4 - Friday, August 9, 1991 ~ North Shore News Approval of pubs a puzzling manoeuvre DOES THE North Shore need more pubs? No, no, no! And furthermore: No. You really wonder what gets in- to the bureaucratic minds at the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch (LCLB). The North Shore, from Deep Cove to Bowen Island — to which North Shore residents have graciously granted a kind of associate status, kindly overlook- ing the eccentricities of many Bowen Islanders — has enough pubs. The B.C. Tel Yellow Pages for the North Shore lists 11. (Actually, 12. But one is in Burnaby. We on the North Shore have trouble enough recognizing Bowen Island as one of us. | don't think Burnaby has a chance. In fact, it would have a_ better chance applying for membership in the United Nations.) Anyway, we have I! pubs. The LCLB at a stroke has ap- proved the applications of four more. Are sober? They don't responsible? To approve a rise in the nurnber of pubs by more than a third? They’re indifferent to what ef- fect that would have on the ex- isting pubs? Existing parking? Ex- isting policing? . And, most important, existing alcohol-related problems? Jow, on that point, my svm- pathies ought to lie with more pubs. ! am a restrained but consistent tippler. {n the Drinkers’ League, | have a respectable liietime batting average. But, more and more, 1! drink the bureaucrats quite think that’s ir- Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES strictly al home. And the plain fact is that all the signs point toward what appears to be the inevitable: By the 2Ist century, the level of legal drinking — the percentage of blood alcohol within the law for drivers and others — will be reduced. Or it will disappear. Zero tolerance. So the free-standing pub will! be on its way out, And I suspect that many of us, including those who like their jar, won't much mind. The biunt fact is that Canadians have never been civilized drinkers. Not many of us. There is an abundance of drinking Iouts. Most jubs, to be fair, don't tolerate these icuts — many of whom drive while, rather than after, drinking or in parks or on beaches. ! don’t know of any ex- isting North Shore pub that's a trouble spot. But do we need four more? I'd like to talk to the appli- Indy cars on display THE SPIRIT of Vancouver In- dianapolis car will be one of a dozen racing cars on display at Pemberton Station today between 4and [0 p.m. Driver Ross Bentley, slated to race the Spirit of Vancouver in the Labor Day weekend Molson Indy in Vancouver, will be on hand with several other racing car drivers and pit crews at the display. Other racing cars include For- mula Fords and a 1956 vintage Indy car. As well, North Vancouver driver Michael Clifford will be at the display with his Formula Ford. People will also be able to try their hand at slot car -racing. Remote control vehicles will be set up on a track in the pub. Brunch with a View SAVOUR YOUR BRUNCH ON OUR SPACIOUS PATIO WHILE ENJOYING THE SWEEPING HARBOUR VIEW SATURDAYS 11:30AM - 2:30PM SUNDAYS 10:30AM - 4:00PM RES TA UR ANT as | as ABOVE THE LONSDALE QUAY MARKET RESERVATIONS 986-VIEW MS. cants. But at press time I'd con- tacted only one. Here 1} admit to a small pre- judice. Two of the applications are from people who are directors of numbered companies. | dislike numbered companies. t don't know why anyone would choose to call a company 1415939 when it could be given a swell, flashy name. Also, [ always thought the ap- plication was meant to disclose the name and home address of the applicants — as done by Wayne William Hussey and Jacqueline A. Hussey, who live on Grand Boul- evard, and William Bayer of Millstream Road in West Van- couver,. But Mr. Bayer’s co-applicant, Jovanka Myers, gave her address as 1717-1177 West Hastings. That didn’t sound like a resi- dential address to me. And it isn’t. The sign on the premises says Tupper & Jonsson — in the phone book tisted as Tupper Jonsson & Yeadon, barristers and solicitors, It's neither illegal nor uncthical to give a law office as an address. Just puzzling. { suppose | could give mine as 4741 West 2nd, Van- couser, which is the office and home of my own distinguished lawyer, Robert Duncan Ross. But I'm not sure i'd feel | was reveal- ing all that should be revealed. { did talk to the one applicant — Mr. Hussey, who was amiable and co-operative. His application is one of the numbered-company ones. Nothing sinister: ‘‘My ego is not such that i wanted to use my surname on it” Mr. Hussey has no experience at all in the pub business. He's been a land service contractor for 30 years, though, and he sounds like an avid, risk-taking en- trepreneur. Possibly this explains his choice of site for a pub — candidly, the most unlikely I’ve ever seen. {t's on Spicer Street. It’s no more than a throw from cen- trefield to home plate away from the North Shore transfer station — otherwise known as the dump with a roof on it. [1's across the street from a railway track. And i's in a straight industrial area, with no homes at all immediately around it. But Mr. Hussey seems eager to build a pub on his property. ‘If you lived in Maplewood, would you care to come to a free-stan- ding, characterized pub ... in your own area?’’ he asked, almost dar- ing me to say ‘‘no, thanks.” Anyway, he stresses that his application — like the others — has had only preliminary accep- tance. They must all go through the municipal approval process (three are in North Vancouver District, one in North Vancouver City). That might not be easy. There could be plenty of opposition. The Neighborhood Pub Owners’ Association of B.C. is clearly hostile. ('m still puzzled by the big green light given to no less than four applications at once by the LCLB — which, when it ran under the unbending chairmanship of Col. Donald McGugan and was called the Liquor Control Board, was famous for its glacial resistance to change. Vve been trying — and this is to cast no aspersions on any of the applicants — to suppress one nig- gling suspicion that might explain the LCLB’s sudden gate-opening. There’s an election coming. ST TE SOME WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS HAVE A WAY OF BRINGING FAMILIES TOGETHER. Here are the facts. No one gets up in the morning thinking, “This is a great day to get hurt at work.” In fact, many people have been neglecting safety at work for so tong they don’t O) Safety. Let's Work On Se even know they’re doing it. Every day they put themselves in more danger. Last year, 168 workers who thought they couldn't get hurt were killed. Please, be careful on the job. WORKERS COMPENSATION BOARD **.2.