8 — Wednesday, February 13, 1991 - North Shore News es IE HAD i, WITH YOU CANADA! YOUVE PUSHED MME AROUND AND STOMPED ON MY FEELINGS FOR THE UST TRE! = YOU NEVER APPRECIATED me. 1 WALKING OUT THAT 0008 AND DONT TRY 10 STOP ME! LL INSIGHTS Kiwanians win lengthy Gordon Avenue battle AS A sod-turning, it feft no room for doubt. For hours the huge Cat had been busily devastating an acre of the West Van Kiwanis Park at Gordon and 22nd. NE NE DENS Sanat TO You Heritage lost ERITAGE IS easy to lose. but impossible to replace. The fate of the once grand Nye House in North Vancouver District is a good example of how easily lost is our past and how much poorer the community will be without that past. Built in 1912, the Nye House stood as a monument to some of the North Shore’s more interesting architectural heritage until a fire in August 1990 destroyed its roof and upper floor. The ravages of nature have since eroded the home’s interior to the point where repair and renovation of the structure is becoming increasingly doubtful. As a result, the owner of the property has applied for a demolition permit. On the eve of heritage week, in the district’s centennial year, the municipality is about to lose another important link with its past. It would be easiest to let the wrecker’s ball swing and be done with the Nye House. Some condominiums — perhaps the Nye Mews — would make better, at least more lucrative, use of the property. But there is only one Nye House in the district and there will never be another one. It is a piece of North Vancouver Disirict history that cannot be replaced. If the residents of any community are to look te the future with optimism, they must be able to look to the past with some pride. LETTER OF THE DAY The global village starts here Open fetter to Aldermen Buchois, Cuthbert and Turner, District of North Vancouver: 1 am disappointed at your re- fusa! 10 support Alderman Harris’ mot'vn which would have con- veyed to the federal government the horror that many of us feel now that Canada is at war in the Middle East. As one of the two women who organized the referendum on nu- clear disarmament some years back, I can assure you that the jurisdictional argument has as lit- tle meaning now as it did then. Publisher . Managing Editor Associate Editor Advertising Director Comptrolier . Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Linda Stewart Doug Foot The funding for that referen- dum to the tune of $3,500 was donated by the people of this municipality. To them a subject of such importance was municipal and they were glad not only to vote 87 per cent in favor, but also to pay for this exercise in democracy at the grass-roots fevel. New Zealand has been able to keep nuclear-armed ships out of its harbors because every municipality in that country voted to be nuclear-free, thus giving its federal government no choice but to accept that declaration for the country as a whole — municipal! Display Advertising Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax Newsroom 985-2131 980-0511 Distribution Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions Administration politics in action. Saddam Hussein is not restric- ting his missile attacks to govern- ment buildings; he is using his weapons to maim and kill ordi- nary people who live in municipalities just like the District of North Vancouver. You are my closest elected rep- resentatives and I want you to show leadership at this time when our senior levels of government are completely out of touch and out of control. Maureen Simmonds North Vancouver 986-1337 98€-1337 985-3227 985-2131 Norin Snore managed North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and cuakhed unger Schedule 171. Paragrapn Ut of the Exerse Tas Act, 1s published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday py North Snore Free Press Ltd ano cisirDuted to every door on the Narn Snore Secona Class Mail Reastraton Number 3885 Sepscriptions North and West Vancouver. $25 per Maihng tates avatlabie on request S$ are welcome bul we cannot accept of unsohcrted maternal including 41d OCiures which sneuid oe panied ty a Starened, addressed envsione V7M 2H ra, ONCE O/ MOMTH ane) WEST WANE VE Entre contents - MEMBER SuNDaY + WEDNESDAY + FmDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, BC SOA DIVISION 61,582 taverage crcuiation Wednesda. Friday 3 Senaay) 1991 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All nghis reserved It continued uninterrupted while some 100 guests gathered for the Saturday afternoon cere- mony — greeted by a scene resembling a First World War no-man’s land — with 30-ft. bomb craters and mountains of earth you could ski down. After a frustrating two-year battle with city hall, ‘‘Kiwanis Court’? — anew $4 million, 85- unit affordable housing compiex for seniors — was finally under way, for completion by this fall. Inside the Kiwanis Hall the guests were treated to a brief run- down on the project by the Kiwanis Housing Society’s finance chairman John Millard, prayers o dedication by Rev. Gordon East of West Van United Church and happy words from their new Mayor Mark Sager. They then trooped outside to a tiny patch of turf so far spared by the Cat to watch His Worship, MLA John Reynolds, Kiwanis president Derrick Humphreys and Housing Society president Arthur Holmes wield the ceremonial spade. There had often been cause to wonder if that day would ever dawn. The 44-year-old club has been in the business of providing fow- cost homes for seniors since the mid-1950s, when.it acquired the block of land bounded by Gor- don, Haywood, 21st and 22nd Streets. Within 10 years it had already built over 100 units, followed in 1975 by its long term care facility, the 88-resident Kiwanis Lodge. With such a track record you’d think the club’s application for the present project, approved in principle by West Van council in 1988, would have received every help from city hall in speeding up the formalities. Delays in finaliz- ing financing and tendering can play havoc with AFFORDABLE housing estimates. NEWS phote Noel Wright SOD-TURNERS Derrick Hum- phreys, West Van Kiwatiis president (left), MLA John Reynolds with spade and West Van Mayor Mark Sager (far right) — see coiumn story. HITHER AND YON Instead, city hall threw up roadblock after roadblock on points of detail — endlessly shunt- ing the project from one advisory body to the next, back to the planning department, then into the lap of yet another council committee. So it went for over 24 months, as mortgage rates rose and build- ing costs soared. Small wonder if the club had sometimes felt temp- ted simply to walk away from the whole thing. Fortunately, howev- er, Kiwanians are not quitters. in the end their patience has been somewhat rewarded by — of all things — the recession, with its merciful easing of interest rates and building costs. Over the four years 1986-1990 West Van council killed at least two similar seniors housing schemes and approved a total of less than 170 such units. Hopefuily, Saturday’s sod-tura- ing will inspire Mayor Sager’s council to do better than that — and also end costly two-year bu- reaucratic run-arounds. Then, Saturday will not only have been V-Day on Gordon Avenue. It could signal a happier housing future for many more of West Van's fixed-income seniors. TAILPIECES: Don’t fall too easi- ly for Grace McCarthy's zracious “retirement’’ last week. It was much more likely — in military terms — *‘a tactical retreat to prepared positions.”’ There’s no future for her anyhow under Vander Zalm. But Social Credit’s grande dame, who rebuilt the par- ty during the 1972-75 NDP blip, knows it may soon need her again badly as its one widely acceptable rallying point for recovery if it loses the 1991 election. Bet on Grace being there! ... West Van school students are the latest beneficiaries of the Coho Festival which donated $3,000 for five in- cubators and equipment to raise salmon in their classrooms ... And dance your heart out Saturday at the Valentine Dance in North Van Eagles Hall, 170 West 3rd — call 980-0252 for tickets. WRIGHT OR WRONG: What Canada needs is fewer fact-finding committees and more fact-FAC- ING conumittees.