6 ~ Friday, August 10, 1990 —- North Shore News NEWS VIEWPOINT Take charge, islanders HERE IS little doubt that Bowen Island is ready for incorporation. With its proximity to the North Shore and the rest of the heavily populated Lower Mainland area, Bowen is increas- ingly facing urban development pressures. Major island developments include the upgrade of Snug Cove harbor, the expan- sion of the Union Steamship Marina and a $120-million residential-resort project pro- posed for the island’s Cowan Point area. But Sawen Island also currently pro- vides a pxstoral pocket of rural living that most islaiders prize and are reluctant to sacrifice. Unfortunately, the pressures being plac- ed on Bowen Island and its residents can no longer be adequately dealt with by the mishmash of governmental authorities that currently oversees the running of the island. The Islands Trust, the Greater Van- couver Regional District and the provincial government all have their various official fingers in the Bowen pie. Boundaries of responsibility regularly criss-cross and the resulting lengths of red tape are enough to strangle all develop- ments, both good and bad. Issues of almost any size are extremely contentious on Bowen Island, but solutions are rare, in part because islanders are a fierce lot who are loath to welcome change, but also because the governing of Bowen and the responsibility of that gov- erning is off-island. Residents can hardly be expected to take responsibility for making decisions about Bowen’s future when the ultimate respon- sibility for those decisions resides elsewhere. LETTER OF THE DAY Parkway ‘geometry’ criticized Dear Editor: Since the terrible event that claimed two lives on Mt. Seymour Parkway recently, I have been thinking deeply about its implica- tions. While the individuals in- volved can not evade their respon- sibility for the event, a major ac- cident was inevitable given the ge- ometry of the road and the sight lines along the the Parkway. While there will inevitably be calls for enforcement of the inap- propriately low speed limit, this will always be ineffective. Experi- ence throughout the world has Publisher Associate Editor Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart Had shown that people tend to drive at the design speed of a road and that the key to safety is separation of opposing flows and the removal of road sections significantly below the overall design speed. It does not make sense to have long stretches of high speed road and then to have an abrupt speed restriction in the form of a limited visibility smal! radius bend at an intersection. The recent improvements to the Dollarton Highway will undoubt- edly have a similar problem THE VOICE OF RONTH AND WEST VANCOUUER SUNDAY « WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suturban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111. Parajraph Ill of the Excise Tas Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door an the North Shore. Second Class Matt Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions ate bul we cannot accept responsibility for welcome 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) unsolteited matenal including manuscripts and pictures a which should be accompamed by 4 stamped, addressed envelope. SOA DrvisSIOn Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions because the District will be pro- viding a road capable of being travelled at high speed in an area where natural hazards such as steep drops will make errors in judgment fatal. The old road, while narrow, allowed reasonable traffic flows and improving some of the lines of sight would likely have been sufficient. Perhaps our elected officials believe in weeding out the bad drivers by attrition. C.K. Machniewski North Vancouver 980-0531 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER North Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Are tomorrow’s voters tuning out democracy? *“*DON'T VOTE for them, it only encourages them!”’ is no longer just a joke. Public disillusionment with politics and politicians in general is spreading at a disturbing rate. Nowhere more so than among upper teenagers and young adults. There are increasing signs that many are simply tuning out the system altogether. One such poirter came last year in a 1989 U.S. survey of 1,100 young people aged 15-24 and 405 teachers of socials. I know of no comparable Canadian study but similar youth lifestyles on both sides of the border suggest its fin- dings may well be valid for Canada too. Asked to name their life goals ona scale of one to 10, 72 per cent headed their list with ‘‘career success.”’ In second place (68 per cent) came ‘‘having a close knit family life’? — while 56 per cent said their main aim was merely to “thave a good time.”’ But it was questions on in- volvement beyond themselves and their families that brought the significant answers. Though most young respon- dents were confident about per- sonal prospects, few saw them as linked to those of their country. Only 42 per cent were optimistic about the nation’s future, while 47 per cent feared the U.S. may al- ready be going downhill. As to political involvement, three out of five of the young people admitted they knew only “Just some’’ or ‘‘very little’’ about the government. Almost as many said they had ‘‘just some”’ or ‘‘very little’’ interest in political news. And only 12 per cent named voting as a basic duty of good cit- izenship — one answer to the question of how to get more young peupie to vote being: ‘Pay them!” The socials teachers agreed by more than two-to-one that today’s high school students have less in- terest in politics and public affairs than those 10 years ago. A similar ratio thought them less likely to become good citizens. And over half the teachers b!amed it mainly on the ‘‘poor example’’ set by politicians. Centre and rightwing party workers — Tories, Socreds, Lib- erals and even the fast growing Reformers — freely admit to con- cern about the preponderance of grey and white hair at their public meetings. They know their long term future lies with the missing Sower age bracket. Only the NDP does somewhat better — partly by its appeal (bas- ed on spending others’ money) to the idealism of youth, partly through staying out of trouble simply by failing to win power. _ But it’s single-issue causes — TOP GUN Noel Ms HITHER AND YON peace, environment, anti-nuclear and native rights campaigns — that attract today’s socially aware young people in their thousands. NOT the ballot box, in whose results they clearly have no faith. Politicians who have destroyed that faith face a lot of repair work. Unless they regain youth’s respect, democratic government could eventually cease to be rele- vant at all to most citizens. Asked by the pollsters what made his country great, one young man’s perfectly serious reply was: “Cable TV.”” Thinking about it, that’s scary! wae WRAP-UP: Congrats to North Van’s Jason Hunter, 13, of 2573 Royal Canadian Army Cadets (6 Field Engineer Squadron) on win- ning — among 100 cadets from all over Western Canada — the top cadet marksman award at last month’s Vernon training camp ... Even tonight’s annual Dundarave Hoedown (7-11 p.m. in the 2400- block Marine) is into the en- vironment act — visitors to the fin evening are asked to bring their own non-disposable cups, plates and napkins ... Anniversary greetings today, Aug. 10, to North Van’s Louis and Marjorie Cor- docedo on their 54th ... Plus many happy returns to North Van's Florence Currie ... And tomorrow, Aug. 11, a birthday salute at 92 to Lynn Valley’s Frank Pew — a devoted Lions fan who still clangs his famous bells at the Stadium for every Lions touchdown! ent WRIGRT OR WRONG: Bad habits are like a comfortable bed — easy to get into but oh, so hard to get out of. Phot submitted ... North Van Cadet Jason Hunter (left) receives his reward from Major John MacKenzie. See column item.