AND last but not least on your North Shore mayoral horse racing card: Ripping Yarns’ handicapping sheet for North Vancouver District. Home of marathon council micetings, full-contact verbal jousts and other political blood sports. Home aiso in this civic election year to the North Shore's most predictable may- oral horse race. Key disappointment east of the Scymour in 1999: the incumbent's lead is consider- able, and, unlike the North Vancouver City and West Vancouver District races ana- lyzed in the previous two Yarns, worthy incumbents _ chose to pursue safer council seats rather than contest the “) mayor’s chair. ~Most notable in this cate-' gory: Coun. Ernie Crist, - whose barbed buckshot has’ ‘been ‘fired regularly into the _ mailbox rumps of district mayors over the past three terms over such issues as ineffective leadership. The district’s mayoral race is therefore less compctitive than it could have been. Still, it’s a three-horse field in 1999 and that’s nvo better than in 1996, when incumbent mayor Don Bell strolled into office by acclamation. At the district's starang gate, then, in alphabetical order: Don “The Grocer” Bell: District council experience stretches back almost three decades. Served as district alderman from 1970 to 1976. . Made first successful run for . A Halloween treat Dear’ Editor: ~ In the wake of Halloween pranks, I want to tell you ofa very eart ‘Warming occurrence at my door. Just after i had com- pictely run out of treats, two little girls arrived. Apologizing, I howed them my empty bowl: With that, one of the young girls {aged abour eight) reached into her bag of goodies and gave me two handfuls saying she had lots. «She. wouldn’t take ‘them back — so I passed them on. I shared: her_actions with those: who benefited, and those who ed it was very nice of her). Now I would like our, readers. Would you agree she. had just ide! Upholstery c Beit aur Sentors Discount) ° mayor in 1976. Acclaimed in 1978. Served until 1982. Departed to start 11-year stint as Safeway’s director of public relations. In the meantime served as North Vancouver Districr 44 schoo! board trustee (1986 to 1993); elvet- ed councillor again in 1993; acclaimed as mavor in 1996. A district resident tor the past 30 vears; now lives in the Highland Boulevard area. Appears to be trom the harried school of micro-man- agement. Always rushing to get somewhere else with one cye on his watch, the other on an electronic orgatizer and a cell phone in cach hand. An able politician, howev- er, with 2 grip on his munici- pality’s voters akin to that of out-going Mayor Jack Loucks in North Vancouver City. Appears to be on his way to being incambent for life. Helped sink direct democ- racy referendum earlier this year with deciding vote’ against citizen-initiated refer- enda.. Sceking a ccuncil that wil work together, deaf with issues not personalities and treat cach other with respect. Goal is two-hour council mectings.| Lotsa luck. Issues, he says, have changed little from those list- ed on his 1976 mayoral elec- tion brochure — amalgama- tion, improved rec facilities and parkland, improved trans- portation, better communica- tion between council and resi- dents, people-oriented land lanning and development, industrial development com- plementary to the North Shore. The good news: nota bad stable of issues; the bad news: it’s 23 years on and scant Progress has been made on any of them.. Claims accomplishments during last term range from streamlining district hall efli- ciency to addressing neigh- bourhood planning process and getting on with the devel- opment of the Maplewood Industrial area. Council discord, ineffective meetings and attacks on icad- ership style result, he says, trom people not wanting to work together, Quoth Bell: “You can lead a council to water but you can’t make it drink.” Over-booked and under- organized; better at speaking than listening; fuzzv Icader- ship style; but has the incum- bent’s edge, wide name recog- nition and knows how to work the field in the race; well ahead of challengers right out of the gate. Odds are set at 2-1. o00 Peter “Taxman” Faminow: ; Retired lawyer on a life- Jong quest for a mayoral title. Deep Cove area resident has previously run seven times for mayor's scat, most recently against Murray Dykeman in 1990, Originally ran against Murdo Fraser back in 1958; also ran against Ron Andrews in 1966. Has run nine times for council and logged seven years as district councillor in the 50s and ’60s; last served in 1967, Platform is short a few lanks. Fixated on taxes, but as no clear solutions or plans or idzas. Running because “I think I can do better (than Belt)”; otherwise unclear on phy people should vote for ~ Fringe candidate at best. Odds are 100 to 1. ad + Upholstery, stains * Molds, mildew, odor ; .- :.@ Flood/water damage - 24 hr emergency .. “sony restrictions apoly AYERS GOLFERS | CITIZENS av! LARGE * * Dig Double Event x wo WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 L ' Three District Mayoralty Candidates Debate 7:30pm : fi. Annual General Meeting of North Shore * Public Golf Course Society .. seeee 7:00pm. ’ Seymour Golf & Country. Club . ‘(Opposite Parkgate Shopping Centre): “Es eryone Mele ore! - NORTH SHGRE PUBLIC GOLF COURSE SOCIETY (OUR PUBLIC SERVICE RECORD: Promoted ‘the: North Shore’s first 18-hold public golf course --- NORTHLANDS. Our. Junior Golf * Program each year involves more than 1 400 “Students and 22 Schools. ): . Sunday, November 7, 1999 — North Shore News - ona Dave “S.0.S.” Sadler: Long-time council watcher who rose to prominence as one of the driving forces behind the Save Our Shores (S.O.S) movement. Heads a wholesale company that dis- tributes active wear. Roche Point-area resident for the past 12 years. Handsworth grad class of 1967. Has strong business background and keen interest in how the municipality is being run. Promises ethics, account- abiliry and openness. Made gentleman’s agree- ment with Crist that either one or the other would run against Bell for the mayor's chair. Sadler drew the short straw. Says the district, adjudged by a 1997 Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey to be the worst place in B.C. to try to run a business, needs better money manzgement, whale- sale red tape removal and a complete efficiency transtu- sion, Strong backer of direct democracy movement. Advocate of youth issues. A tenacious Bell critic who © has dogged the mayor on such issues as taxes, first-class plane trips to China and delays in implementing devel- opment cost charges in the district. : Asks the multi-million-dol- field tar question: Where will the district get the money for such projects as the new Lynn Valley library, the twinning of the Dollarton bridge and removal of debris flow hazards on 40 district creeks? Not accepting campaign contributions from developers or unions. Would take a leave of absence from job if elected. Short on political experi- ence and public speaking skills, but also carries no polit- ical baggage and has ne politi- cal debts to pay. Long on enthusiasm, business smarts and candour. Eye-catching David versus Goliath poster campaign. Just not ready, however, to unseat the race favourite this time around. Odds are 20 to 1. Ripping Yarns is going with the incumbent in this contest. a — trenshaw@direct.ca i ai . 2, Lestoes & Filters’ 21. pt. 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