6 ~ Wednesday, March 11, 1998 - Nerth Shore News north shore news JHE deal may have been rail- roaded into municipal halls far too quickly for most local politicians, but establishment of the new Greater Vancouver Transit Authority (GVTA) has the potential to benefit commuters all over the Lower Mainland. The GVTA will take over responsi- bility for BC Transit buses, AirCare, SkyTrain, the West Coast Express and major roads and bridges. Ie will also have control over trans- portation planning, policy, service levels; budgets and finances, The new transit authority should streamline the process of improving our disjointed transit system. But it comes with a significant price tag: $1.1 billion in provincial government debt. Managing that debt without stick- ing it to local taxpayers will be a major challenge for the 15-member GVTA board. And those members will initially know little about run- ning a transit system. The GVTA’s ability to raise local property taxes to cover budget short- falls is a concern for all municipali- ties, particularly communities like West Vancouver whose taxpayers are already hauling a substantial property tax load. In the end, however, there was lit- tle choice: either the provincial gov- ernment continues to operate a frac- tured and poorly co-ordinated transit system that fails to address the needs of the various communities it serves, or those communities take over its operation and deliver a local trans- portation system that is responsive to its members’ needs. om - VIEWPOINT KAY, LET'S SEE...DEDUCT $4.5 MILLION FOR LEGAL CONSULTATION; DEDUCT $2 MILLION FOR COMPENSATION CO CofF -~ )7 SpEciALisTs; DEDUCT $200,000 CF vey For DONUTS AND COFFEE... y SY D. ANOTHER $200,000 FOR J % \\\ / DRYCLEANING, WHICH BRINGS 7X. us 19 $2000 PER DIONNE aR QUINT PER MONTH... — YEP...SEEMS FAIR! mailbox ‘Assumptions are no help to the disabled # After shopping at Park Royal Shopping, Centre with my indmother and mother on Feb. 6, we returned to our car to ind a rude note on our windshield. “*. Unfortunately, the person did not have the courage of their convictions to leave their name or number. ; i aan under the i parieeh a that we werc illegal- ly ed in a handi cin jf. __£v What this person id not realize Was that our handicapped placard was hanging off our rear-view mirror but, because my * grandmother received a new one, it is much smaller and not as obvious to someone who did not look'at the car from front on. = While they may-have felt-quize justified in leaving a sude Feprimand, all they solved was ruining what had been a plzas- » .ant afternoon, .: , is My purpose in writing is simply this: £1, too, agree that it is wrong for people to abuse the rights . Of someone who is genuinely in need of that space. However, jumping to conclusions because you did not sce the visible I.D. ~ and being rude in your message does nothing to advance the plight of the handicapped in establishing their rights. =. Moreover, the more people I talked to, the more horror stories I heard of people yelling and screaming at them because __ they jumped to erroneous conclusions. * One young mother had it happen to her all too frequently when she into a space and gets out — until they see her young child in a wheelchair. Maybe the mother is the one with the physical disability? The last time I checked, you could not determine a person’s well-being just by looking at them. +The exact thing that handicapped people (like my grand- mother) or those with physical impairments do not want is to be judged just because of a walker or wheelchair. How ironic that those who are fighting against being mis- treated or.misjudged are doing the exact same to others. Katherine Ivancic ; West Vancouver j north:shore Hg bs ‘North Shore News. founded on 1969.35 an 4 . Suburban newspaper and quabtied : ne sy — ender Sevwade 211, Parapet alte LU eee eS SR Friday and Sunday by North Shove Free Press. Ud, and destnbuted to every door on the North ‘Shore. Canata Post Canackan Publcstons Mai” Sales Praducl Agreement No. 0047238. Ty) Distribution Manager 986-1337 (124) * dispensers to piastics, Bott Creative Services Manager : 985-2131 (27) SS He 61 582 avrape ueewlion, Weonesty, Findy & Sunday) - The North Shore News is published by North Shore Free Pr MY good friend Ernie Crist has ruined my day. More than a few of my days, in fact. We're talking about the day every couple of weeks when I - “do” the household garbage. In my bad old bache- lor/widower days it was an easy chore. | simply tossed everything — from newspapers, card- board and shave cream bottles and cans — into king-size black garbage bags and periodically flung them into a gener- al-purpase dumpster in our condo tower’s basement. But no longer, once I married Dorothy — a far nobler, higher-purpose human being — five years ago. Now, all our trash must be painstak- ingly sorted according to its alleged recyclable destination. Newspapers must be separated from glossy-paper stuff. Cans washed clean before being deposit- ed in their special blue bin. Ditto plastic milk bottles, clear glass bottles, green and brown botties. Each category with its own blue bin. Including washing time, the complete process can rob you of the equivalent of at least a couple of 24-hour days each year. And now, here comes North Van District Councillor Crist telling me [’m largely wasting my time, as well as pay- ing through the nose for doing so. “The taxpayer is bsing grandly hood- ETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) as . Photography Manager 985-2431 (160) Doug Foot Comptroller 985-2137 (133) — Garbage myths costing a bundle? winked,” Ernie declares. “He is paying for the ‘blue box’ program believin what he puts in there is being recycled when, in fact, most of it is being dumped or stored. The consumer is also paying for the burcau- cracy to administer this process. And to top it off, he is also paying for the glossy brochures telling everyone how wonder- fully everything works.” Hence, when buying products, we are not only paying the full price for their packag- ing but also for getting rid of it. Instead of recouping we are paying twice. In addition to the blue boxes themselves, their bureaucrats and public- ity, the storing of unwanted recyclables and cleaning up those illegally dumped further swell the bill. Which explains how the average annual cost of collect- ing and disposing of houschold waste in the region has risen from around $20 to more than $200 per household. So shat’s why my personal ycar is being reduced to 363 days or less — thanks a lot, Ernie! Yet the solution, he maintains in a report submitted to district council last week, is simple. Unlike numerous European countries and some U.S. juris- dictions, Canada and B.C. have no laws requiring manufacturers to buy and re- use recyclable materials. As a result there is no stable, profitable market for such materials, once collected. Managing Editor 995-2131 (116) Manager 900-0511 (166) * QRS-2t32 (218) LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca 9OS-2131 (105) internet http:/Aww.esnews.com @recess fi His report calls on council to press”: the province for legislation making re- use compulsory. Once such legislation was enacted, Ernie argues, a win-win sit- uation all round would begin to devel- op. P Revenue from the mandatery pur- chase of recyclable waste by raanufactur-- _ ers would enable municipalities to cut 0 the cost of garbage collection. The expense of public storage and . cleaning up illegal dumping would be’ climinated. Their present. waste disposal -: bureaucracy could be reduced, with fur- ther relief tor taxpayers. rere eeee At the same time recyclable. material. would be cheaper than new raw. materi al, hopefully enabling manufacturers‘to | pass on end-price savings to consunicers. °: I fike Ernie’s reasoning. If he’s got it- right, the cleaner, happier, lower-cost. ° garbage world he promises as the resulr: ‘ of a simple provincial law sounds exactly © what we need to cheer us up this spring.) Even though his solution does have one remaining snag, of course: hea It would still rob me of around a third of a week each year spent sortin rinsing and multi-bagging. © °° But at least garbage day.wouldn’t be: «- totally ruined by learning I was being” taken for a sucker into the bargain! - gaag0 woe HAPPY BIRTHDAY Friday, March 13, to N. Van’s very own Mozart, Michael Conway Baker. © o000 WRIGHT OR WRONG: Most of us know how to say nothing. Few of us know when. Michael Seckar- News Editor : 965-2138 (114); Androw McCredie - Sparta/Community Editer, : 985-2131 (147)