Katharine Hamer Contributing Writer SQUEAKY floors drove Ingrid Blanchet to the brink of espair. She vows) they won't keep her out of West Vancouver. The 77-year-old) grand- mother left Kiwanis Park Seniors Home at the end of October after a tissle over noise levels in the building. Now Blanchet is living in rented accommodation in North Vancouver, but she says shell do anything to get back to the municipality she loves — even if it means “knocking on doors along the seawall” in West Van. Blanchet) moved into Kiwanis Park carly in September. She claims the noise caused by her upstairs neigh- bour was intolerable. “f couldn’t have imag- ined that was going to hap- pen — I'd never been in a squeaky place befare,” she said. Originally from Ontario, Blanchet was in the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service) during the war before settling on the North Shore with her family. When she and her hus- band divorced in 1966, Blanchet sold her house and moved into the first of a series of apartment build- ings. A few years ago, she had settled comfortably into the Rorary Club Retirement Home in West Vancouver. Buc she gave up her place there t move to Kelowna with her son. By the time she returned to the Lower Mainland, Kiwanis Park was the only other home avail- able to her in’ West Vancouver, Blanchet said she only learned after moving into the building that problems with noise had caused the previ- ous tenant of her suite to move to anogher residence in North Vaneéuver. According to Blanchet, the trouble began betore her time at Kiwanis, when her upstairs neighbour lett the building without ¢ key and was subsequently locked our. “She was banging on the door, shouting, ‘What is this, the Gestapo, anyway?” said Blanchet. She claims the incident precipitated a berween stand-off the residents of NEWS photo Mike Wakefield INGRID Blanchet is looking for a home in West Vancouver. The senior claims she left the municipatity when she could no longer endure living with squeaky fioors. upper and lower floors, with those on the ground floor declaring themselves “on strike,” and refusing to mon- itor the locking of doors on the upper level of the build- ing. Ir was only a few days after her arrival that Blanchet began to hear excessive noise from the suite above hers. “All the floors squeak,” she said, “because the con- struction in those buildings is so cheap. But someone who wants to make some- thing of it can make the squeak worse.” Blanchet suggests that her upstairs neighbour was deliberately causing excessive noise. “She purposely dug her heels into the floor,” said Blanchet. “She put more weight on her heels, and she walked heavier, like a man.” Blanchet had difficulty substantiating her claims. When Kiwanis Park manage- ment and caretaking staff her suite, thev inspected to detect an were unable unusual level of noise from the floor above. “She was very cagey, that woman,” said Blanchet, “she used to stop squeaking whenever she heard anyone coming into my apartment.” When she could no longer endure the noise, Blanchet began to tap on the ceiling with a broom handle. She even tried calling West Vancouver Police. But noth- ing seemed to stop the per- sistent squeaking. “IT was almost driven round the bend,” © said Blanchet, who after nights of “sleep deprivation” decided to walk away from her trou- ble. “I packed a few things one night, and pur on some leggings, and just’ started walking,” she said. 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But Blanchet didn’t want to stay at Lions Gate cither. “TE just wanted to get some sleep,” she said, “and they wouldn’ t give mea bed there.” Blanchet didn’t resurface for two days, when she tele- phoned her doctor trom the downtown YWCA she had found her way tu after leav- ing Lions Gate. Carriage Management Inc., which owns and oper- ates Kiwanis Park, eventual- ly asked Blanchet to vacate her suite, claiming that she had been “unreasonable” in her complaints about noise. Blanchet is now secking a new home in West Vancouver. She is also trying to recover the rent she paid to Kiwanis Park, claiming, that her life was put in danger by squeak-induced — slecpless- ness. . Blanchet, whose financial resources have often limited her choice of housing, said, “We need better service and better apartments — for seniors. “There just isn’t enough available.” FACTORY FUTON Entrance in fear lane . £16 MB EDO RAM & Ail Dot Matrix Printers Mon.- Sat. li-bpm Sunday 12-5 pm Urban myth rampant FLYERS and Internet notices circulating the Vancouver area in December that warned about a gang initiation practice involving head- lights are part of a hoax, according to police. Flvers warning about the gang initiation prac- tice were handed eut to Vancouver Shipyards employees in North Vancouver. Vancouver spokesman Set. Russ Grabb said the hoax warned businesses and residents about a youth gang initiation practice involving, motorists Hash- ing headlights at cach other. The warning suggest- ed that the first motorist to flash their headlights during the initiation on a city street would be shot by gang members. Grabb said the source of the hoax was unknown. 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