4 - Friday, November 12, 1993 - North Shore News

Another look at how Wes

GARDEN OF BIASES |

A WEE spot: of bother

* followed last Friday’s col-
umn dctailing the

. disgruntlement of a ramp
group of businessmen with
how. West Vancouver, the
province’s richest
municipality, is run.

/ The group, remnants of the
bricf-lived West Vancouver Civic
‘Association, is endorsing several

, candidates for council and school
- board in the Nov. 20 election.

- Some points and fresh develop-
ments to consider:

@ It’s bretty clear that this
grumble i is the edge of a tax
revolt, the result of progressive

: downloading of costs from the
“federal to the srovincial to the
municipal governments, with the
ultiniate bill paid by you-know-

“a whol’,

* Councils and mayors, including
“West Vancouver’s Mark Sager,
have resisted’mightily, and last
~ §pring even forced Victoria to
» back up a little..: ‘
“ Councils protest that much of
their tax bill — 47% of Van-.
couyer’s, more than half.of West.
Vancouver's — is on behalf of ”
other spenders, especially school
boards and, in this area, the.
bi Hooning and politically bullet-
proof.Greater Vancouver Regional .
District. -But‘councils are stiff ed
with taxpayer anger." |
. Well-informed voters —_ and
you can never know too much or
take too much trouble to find out
- should determine who voted
for: what, rather than fall prey to
* the; temptation to “turn the rascals
out)”’ as they have dramatically
done in provincial and federal

[¢ INSIDE STORM WINDOWS

# SEALED DOUBLE GLAZE INSERTS
* DOUBLE GLAZED CONVERSIONS

elections in recent years.

There’s # particular sting in
these elections for incumbent
councillors: they have to defend
their records while their leader,
Mayor Sager, is immune.

Vd certainly have voted for
him, but I’m dismayed that he’s
been acclaimed.

Better for the general health of
the community and for the stret-
ching of his own political muscles
if he’d been opposed.

Of course it’s a tribute to Sager
that none of the 10 prospective
challengers sought out by the
dissenting band would accept.

As one of them, John Catch-
pole, said, Sager is one of the
most politically adept people he’s
met, having honed his skills since
boyhood.

@ And speaking of being
well-informed, I'd urge voters to
get 200% behind incumbent Andy
Danyliu’s proposal to get council
meetings untangled from school
board ones.

It may convenience the bureau-
cracy or the politicians or both to
hold council and board meetings
on Monday nights, but it sure as
hell frustrates the citizen who
wants to/has to attend both.

It’s absurd that al! three North
Shore councils meet the same
night, for that matter.

The media inciuding Shaw
Cable are stretched to cover all of
them too. Some cynics suggest
that the bureaucracies are quite
happy about that.

. @& Speaking of appearances,
there’s that claim by Catchpole
and friends that the ‘‘real’’ coun-

cil meeting is held behind closed

doors, and the public one is all
sweetness and light. ;
I think there's at least some
truth to that, but be fair. The.” .
public is supposedly fed up with
bickering, partisan politicians and

Ts

vicious personal attacks. Just look |“:

at Vancouver City Council.

* So shouldn’t we be grateful to ~
have an intelligent, harmonious
council composed of sincere peo-
ple of broadly shared views?

: There are plenty of bitterly

divided ones that are more enter-"
taining — and better copy for the
press —.than ef fective. j

® At this writing — early /
deadlines because of the Remem-
brance Day holiday, you know — -
this news hasn't broken: the West
Vancouver Citizens for Good
Government is supporting. incum-

- bents Danyliu, Pat Boname, Rod

Day, Don Griffiths, Ron Wood

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and newcomer/oldcomer Allan
Williams for council; Clive Bird,
Ken Haycock, Michael Mac-
Dougall, Tim Slater, and ~ the
sole incumbent — Jean Ferguson
for the school board.

I'd call that an ominous judg-
ment on the present board.

@ Having said all that: grum-
bles and all, our town’s residents
are fantastically happy with the
services that council presides over.

A municipally-commissioned
MarkTrend survey, also not
released at this writing, of 400
residents interviewed Sept, 30 to
Oct. 4, showed that, of those
responding, 51% were ‘‘very
satisfied ,’’? 45% ‘‘satisfied’* with
municipal services — a total of
96% — with only 4%
“dissatisifed.”” =

And 79% feel they get good
value for their property taxes, 11
percentage points higher than in
1983,

This fat survey is worth a close
look. t

@ Finally, I’ve been subtly told
— by self-interested parties —
that my piece last Friday seemed
to endorse the tough criticisms by
Caichpole and friends Chuck
Walker, Mike Smith and Bill
Brown. :

Now, any columnist chooses his
subject matter; I might have
chosen to write on How I Spent
the Summer. But I found the cri-
tique at the very least stimulating
and publicly worth recording.

I too would like lower taxes —-
who doesn’t? And better services

y-~ who doesn’t?

In detail, though, I — and
readers — could find lots of
disagreement. ;

“Example: Catchpole dismisses
the need for a west-side recreation
centre to replace the shrinking
Eagle Harbour one, arguing that
the folks there can drive or take
the bus to the main rec centre.
Well, that’s a lot easier for
Catchpole — a’member of the
Hollyburn Club — to say than it
is for moms and dads in the area,
such as my own sweet self.

And Mary Fawley’s figures
presented tc council on Monday

for the Eagle Harbour Community

Services Society clearly show that

At City

t Van is

eing run

interests, the tax rebels included.
Don’t we?

dumping the westsiders on the

main facility would simply crush

it. ;
But then, we al} have our self-

ELECT
for
SCHOOL
TRUSTEE

NORTH VAN DISTRICT |
Lorraine

[x] BENNETT |

Joanne

X | STEPHENSON

NORTH VANCOUVER

The Corporation of the District
of North Vancouver

invites
PROPOSALS. for DEVELOPMENT -
of a 36-UNIT SENIORS? COMPLEX -
at WEST 16th and BRIDGMAN.

Information packages are available from the Land’
Department, District Annex, 253 E. 14th St
North Vancouver, B.C: V7L 2N5 Tel: 987-7131 :

ROD CLARK

. FACT: Ina Notice of Motion back in February ’92, Rod Clark proposed an immediate
2 year Hiring Freeze at City Hall. He also fought for a Zero Increase Budget later that spring.

FACT: The 1994 Budget Objectives adopted November Ist call for “provision of the same
service as 1993 without the additional use of funds” (Zero Increase Budget) and for “a moratorium
on the hiring of new regular positions” (Hiring Freeze).

“Thanks Rod, for showing Them the Way”

Hilton Shandler, Apex Tire