NVD: please pass on [Fun

the next brilliant idea

‘Dear Editor:

- Tam just wondering how long it
will take for NVD Council to put
together the other half. of the

ve equation — when you add more’

people. you’ nced to. add more
roads and/or transportation.

I refer to’ the fiasco that we call
an intersection at Mountain
Highway and Keith Road,

Many of ‘you who have sat, for
20 or more minutes, on ‘cither
Keith Road or Mountain Highway
‘during the morning rush hour will
agree that this intersection is not a

- fun place to bel! .
Our council allowed a developer

‘to. build a highrise on-the North’

“Shore Winter Club land, but it
was only supposed to be for
retired “citizens — thus
would. NOt be more traffi ic in the
area, .

However, : through mysterious
ways, this highrise is not . for
_Yetired citizens. It is also not rent-
al. ;

~The highrise is fancy own-
your-own condominiums, with the

there’

only restriction that one person in
the suite is over 50 years old.
This: means that a great many

of the people living there will be
working -- ie, adding traffic to

our already overloaded _intersec-
tien.

A suggestion to our council for
road improvements (1 say road
improvements, because | despair
of North Vancouver ever getting

‘rapid transit): open up Lynn-

mouth Road all the way to Main
Street — that would give people
an option rather than having to
continue on Keith Road.

- Of course,. an even better sug-
gestion would be to put an over-
pass at this intersection — of
course, | presume that is too sen-
sible — or the age-old cry — too
expensive!

Next time a developer comes to
council ‘with a ‘‘brilliant idea,”
perhaps the council will give some
thought to the population that has
.to live with the result!

Jan Hills
North Vancouver

Powerbroke ers stifling opinion

Dear Editor: * .
Recent efforts by the three ma-
jor parties in parliament to resur-

rect legislation preventing the free.
expression of opinion by third,

- parties during elections should be
“recognized for what it ‘is — an at-
tempt to stifle all opinion except
‘that which is considered proper by ‘
the present holders of power.
It is’ clear that the political
establishment has a vested interest
.in preventing the dissemination of
new ideas, and finds it much more

convenient to censor them rather |

than allow them to be presented
for discussion.
We already have laws relating

to libel, slander and “hate litera-
ture,”’? so it is hard to see what
other reason there could be for
the restrictions proposed other
than the convenience of the cur-
rent political establishment.

We should tell the people we
elect that we are capable of mak-
ing our own decisions as to what
we should read and who we
choose to believe, and that the
legislation they are proposing is
contrary to what one would expect
to find in a .truly democratic
society.

Bill Tomlinson
North Vancouver

Oe eens rnnes NTE

for all

I am writing to express my
thanks to the staff at the In-
glewood YMCA teen centre
for heiping our teenagers hold
such a successful disco dance
last Saturday night.

AL the teens involved in
the organization obviously
had tremendous fun and
showed lots of creativity and
enthusiasm. Seventies-style
gear was encouraged with
prizes for the best disco
dancer, etc.

Two of my teenagers ‘at-

Dear Editor:

‘tended the dance and had a

great evening. They, can’t wait
for the next scheduled dance
event.

Unfortunately the arrival of

an out-of-municipality gang.

in the last half-hour some-
what dampened the positive
mood o{the evening.

However, thanks to the
quick actions of Chris and
the other teen councillors, a
very unpleasant situation was
averted and the police arrived
within minutes.

I would like to thank our
mayor and councillors,
especially Diane Hutchinson,
for their quick response to
this situation and their will
ingness t2 cooperate with
concemed parents, the Y staff
and Dr, Janice Mclean of
the West Van police, in
discussing methods of tighter
security during future events.

Another dance is planned

in the near future and the |

teens are very enthusiastic
and anxious that this event
should go ahead.

I sincerely hope that public
response to the gang attack
won't force closure of the Y’s
valuable teen program which

_is such an asset to our com-

munity.
Gina Chartes
West Vancouver

for your

BY Now, I shouid be feel-
ing much better, but thanks
all the same for asking.

Aside from walking with a
decided stoap, a and a tendency to
dribble spit from the corners of
my mouth, you'd never know I
just emerged alive from the Mar-
quis de Sade chamber of RRSP
hocror.

! have this theory that none of
us around my current vintage live
in the present at this time of year.

From carly January until the Ist
of March, when the deadline for
RRSP contributions closes, we ex-
ist decades hence in a sort of
retirement twilight zone, burdened
with the guili that once too often
we failed to ‘‘maximize our con-
tributions.”’

That park bench with the news-
paper blanket seems to loom ever
closer like some grotesque spectre
of the future. .

For me the terror begins with
the nightmares. Every night, late-
ly, sleep goosesteps through our
bedroom wearing hotnailed boots,
and | find myself locked into a
dream where | am the key player
in onc of those Freedom 55 com-
mercials gore horribly wrong.

Perhaps you've noticed these
ads on TY. The plottine is always
the same:

Various men and women are
sucked into a time warp and
plunged 30 years into the future
where they meet an older eche of
thenaselves ~- an echo found jog-
ging happily down a waterfront
path adjacent to the villa he or
she owns in Bermuda,

‘“Who are you?” the young one
asks. ;

“I’m you, 30 years from now.”’

“Gosh!” oozes the young one.
“How can we afford this?” :

There follows much back-
thumping praise as they con-
gratulate cach other on their fi-
nancial acuity.

When I see the commercials |
always ask myself how these peo-
ple managed to be so successful at
something | seem to be failing so
miserably. | wonder what they
have that I lack?

Mostly, | wonder what acuity
means, and if knowledge of the
word would somchow help pre-

veat the hideous nighttime visions -

of my own financial destiny.

In my dreams I’m walking
down an alley near Powell Street,
when I'm tackled dy an ancient,
bald-headed gnome, who grasps
me around the collar and spits in
my eye.

“*Who are you?"’ f say.

“i'm you, chump, 30 years
from now.””

“*What happened tc us? How
did we get here?”

**You failed to plan for your
retirement properly, CPP bottom-
ed out, and Generation X is still
so mad at us they couldn’t care
less.”

“Plan for the morrow,”’ the fi-

. Bancial pundits say.

And it’s all so sadly true.
Despite the fact that I have been
contributing an ever-growing
chunk of my salary to a forced
government pension plan, the
possibility of actually collecting on
it grows dimmer with every pas-

. Sing year.

Perhaps it’s just idle musing,
but I wonder what would happen
ifa major Canadian union sud-
denly announced that the pension
fund its members had been con-
tributing to for all their working
lives was dried up.

I rather think there would be —

Htrade.

HUGHES’ VIEWS

‘at the very least — a public out-

cry, a government inquiry, and a
certain overcrowding of union of-
ficials in the lime pits of this na-
tion.

Instead, we go on pouring
moncy into the vast vat of CPP,
wondering all the while what we
should do first to protect
ourselves: Buy an RRSP? Pay
down the mortgage?

If} may be allowed to fling one
piece of advice to young people
out there, it is this: starting when
you are 20, or even sooner, salt
away a portion of your money
every month into some sort of
retirement plan.

I know this is the sensible thing
to do because it is a practice !
have never personally followed.

However, I believe that young
people are much more prudent
these days. One younger acquain-
tance of mine has already stashed
enough dough into the kitty to
virtually guarantee a comfortable
old age. He is the kind who will
know how to share it, too.

{hope so. One day, [ may mect
him o on Powell Street.

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