~~ Shortsightedness “ 6 - Sunday, August 10, 1997 ~ North Shore News ANCOUVER City is on track, Gin isn’t North Vancouver The i ieee is streetcars, Specifically the lack thereof. Vancouver has recent- ly called tenders for a study into a ‘streetcar system in the city’s downtown area. Sound familiar? . Think Lower Lonsdale. Think max- imizing the wonderful opportunity to reinvent the waterfront area that has been. all. but abandoned by heavy industry.‘ Streetcars’ were once a big part of ~, North Vancouver City. As ‘chronicled by historian’ Henry _ Ewert in the News earlier this year, a network’ of.’ streetcars once’ serviced North Vancouver as far west as » Capilano River and cast to Lynn Valley. “and - so-called progress sidelined that fine transporta- THE North Shore News Free Speech Defence ie Fund’ continues to grow. To. press time: Friday, donations from over 1,300: News a readers and free speech supporters to the find stood at ‘$104, 389; Legal fees ‘expended thus far by the News have hit approximately $200,000, ‘The final bill 4 1 funds received ‘will help already will: be. -much higher, ‘x defray the legal costs faced * with the Human‘ Rights Tri e calise: ae cially in the press, te be taken away.” $ e Q00 * FT enjoy Doug's pjenminsi and agree with a lot of what be says It would bea tervible Hi to our sith and way ofl of life if ; ; Collins was silers —— BG. Daly of West Vancouver :." Donations to the fund can be sent to: 1139 Lonsdale Ave., ; North Vancouver, V7M 2H4. Cheques should be made out to the: North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund, woaky — trenshaw@direct.ca the News in its battle unal over a complaint ;.. laid against the newspaper and ‘its columnist Doug “Collins by the Canadian Jewish Congress, The hear- ~~ ing into the matter, which began on. May 12, con- cluded ‘on ‘June*27 , with final arguments at the ‘Century Plaza Hotel, 1015 Burrard St: The decision “from Nitya Iyer, the tribunal of one hearing the com-, laint, is expected some time later this year, lore excerpts from the hundreds of respondents to . QQ “We must not allow our edom of expresion, espe _ ~ Diane and: asim Brown of North Vancouver — ee didhdneeds epentetiientieatadaibeinaieaenannatiamarnmameenenaiiidans raanuneee aaeae nena nT ee werewyn ve north shore news VIEWPOINT Track time tion system in 1947, The track and all the cars, save one, have since been assigned to the preat transportation scrap heap in the sky, And while the practicality of re- installing track along all the original streetcar lines is questionable, reviving the old Lonsdale line running north from the waterfront would generate a host of positive spinoffs. For starters: a great tourist attrac- tion that would draw Shoppers, sight- seers and other visitors from the Lonsdale Quay area deeper into the city’s business district. Car 153, the sole remaining North Vancouver streetcar, was restored five years ago and remains mothballed at Mahon Park. Get it back on track and get streetcars rolling in North Vancouver City again. We don’t have to wait for Vancouver to lead the way. . THIS BEING the silly season in 8 the media calendar, what better Lions Gate Bridge? Asa TV comedy series the script to date would sweep prey award in Hollywood, In 1993 — engincers having given the present - span five more years of useful life — Victoria calls for proposals for a new crossing. Eight or so schemes emerge, most of them bridges plus a cou- ple of cunnels: subject for an August Sunday’s chuckle than (you guessed it!) the Victoria sets 1994 as decision year, Committces, panels and forums of “stake: holders” from both sides of the Inlet flourish like weeds in a long abandoned backyard. Every proposal except one is chewed over at endless sessions, pluses ared (bridges $ Fon, tunnels $600 million and up). “ry solution by the internationally renowned builder of the George M ced,” reliévin and minuses weighed, F price tags com- 00 million to $300 mil-" The one neglected submission: the Hans Bentzen Tunnel, a truly 21st centu- Tunnel, It would carry six lanes of crate -and two rapid transit tracks, and also bur- row under the downtown core to False Creek — > assing Stanley: Park and lot of downtown congestion, especial y on north-south arteries. The price tag? A hefty $1.2 billion, but the Bentzen people plan to cover most, if not all, of the cost by using excavated fill to. build a new island off Brockton: Point and sell a portion for deve lopment. Screams of | outrage at the idea from Vancouver City, » so bye-bye to the one ideal scheme, Kye-bye also to any 1994 decision. .° Lots of chatter but no decision in 1995 either, Nor in 1996 (clection year, you know, with far more important issues, including a rising tide _ of red ink lap; ping at the NDP cabinets $ door), ‘The sole tiny ray of * sunshine during those: three lost years: an - engincering report giv’, ing a clean bill of health to the bridge’s towers. and cables for the next’. several decades, But nor to the tortured,” -corrugated deck. As the aimless “stakeholders” uabfest drags on for a fourth ycar, one rather vital,” question has never. been quite clearly answered: who pays for a new crossing? As it would be part of the provincial ‘ha foe system, ‘there's a loose assumption t Victoria would (must?) foot the bill, Comes the dawn: April 1997. Highways Minister Lois‘Boone (roll of drums, :: please) announces the NDP government’ s. “decision.” ‘First, the final government decision ~ will be made in January 1998, Second, concerned municipalities must let her know by “early summer” what they want (hey, that’s already six weeks ago and they - haven't). Third, whatever they want, - Victoria won’t spend a cent more than $70 million — just enough to fix the crumbling deck and widen the three lanes - a bit, Anything more the locals must pay fr themselves through tolls.: Ra | Gat , True to form, North Van.City hasr yer made up its:mind, We ‘new four-lane’ bridge, bi they're slapp don all major bridge Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen more _ less backs West Vai’s position. Squamish Band has yet to. . Only North Van District com /for the plain $70 mill and let's “sight’yet = tet alone and selection process, mitted -