New site sought for youth c¢ ance club Proponents, youtii fume over council rejections THE PROPONENTS of an alcohol-free teen dance club are searching for a new North Vancouver location after North Vancouver City Council rejected a proposal July 15 to open a dance club in the 700-block of Marine Drive. The initiative was turned down as a bad idea after a number of area businesses expressed opposi- tion to the establishment. Business Operators raised the spectre of an influx of youth gangs, loitering teens and increased damage to cars parked on the lots of automotive dealerships located along the Marine Drive strip. a See Insights, page 8 But said Sanctuary Investments Ltd. partner James Islaub, *‘The ‘arger issue is the right of young people to freely associate. There are consequences to adults freely associating and people seem to take that burden on. There seems to be precious little devoted to a non-voting group of young people out there. And there are many thousands of them. I think they’re being given the shaft here.” islaub’s partner Bruce Winckler said the idea for a focal youth dance club developed after talking to teens in West Vancouver. ‘Some young people were hanging around the tennis court beside my house in West Van- couver. | was out walking my dog and I asked them why they were hanging around and what they were doing. They were good kids and they weren't getting into any trouble or anything. After meeting them several times I asked them what they would want to do and the concept came from their ideas.’’ Winckler approached Islaub, who he knew had club manage- ment experience as the past owner of the Paradise Club in Van- couver, an after-hours adult club. a: | index @ High Profiles @ Gary Bannerman .... Mf Classified Ads ® Cocktails & Caviar... @ Comics ® Editorial Page M@ Fashion B® High Tech @ Horoscopes @ Bob Hunter W@ Inquiring Reporter ... @ Miss Manners @ Municipal Affairs .... @ Travel @ Vintage Years @ What's Going On .... Weather Sunday, cloudy with sunny periods, chance of showers. Highs 23°C, lows 14°C. Monday & Tuesday, cloudy with sunny periods. Highs 24°C, lows 14°C. By Michael Becker News Reporter Winckler argues that the op- position of a few business owners should not have ‘killed this con- cept.”’ According to Islaub, Sanctuary Investments would require 4,000 square feet of space. 64 If you talk to the aldermen, some of them are so out of touch with young people they talk about them going to some place, throwing paint on the walls and having some place that they could trash themselves under the benevolent protection of social workers. 99 Sanctuary Investments Ltd. partner James Islaub “The club would become eco- nomically viable with 300 to 500 people passing through in an evening,’’ he said. The dance club would feature pre-recorded music, a dance floor, pool tables, soft drinks and food. Said Islaub, “We'd utilize the facility in conjunction with all of the other youth groups. We would have live bands on occassion and rent it out to different groups for their own use. There’s a crying need for such a facility. They don’t always want to go into some gymnasium with basketball hoops and some ribbon hanging around. “If you talk to the aldermen, some of them are so out of touch with young people they talk about them going to some place, throw- ing paint on the walls and having some place that they could trash themselves under the benevolent protection of social workers basically they were saying they wanted them baby-sat by social workers,"’ he added. Council’s rejection of the club two weeks ago has some local youth organizations fuming and frustrated. The North Shore Youth Coun- cil, a group formed following last year’s Youthspeak conference, met last Saturday and addressed the issue. “Basically everyone was pretty much outraged,”’ said Irwin Oostindie. “AH the reports that came out of Youthspeak said that the number-one priority for North Vancouver youth was a multi- purpose facitity that could be used for dances on the weckends. That was also the same need expressed by West Vancouver youth. A few months later, when the pressure is off, they turn around and shaft youth, " said Oostindie. ‘‘They want young people to participate in the process of meeting councils and organizing themselves. But when youth state a need, it’s July 28, 1991 - North Shore News - 3 he, NEWS photo Cindy Goodman NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP Const. Mary Collodel holds up two expensive watches turned into the RCMP that remain unclaimed. This is the owners’ last chance to claim them be- fore they ge to North Van RCMP denied. The councils can either go the cheap route and have a private interest run the club or they can fork over $300,000 and the youth council can manage the facility,” he added. Teens looking for a place to listen to music and dance or even perform music for others have few options. Said North Shore Youth Coun- cil chairman Karl Schmitt, ‘‘There olice auction. For information, contact the pecial Projects Unit at 985-1311. is one place downtown that | know of and that's the Eclipse Club, which means if you like to go dancing for the night on the weekend your night doesn't start until 1:30 a.m. because it’s an after-hours club. We're very will- ing to support this youth club. If it can be rmutti-purpose, that would be great because we have a lot of young bands here that have no place to play.’’ Aty sinks youth worker plan Council defeats motion to establish youth co-ordinator A SPLIT 3-3 North Vatcouver City Council vote Monday night killed a plan to hire a North Shore youth services co-ordinater, as council disagreed on how best to help local youths. The move follows last week’s vote by city council against establishing a youth dance club on Marine Drive. The youth worker position, which was to be a joint North Vancouver District and City youth programs co-ordinator, has been approved by district council. But said North Vancouver City Ald. John Braithwaite,*‘I will not suppert another co-ordinator or planner submitting reports to council.’’ Adding another social planner to the pavroll, he said, will stack up the bureaucrats rather than helping the youths. But fellow Ald. Bill Bell said, “‘This position is needed more than ever.’” He said the youth worker's primary functions would be to co-ordinate all youth services in North Vancouver City and District so that efforts would not be duplicated and areas would not be overlooked. Both problems arise now, Bell said, because of the number of groups handling youth issues. City social planner Larry Orr documented 17 governmental and non-governmental committees that deal with issues concerning at-risk youth, 11 on the local level. Ald. Barbara Perrault said By Pamela Lang Contributing Writer council should ‘‘recognize that the conimunity has a (youth) prob- lem.’’ But she said she was not prepared to vote for the youth worker recommendation. NV CITY ALD. Barbara Sharp...decision was ‘‘disgraceful.”’ {Instead Perrault asked council to send the proposal to the social advisory planning commission, but only Braithwaite agreed with her motion. Ald. Barbara Sharp said the youth worker recommendation came out of a committee that deals specifically with youth; she also pointed cut that the North Shore Youth Initiatives Committee has spent many hours over the past few months researching the issue and has recommended a youth services worker be hired. She added that Braithwaite’s statement about the position being another bureaucrat rather than fa NV CITY ALD. John Braithwaite...''! will not sup- port another co-ordinator or planner submitting reports to council."’ someone working directly with youths is ‘totally incorrect."" NORTH VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL But Braithwaite reiterated that the position sugpested will not deal with the North Shore’s youth problems directly; he said the municipalities would instead spend $80,000 or $90,000 annually to build up the bureaucracy while the kids are stilt on the street, According to the June 17 in- camera decision by North Van- couver District Council to approve the youth services worker, the estimated 1991 cost for the posi- tion would have been $51,300. The city has already sought the best advice from experts in the field of youth services (including the United Way, the Recreation Commission, and North Shore Neighbourhood House), and, said Bell, ‘‘they recommended that this (position) was needed.” He added that although addi- tional funding for the North Shore’s seven youth workers is needed, bringing that issue into the current discussion introduces a ‘“*red herring.” Sharp, Bell and Mayor Jack Loucks voted in favor of Sharp’s motion to approve the position; Braithwaite, Perrault and Ald. Stella Jo Dean voted against it. Ald. Rod Clark was absent. After the vote, Sharp called the decision “‘disgraceful.”’ Sharp later told the News that after last wecek’s vote against the youth dance club. which she alone supported, council's decision was “unhebevable.”