4 - Friday, November 30, 1990 - North Shore News Frances Street squatters emanding ye | OUTGOING North Vancouver District Mayor Marityn Baker ... “wonderful memory.”’ Baker roasted OUTGOING NORTH Vancouver District Mayor Marilyn Baker was honored with a traditional dinner “troast’’ Wednesday night at Cheers restaurant. The event was hosted by the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. “It was just a super evening. It was just a wonderful memory that will be with me for the rest of my life,’ said Baker, who has served four terms as North Vancouver District’s mayor and will now run for the Socreds in the new provin- cial riding of North Vancouver- Lonsdale. At the dinner, Baker was toasted and roasted by a large number of political colleagues, in- cluding district municipal staff, former North Vancouver District mayor Don Bell, North Vancouver District mayor-elect Murray Dykeman, outgoing West Van- couver Mayor Don Lanskail, North Vancouver City Mayor Jack Loucks, former alderman Jim Ball, and Capt. Hector Perry, of the Vancouver Port Corp. 1 REALLY doubt if you want to think hard about menkind on a Friday night, right? But samebody’s got to do it, l refer to the matter of the squalid squatters of Frances Street in Vancouver, a city that many otherwise blessed residents of the North Shore are obliged to travel to every day whether they like it or not. It’s fascinating that every age, far from “advancing” its thought, instead creates new walls beyond which the unthinkable lies. In past times, the poor and homeless found shelter through finding work, family help, or ref- uge in a kindly church. in present times, the poor and homeless — an unbelievably **rich’” poor by any historical or current non-Western World standards — are of another kidney. Putting aside those whose plight is temporary and who, stirred and humiliated by the experience, are determined to leave it behind at top speed, many of them — or their self-styled champions — believe that the public can house them. Or should house them. Or ought to be forced to house them — like the law-defying, police- taunting squalid squatters of Frances Street, who had no scru- ples about using one unfortunate landlord and developer, Ning Yee, as the ham in their political sand- wich. That’s mindless. Thus the public’s official beliefs have gone from heartless to mindless in a few generations. Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES But give them their due. The squalid squatters have got far more than their allotted I5 minutes of fame. They have mo.nted the basricades of the headlines and the telly news. Beyond even their nasty hopes, they've got the police under the glare of the naked lightbulb, being grilled over what they were doing on the day of ete. etc. And they have loony-tunes allies, like the Vancouver Province editorialise who agreed with mayoral candidate Jim Green's idea that landlords who leave demotition-marked houses untenanted should be fined — forced to rent them. Think of all the implications — health and sanitary requirements, insurance {who pays, Jim, who pays, Van- couver Province?) of that. That’s nothing more than the thin edge of a wedge that would deprive all property owncrs of control over another crutch 44 Encouraged by politicians and nostrum-pedlars shrewdly playing to the gallery of despair, people are increasingly being led to think of themselves as helpless wimps and victims... 9F their own houses — av doubt re- quired, as this creeping Stalinism would eventually have it, to one day meekly accept whatever te- nants the state demanded they ac- cept, and on what terms. No one, of course, will be so rude as to suggest that there are all kinds of (legal) choices to deal with Vancouver's expensive hous- ing costs. Such as my own, the three-generation household, which drastically cuts costs, and which apparently is disdainfully left to the immigrant families that ina few years will be beating the ears off the growing tayabout Anglo- Saxon whining class. And the buses are still leaving for cheaper places that —- in the age of transportable unemploy- ment insurance and provincial health and welfare services — would be eminently sensible alter- natives ... if the squatters genu- inely were looking for cheaper Affordable living housing costs. Nope, they were squatting polit- ically. Their intent was to make the already swollen nanny state even more swolen and nannier than it already is — in the face of clear evidence from Britain to Tanzania to Moscow to Peking that even the biggest, harshest nanny can’t do everything — and ends up duing nothing well. The history of the last half of the 20th century underlines again the ancient truth that mankind must labor to eat, and that if you wait till the ‘right’ society with the *‘right’’ parliaments and the “right’’ social arrangements is formed, you will wait, not forev- er, but until the whole damn edifice collapses in economic ruin and chaos — the sick, the helpless young, the helpless old its greatest sufferers. Encouraged by politicians and nostrum-pediars shrewdly playing to the gallery of despair, people are increasingly being led to think of themselves as helpless wimps and victims who, even if the state gave everyone seven crutches for each leg, would whine for an eighth. The squalid squatters of Frances Street have triumphantly demand- ed a ninth crutch. And their suc- cessors will insist on a 10th, an Life ac Cedar Village is abouc looking co the future. It’s about making a positive change in your lifestyle and spending the best years co come in che company of others over 60 just like yourself who value owner compatibility, residential security, and a neighbourhood atmosphere in the place they choose to call home. Cedar Village in North Vancouver és such a community. A new concept in retirement residences Cedar Village introduces a new concept in seniors living called “private equity residence.” At its simplest, this means combining the best of having your own affordable private condominium space with shared luxury amenities including lounge, library, billiards & games coom, large-screen tclevi- sion, entertainment kitchen, patio, and beautiful gardens and walkways. In a seniors’ Private Equity Residence, owner- ship will be restricted to seniors 60 and over — for- ever! And the location was chosen specifically with seniors in mind: a natural woodland setting yet just five minutes’ walk from Lynn Valley Centre or the therapeutic pools and seniors activities of the Recreation Centre. And only a nine niinuce drive from Park Royal. If you're renting, you'll probably find it makes financial sense to apply for a Cedar Village mortgage, available with nominal qualificacions. If you own a home already, but are finding life a little isolated, you'll find thac moving to Cedar Village will open up an exciting fucure of new friends and activities. Presentation Centre open this weekend To find out more about the luxury one and two-bedroom suites of Cedar Village (priced afford- ably from $129,600 to $202,068), visit our new Presentation Centre today and preview our video, Om “Seniors Lifestyles in che 90's”. Centre Hours: Monday thru Thursday 3-5 p.m. Sacurday and Sunday 1+5 p.m. Telephone: Pamela Bell 980-4134 Full co-operation with agents \ CNLOVS e- a