A7 - Wednesday, March 23, 1983 - North Shore News

More mini-pumper pros, cons

OPEN LETTER TO.
MS. ANNE TAYLOR

I havetoreplytoyour letter
of March 8, 1983.

Your statement that “The
majority of the district have
signed a petition letting our
mayor know ... that we are
prepared to pay a few dollars
a year more...” is incorrect.
The petition, addressed to
mayor and council was to
reverse their decision and
indicated that “... more
effective cost saving
measures can be taken’. |
have enclosed herewith my
Statement in this regard.
Furthermore, I would
question what constitutes
your definition of
“majority”. Are you
speaking of a majority of
voters? The petition does
not, (nor does it purport to),
represent only that segment.
Are you speaking of a
majority of residents? 17,000
of 65,000 is not a majority.

I do not for one moment
demean the best of in-
tentions of the many people
who signed the petition
and that it is an impressive
number by any criteria. I can
assure you that every
member of council has had
to do a great deal of soul
searching to reaffirm that
the decision was, in their
opimion, in the best interests
of the whole of our
municipality despite the
pressures of a fnghtening
Opposition campaign based
on the slogan “Help us Save
Your Life”. | am aware that
some 10,000 signatures were

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collected in the first week of
petitioning when the only
information circulated was a
full page newspaper ad-
vetisement and a .direct
mailing of emotional
material by the firefighters’
union and personally feel
that it would be a very sad
state of affairs if our
municipality was run on the
basis of fear and unilateral

pressure based on im-
complete and misleading
information.

I can assure you, Ms.
Taylor, that I have not
forgotten who I[ and the six
elected aldermen represent
... that is all of the citizens of
our municipality. Each of us
has only one vote. The
decision to discontinue the
mini-pumper program was
based on research and
reason and made by six of
the seven members of
council - a strong majority of
your elected officials. I can
defend it as being an in-
formed and_ responsible
action.

Manilyn Baker, Mayor
N.Van. Distnct

Dear Editor:

Are we really to believe
council has made a
“reasonable and intelligent”
decision in regard to the
mini-pumper, under the
guise of saving tax dollars?
The Fire, Dept. union in
association with the fire
chief was willing to make
cuts within its own budget to
make up the figure of

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300,000 dollars to which
council so obstinately
adhered; in effect, sub-

sidizing the cost of truck and
men. Forgive my naivete,
but how would this inter-

departmental saving in-
crease taxes?
Council's decision can

only be disregard for
protection, as well as a slap
in the face to the majority of
district voters. Again, | am
naive. I assumed a
democratic politician was
the servant of society:
emissary of popular opinion.
This is an issue the voters
of the District will hopefully
carry with them into the next
election
A.G. Burgess
North Vancouver

Who

What ?

Who and What is in Noel
Wright’s Sunday Brunch
this week? Turn to page
6 - SECTION A and see if
NEWS Editor-in-Chief
Noel Wright is writing
about you this Sunday.

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Dear Editor:

There are usually two
sides to any argument, even
an emotional one, of which
the mini-pumper issue is a
case in point. I was therefore
hesitant to support the fire-
fighters in their petitions and
advertisements until I heard
the other side. I’m glad I did.
After reading Mayor Baker's
response to criticism in a
recent Sunday News, | am
satisfied that the District
council’s decision was a
reasonable one.

Tom Walker
North Vancouver

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