6 — Friday, April 4, 1997 — North Shore News inorth shore The Mort Store News is published by North ‘Shore Free Prees Ltd., Pabliciex Peter Speck, from 1136 Lenedale Avense Wecth Vescouver, 8.C., V7iA 24 re OTHER Nature’s outburst on Easter Sunday offered a well-timed reminder of just who is in charge around here. On a day when Christians commem- orated the Resurrection of Christ, ele- mental forces let themselves be felt. Winds gusted to 91 km/h. Trees top- pled and crushed whatever was in their path. Ferry sailings to and from Horseshoe Bay were suspended. The Lions Gate Bridge was shut down. Fifty-five thousand homes throughout the Lower Mainland were without power. The traffic flow at many inter- PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (191} ee Simothy Managing Editor 985-2131 (116) Peter Kvarnstrom Dispiay Manager 980-0511 (103) Mother rules sections remained an extreme test of dri- ving goodwill well into Monday with the authority of traffic lights removed from the commuting equation. Humans by nature tend to be anthropocentric. We iove to think of ourselves as the central factor within the universal scheme of things. Yet higher forces are at play. A dose of humility is a good thing. Call it a reality check. Strong wind upon flesh and bone brings perspec- tive. We are somewhat small and vul- nerable after ali. The march through the course of a day is never a sure or HERE'S WHERE A CASH COW STARTS T‘SMELL LIKE A LOTTA BULL. ae lee, The blab , 0 - RALLYE Si "Noe zs ATA TE: SSOP LEE LE LYRA TIMORIEE ABS, TER Syste Ly Tesry Peters Promotions Mf Frotography Manager 985-2131 (160) anager 985-2131 (218) Distribution Manager Creative Sendces Marage 968-1337 (124) 905-2131 (zn WEST Vancouver councillors and town hall’s top staff are in a far nastier colli- sion with each other over cost-cutting and rising taxes —- anything like the mooted 9.5% should ignite a revolt! — than published reports indicate. There is a smoul- dering undercurrent of rage that hasn’t surfaced publicly because politicians and bureaucrats have to live with each other. Open hassles with each other are rare. Their common interest is impressing citizens that their government is efficient, thrifty and all such good things. Contrary evidence isn’t wel- come. Which brings us to the background on the West Vancouver Municipal Employces Association’s sensational — and informed — rec- ommendations, in a letter from WYMEA busi- ness agent Brian Schramm to municipal manager Doug Allan, to cut costs, reported in the News March 26 after a brown-paper-envelope leak of the letter to some councillors. For example: There are three managers and 19 supervisors out of 34 full-time parks employ- ces, Becker-Hews 985-2131 (114) ie-Sports/Community Editor ne 985-2131 (147) LETIERS TOT Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. VIA Intemet: trenshaw @ direct.ca COMPUTER BBS - 980-8027 User ID:mailbox « Password:letters we 7 “Feeling very top-heavy,” the employees write. Another allegation: Non-union staff overtime: “The present situation of exempt staff unac- countability is leading to abuses of overtime compensation.” Also: “Don’t replace the trucks so soon” — Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid, All rights reserved. PLACES NEED frmmany FOR WORKER, EF, they could run for at least another five years. “Curtail council's weekly dinners.” Too many committee meetings. Fewer land- scape architects. Why have a golf pro for cach of the the town’s public golf courses? Or both an arborist and a forester? The touchstone for this was the Dolphin report. It was complete last June. Council got it in February. The bureaucrats spent eight or nine months “discussing” the Dolphin recommendations for cost-cutting —— while councillors were officially (in some cases unofficially) unaware of its exis- tence. I asked hardnose, sharp-pencil new councillor Victor Duzman.about that long delay. Durman said, diplomatically, staff should have had one week to examine it. Maybe two. Then it should have gone to council. Or he’¢ demand to know why not. That’s why I put quotation marks around “discussing” a few paragraphs ago. It’s my delicate suspicion that the senior staff were furiously huddling together in damage con- trol mode before council got wind of the Dolphin report. You've heard of a certain smelly substance hitting the fan. Well, if you control the fan on- off burton, you can nicely avoid being covered with the stuff. The buck stops squarely on the desk of municipal ‘manager Doug Allan. The best construction you can put on Allan’s long delay in passing on the report is that there genuinely were details to clarify with department heads and changes that could be made quickly — things that any private or public administration would be pratetul to have pointed out and to rectify. Or it may bespeak personal loyalty and kind- 4 news viewpoint predictable thing. We urban folk, so pampered and indulged by virtue of being plugged into energy and transportation grids, have in a large way measured progress and success in terms of how well pro- tected we have managed to bdccome from the whims of the world at large. We find inherent threat in the wild, the unpredictabie. And yet there is joy too. Hew many of us found meaningful time by candlelight -— without televi- sion, without our electric suits of armor? eyecadiipen xe Kayaker photo in poor taste Dear Editor: The North Shore News has again broken the boundaries of taste, ethics, and privacy by pho- tographing a critical; injured kayak- er who later died. = This was a ternble tragedy, bur “ i how do his family and friends feel : | abour such a photograph on the front page, particularly if they had not yet been informed? News photographers have crossed this line at least -nvo other times in the recent past. 1 find it ironic since you are doing such a good and valiant job in fighting government intrusion into our pri- vate lives. Being photographed and published in a tragic, fatal siruation is surely the ultimate intrusion of our privacy! Otherwise, North Shore News, please keep up: the good werk. Tim Evans North Vancouver Blasting W. Vancouver’s bureaucracy ness. It’s sad that business’ cultural heroes in these mean times are job-destreyers like the guy nicknamed “Chainsaw Al.” - ; I have no axe to grind with Doug Allan. But he’s left himself open to the charge that in this instance he was more concerned about the inter- ests of the staff, including the unionized employ- ees, than of West Vancouver citizens. Those citizens, as the world knows, pay far higher taxes per head than thosé in any other Greater Vancouver municipality — on average, as. our News chart showed, nearly twice as much as North Vancouver City ($4,039 vs. $2,047 in" 1996). West Vancouverites must demand far less of an increase in taxes than the 9.5% that’s been mentioned (a sly trial balloon, to make us feel relieved when it’s only, say, 7%?). Cut those costs. 000 About the Jenny Kwan affair: ; West Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA Te Nebbeling should Icarn a stern lesson. Don’t lie, in any language. Especially when you’re publicly accusing others of lying. New Democrat Kwan weepily played the racial card. Some 80-90% of ethnic Chinese callers to an open-line show didn’t support her. Good for.shem. . Clearly, the legislature should pass a resolu- tion affirming, that its sole language is English except for brief salutations to foreign visitors, short quotations and such. — The North Shore News believes strongly in freedom of speech and the right of all sides in a debate to be heard. The coluemnists published in the News present differing points of view, but those fait are not necessarily those of the newspaper itself.