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- @- Friday, September 22, 1995 - North Shore News

“1139 Lonsdale Avenue
''. ¢ North Vancouver, B.C.
{ “V7M 2H4

PETER SPECK.
. Publisher
985-2131 (101)

. Pt earn Mali Sephenssa

i. soko (IE (103) 985-822 | (2a)

Horth Shore News, founded i 1969 is en o

. independent suburban newspaper and qualified
under Schedule 11, Paragraph 111 of the

° Excise Tax Act, is publithed cach Wodnesdcy,

[2 Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press’,
| Lid and distributed to every door on the North
Shore, Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail,
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61, seen Siradion, Wetnesday Fs >
a,

; - Enite contents:
° 1995 North Shore
= Frog Press Ltd.

Alt rights reserved.

yo “Harmonization,” —
called it; “amalgamation by degree,”

a oa

|

he
ea he

ow THAT they have ‘started
together down the road to amal-
gamation, North Vancouver City

and District: need resident encourage-

ment from both municipalities to shift
into the. fast lane and avoid getting
detoured nlong any side-streets,

On -Sept. 11,° the two- North

j Vancouvers agreed in principle to the

establishment of a joint commission to
operate the North Vancouver Museum
and Archives. an .

one councillor

conceded another.

A

: .
! i

OEE WT: akeitoetnt ad eraacesnam aimee fated Cty i vik sonra shh nmuorsanomesteasasannaneseraesenna :

Because that best describes the pooling
of North Vancouver resources. _

It is: also. one of the main reasons
North Vancouver amalgamation makes
sense,

afford costly duplicstion of services and
bureaucracies,

Projects to overhaul = North
Vancouver’s two municipal halls will,
for example, hit. close to $17 million
when the city completes its two-stage
upgrade.

During discussion of the archives

North Vancouver taxpayers, and tax-
payers everywhere. else, can no longer
“time since the city broke away from the:
_ tistrict in 1907. :

news viewpoint

councillors wondered about other “har-
monizations” such as a joint library
board. x
But let’s not be timid here. :
’ How about “harmonized” municipai-
ities and the reunification of North
Vancouver City and District for the first:

Sept. 11’s collaborative. effort itus- -
trates. the. value of. the two North
Vancouvers being reunited as one.

The genie is out’ of :the bottle:
Amalgamation is on the way, and -it
could pay big dividends to city and dis-

How about common-sense efficiency?

“ers” if this weren’t a family
a newspaper — to admit this...
_\ Itis painful for a patriotic Greater:
. Tiddlycovian like me to concede that -

the people over on the slum side of

the North Shore might be smarter
_ than we are.

But the evidence is there, shout-
ing into my one good ear. . :

GEE WHULLIKERS, it hurts:
« like hell — “hell” being the --
--word I would have started off...
‘with instead of “gee whillik-

commission, North Vancouver District

trict residents alike.” 4

yo

‘mailbox

Capilano Road corridor

Open letter to North Vancouver.
District’s mayor ard council:

There must be many complaints:
on file concerning the dangesous
traffic ‘situation in and around the

Capilano Suspension Bridge, partic-

ularly from the ‘residents of the
Capilano Road corridor...
Uf. the. present conditions ‘are
allowed ‘to. continue: there will be
serious accidents. Surely. this must
be evident to you and your advisors. J:
’ For more than 40 years, the own-
ers of the bridge have'systernatical- :

‘ly. changed’ a peaceful residential
park-like area into an. extremely / .

, busy. “commercial ‘enterprise~ han- .

Gling: thousands ‘of : pedestrians,

automobiles and buses ina single. :
day.’. ee eee
Moreover, this’ enterprise is situ-

}*, ated right‘on a major thoroughfare “

(used by fire trucks, police, ambu-""
lance, logging ‘tricks,’ etc.) in the

to the notion of a joint museum and ne

* archive, I only wish Greater :’
< Tiddlycove had begged to get into

the City-District discussions when

— they began a'couple of years ago.

“Then maybe we wouldn’t have
the painfully sad little West

*« Mancouver Museum and Archives oS

As Martin Millerchip recently

reported in the News , North"

: Vancouver City and North - Poy
- Vancouver District — two indistin- a
» guishable peas in a geographic pod

if ever there were two — have -.
agreed in principle to jointly operate
the North Vancouver Museum and
Archives... |.

Down the road, possibly, unless

“there is a lethal pothole between
“principle and practice, is a proposed
-“ new $3.65 million Heritage Services

Centre for the two North .
Vancouvers. What a good idea.
(But ‘get rid of that pretentious
name from the Bureaucratic
Gobbledygook Handbook, please.

* “North Vancouver Museum and
‘ Archives”, needs no transtation for”

illiterate'slobs such as me.)

‘The three North Shore municipal-*
~ ities got together long years ago to

build Lions Gate Hospital. There is
already. a boundary- dissolving:North

Shore Recreation Commission. Now

this. Some councillors, Millerchip
“ writes, wondered aloud if a joint”
library board lies ahead. *

-. District Coun, Don Bell ‘ ‘

“described this as “amalgamation by
degree.” Coun. Pat Munroe more °
‘modestly called it “harmonization.”

- It. was left to Coun. Pam Goldsmith- - -
- have much unique history or -

Jones to boldly spit out the A-word ”

without qualification: “We should be

‘ amalgamated municipalities.”
» Well, speaking as an outsider
: merely peeping at the two North
*Yancouvers from west of the
Capilano, I think someone, ought to
warble Lohengrin and tootle Here»
‘ Comes the Bride on the pipe organ,» .
and stand back and see if these two
coy municipalities kind of pick up
‘-on the idea and get hitched.

“The duplication of expensive ser- -
* vices is idiculous. And, getting back

a

ws

and the whole costly business of :

’ buying ’and restoring the Gertrude ~

- Lawson home to house it — at a
'. purchase price of $750,000, plus the ©
- Shock of discovering that it needed ©

fundamental restoration that delayed
its opening by a year or more.
* The blunt fact is that the Lawson

home, though appealing enough, has

limited charm — if you let me say

.So, my home province of Ontario

has thousands of houses of greater.
age, graciousness and architectural ©»
significance, a dozen of them in any. °

- small old village — and even more.
’ limited space. Not that it needs — .
‘much, Because the even more blunt

fact is that West Vancouver doesn’t -

~ archives of consequence,
I don’t think it’s ever made the
public prints, but soon after it:

opened, its North Vancouver coun-

terpart offered it some West :

- Vancouver artifacts that it had tucked »

away. Declined. No room for them,

the staff said. :
The museum offers a pleasant 4

break in the forest of apartments

growing up nearby. And somewhat

more space and dignity around, and |

_ for the staff of, West Vancouver's * .

congestion needs relief

hood, “whichis ill- equipped to han-- :
‘dle ‘such heavy traffic around : the
bridge area.
' Again, ‘this must. be evident. to
you and your. advisors. °°
Will you kindly advise your con-.:

*stituents‘about what steps are being

taken fo alleviate “ problem a and

- who will pay?

Mrs. MLE Dolan”
North Vancouver

: MAILBOX POLICY

LETTERS. TO the, editor must’ be
legible (preferably typewritten) and
‘include ‘your name, full addre:

* telephone ‘number. ::

North Shore News cannot pu

“all lettérs. Published letters: may be.

edited for brevity: clarity, accuracy,

“legality and taste. Letters ‘can be
5 faxed to'985-2104. but ‘still must be
middie of a: residential neighbor- ue

‘. it's an expensive embarrassment. :

Getting back to the stealthy step-
» By-step possibie amalgamation of
_ the two North Vancouvers, rit raise
. little historical waming of my own.

Humphreys, then a North Vancouve
~. City alderman, his career as West
Vancouver mayor still ahead of, him,
had the vision of uniting the two.
North Vancouvers under the fine. -
name City.of Capilano. =

As Humphreys explains i in his’
_ just-completed memoirs — a spien-
did book, of which more soon — the :
idea was scuppered not by the’
_/ Runicipal politicians but by (wait for,

“it, wait for it) their fire departments.

Yes, the firemen’s fiefdoms, with
" their hostility to anythitig that threat

ened their seniority list and rational-

‘ized other cosy atrangements, torpe-
/ doed the deal." :

Bet things haven’ t changed. .

i eee

And speaking of Derrick
Humphreys, the old boy, as natt
and vigorous ’as ever approaching -
82, deserves applause for virtually
single handedly raising the doubts .
that led to West Vancouver council's
decision Monday. not to proceed
with the Greater Vancouver Regional
’District’s tear-up-the- Seawall, lay-
.down-the-sewer scheme. :

Gee whillikers, wish I had his:
energy. Hell, ¢ oF half a as § much, '