comics...........-... ween BB .34 Editorial Page.......... & Fashion .. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter small lakes, a ciubhouse and community centre, a golf driving range, putting green and public trails around the perimeter of the course. But Simes Glassford, president of the Boundary Ratepayers Association, said his group has reservations about the project. Glassford said an NSPGCS pres- entation made before council Oct. 23 raised more questions than it answered. Glassford said his group has Horoscopes ............ 94 Bob Hunter............ 4 Lifestyles . Mailbox... berlin Wali LED FR RU onan eagle Met . t va NORTH Vancouver resident Renate Tonn ...can’t believe changes are real. politically and sccially. ‘‘In my Pparent’s generation, their view went as far as their fence went. Now people travel and you just don’t fight your neighbors and friends. The day must come when we have to trust each other. Otherwise, how can you develop? Nobody stops the bus anymore,”’ he said. West Vancouver resident Eckehart Priebe, 73, didn’t believe he would see the wall fall in his lifetime: ‘‘A few weeks earlier, I said we’d have to live with the wall for the rest of my life.”’ Up until last year, the Berlin- born Priebe worked for six years as editor-in-chief of the national German-language Kanada Kurier newspaper. ‘‘Everybody here in the German-Canadian community is as happy as the people you see on TV celebrating in Germany. It’s like a prison door has opened. But the Germans in Canada would like to see the door for immigra- tion to Canada open wider for these people (East Germans),’’ Priebe said. ‘(Employment and Immigration Minister) Barbara McDougall says they are not ref- ugees because they can automatically become citizens of West Germany. German Cana- dians would like to see an excep- tion to allow these young and skilled people to come over here.’’ new course “serious’’ concerns about the pro- posed financing of the project. “As we understand it, it’s a com- plicated banking scheme — rather like a leveraged buy-out. The_ap- proximate price of .a $2,000 membership fee to belong to this golf course was mentioned at the meeting. The monies (we under- stand this amounts to some $500,000, from utilizing the desig- nation ‘‘centennial’’),should be us- ed for facilities built by the public for the public and favor no self- interest group.”” But said Anne Macdonald, NSPGCS co-chairman: ‘‘It will be one of the North Shore’s finest, most attractive and widely used recreational facilities. it’s a public course available to golfers of all ages.’’ Sunday, rain. Monday, clouds and showers. Tuesday, more rain. Highs near 11°C.