ORTH VANCOUVER District Councillor Ernie Crist’s recently quoted opinion that society’s apathy towards television violence is a “crime against our young people” packs much com- mon sense but little real value for local dis- trict residents. While answers to the issue Crist raised are as varied as the opinions it generates, the big question is why? Why does an elected municipal official spend valuable council time on a subject that council will have as much influence on as the weather? At a recent North Vancouver District Council meeting, Crist tabled a motion sug- gesting that council go on record as being opposed to television violence. He also asked council to request the federal and provincial governments prohibit violence on TV. | Peter Speck Doug Foot Chris Jchnson Cynics might suggest that Crist —- a long- time favorite of district voters — is merely taking a comfortable stance on a contentious issue that will win him more supporters. In this day and age, saying you’re against TV violence is about as risky as saying you’re against taxes. Surely Crist, a knowledgeable and capable councillor, can make better use of his and council’s time. His work on economic twinning, for exam- ple, is of far more real importance, and value, to his constituents, than a signed, sealed and delivered missive to Ottawa decrying TV violence could ever be. The upper echelons of political life are thick with philosophical baggage handlers. The last thing citizens need is to have their municipal representatives helping to shoul- der more of that baggage. Timothy Renshaw Linda Stewart of Off cen faces =a off against NORTH AMERICANS, with their pathological belief that new is better and the newest best of all, have been called prisoners of tomorrow. That's why we're always demolishing and replacing perfectly sound 40-year-old houses —-- and why our tiny stock of “heritage” buildings can even include musty shacks erected as recently as the 1920s. Europeans, on the contrary, remain prisoners of their 2,000-year history, And paradoxically, their pride in that inescapable past is fre- quently in conflict nowadays with their new enthusiasm for North American living standards and lifestyles. To a Canadian on a swing through five widely different European countries this conflict becomes clear. Whether in boom- ing Germany, struggling Hungary or recovering Portugal, North American censumer culture is everywhere visible. Stores overflow with goods of every kind —- clothing, kitchen- ware, electronics, appliances, you- name-it. Coca-Cola has seemingly bought every second signboard on the continent. Burger King and the Golden Arches battle for the ham- burger-and-Pepsi trade. The kids wear jeans and T-shirts, sometimes even baseball caps back-to-front. Mercedes, BMWs, Peugeots, Fiats, Toyotas and Mazdas clog the streets. So what’s the down side? One is food costs, which are everywhere high by Canadian standards, thus draining the average wage-earner’s income available for other goodies. Europe's histcric farms —- too small for the economies of scale possible in big, horizon-to-horizon North American operations — need heavy subsidies to keep afloat. Mort of the remaining down side comes directly from those glo- rious palaces, castles and cathe- drals, plus the quaint centuries-old city buildings and narrow winding streets, which pull in world tourists (and their dollars) by the millions every year. But it means the ultimate North American dream — the single-fam- ily home on its separate 33-foot lot with white picket fence — is virtu- ally non-existent in European cities. Peter Kvarnstrom Valerio Stephenson HITHER AND YON Living in town means settling for a row-house or an apartment, in either case most likely in a building dating back to great-grandpa’s days or earlier. Europeans may renovate the interiors. But unlike North Americans, they seldom ever dream of demolishing and rebuilding. If you want a lot and yard of your own, get out of town and into the: country. . For just the same reason European cities face early strangu- lation by that other great American love affair: the automobile. In Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and Lisbon the day-long downtown scene is that of West Georgia dur- ing the Friday rush hour — with nowhere to park. Highrise parkades, which require historic buildings to be torn down, are a rarity. Instead, vehicles straddle both sidewalks of narrow one-way streets. Elsewhere, double or even triple parking is normal, encouraged by the absence of alleys. The life expectancy of stressed-out bus dri- vers is reputed to be about 45. Total gridlock well before 2000 A.D. appears inevitable. Even so, Europeans seem con- tent to endure for now such con- flicts between the American cultur- al tidbits they crave and the physi- cal heritage they fiercely guard. At least it beats living on an ever changing construction site! eos WRIGHT OR WRONG: Haif of life is “if.” Trixt Agrios Sales & Marketing Director 980-0511 (319) Dispiay Manager 980-0511 (103) Classified Manager 986-6222 (202) MEMBER Promotions Manager 985-2131 (137) Publisher 985-2131 (101) Operations Manager 985-2131 (141) Managing Editor 985-2431(116) Comptraiter 985-2131 (133) 1 oe ete VOICE OF NORTH AND WEBT VANCOUVER North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an ere ‘nh a independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of tha Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Pross Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. 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