8 - Wednesday, July rth Shore News Experience of N. Shore emocracy disgusts teen Dear Editor: fam a 14-year-old student, and I have just finished Grade 9. On Monday, June 27, my dad asked me if | wanted to observe how our local government worked. (My dad is currently involved in the Lonsdale- Montroyal extension issue.) I decided to go because | thought I might learn how our local government makes its decisions, and I surely did. I was quite disgusted at what I saw. Most of the council members had made up their minds before coming to the council meeting. They were not interested in listening to councillors Harris, Cuthbert and Mayor Dykeman’s concerns about the impact the Lonsdale-Montroyal extension wil! have on the rest of the community. Another thing that surprised me was booing of the mayor from the onlookers. In school we are taught to make decisions based on present facts. The information that was presented was based on Councillors Bell, Crist, Munro and Goldsmith-Jones do not even want to find out what the present facts are by not allowing a study to be done before they make their decision. Why is our government willing to spend a lot of Money without knowing the impact on our neighbor- hood? The fecling that 1 got was that most of the coun- cil members were only listening to one side of the issue. From this meeting I learned how our local govern- ment makes its decisions. I also learned that our gov- ernment is willing to spend a lot of the taxpayers’ moncy to satisfy only some of the people. What about improving our community centres, fire halls, police departments, and setting up neighborhood parks, so that everyone can benefit? I decided to write this letter, not only to remind peo- ple how their money is being spent, but also to show how decisions are made by our local government. Chad R, Brown North Vancouver studies done 10 years ago. Thanks, folks Dear Editor: The members of the Kiwanis Club of West Vancouver would like to thank North Shore citizens who have so generously supported func- tions that are organized throughout the year by mem- bers of this club to raise funds. Due to their generosity we are able to support such orga~ nizations as the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, North Shore Harvest Project, B.C. Children’s Hospital, Camp Potlatch, B.C. Boys Choir, North Shore Counselling Centre, CrimeStoppers and many others, With the contin- ‘ yous generosity of the people of the North Shore we will be able to carry on assisting those less fortunate than ourselves. G. McDowell President West Vancouver 10} SAMPLE SKI Truck step applauded Dear Editor: I would like to applaud North Vancouver District Council for reflecting the wishes of residents who have been concerned about the use of overweight trucks on our residential streets. Council recently voted unanimously to restrict such trucks whose gross weight exceeds 30,000 kg. Council looked at the needs of its residents and did not bend under political compromise from outside concerns, such as the Greater Vancouver Regiunal District log- ging proponents, who keep these overweight trucks on North Van roads. We now wail to see if the Minister of Transportation and Highways will finalize this commu- nity initiative by passing a new traffic bylaw. Ross Muirhead North Vancouver Tax graphs are misleading Dear Editor: Did you notice the misleading graph Taxes vs. Consumer Price Index in the Tax and Budget Facts brochure that came with the 1994 tax assessments? By selecting dif- ferent scales for the line graph showing the CPI and the bar graph showing taxes the chart gives the impression that the CPI increased more than the taxes during the peri- od 1989 to 1994, 1eSUC (For Winter 94-95 Made in Italy & U.S.A.) F Don’t miss out on the z savings, over 200 pieces. 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