6 - North Shore News — Friday, July 28, 2000

Safety brake

Re light cameras will make
their debut at about eight
orth Shore intersections by
late fall.

The latest flash and pay scheme
~ sanctioned by the provincial govern-
ment and its insurance company,
ICBC, is aimed at the right place.

When police ~—s resources = are
stretched, unsafe motorists get away
with more and more.

Aggressive drivers breeze through
red lights with impunity. Road raging
too often has its rewards. It’s tirne to
turn that around.

Then there are the. drivers who
earn their’ licences, but somehew
manage to avoid learning the rules of
the road. -

..It.doesn’t happen often, but how
‘many times. have you seen someone

Lonsdale Avenue when the cross
street is clear?

Risktakers and the ones who don’t
know better will soon have to take
more chances at red lights.

There are going to be 120 red-light
camera sites in the province, mostly in
the Lower Mainland. Only 30 of
those $80,000 cameras were bought.
That means 90 sites will have dummy
cameras that flash without film.

The odds are one in four that a
motorist will be caught red-handed
by red light film. Those are not bad
odds for a betting person.

The lead footed among us who bet
wrong will start piling up $144 tick-:
cts.

If the system works as promised,
the odds for safe passage will again
favour the law-abiding motoring

~ slowly driving through a red light on public.

“mailbox

~ Study BC Ferries’ plans
fat Horseshoe Bay

Open letter to Premier Ujjal Dosanjh:

:.. Trusting the decisions of the BC Ferries directors irrevoca-
: bly stained the reputation of one NDP premier. You are in dan-

ger of letting it happen to you.

BC Ferries, without any governmental challenges, is about
to'decimate and destroy the charming village of Horseshoe
Bay. While they may claim to have brought their plans for cit-
izen review, they have in fact, shown only token interest in the
. concerns, in the municipal bylaws, and i in the clear havoc their
-. plans will generate. |. .

:They. admit! that the’. destruction of. the integrity of.
Horseshoe. Bay will only be a 15-year fix, but that does: not
.. appear to’cause them to re-think the entire plan.

believe the énly reason this plan has not been more wide-
y_ condemned by the Lower Mainland as a whole is: the
assumption that this is a West Vancouver problem. However,

Horseshoe. Bay is not simply a West Vancouver community, It”

ime tourist attraction, it is a summer outing destination

P _
for everyone, it is a beloved and treasured part o} what makes

Vancouver a special place.

Once the blasting starts and people sce the destruction BC
"Ferries plans, no one will remain indifferent, The NDP will be
‘fe hed by the fast ferries. And, if you don’t stop BC

tizen .who | takes a “ferry” to: Nanaimo . will :
r that once Horseshoe Bay was a jewel in | OUF Cre crown, »

m
the‘ NDP neglected to protect that jewel.
Please’ do something to help.

C Ferries plans. Let the people's voice be heard, and look at

ile:
Editorial Assistant. ~~... -
985-2131, local 120 .
985-2104. - .
~ seocomila@nsnews. com

Worth Shore Canata * Post pet

0067238, Mailing rates ‘eral’ on tequest. entire
contents © 2000 HCN Pobliations Company. AU.

‘Demand a full review of the 3

FRESH
Towers?

yan, was |
Ac SHRIKE CONTINUE
YAN CQUYER =

= Aan IHG UP
is

Hunger strikes on waterkon

WHAT’S wrong with this pic-
ture?

It is a delicious Sunday afternoon in

West Vancouver, Gud’s garden. Persons of
various ages but all exud-
ing good health are
promenading in the
noble expanse between
Ambleside Beach and the *
furthest reaches of the
Seawalk at 30th Avenue.
Sun bathes the area. ft is: -
a picture waiting to be
painted by a 2]st-century -
Renoir or Matisse or one _
of che other French ~
impressionistic blokes.

Yet something is miss-

ing. Something vital. Something necessary ;

a sa ea the picture:
. Food.
-Yes. And its favourite accompaniment,
drink.
; people look comfortably fixed.

Wel meoper if not wealthy (the grinding
‘taxes of wolfish governments have seen to

that). But where are'the victuals? Where
are the sidewalk cafes? Where are, at least,

" -the street vendors and wheeled carts die-

pensing humble but satisfying fare?

Nowhere to be seen.

West Vancouver's sunny. waterfront
watkways are as thin on food as a slave
labour camp.: >

In contrast, there is a vast range of mul-
tilingual food at Lonsdale Quay. Horseshoe
Bay’s waterfront does not lack for suste-
nance; crowned by the famous fish and -
chips of Trolls. Whytecliff Park boasts a.
reputedly above-average hamburger stand.

But West Vancouver’s prized Seawalk,

"including the several commercial blocks of
~. adjoining Bellevue Avenue, offers not a

REVERS:

crumb of designated takeout food to satisfy
the inner man or woman. .

True, there are one or two coffee hous-
es along Bellevue where one can can break
one’s journey. Milieu, hardly a takeout

place, has closed —. vic-
tim of rent blasting into
the stratosphere, I’m
told. Ironically, a

gourmet pet food shop
has opened on the oppo-
site corner, so that one
can pick up some exquis-
ite potables to sustain
one’s canine companion

along the march. But for -

- master or mistress? Stick

a sandwich from home _

a pocket.
Which weld simply not be West
Vancouver. This is more than a matter of ©

. food. It is a matter of character.

Gur Seawalk has little or none. Oh,
very nice views, yes, But it has more of the

nature of a health spa, with peo, ople striding -.

purposefully along, sucking in the right

sort of air and looking determined to live

to be 100 ;
I harbour the suspicion that an uncom:

monly high proportion of those who do so ~
“hurried away. .

are utter bores. But that is an aside.
When I raised the question to a solid -

West Vancouverite of why waterfront walk- ”

ers have no ready access to food, she
~ thoughtfully replied: “Maybe we are more

~ committed to wholesome diets. No junk

food.” Still, no organic celery stalk is:
crunched; No roots gnawed on, along this
sacred path. oe

Sporting a pretty fair embonpoint myse

~ and a horror of the body worship and the,
mad quest for eternal youth (the ultimate ~ :

perversion, as an Oscar Wilde character.
“remarked ).s0 prevalent today, 1 fear my fet

-_ m Poe
LEVERS TO THE EDITOR must include your :
name, full address and telephone number.
e-mail to: mbecker@nsnews.com

oy stated, “is Harry
.. Mississauga. You can get,” she went on,

low citizen may be right.
O00

Doubtless residents of West Van sneered
into their martinis at the laughable claim“:
by a westside Vancouverite that her sector“
of the city was populated by “la creme ae: ‘
ta creme” of the human race. aren

" How absurd! How asinine! Whar |.
bloody check! For it is universally acknow!-
edged that la creme de la creme reside on:
West Vancouver's slopes. Too self- evident
” ‘Speak of which, I'm obliged

ing of whic! "tn.obliged to. =

report that a while ago I conversed with a °
former Victoria resident who recently -,
escaped to West Van after years of living in
Toronto. The talk turned to bargains. “The
place to > go for bargains in clothing,” she.
Rosen's warehouse i in:

“raincoats marked down to $800.”.
“| looked closely at her.
face for evidence of droll wit. : None. Sh
was deadly serious. ©
‘Tchose not to tell her that on arrival in
Vancouver 37 years ago.l purchased 4

~ London’ Fog raincoat from Murray

Goldman's for $38.'And it serves m
I fear she would have wordiessly pressed
some charitable coins into hand, ari

“oO Q a
~ [n'a more ‘serious vein, instead of “solv:

. ing” the non-existent problem of th ‘
- threat — I could fill this column’

for Norman, whose “Where’s ‘Norman

* dog-walking service was riveting entertain:
; ment at Ambleside ark, ri a seudy i in how