MUNECIPAL ELECTION

NORTH VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL

17 candidates vie for
council, mayor's chair

Wednesday, November 10, 1993 - North Shore News ~ 3

OS a

REPORT CARD

Coun. Bill Bell has been an effective debater, even if his sentences
sometimes get away from him. He atlends most meetings and usually
seems well briefed on the issues. He is prepared to make compromises
on issucs to find solutions and always makes it clear why he has taken a

NORTH Vancouver City residents will
elect six councillors.and one mayor in
‘the Saturday, Nov. 20, municipal elec-
tions. , _-
-Contributing‘ writer. Stephen Wisenthal, who
: regularly covers North Vancouver City Council
mectings for the Nerth Shore News, offers the
following opinion and analysis piece on the per-
ermance of individual ily. council incumbents
duzing their past term in office (Also sce page
14 for. summary biographies of ail city council
candidates). -
North Vancouver City Council members
perate: ‘effectively together despite their differ-
nces; making.their meetings probably the
moothest of.any municipal council on the
North Shore. it marks were being handed out

exciting week after week. Still, there must be

They have to show an interest in an endless
stream of duplexes, dog taxes and develapment
permits, which are of great importance to the
city residents directly affected, but hard to find

some attraction - all seven existing members of John
council] are running for new three-year terms, * .
with Coun. Rod Clark challenging Jack Loucks Braithwaite

for the mayor's chair.

When it comes to grading the incumbents as
councillors, one has io ask how effective they
have been in debate in the council chamber, and
how they have worked to make council's deci-
sion-making process run for the benefit of the
community. None ef them is disruptive or
awful, and they all have their faults, bul some
councillors shine brighter than others.

can be surprising given his comments.

stand on an issue. .

It has been a tough year for Coun. John Braithwaite. After months of
pain, he underwent back surgery in the spring, and missed a lot of coun-
cil meetings. This makes it difficult to assess'a mark. But Braithwaite -
does not always make his positions clear during | debates, and his votes

You can always look to Coun. Rod Clark for a good quote, but.a lot of
his bluster tends to fall away when it comes to voting. He. has presented
a torrent of motions to council recently, many of them taking. shots at.

for effort, everyone would get’an A.

Staff will report back-to council
on the issue in six weeks, |.
“The. .connection between .
western recreation ‘centre, and the

has? delayed action,on the’ recre-
ation: facility,” West . Vancouver

entre proponent Mary Fawley.

‘Fawley, appearing before coun-
cil-as-a delegation, expressed the
frustration - residents. from the

from ‘council, over. the past few

syears. ©:

‘Weare under. the gun ‘here in

* terms of time,‘ said Fawley.
Recreation, services “currently

provided’ at Eagle Harbour School

will ‘be reduced ‘in two years and

“the ‘lease terminated two years

after that, Fawley said...

So far, the ‘municipality has ap-

Councillors work hard. for their $16,238
salary. ‘They attend weekly’ council meetings, sit
on a variety of committees and d sactifi ice a good |

Biographies compiled by Surj Rattan

_ years, member of Lions Gate
Hospital Board and former
A) chairman, chairs
“(' Shore Health

intend to.secure a‘cruise *
“ship' terminal for!the western :
portion’. of
“tile/Burrard - Drydock site‘at:
=the; foot of: ‘Lonidale. Iwill:

the .

Caulfeitd. middle: school ‘project

District <.Council..told recreation .

western area’ ofthe municipality.
feel about the perceived inaction ‘

Mayor

‘of North

the : Versa- |

: yANCOUVER Council voted Moriday to establish a
_ committee : ‘to examine innovative approaches to funding a
new recreation centré for the municipality.

WEST VANCOUVER
DISTRICT COUNCIL

by Maureen Curtis

proved only the concept of a

western recreation centre. Council:

has not made the kind of com-
mitment residents want, she said.

“ But council members said they
have been negotiating with West
‘Vancouver School District, 45 for
some time about an agreement
that would enable the municipality

‘to build a recreation centre on

school district Jand next to the
future Caulfeild middie school.
The centre would be placed by the
schoo} in exchange for land for an

elementary school above the Up- —

per Levels Highway. —
But the municipality does not
own the possible recreation centre

See North Vancouver City Council
candidate biographies on page 14

North Vancouver

Mayor for the past 16 years,
-city alderman for two years
prior to
: Vancouver :Kiwanis Club
member, past member of
Lions Gate Hospital board.,

L.wouild hope we would have
the Lower Lonsdale redevel-
‘opment well on its way. |
“would hope we will have a
new police building. 1 would
hope we have an.even better
way of atgeting public input.

_ recreation centre

Dean

City’

Barbara
Perrault

that, North’

Sharp

site. The property is owned by the
provincial government and the
potential elementary school site is

- owned by British Pacific Proper-

ties Ltd.

“We didn’t- even know until a
week ago that the school was go-
ing to be built,” said Coun. Rod
Day, referring to the permission
the provincial government recently
gave for the controversial building
of Caulfeild school with procceds
from the residential development
of the Hillside middle school site.

Fawley pointed out that there
could be considerable cost savings
in timing the construction of the
with that of
Caulfeild middle school. :

Coun. Andy Danyliu suggested

‘that these costs and cost’ savings

should be determined so that tax-
payers could know exactly how
the project might affect them.

Council intends to finance the
recreation centre project with
money generated through ° the
municipality’s: fairly young en-

Stella Jo

-. Barbara -

dowment fund.

shared-use agreement between the
school and the recreation centre.

Mayor Jack Loucks. Clark takes strong personal stands on many issues,
but is also prepared to be swayed by community opinion. He can some-
times be forthright to the point of being rude, but his impatient attitude .
can make sense when council debate gets way off track...

_ Coun. Stella.Jo Dean sometimes gets upset when things don't go her
way, even to the point of walking out of meetings. And her comments -
during debates can lean too much on summarizing staff reports to coun-
cil. But she consistently stands up for issues she feels strongly about,”
such as beautifying the community and helping keep.young people out _
of trouble. Nobody can fault Dean on the amount of work she does on
committees. and council business - she has always visited” the sites of
zoning battles: ‘

Longtime Mayor Jack Loucks! 16 years of experience show i in a his steady :
hand on council. The smooth running of the council, despite: some:
strong political differences between the councillors, is a tribute to:his
ability. He normally lets the members of council work out issues among
“themselves, reserving his comments for issues where he has.a’ ‘strong.
opinion or contentious issues where his may be > the deciding, vote, :

Coun. Barbara Perrault's strengths a are similar to those of Coun, Dean * she :
has clear opinions about preserving the quality of life in the city. But she
not as effective a member of council and shares Dean's'habit of regurgit
ing the contents of staff reports. She sometimes’ seems unclear in debates;

making statements which do not have an obvious connection with the way ”. |:

she eventually votes, In her defense, this has been her fist termon council,
while all the other members are on at least their second terme,

If speakers at public hearings are having ‘trouble’ making a point “Coun. a:
Barbara Sharp will often ask questions to help them ‘clarify their con--
cerns. This attitude extends.to debates in council. She tries to present ©
motions which resolve differences between factions ‘on, council. Sharp :
may not always make the most noise at meetings, but her statements ’are'”
well thought-out and show a clear understanding of the i issues

a

Index —.
- Hl Budget Beaters ...!..52.
GI Business. 3. 02.0....045
BA Classified Ads .......56

i Doug Collins........ 7

“If the endowment fund is’
proceeding along as planned (and Bob Hunter........ . 4
Eagle Harbour facilities are to © : ; :
shut down in four years) then. we i Insights ............ 6

tt if
ar ae Tact On target," Wood & Inquiring Reporter ...4.

One of the ‘concerns is that the . @ Lifestyles ...... 1.  D
schoo] ‘site..might not be large eon
enough to accommodate both a 8 News of the Weird. ..50
recreation centre and a future ex- :
pansion ‘of Caulfeild middle North Shore Now... .23
school to secondary school size. '

“We need to have more of a @Sports.....0...0.0.. 17
look. ‘at’ your expectations, We TV Listings’. 37
may need a pool'and an arena in . .
the west and 25! years down the f@ What's Going On....43

road we may be looking at moving
that
Coun. Pat Boname warned.

facility from Caulfeild,’’

Weather

According to municipal man-

ager Doug Allan, negotiations _ . Thuysday mostly cloudy with
between the municipality and the - 50% chance of precipitation.
school district are focused on | Hiehs 9°. | co .
three issues: cost sharing for ser-° . Highs %, lows °C.
vices, title of the site and a i Ve

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