al NEWS photo Paul McGrath Friday, July 12, 1996 — North Shore News - 3 Dad blasts RCMP over inaction on theft investigation BY ANNA MARIE DANGELO News Reporter RANDY Crighton says the North Van Mounties haven’t been doing their job. Crighton says the RCMP have done nothing about his son’s stolen $600 mountain bike for almost a month. “There have been a lot of platitudes, but no action,” said Crighton. The North Vancouver man said his son's bike was stolen from underneath him on June I. Crighton’s two sons, aged 11 and nine, were riding their mountain bikes near a gas station on Mount Seymour Parkway and Lytton Street. A 15-year-old youth broke away from a group of teens at the gas station and demanded the 11-year-old’s bike, said Crighton. The boy complied, fearing he would be hurt. righton said that his family has done the majority of police work in the crime. “We identified who he was, found out where he lived and passed the information on to the RCMP,” said Crighton. The Crightons wrote up their own police statement and dropped it off at the station for the investigating officer Const. Karen Miller. North Vancouver RCMP Const. Catherine Galliford said that the incident is under investi- gation. , Galliford said that delays in the investiga- .tion resulted when the police computer was down. She said Miller has other investigations te conduct as well. “This is not the type of file that would be passed on to another member on the investiga- tor's day off." said Galliford. Crighton estimates that he has called five times and gone to the police station twice to find out what was going on. Crighton is familiar with police work. His RANDY Crighton is leit with one mountain bike for his nine-year-old son, Lee, and — dad was a cop for 30 years. frustration with North Van Mounties. Crighton holds up a detailed police statement concerning the theft of his 11-year-old's mountain bike iast month. | bike racks raise ad debate | ROBERT GALSTER Contributing Writer, BICYCLE riders in North Vancouver city have gained some 400 new parking spaces for their two-wheeled automo- ‘bile alternates. The mini-parkades come courtesy of the 100. shiny blue bicycle racks that dot a iarge portion of the city’s Lonsdale corridor and the ‘Jower reaches of Chesterfield Avenuc. In a “pinch, each one should handle four bicycles. "Although ‘a, quick glance up Lonsdale ‘Avenue reveals little alternative to the monot- “ony of one empty bicycle rack after another, ‘ most.view the recent additions in a positive light. «. no 4 ‘ “When one sees as many bike racks going up one has tobe very cautious,” said Coun. Bitl Bell adding that “they produce a great 74° amount of bike access to the city core.” ; “North Vancouver City is the first. munici- “pality in the Lower Mainland to subscribe to the bike rack program, which encourages bicycle use, but similar precedent-setting pro- gramis exist in Ottawa and Hamilton. Although the city’s “if you build it they will come” approach may turn out to be -prophetic, Bell’s call for caution comes in response’ tothe display . advertising space -adorning cach rack. ; Bell. ‘says the ads have the. potential to wreak havoc among the city’s many business- ‘es by having. competitors advertisements on bike racks in front of existing businesses, “But he-adds (iat the advertising perched atop each rack is a necessary evil. “That’s (the advertising) the © price one pays and one has to be careful or it'll burn you,” said Bell. However, Gordon Stefaniuk, a director at Marvel Coramunications, which oversees the bike rack advertising for the city. says his company doesn't fore- see any problems. Stefaniuk said Marvel Communications possesses “means and ways of making cveryone happy, we don’t want unhappy mer- chants — that doesn't help us or the city.” The process to implement the racks was started at the city two years ago with the North Vancouver bicycle coordinator, Emma Dal Santo, spearheading the effort. It culminated with councillors voting unanimously to approve the project during a June 19, 1995, ses- sion. : The agreement reached between the city and Marvel Communications calls for a 10% portion of the advertising space to be set aside for community access which will be administered by the city. The program appears to be a success with most of the racks bearing some sort of adver- tising. Marvel's Stefaniuk confirmed the dis- play racks are, at present, “very close” to being fully subscribed. . “te fakes time for the process to get ! through.” he added. “I have never seen anything like this as far as lack of action goes,” said Crighton. NEWS photo Terry Peters NORTH Van City has created 400 new parking spots for bicycle riders. The new bicycle racks are located in the Lonsdale Avenue corridor. As for the esthetic aspects of the program, Coun. Bell likened the present situation to the one that existed when advertising-bearing bus shelters first appeared on the Lower Mainland’s streets. “People have gotten used to them.” he said. | Dal Santo did not return News" calls to press tinie Thursday. Local voters to go electric BY IAN NOBLE News Reporter NORTH Shore voters will join many of their Lower Mainland counterparts using advanced electronic voting recorders in next November’s elections. All three local municipalities are leaning toward voting recorders to count votes for mayoral, councillor, and school board trustee contests. West Vancouver clerk Margaret Warwick said the electronic machines tabulate voles faster, pro- vide better accuracy and help prevent "spoiled ballots. “We've decided to try it as a trial run and see what it is like. Everyone says they are fantastic,” she said. Instead of inserting the familiar X in the chosen candidates square, vot- ers will connect two parts of an Jarrow with a special pen. The ballot is put in the machine, wher itis scooped up and read by an optical scanner, said Warwick. If a voter's ballot is somehow spoiled, the vote recorder spits out the ballot, giving voters a second chance. The recorder gives instantancous results of the vote after polls close. Results from each voting station are taken to city hall and collated. Warwick said during the last municipal elections, West Vancouver , did not have final results until mid-. night. This year, with the: recorder,’ vote results are expected within the hour. Bowen Island and _.Lions “Bay: will not get the electronic polls. /— _ West Vancouver expects to. pay. about $30,000 for the lease: of the - machines, a service agreement, some supplies and training. caf With the number of voting places in the district. and the small turnout at some of them, council could not jus- tify spending US$7,000 to US$8.000 . for each machine, Warwick. said: ‘She expects the cost of the Nov.. 16 elections to be similar; to those . conducted with manual counting. North Vancouver City. also plans to lease the machinés, although ° North Vancouver District will spend roughly $145,000 to purchase them. said acting clerk district’ Agnes Hilsen. “We just figured it was a better business decision,” to buy, she said. She added the succe-sful experi- ences of other. municipalities with the vote recorders also swung the decision to purchase the 20 recorders. That will allow one for: each polling station. @ Bright Lights i Crossword Home & Garden 8 David Mitchell @ North Shore Alert 8 Talking Personats.. @TV Listings