Pay attent HE rain has returned. Now summer can be washed from our thoughts and we can begin to think about — municipal! elec- tions. Political hopefuls will begin to make their intentions known in earnest as the deadline for nomina- tions approaches over the next few weeks, The race is shaping up in several North Shore communities already. The activity bodes well for increased interest from an otherwise biase vot- ing public. . In West Vancouver, incumbent Mayor Pat Bonamie already has two challengers for the job — seasoned politicians Andy Danyliu and Ron Wood. In North Vancorver Cit;, retirement of long-serving Mayor 2 mailbox - Making NV field of dreams a reality Much ado has been made of the lack of playing fields in “North Vancouver. In “Bilk them and they will come” (Scpt 5 Ripping Yarns) you rant about the issue with an editorial scattergun approach. the north shore news VIEWPOINT Jack Loucks has invigorated the political scene in that community. Again, two veteran council politi- cians, Rod Clark and Barbara Sharp, have already announced their desire for the job. Municipal politics, both school board and council, tend not to draw the attention from citizens they deserve. Yet decisions made at this level of the democratic system affect us most intimately. In the run-up to election day, there will be a small army of peopie competing for ycur attention and vote. The News will do its best to facilitate that process, but in the end it’s up to each of us to put the time in to become informed about the candidates and the issues facing our community. Get involved. WIDER traffic lanes for the Staley Park causeway, eh? Similar good luck to West Vancouver Mayor Patricts. (Of Course Pm Running Again) Boname, * Coun, Russ (Will He Or Won’: He Run, And for What?) Fraser. John (Yes Good luck, Marion Nodwell and her team circulating a petition for this cause. UITURLLY whooiiep’ TRe2—WESTBANK BC power of the streets. If city council dared, over park board protest, to cut a deaf with the PNE — which is popular with a million people per year, especially with most of the ruling caste — Mr. F. apparently thinks surg- ing crowds in the streets and protesters shouting slogans at meetings would back the board and bring council, the province, maybe NATO, to their knees. y children, but net | ~ Face is the city is five square miles — and has little room - heft for fields. It serves as the urban core for the entire North ‘Shore: Noticed any playing fields at Georgia and Burrard? *.. Tie city carries more than its share on a number of other fronts. It provides 4.5% of its housing units as social/subsi- ' -., dized housing. ‘Three times as much as Big Brother — North Van District, four times that of West Van. .-. We haye. the. bus.depot on 3rd Strect, which last I heard reed the district too." : a "- The cooperative appr ich is The Solution. ms .”. Just as the police building was sited in the city but shared ~ with the district in its costs, so too, the provision of more ‘fields must be through the sharing of costs between the city -and. district. The city has cash but lacks land; the district lacks cash. but- has land.-Sounds like a marriage made int heaven to , e ool board. isa bit pl cr — cash strapped —n0 erest in fields: —no‘iency: n uld siot ‘get'a free-ride though. Those monies which are it to them from Victoria for field upkeep’ should be routed . ‘directly to the city and district instead, thus giving over effec- tive control of school fields to the local- municipalities. Get the ‘MLAs onit!: wo on : - And so dear editor ... with a little common sense-... a dose ‘: Of political good will and some redirected tax money ... a solu- tion can be found aid the Fields of Your Dreams will become. a reality. Did someone say Inter-River? Rod Clark. 00. ‘North Vancouver - -= RodClark@go.to >’ __. Worth Shore Mews, founded in 1968 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph $11 of the Excise Tax Act is published each Wednesday, Fridy and Sunday by HCN Pubcations - Conspany and distributad to every door on the ‘North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications . ‘Mail Sales Product Agreement tio. 0087238. Ta innee See : Distribution Manager _ Hiuprarens 986-1337 (24) ¢ them cither. District 44° Creative Services Director $05-2131 (127) 61 S82 (average cirew'stion, Weauestiey, Friday & Sunday) Vm Running for Council) Clark, and many others — like North Vancouver District Coun. Ernic Crist, long an agitator for a much-expanded transit system on the North Shore and never mind the cars. Yes, it’s really droli that the Vancouver - Park Board cockily struts around ee . that it has the call on waffic lanes throu; the causeway, and largely ‘gets away with it. On another sensitive subject — the con- tinued presence of the Pacific National Exhibition on its present site -—- park board chairman Alan Fetherstonhaugh was recently quoted in a Vancowver Sun editor- ial: “We had the aces up our sieeve and we had the knockout punch (to throw out the PNE) this year — but we’re not bullies.” Amusing, quite apart from the serarn- bled metaphors, The PNE lease is with the ity of Vancouver -— which, last time I lvoked, was run by Mayor Philip Owen and his council, not the park board. But such technicalities don’t bother Mr. Fetherstonhaugh and his in-everyone’s-face fellow park commissioners. : Mr. F, doesn’t trace his power to the merc legalitics. Essentially he invokes the ~ Valerle Stephonzen ”. Classified Manager 996-6222 (202) Entire contents ©.1999 HCN Publications Company. Alt rights reserved. Never mind that the board generates such bananas ideas as: Dig a trench from Lost Lagoon to Lions Gate Bndge, put motor traffic": down there, cover it, and green everything - over (where would the exhaust furncs go?) Another fatuous idea across the North +: Shore pond: Fix up Vancouver's commiuni- ty centres, paid for through a $15 sur- - charge on property taxpayers. Sure, and monkey sce, monkey do: Every other group dissatisied with its budget would ty. to imitate i. ; Bog ; Asmall, underplaygd item in the papers, but a painful loss: B.C. Report magazine is calling it a day and B.C. coverage will be folded into’a western-based national magazine, retreating to founder Ted Byfield’s Alberta roots, ; BC. Report, led by editor-in-chief Terry! O'Neill and featuring columns by himself and managing editor Kevin Michael Grace,” commendably tried to cover important, issues all over the province, often running stories that didn’t make the dailies or were + WROD Ul RCIIP FAD: MOT FE TIF, OY Ag A O-A5 INO? Awaiting park board power failure only briefly reported, Its resources were slim and were largely | underwritien by Ted’s revenues from his ambitious Atberta history series.) 9...’ Ted's training program for reporters. was fascinating. He preferred raw recruits, Then Ted -— himself one of Canada’s top. journdists and « superb polemicat colum-— nist — trained them properly. oS Its viewpoint was conservative with a ~ heavy flavouring of Christianity. Some’ readers complained of the latter. I don’t think I'm betraying a confi- -.. “dence when I relate that in April publisher Link Byfield asked me if I had any sugges-: tions about expanding the magazine’s appeal. 1 could only offer a pessimistic analysis, ey Which ‘was: Paradoxically, most busine: people praise cofiservatism -— but conserv: ___ atives are poor custumers. They’re sensible, thrifty, traly conserving people, often “modest icon small-rawn residents wi _.,, Businesses. —- aid advertisers : "fy want spenders, Especially the arithmetic. challenged; even dumb co wun up big credit-card debt and crave . N ad rumor heard on'radio ‘running for WY school | Des ’ oo, ar lautens@axion _ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name, ful address & telephone umber. 4 "MIA é-mall trenshaw @ direct.ca Managing Editor : GHZISS (116) © Bel Bevid Whitman Display Advertising Manager ~ 990-0511 317) a -The:North Shore News is published by HCN Publications Company, Publisher Peter Speck, from 1139 Lon Gail Sxelg-ave | - ~ Genera! Office Manager, -*. ; 985-2131 (105) |: internet: hity/fewe.nsnows.com