‘.

| West Vanc

An occasional jolt of
self-revelation does no
harm and here is one I
should confess:

1 don’t want much to
change.

T can’t recall the last time I
was very enthusiastic about
any change in West
Vancouver — maybe it was a
first-class hotel above the
Upper Level Highway to
catch some of the sissies on
the lucrative Whisder-bound
rouse who fear making the

modest, mostly street-level
businesses that provide actual
services to real people.

benevolent lady known to
anyone even slightly in the
know, but discreetly
unnamed. Otherwise no one
seems so strongly behind the
idea as te open a fat cheque-
book tor it.

The tong proposed, long-
controversial western recre-
ation centre similarly raises a
giant question mark in my
mind,

Know what? Apart from
whether it’s needed at ail,
apart from my suspicion that
those most zealously behind it
sted ina

drive on a wet, dark, slippery
winter night (which at Worst
lasts about I$ hours, followed
by six hours of grey muzz).

Not high on anyone else's
Priorities, it seems.

The cold truth is that any
“improvement” [ hear about
makes me instantly "suspiciaus.

Suspicious that it will actu-
ally make West: Vancouver
worse.

_ It's perfect as it is. Why
meddle with perfection?

For instance, Mayor Ron
Wood, unless he’s changed
his mind, envisions a grander
entrance to Ambleside than
afforded by the 1400-biock
Marine Drive — a stretch of

In general these businesses
seem to be stable and of long
standing. | presume their
owners can afford the rent.
Would it be better — would
life in West Vancouver be bet-
ter — if it were pussied up, a
match for, say, Bellevue
Avenue, where, I'm told rent
for a certain business soared
higher and higher until it
passed nosebleed level beyond
$15,000 @ month, and simply
folded?

Same goes for the pro-
posed arts centre. Not only
am I skeptical of where it
should be, but also of who
wants it, and how much.

There’s one “angel” — a

are much fess inte
recreation centre primarily for
kids and a lot more cager to
use public money fo create a
“community centre” for peo-
ple who can’t afford to join
clubs like Hollyburn and
Capilano (themselves) —
apart trom that, the truth is:

I like the fact chat beyond
Dundarave, Marine Drive
quickly becomes a sleepy
road, almost a country road
by the time it reaches my
house, which is more or less
on the Caulfeild-Eagle
Harbour border.

The site of the proposed
centre is miles away. But, with
no self-interest at all in the

mailbox

ears have

* Dear Editor:

Leave the berries to the bears.

... Forty years ago my mother and I. would
pick, wild strawberries in the woods. One

time when we were down on our knees with
our buckets a great lumbering black mother
bear with her baby came by not more than 15
* feet away.

_My° mother said quietly: “Now Sharon,
don’t move or say a thing.” The bear and her
cub moved just.as quietly. on. their way. We
“must have looked to them very similarly as
they tous. ©

This :was: my first: encounter with bears
and I can remember feeling awestruck. Since
then, here in the woods of West Vancouver, I
- have come upon bears on my walks.

“As soon as 1 see one I stop. immediately,
“turn around and go back as fast as I can with-
out running, from where I came. They have
not growled or followed,

Bears.don’t ‘sce well but they do smell
well. -They must. find us really stinky.

. The-sooner we ‘remove. ourselves from
them the better.

Bears become: confused and frightened

of the City of North Vancouver

s craseenenenamemmatnemnnnnntenetenumenemnsenmnemnannmanmna aia

rights too

when people gather excitedly around. We —
should have the good sense to leave them
alone, go inside our houses and about our
business.

So what if a bear comes down to feed on
a cherry tree; vacate for half a day, and then
let him or her find the way back to familiar
ground.

Black bears are mostly herbivorous grazers
and are: constantly moving. They are not
holding us hostage; we after all are the ones
who have taken their land. Talk about indige-
nous rights, What are we conserving, certain-
ly. not bullets.

I-guess like people, the occasional bear

goes crazy. and when this. happens we are

lucky to have trained people to deal with
them,

But under normal circumstances the most
reasonable thing to-do is simply to respect
bears.

I don’t think it’s necessary to tell anyon¢
when we sce a bear, just leave quietly and.
wait for a while — maybe a long, long while.

Sharon Christian . Lo
West Vancouver

. the communi

buver: it's petter

location — across from lovely
little Gleneagles Golf Course
— I'm pretty damned hostile
to the prospect of a knot of
heavier in-and-out traffic that
will destroy the tranquility.

Even more so if, as various
options have it, some residen-
tial housing is imposed on the
site,

And more than a million
bucks just to relocate the
lousy road and services.

Peace and quiet —~ they're
wonderful, We pay high taxes
for them (but not too high
compared with comparable
neighbourhoods in cities like
Toronto and Montreal —
generously allowing they have
anything comparable to West
Van).

I shudder to think of the
mess, the noise, the traffic
slowed down and chugging
over bone-rauting makeshift
road surtaces (tor how long?)
while this “improvement”
takes place.

And in answer to your
unspoken question: Yes, I do
have children, three of them,
young enough to be the
apparent beneficiaries of the
centre.

They go miles to the 22nd

Senereree Amman,

Rec fees.
painful

Dear Editor:

Re: Recreation fees.

On the North Shore in
North Vancouver City and
District we have the North
Shore Recreation Commission
who have shown a total lack of
fiscal responsibility with the
new fee schedule.

Instead of being a leader in
the community with affordable
fees with which every senior,
family and young person can
create and have a_ healthy
lifestyle,-they choose to saddle
y with these fees
which are totally unacceptable.
The community should take a

~ serious look at what the rec
commission is doing to our.

tax-funded facilities.
S. Jackson

North Vancouver

stantheman@telus.net

PIANO SALE

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“are holding-a.contest open to.
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Sunday, September 17, 2000 — North Shore Nows - 7

Street centre for evmnastic
classes — that’s the nwo girls
— or just a few hundred
vards to delightful Eagle
Harbour or Cypress Park for
baseball games, or Pare
Verdun tor pickup rollerblade
hockey — that’s the boy,
They don't seem to be
developmentally stunted by
che existing arrangements.
Nor do [see a problem
with the quaint little, tight fit-
de spaces of the Silk Purse,
with its small-town feel. Some
day it will be fondly remem-
bered for its charming inade-

over here

quacies, after the arts have
moved into some slick, soul-
fess mausoleum.

If it’s bustling, glittering
progress you crave —- hey,
there are suburbs for you in
this area. Like Surrey. And
who the hell wants to move
there from here?

You may sum up my atti-
tude as seltish, smug, short-
sighted. I will merely smile
benevolently at you, as long
as I'm living in the cradle of
almost unblemished peace
that is West Vancouver.

— fauteus@axionct.com

Act on dam repair

Dear Editor:

Re: “Pay those disturbed by the dam,” (Sept. 3, North
Shore News). Does Corrie Kost: ever drive on the Upper
Levels Highway? Does he ever give a thought to those living
on 24th and 25th Streets and what they put up with? We
endured several years of construction and continue to live with
noise from motorcycles, trucks and emergency vehicles. All of
which  significandy reduced our property values. If anyone
deserves $500 per month it is these residents. The list of resi-
dents impacted by various public works is endless. Let’s get on

with repairing the dam.
Marie MacKay

North Vancouver
mariemackay@sprint.ca

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