Canada’s Number One
| Suburban Newspaper

Apri! 28, 1985 News 985-2131 — Classified 986-6222

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THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

Circulation 986-1337 56 pages 25¢

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A RESIDENT of Century Apartments in North
Vancouver injured his arm Thursday after he
slipped on the building’s stairs because the railing
was unattached and hadn’t been repaired yet.

The same man is suing for
damages after his wife had
an accident in their apart-
ment last year due to a hole

_ in the floor.

“My wife fell in the
apartment and it took 10
months for the management
to repair the floor,”’ said te-
nant Leo Belair, one of sev-
eral people who have con-
tacted the North Shore News
to complain: about poor
upkeep of the building.

But apartment owner
Norm Cressey says com-
plaints are dealt with as they
comme up, and a 20-year-old
building is bound to have

~ things go wrong.
‘i. Cressey says there are no

holes ‘in: the floors: at. the
apartment building, but
rather there are dips due to
the compressed board being
more compressed in some
spots than others.

And the railings in the
building are being repaired,
Cressey said. ‘‘Railings are
now being inspected and
tightened by our labor crew.
General maintenance is be-
ing kept up.””

Last Monday afternoon,
Belair old the News the heat

in the building had been out
since the Friday ‘before. on
the St. Andrews side of the
building. Although it was
supposed to be fixed Mon-
day morning he said it was
not repaired until that even-
ing. -
“My: wife’ is getting sick
from the cold,” Belair said.
“There’s a lady down the
hall with a newborn baby
and she had to go out
because it was too cold.’’

Health inspector Ken
Cooper phoned the building
manager Joe Acheson Mon-
day a/ternoon to inquire into
why the heat was shut off.
Cvuoper said he was iold a
bolt on a valve had broken
on a'water heater.

“1 told the manager he
should have notitied the te-
nants that the heat was off,
but it was after the fact,’’
Cooper said.

Cressey checked into the
broken water heater and told
the News a bolt broke on
the water tank on the Satur-
day night, and because no
one was available to fix the
building on Sunday, the
problem was tended to first
thing Monday morning.

Until that time the heat
was turned off in one wing
of the building, but he said

regular hot water for sinks
and bathtubs was still work-
ing.

‘*You’ve got a 20-year-old
building,” Cressey, said.
“Yt’s like having ‘a 20-year-
old car. Things .go" wrong,
they need replacing.”

Belair also said the’ swim-
ming pool is not working
and the sauna. has. been shut
off from tenants’ use € during
the day. .

“People ‘are paying rent
for services they’re not get-
ting,’’ Belair “said. ‘'f don’t
intend to ‘pay. my rent if this
keeps up.77 00

Cressey said the fan Joader
in the pool broke down last’
week, and because the pool
has a 20-year-old motor, it
cculdn’t be . replaced’ but
rather is being . rewound.
Cressey also said the timing
switch on the sauna is out of
order, but that. the sauna is
being left on from-6 te 10
p.m.

Belair said building man-
ager Acheson is. leaving the
building and the building is
getting dirty and no vacuum-
ing has been done.

But Cressey said he cannot
replace the building manager
until Acheson leaves. “There
will be someone in there to
clean as soon as he’s left.’'

Cressey added: ‘We're
not a perfect landlord. I
don’t think there is such a
person, but we make repairs
as s they come to us.’’

Strike threatens at B.C. Rail

AFTER MARATHON ‘negotiations, BC Rail and
its unions were no closer to a settlement as of

press time Friday.

DAWN BURKE

B.C. Rail management,
the Council of Trade Unions
and a government mediator
met for 16 hours Thursday
with no progress in a long-
standing contract dispute.

The unions at BC Rail

~ have been without a contract

since February of 1984.
Barry Wall, speaking for
BC Rail said he expects 72

hour strike notice sometime
this weekend. If and when
strike notice is issued, BC
Rail will issue lockout notice
at the same time, Wall said.
There are seven unions in-
volved and the council has
taid eight issues on the table.
They are: contracting out,
job sescurity, joint
trusteeship of the health and
welfare plan, vacations,
jurisdiction, terminatioin of
employees on leave or off

sick, funding forthe council,
wages and contract duration,
“We regard these de-
mands as major innovative
changes and we're not
prepared to consider them
any further,’’ Wall told the
News. According to Wall,
the union considers any one
of the eight demands as a
strike issue and is willing to
walk out over any of them.
BC Rail is just looking for

a contract they can live with, ©

Wall said.”

But according to Mike
Sutter, who attended the
marathon session as a repre-

sentative for Plumbers and
Pipefitters Local 170 on the
Council .of Trade Unions,
talk of strike notice may be a
bit premature. .-

‘We haven’t told the me-
diator to book out” yet,”
Sutter said. ‘SAs far as I
know, we've made no deci-
sion to ask the mediator to
book out.’”

According the Sutter,
jurisdiction, contracting out
and money in the first year
are key issues in the negotia-
tions. But he adds, ‘‘We are
always optimistic there will
be a settlement.’” :