ORTH Shore councils will always have something to do as long as there are illegal . suites around. . _Itlegal or secondary suites are usu- ally found in basements in single fam- ily homes. They are adapted for rent at various degrees of safety and com- .. fort. They are about the only housing “option in these parts for the monetar- - ily challenged: students, newlyweds, ~ minimum wagers and single parents. _, Homeowners who live upstairs and don’t need extra cash from basements feel illegal suites are a sign that a * neighbourhood is going to ruin: They : want all secondary suites shut down. Single family property should: mean just that. ‘For, years, North Shore councils have had extended chin wagging ses- sions over the topic. They have sent lent vie VIEW POINT. mixed messages to residents. The thorny issue stays underground and ignored for the most part. Then the perennial complaint about a suite comes up at council and yet another crack-down on illegal secondary suites is ordered. Such was the case this month in North Vancouver City. Now poor city dwellers must keep their drapes drawn in fear of a municipal mandarin spotting a stove near a base- ment window. That’s no way to live. Secondary suites should be safe. Neighbours should not be inconve- nienced by them, Beyond that, munic- ipal councils need to put aside resi- dential pettiness and acknowledge that thriving communities are made up of rich, poor, young, old and everyone in between. The North Shore needs affordable housing. It doesn’t need hot air and suite police. ONE man’s 2000: Excerpts from a diary/notebook: Jan. 18: Elizabeth (my wife) at the din- ner table said that our son, the Middlest, had said something “pro- _ found.” “What was it?” hired for three. weeks a as a cashier for Christmas help. T he enthusiastically advised me to rent his Shaughnessy suite 35-odd years ago ——- is quoted in the National Post that ae are * _ only twe ways to fail his’ course: “Cheat, or use the word ‘lifestyle’.” 5 ~ Lawoke today more light- carted than - any boy, if boys are as I reinember them . Why so? What brings us these’ moods o} : euphoria, what removes all our grief, or : does the oppc ngite? -June 30: John Rocker, pitcher for the .~ Atlanta Braves who inflamed some fans ~~ With his pu ublished remarks [about race, ~. r] New York City ete.], was quoted in today’ 8 Globe and Mail “1 am merely a baseball player and, in the great scheme of things, my thoughts, opinions and attitudes are o} ittle importance.” Thus proving himself. . much smarter than his hysterical attackers. July 10: Prof. Albiis Dumbledoce, in: oy K. Rowling’s. Harry Potter and thé Philosopher's Stone, tells Harry: “It does not’ ve,” ame, full address ‘and. telephone numb ~ Sabet via e-mail to: mhacker@nenews. . Eatetal ane: 7 Fey 885-2131 (160) TRIED THar S “the most immobility icld, B.C. July 29: The realities of our society are that you can be a stupid liberal and get away with it, an | escape not open to a stu pid of indeed even a wise conserva Aug. 5: The greatest exploitability —- this is the state’s. - ideal taxpayer. [Pro ably inspired by tt outrageous escape from paying tax on an alleged $750 million worth of assets - removed from Canada by’ the Bronfina family.} Aug: 7: Reading i is an ‘act OF comm “ty withbut the necessity of meeting smelly humanity. Aug. 16: The ‘only reai po the power to be able to do something for Aug. 23: Lord Acton: the power of doing what we like, ait the right to do what we oughit.” : “Aug. 26:1 would never trust a man who dees not lec his dog lick his dinner Life is exceptions. ‘In fact the: | family life; supposedly the ¢ dull ~and most orderly, is nothing but exceptions - the guerrilla warfare of civic life, always + ‘ unpredictable, off-balance, and’ imaginative, desperat : and id hoc measures to avoid defea : Nov. 11: Into each rain a little life ig . said:.““Can we open our presents carly in nake it through the night”