Causeway crusate has TODAY from Ripping Yarns, more evidence that the universe 2s we know it is unravelling at the seams. Subtitle this one Three Lanes to Lunacy -- Wes: Vancouver’s Causeway Crusade. It’s fast gaining momen- tum. And not just from the usual protest rent-a-mob. We have instead the West Vancouver Garden Club — hoes sha sypened and garden rakes at che ready to defend the honour of one of the Lower Mainland’s most desir- able locales. We also have a growing number of local politicians, which should have balderdash sensors on red alert across rhe public radar scope. The issue? The Stanley Park cause- -way. Need I say more? Is your blood boiling yet? oy Well, ifinoc, buckets of it are ‘already simmering west of the Capilano and some might ‘even be heating up cast of the river: too. .. Garden club member Marion Nodwell, for exam- ; pie: was-“very concemed” to learn that the causcway’s ‘three lanes are below B.C. “Roadbuilder’s Association “standards because they’re too narrow, thereby posing scri- pants of the fortress i1 Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, have blown impertinent rasp- berries across the inlet. Substandzrd er not, thase infidels jeer, the three lanes are going to stay the way they are, so get stufled, West Vancouver whiners, Fighting words, Pm afraid, to the edgy garden club crowd. The trouble is thar it’s a little tate for. ali this bicod . boiling and it’s a little too: close to municipal alection | ; time to be taking the sudden outrage of local politicians: th anything less than a” graiiy'of sale, : The causeway is ar: issuc. No argument there. But it’s metely a sidebar to the whole First Narrows balls-up that underscores the clot-headed- . ness of the entire affair. ' Consider, for example, that we're arguing about adding six feer to the width of the causeway, Six feet that would ha i % ‘North Van ouver Chamber. of Commerce report to che’ “park board inted out, for example, that adding an extra ‘traffic lane to ‘the 7 y little awareness of how food is pre- pared. The reviews seem anly | present a vaguely ¢ list of items in the: a she items on the bout the service. Anyone off the: strect can ‘do the: same, food in any y meatingaa way. - An effective review of any . ftural ! iy) ie it’s. fely’ {su uid come students who s| “first, bur. in practice we know . . that's not the case as tco often "there are hidden 1 political agen. ° -. “das ‘and no-one. is prepared to: : ~ admit. chat a mistake wvas - Yet we all kriow that someone ‘somewhere. made, a mistake in - calculating ¢ class sizes and fund- ”- Say ; from, how it is ~ how it is served. ‘ingia Barber Wao one ‘real- causeway “requires no cree cutting at all.” And consider too that the causeway is currency being widened. Unfortunately for car and bas commuters, how- ever, that widening applies to the thoroughfare’s sidewalks only. Were you to have just been teleported here from some other jurisdiction you would at this point be per- mitted an incredulous: “You're joking” or other suit- ably aghast expression of dis- belief. Let me get this straight: Safer sidewalks to reduce — what? — pedestrian colli- sions?, but retain the same substandard and dangerous waffic lanes when beth could “be improved at the same time without harming the park a ‘jor : Hey, this is the West : - Coast. What do you expect? "Sanity? Get real, dude. _. Fhe main opposition to ‘the causeway lane widening crusade resides in the right- cous halls of the Vancouver park board, whose chairman Alan Fetherstonhaugh has | opined that the causeway “is a crime against Stanley Park” and that park land is “sacred”. = * Religious fervor abounds - in crusade stories. : New board rallying cry: Never give an inch. _Well the fur is now flying “over inches... A mob of West : Vancouverites and West Vancouver Garden Club members descended upon last Monday night’s park board mecting to press their case. Their rallying cry: six feet or fight. See aforementioned Monty Python raspherry for the response to their appear- ance. West Vancouver council, meanwhile, voted the same night to seck a B.C. Supreme Court injunction to halt the Lions Gate Bridge renovation roject until che causeway issuc is resolved. And West Vancauver- Sunshine Coast MP John Reynolds has called on the federal defence minister to intercede on behalf of North Shore residents in their cause- way crusade. His reasoning?: because a national defence facility resides in it, the park is a fed- eral responsibility. .- The Reform MP therefore cailed'on the minister to -instract the board to “cease their obstructionist behaviour. . concerning the sauseway widening 5 issue.” To the ramparts, citizens! But where was aii this energy and outrage over the past three years when the real issuc of improving First : Narrows taffic flow was front and centre? When the ception _ of building, perhaps, a tunnel ‘to augment the bridge was still a possibility? When, at the very least, another lane could have been added to Lions Gate Bridge to unclog one of she Lower Mainland’s most chronically blocked arteries? met means nts omens rat anne on food knowledge knowledge and the ability to communicate relationships of ‘the abject. reviewed, to the reader.. To illustrate the - point, read che reviews of James Barber (which are gen- ', erally found in the. Georgia . ' Sraight). ‘These reviews are written by a man. intimately _involved with food, who. understands: where ic comes vepared and ly kiiows whether the restau- rant serves good food, or ; iy ah ‘showed some leadership forgot. about the fager-~ pointing. Because ultimately, whoever made the mistake, we _ the taxpayers pay for it whether through provincial. income taxes or school taxes,” So. who cares: ultimately ‘where the money comes from, just get the issue fixed,so that read- © mercly average food. Mr. Renshaw. can’t inspire any similar connection’ with his reviews: the reader still has no idea what the food is real- ly like. 1 have yetto experi- _ence_a desire to visit a partic-. ular testaurant as a result of Mr. Renshaw’ 8 review. A ‘restaurant review -- by Mi. Renshaw is‘ like getting an automobile ‘road test: by. someone wie doesn’t have’ ae driver’s licence. George Carroll North Vancouver .. North Vancouver - Gplyoung@aci.com Acard toss oal problems Lost in a political cock fight, I'm afraid. Prior to the 1998 decision to “save” the three-lane her- itage bridge from improve- ment, the provincial govern- ment was seriously consider- ing a $400 million four-lane First Narrows option: a two- lane tunnel for nerthbound traffic and a refurbished two- lane Lions Gate Bridge for southbound trafiic. But instead of looking at the big picture, local pols got mired a party politics rather than fighting the good fight for their municipalities and constituents. No consistent Lions Gare Bridge message, beyond the one about the North Shore’s not being too hot on the idea of tolls, made it across the water. A united push for a better: Lions Gate solution could - have swung the decision in the North Shore’s favour. The current confrontation over adding a few feet to the causeway would have been a moot point. And we would all have been spared another misguid- ed crusade. — trenshaw@direct.ca | On, Lube & Filter 21 pt. Safety check, 15 minutes - FAST! > Inctudes up to 5 litres of 1O0w30 Quakerstate H 1262 Marine Drive SEC-9115 . n-Sat 8:00arn-6:00pm, Sun. 9:00ar: 5:00pm Expires Oct 13/99 (FUER COLD TON ENTE CC SS PS MS CD OD ACCOUNTING SERVICES Monthly, Quarterty, Yearty Corporate & Personal Taxes Financial Statements Free initial Consultation DON LANE 921-3322 COUR the students, who really should’ , come first, get their class sirua- tion resolved and can get on wth school this yeaz.’ “Chris Young a es BALANCED APPROACH.