A2-Wedmesday, August 27, 1980 - North Shore News

A strictly personal

on the front down, the
curtains parted only a slit

and Mama glared out at me, LOOK GREAT...FEEL GREAT.
by Bob Hunter sangneary “""*" [LOOK GREAT...FEEL GREAT}

As a rule it’s always the landlord who is
depicted as a bad character out of a Dicken’s

novel.

But, you know, life being
as strange as it really is,
there are plenty of cases
where the Dark Force finds
itself using tenants as pawns
in the evil plot to destroy
peace and harmony in the
universe, and landlords can
actually be good guys.

By way of illustration, let
me tell you about my first
(and only) experience as a
- landlord.

It was back in the fall of
1968. ['d purchased a house
in darkest Burnaby, but even
there one could automati-
cally assume that the joint
could be resold at a profit
somewhere down the road.

I mean, the value of the
place wasn't likely to triple
within a year, or anything
like that. Not in those days.
Not in Burnaby. Still — an
investment in property was
an investment in property
and nobody, but nobody,
could lose in such a deal.

Well...

I was going through the
tail-end of my youthful
idealism period, I guess. At
any rate, I decided, after

purchasing the place, that so
long as I got the basic
amount of money that I
needed out of it, I should
rent it to someone who really
needed shelter. Someone
that nobody else would rent
to. Someone desperate.

So, when people started
phoning up in response to
the ad I'd placed, I put them
all on hold until the fifth call
came in.

It was from a woman in
her early forties whose
alcoholic husband had run
out on her, leaving her with
five kids and no money. She
was on welfare.

“Lady, you've got it,” I

She was perfect. Not only
in her forties, abandoned
with five kids, but she was
fat, ugly and nearly illiterate
as well. The kids were ali
scruffy, with big brown eyes
out of which, at any
moment, you knew a huge
tear was about to emerge.

Autumn leaves were
clicking across the lawn as |
handed over the keys and
the little kids smiled pitifully

Good landlord Bob

and Mama gave me an adult-
to-adult look that meant she
thought I was a Good Man.

And, y’know, I felt pretty
good. I mean, it wasn't a big
deal, nothing to puff your
chest up about. It was just a
kind of small, decent
gesture. A spark of com-
passion in the enveloping
existential gloom, if you
know what I mean. I thought
to myself, lad, you can't be
all rotten.

Yes, indeed.
Well, this good feelin
lasted until it came time for
the first monthly payment of
the rent. Being, as you may
have gathered, somewhat
dewy-eyed and naive, I!
stopped in at the house to
pick up the cheque, rather
expecting the five kids to
rush out and throw their
arms around me. Good old
Uncle Bob, the Good

Landlord.
Instead, as I climbed out of
the car and started toward
the front gate, the kids all
looked up, then darted for
hiding. One of them stuck
his tongue out at me as he
ran away.

Strange, thought I.

When I cheerfully tapped

NV District backs away
from total parks curfew

North Vancouver Distnct
parks will be spared curfew
reguiations after all — with
the exception of the six
already affected and the
possible addition of Kilmer
Park.

District council defeated a
bylaw amendment = which
would have closed all
Distnct parks from 10 p.m.
to 6 a.m.

Instead, an amendment to
add Kilmer to the list was
introduced and given first
and second reading It will
come up for adoption at the
next mecting of council,
September 2.

Council remains divided
over Uhe tssuc.

Alderman Jim Ball, who
opposes closing any of the
parks, still maintains that “if
were going to close six, we
may as well close them all”

But. Alderman Mary
Segal, who also opposes
closures, has consastently
voted against them = She
cchocd Ball's concern that
closing the parks one by onc
as Complaimts arouse could
create an “admunistrative
mghtmarc”

Alderman Crist,
who supports closing all the
parks asa “trnal balloon” said
council has an “immecdiatc
responsibilty to protect ares
residents.

ferme

however un
picasant the tash may be~

Alderman Peter Powcll
vad he could aot support
closing any more parks unatl
“we have some hard data”
that the measure os cfifective
in the sux alrcady under the
tinal curfew

Cnst said the RCMP
support the curfew -- but had
assured him that “utmost
discretion” would be used in
its application.

Alderman John Lakes
said, “I will not sit stall with
‘discretion’ -- if the parks are
closed, it must apply to
everyone, otherwise we're in
contempt of the law .~

Lakes opposed closing all
the parks but supported
adding Kilmer to the curfew
hst on the grounds of
complaints he and other
council members had
received

Nonetheless, he said he
would hke to see more
specific pohce documen
tavon of the problems at
Kalmer

Lakes said the problem
ultamatcly lay with socicty

“1 don't know where the

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He further suggested, “We
may have to increase the
police force -- get them out
of their cars, on thew feet
with dogs if necessary .~

Mayor Don Bell said basic
democratic nmghts include
“the recognition of the mghts
of others to peace and quict
and does not include a nght
to abuse the nghts of
others ~

Mayor Bell referred to the
Distnet’s “vandahsm repon™
for July He said $1,000
damage had been done to
Kalmer park alone

The motton to include
Kilmer Park under the
curfew bylaw carned four
two, with Aldermen Segal
and Powell against
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heard a loud, slurred male
voice.

“What d’you want?” the
woman growled.

Me, surprised: “Why, the
rent!”

Her: “I haven't got any

The picture got clear
pretty fast. The woman's
husband had come back.
(Surprise, surprise!) And
while her story was other-
wise true, she'd neglected to
mention that she was an
alcoholic too and _ that,
between them, they drank
up the welfare money every
month.

A bitter October wind was
blowing. Of course, it is
against the law to throw a
family out on the streets in
winter, even if one can steel
oneself to watch the litte
children shivering in the
snow, clinging to the hems of
their gaunt-eyed mother,
etc.

I tned several umes to
collect the rent but never got
much further than having
the kids hiss at me like geese
while the mother screamed
obscenities from behind a
locked door.

It wasn't until the spring
that I could legally evict
them, and by then they’d
made such a mess of the
house that it didn't seem
worth repairing. | sold it for
the price I'd paid in the first
place.

Never have got around lo
renting a place oul since.

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