PEOPLE WHO are concerned about little things like
megahomes being put up and urban trees being cut down
should take a pill. For what has happened so far is only the
first faint sign of what is to come. I have seen the future,

you see, and it is bad news.

The future is to be seen in Hong
Kong, which I visited recently. My
purpose? To pick up a couple of
words of Cantonese so that I will
be able to order some groceries in
my old age.

You are worried about highrises,
you say? In Hong Kong they not
only have highrises but tiers of
highrises and mountains of
highrises stretching as far as the
eye can see. And the higher the
better.

Call it Jackhammer City, too,
because even though 1997 looms,
together with the commissars, the
seething activity never ceases.
Clatter clatter clatter. Uptown,
downtown, midtown. Much of
which will be transferred to
Hongcouver.

All six million denizens of yon
bustling city-state are either leaving
or thinking about leaving, you see.
For you-know-where, ours being
the easiest bolt-hole. They'll come
either as ‘‘entrepreneurs’’ or as
“‘refugees’’, No problem. For
them, that is.

On the packed jumbo jet that
brought us back there were
perhaps 2 dozen whites, and ac-
cording to the Hong Kong press
the locals are skedaddling at the
equivalent of three jumbo jet-loads
a week.

It is the pattern of our brave
new worid, hailed by our politi-
cians, the delightful media, real
estate folk, Walter Block of the
Fraser Institute and indeed
everyone except the helpless mass.

The term “Greater Vancouver’’
will take on new meaning. But
don’t kid yourself that greater will
mean better.

Arthur Erickson the architect
claims that the feds are reckoning
on a Greater Vancouver of 10 mil-
lion inhabitants.

Wider still and wider, shall our
bounds be set! Shades of empire!
Sound the bugles! Let the drums
roll! Highrises right up to Hope,

ce
Mare is their first

love, their obsession, and their
god, be it in real estate, furs,
elephant tusks, sweatshops or
grandma’s old shoes.”*

ee)
man. A province ripe for plucking,
as clever Mr. Li Kash-ing of Expo
lands and Regatta fame and others
have already discovered.

The ‘‘entrepreneurs’’ who are
flocking in regard Vancouverites as
slow, uncompetitive and
backward, Pushovers. ‘‘When you
come from Hong Kong it’s easy to
make money here,”’ one of them
told the Sunday Times recently.

In our brave new future, which
cannot come fast enough for the
above-mentioned drum-beaters,
the leisurely wait for the bus will
be a thing of the past. In Hong
Kong, the word for ferries, buses
and the subway is RUSH.

The hordes actually run to the
seats and it’s devil take the hind-
most. Cripples, the old, and
women with babies are out of luck.
In two weeks of travelling around,

I never saw a single soul give way
for anyone.

Democracy is not something
they are much concerned about,
either. There are only six elected
representatives in the Hong Kong
legislature and even that was a
fairly recent development. By 1997
there are to be 20 out of 60, I was
told, and after that it will probably
go back to zero on account of Mr.
Deng and Co.

No, the Hong Kong Chinese are
not concerned with democracy, al-
though our myth-makers say they
are. If they had wanted
democracy, they could have had it,
for they are less a colony than a
city-state.

Money is their first love, their
obsession, and their god, be it in
real estate, furs, elephant tusks,
sweatshops or grandma’s old
shoes. They make no bones about
it, either. Even the blind can see
that from the Hong Kong newspa-
pers. And they are marvellous
manipulators.

As John LeCarre makes one of
his characters say in The Honor-
able Schooiboy, ‘‘The loony bins
of Southeast Asia are jam-packed
with (British Intelligence) fieldmen
who have tried to unravel the
lifestyle of hot money once it
entered the maw of the overseas
Chinese.”’

In about 10 years, given our
general stupefaction, the Chinese
will contro! Vancouver. And then
there will be no more arguing
about megahomes, trees, or any-
thing else of that sort.

The environment? Put your toe
into Hong Kong harbor and it will
come out scorched. The Vancouver
harbor of the future will be the
same.

That is the direction in which we
are steering. But we can’t do any-
thing about it because we mustn’t
be racist. Right?

e

NV City development to provide day care

should disrupt the continuance of MacFarlane.

A NORTH Vancouver City devel-
oper will be providing rent-free fa-
cilities for a day care in a proposed
development at 17th Street and
Lonsdale Avenue if its submission
is approved by city council.

| By CORINNE BJORGE |
Contributing Writer

NORTH, VANCOUVER

CIRY COUNCIL”

AS

Developers M&M _ Investments
Ltd. have agreed to include
roughly 8,000 square feet for
non-profit day care in their pro-
posed buildings, which also include
an 18-storey residential tower and
close to 88,000 square feet of retail
and office space.

The developer had forwarded a
fetter to city council last Friday of-
fering rent-free day care in ex-
change for back lane allowances,
in a last-minute attempt to regain
part of the money they will lose in
creating the $400,000 structure for
the day care.

But the developer withdrew the
letter and agreed to provide the
day care with no strings attached
after discussions over the weekend.

“We still have a difference of

pinion, but it’s not an issue that

2 iam - Ri 323
FROM CONCEPT TO
FINISHED -D PROD! ICT

43 Manne “Dane. West Vancouser
922-0247 Bowen 947-9745.

this project,” said M&M _ invest-
ment development manager Bruce

See Trafiic
Page 10

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9 ~ Wednesday, April 25, 1990 - North Shore News

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