Dear Editor:

The controversy over the
building of an arts centre in
Ambleside Park seems to be

centring on the availability of

soccer pitches. An important
topic for many: but it is just a

side issue.

The real question is: What
do we want from our parks?
Surely a park is an area reserved
for outdoor activities. A quiet
place where we exercise and
relax and have fin amid green-

Set provincial priorities

Dear Editor:

When are these bozos in
Victoria going to get their pti-
onties straight and stop playing
with taxpayers’ lives?

Lions Gate Hospital savs it

managed a budget surpius of

$500,000 which should help
its surgery waiting list of 3,200
people.

Can you imagine what we
could do with the $445 million
spent on the PacifiDog fast ter-
nes being shoved down our
throats?

But then [ guess if I was a
cancer patient on that waiting
list I woul.! be happier know-
ing I can get to Nanaimo 30
minutes faster then having
that operation that could save

ny lite.

And then there is the S80
million being spent to. finish
the same jeb on the Lions Gate
Bridge that was started in the
°70s after more millions have
been spent by Victoria “teas-
ing” us with various options.

Don’t worry, by the time
Glen and his union buddies are
done, the job will cost $300
million. Three years from now
we'll be scratching our heads
saying, “Wait a minute, wasn’t
$300 million supposed to buy
us a whole new bridge?” With
luck Mr. Clark will not be in
Victoria to answer those ques-
tions cither.

Barry Miles
North Vancouver

Take a bow for karate story

Dear Editor:

I write many letters to com-
munity newspapers concerning
their coverage of karate and
martial arts schools and events.
Until now, all of them have
been responding to misleading
information being given to the
public about karate in particu-
lar or martial arts in general.

Andrew McCredie’s cover-

age of the Sato Cup was infor-
mative and factual. It is a plea-
sure to find a reporter who
takes the time to research his
subject before he writes an
article. On behalf of Karate
B.C. I express thanks and
appreciation for his fine work.
James E. Johnson

Executive Director

Karate B.C.

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MAIL Box
Ambleside too valuable to be used as fuilicing site

ery and flowers and tresty air.

A place where we stroll, loll,
jog, run, picnic, push kids on
swings, read, sunbathe.

Some of us come in groups
— church and school and
birthday parties — with han-
pers of food; others come with
their families to picnic and buy
hamburgers trom the stand, We
organize matches on proper
pitches but we also play
impromptu games with

nakeshift goals,

We come from our apart-
ments and houses because we
want the space and fresh air and

light and the smelly of green

growth and the sea breezes.
Now che Parks and

Reereation Advisory

Conmmunission wants to take

away from usa large part of

Ambleside Park. They recom:
mend removing the three ten-
nis courts and the soceer pitch
at the northwestern end of the
park and replacing them with a
43,500 sy. ft. building and
parking for up to 250 cars.
Then they propose raking
away the grassy sward next to
the parking loz, across the road
from the kiddies playground

Friday, March 9, 1999 - North Shore News - 9

and fence in three tennis courts
there.

They also want to take aay
a huge piece of grassed land
berween the seawall and the
adventure playground —~ adja-
cent to the duck pond —~ and
turn it into a gravel soccer

pitch. And because a pitch of

grey gravel will be less pleasing
to the eve than the green grass
it replaces, they will build: a
berm to sereen it from the view
of walkers on the sea wall.

The upshot is chat the park
area for general enjoyment will
be cut down and families and

small parties will be largely
squeezed inte the area benveen
the park road and the seawall

What indoor facility could
there be that is so valuable that
we build it on irreplaceable tlar
parkland? Ifa facility is so use-
ful, so essential for us all, then a
building site will be found for
it.

But don’t take away one
square metre of open space
from Ambleside Park. It is far
too valuable to be a mere build-
ing site.

Jim Douglas
West Vancouver

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