Patrol car, motorcycle collide

NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP ere seeking witnesses to Friday night's collision between an RCMP patrol car ard a motorcycle. Const. Colin
Worth, 30 and motorcyclist Howard Reece, 27, of North Vancouver, were taken to Lions Gate Hospital. Worth suffered whiplash. Reece suffered
a fractured arm, a broken thumb and 2 concussion. Police say Worth bad stopped at the intersection of Westview Lrive and Queens Road at ap-
proximately 7:10 p.m. As he was accelerating eastbound through the intersection, he collided with 2 northbound siotorcycle. Witnesses to the ac-

cident can call North Vancouver RCMP at 985-1311.

NEWS photo Miks Wakefloit

NV resident biames immiyrants
for skyrocketing assessments

ASIAN IMMIGRANTS and the big money they are pouring
into North Shore real estate are the reasons for escalating

property assessments,
homeowner Janet Siebert.

And Premier Bill Vander Zalm
and Vancouver Mayor Gordon
‘Campbell are making things worse
by encouraging Hong Kong and
other Asian investors to buy up
B.C., she adds.

Siebert’s tax assessment this fall
came in at 24 per cent higher
than only one year ago.

“| know people who have been
forced to sell and move away,”
Siebert said. ‘‘Housing is quickly
moving out of reach of ordinary

jans.

“I've got nothing against for-
eigners. The whole country is made
up of foreigners. But the Asian in-
vestors are the reason we are suf-
fering. These people are beginning
to impinge on our lives,’ she said.

Siebert’s house at 314 Beaver,
which she bought 20 years ago for
$34,000, was assessed at $130,000
in 1987 and $161,000 in 1988.

Her taxes, which were $400
when she bought the house, are
now at $1,300 a year, with most of
that increase taking place since
1982.

Siebert, 60, who lives alone, is
on GAIN, and is handicapped,
said she can’t afford to make
needed improvements on her
house, but that she is also too old
to move.

But she has actively appealed her
assessments in the past, and in
1987 led a protest delegation to
North Vancouver District Council.

This was the beginning of a
bureaucratic runaround, she said,
that is still going on.

“Mayor Marilyn Baker wrote
back, trying to justify all increases,
and saying that North Van District
is doing very well compared to
other municipalities.””

Siebert wrote a letter of com-

says North Vancouver District

By PATRICK RAYNARD
Contributing Writer

piaint to Vander Zalm, with a copy
to the B.C. Assessment Authority
(BCAA), which was shuffled off to
a bureaucrat who, she claims, tried
to puli the woo! over her eyes.

“He told me it was only the
media, spreading rumors,’’ Siebert
said.
She got uo reply at all to a letter

to Finance Minister Mel Couvelier.

The BCAA appeals process has
also proven useless, Siebert said.

“They intimidate you in the
hearing. You get two minutes to
state your case, but they will ques-
tion you for half an hour. There
are three of them and one of you.
Never in my experienc: have I had
a reduction after appesting.”’

Siebert said she put in another
appeal to the area assessor in Oc-
tober, but has not even had the
courtesy of a reply.

“Gordon Campbell says that
people should pay according to
their ability to pay, and I’ve been
told by North Van that I can defer

my taxes. Kut 1 don’t want to put
my home in jeopardy,’’ Siebert
explained.

“I've been paying my taxes for
20 years in B.C., and I haven't
once been late.’’

Siebert believes a complete re-
assessment procedure is necessary
for homeowners on fixed incomes,
and that Campdell has said he
supports the idea.

But Campbell anc Vander Zalm,
she added, are making the overall
problem worse by travelling to
Hong Kong and other Azian coun-
tries and encouraging big buyers to
pour into B.C.

ROYAL COMMISSION CALLED FOR
WV couple irate over hikes

HONG KONG immigration is the reason property assess-
ments have skyrocketed, Florence Cunningham says after
receiving notice of a 56 per cent increase on her West Van-

couver home.

Land developers and real estate
people who pander to the needs of
foreign investors are making the
crisis worse, Cunningham and her
husband Lloyd say, by building
“‘monster houses’’ on lots that are
too small.

The Cunninghams, of 1218
Gordon, are part of a chorus of
North Shore homeowners who
have been inundating municipal
and provincial officials with com-
plaints ever since assessment
notices were sent out in the fall.

“Livable accommodation for
Canadian citizens is soon going to
be a thing of the past,’’ the Cunn-
inghams wrote in a Mailbox letter
to the News.

“Hong Kong investment is get-
ting very scary,’’ Florence Cunn-

By PATRICK RAYNARD
ingham recently said, ‘‘especially
when you think of the millions of
Chinese who will be coming.’”

Cunningham also blames West
Vancouver District Council for ig-
noring covenants and allowing
houses to be built that are far too
large for the individual properties.

“If we sold our house it would
be bulldozed immediately and
replaced by a monster house going
to within two feet of the property
line,”? Cunningham said.

Nor do homeowners have any
hope against the assessment appeal
board, she said, since the board is
usually made up of former.

developers with a vested interest.

“It’s stacked against you,’’
Cunningham said, adding that the
provincial government is doing
nothing to help homeowners, nor
to stop the flood of offshore in-
vestment that is making real estate
inaccessible to Canadians.

“Victoria has been cutting back,
so there has been more pressure on
Jocal governments and school
boards,’’ she said, ‘‘but a year
from now, when we start heading
towards another election, the B.C.
Assessment Authority will back off
and the schools will get more pro-
vincial funding.’’

Then the assessment issue will
die down again for a little while
and the authorities wil! have got
away with it once again, Cunn-
ingham said bitterly.

The Cunninghams suggest that a
royal commission is needed to in-
vestigate the ‘‘farcical assessment

_ game”? going on in Victoria.

3 - Wednesday, January 25, 1989 - North Shore News

W. Van
teachers
vote on
contract
offer

TEACHERS IN West Van-
couver’s School District 45

were scheduled to vote
Tuesday on a_ tentative
two-year contract agree-
ment.

Results of the vote were not
available to press time Tuesday,
but West Vancouver superintend-
ent of schools Bill May said he an-
ticipated the deal would be
ratified.

“I don’t think there will be a
long debate,’’ he said.

The two sides in the negotiations
had reached an agreement in prin-
ciple on the contract over the
weekend.

May declined to give details of
the deal until it had been ratified
by the teachers.

West Vancouver Teachers
Association president Kit Krieger
said negotiators for the association
unanimously recommended accep-
tance of the two-year package, but
he also declined to release any
details of the deal until it had been
tatified by both sides.

Negotiators for the 300 teachers
in the district rejected an offer
from the school board in
November. The offer included a
wage increase of 12.5 per cent over
two years.

Negotiations
couver’s School

in North Van-
District 44,

meanwhile, were scheduled to con-
tinue Tueselay evening.

Business ...........

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What's Going On........

Wednesday, a chance of
showars with afternoon sunny
periods. Thursday, mostly
cloudy with a chasce of
showers. Highs near 6°C.

Second Ciass Regisiration Number 3385