NORTH SHORE LAWNS are getting thirsty.

| By TIM RENSHAW

Record hot dry weather is
taking its toll on local grass,

turning traditional Van-
couver green to unfamiliar
Okanagan brown. Though
thesituation is a Godsend to
all those who dislike the
drudgery of mowing lawns,
continued dry conditions
could permanently jay these
lawns to rest.

‘Henry Dykhof, manager

- of Dykhof Nurseries, advises

more than water is needed to
return a healthy green glow
to local lawns in the current
glare of hot weather.
‘“‘Fertilizer high in
nitrogen, one pound per
every 100 square feet of
lawn, or if it’s a good

sulphur-coated, slow-release
fertilizer, should be spread
on lawns before sprinkling,’’
says Dykhof.

The best time to water, he
says, is early in the morning
both to avoid mildew and
loss of sprinkling water to
evaporation.

Martin Moore, Parks Su-
perintendent for the City of:
North Vancouver, advises a
12-4-8 fertilizer (12 per cent
nitrogen, four per cent
phosphate and eight per cent
potash), ‘‘a fertilizer with a
good amount of nitrogen
will help bring back the
green.””

But Moore warns against
blowing lawns out of their
sods with too much fertil-
izer. The amount of water
and fertilizer needed by a

lawn depends entirely on the
makeup of the ground it is
growing in, according to
Moore. Lawns planted in
sand or gravel dry out faster
and. therefore need more
water and more attention.
Fertilizer distributed on
gravel-anchored grass will
also be lost more quickly to
leaching than fertilizer
distributed on soil-anchored
grass. Moore says city play-
ing fields are fertilized four
times each growing season.

West Vancouver District’s
Parks and Recreation direc-
tor Frank Kurucz says tertil-
izer without water burns
lawns more than sunshine:
“always water after fertiliz-
ing.’

Though the Lower
Mainland has yet to reach a
crisis in its fresh water supp-
ly, Greater Vancouver

me NLAYS phate Mike Wakelleld

A FAMILIAR sight for Lower Mainland homeowners this year is dryer-than-dry brown
lawns. Homeowners are urged to carry out their watering of lawas with caution and are
warned to take care of lawns to prevent permanent damage from toc much sun and not

enough rain,

regional water district
spokesman, Bud Elsie, em-
phasizes that sprinkling to
revive parched lawns should
be carried out with a
measure of restraint, ‘‘We
are appealing to people to
conserve water.”

Elsie says the normal
water consumption in the
Greater Vancouver regional
district of 300 million
gallons per day at this time
of year has risen by one
third to 390 million gallons.
An all-time consumption re-
cord for a single day was
reached July 18 when the
district sopped up 448 mil-
lion gallons.

“Still, we have lots of
water, enough to last us te
October even if it doesn't
rain a single day. The pro-
blem we are having though is
that people are using water
faster than our distribution
system can fil! local reser-
voirs.””

The situation has reached
crisis proportions in areas
such as Burnaby where the
Central Park reservoir has
been close to depletion sev-
eral times in the past few
weeks, according to Elsie.

**We're asking people not
to water their lawns in the
afternoon. When it’s 90
degrees out,
that water is lost to evapora-
tion anyway.”? Elsie added
that late afternoon is tradi-
tionally the time of highest
water consumption.

He says the best time to
water is early in the morn-
ing.

Neither North Vaacouver
City or District have hourly
sprinkling restrictions but
both require odd numbered
street residences to water on
odd days and even numbered
residences to water on even
days. In West Vancouver the
odd even system is
augmented with hourly
restrictions limiting sprinkl-
ing to between 8 a.m. and |
p.m. and 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Cab company wins
right to compete

From Page 1

made, Hughes says, to put
his company on an even
competitive footing with
North Shore Taxi Ltd.
whose regular cabs and its
luxury Cadillac Cabs divi-
sion, which was launched in
1982, were both permitted to
charge cheaper rates than
Sunshine.

Until now Sunshine’s lux-
ury licensing has required it
to start its meters at $1.20
and charge $1 per kilometer.
North Shore charges $1 io
Start and 90 cents per kilo-
meter.

An MCC hearing into
Sunshine’s application was
held May 13 and 14. At that
hearing Hughes testified his
company had struggled to
gain a foothold on the North
Shore and had, despite fac-
ing opposition and copycat
tactics, launched a superior
taxi service that combined
driver courtesy and a rigid
driver dress code, with clean,

well-maintained company-
owned vehicles.

The success of the Sun-
shine philosophy and a
greater demand for the use
of its cars in longer trips had
left the company unable to
meet customer demand at
certain times of the day,
Hughes told the commission.
The solution, he said, was to
allow Sunshine to launch an
alternative non-luxury  ser-
vice outfitted with Sunshine
philosphies for shorter cab
runs.

Representing North Shore
Taxi Ltd. at the hearing,
Gary Corrigan, owner of
five North Shore cabs,
testified his company’s fleet
has dropped from 81 taxis in
1981 to 67 in 1985. The
company’s Cadillac division,
he said, lost $32,000 in its
first year of operation, and
all Cadillacs had since been
sold. Corrigan added that
though other luxury type
vehicles had taken their

place, the company was
prepared to discontinue its
luxury service entirely.

Corrigan told the commis-
sion Sunshine had misjudged
the market for a luxury taxi
service and was subsequently
trying to survive by moving
into the regular taxi market.

Masoud Fanai, General
Manager for North Shore
Taxi, described the MCC’s
decision as a fair one for the
public, but said the MCC is
hobbled by having no defini-
tion for what constitutes a
luxury taxi. He said he could
not understand why Sun-
shine, after originally con-
vincing the commission of a
need for luxury taxis on the
North Shore, was now mov-
ing into regular taxi service.

“There are 95 taxis servic-
ing the North Shore now,
and I think that is enough
for now, but we wil] have to
wait and see what game Mr.
Hughes is going to play
next.”

Hughes maintains that his
company has no intention of
getting out of the luxury taxi
business.

He says Sunshine will now
apply for an additional four
or five taxi licences and con-
sider further changes as a
result of the MCC ruling:
“We are really up for this.
We are ready to expand. Up
until now Goliath has had
protection from David, but
froin now on the North
Shore will have, for the first
time, face-to-face fair com-
petition between its taxi ser-
vices.”’

The MCC ruling stipulates
all vehicles operated by Sun-
shine must charge the same
rate,

‘Hughes says he has no
plans, as yet, to Jower Sun-
shine cab rates.

“If they drop their rates,”
says Fanai, ‘‘then we will
drop ours. There will be a
taxi rate war on the North
Shore."

70 per cent of .

3 - Wednesday, July 31, 1985 - North Shore News

2 NORTH SHORE

er: 980° Mercury

in. the carport, ‘she
fl ing’.

pre .
house ‘from ‘catching fire, :

: A. ‘NORTH Vancouver i

“woman . is, being charged ..

for: failing ‘to confine her:

yehicle to the right side of’

the’road after.an accident’ -

at Roxbury Road in ‘Deep :
“Cove. :
- Two vehicles collided:

after the 19-year-old
woman’s Pontiac round-

ed a sharp curve and

stéuck’ a pick “up. truck: in te
the oncoming: lane.) 3-3
The woman was: taken

_to- Lions ‘ Gate: Hospital

with: minor ‘injuries... The
26-year-old North” Van-
couver man driving .the
pick-up was not injured, -:”
The. Pontiac sustained
extensive. front-end dam-
age. :

es