2 - Sunday, May 2. 1999 - North Snore News AWINNING COMMUNITY IN BLOOM “Beautify your municipality. Build community pride. Improve the environment.” The City of North Vancouver won the 1998 provincial “Communities in Bloom’ competition for the population class of 4. “Communities in Bloom” committee — again in £999! ‘DEDICATION TOTHE ENVIRONMENT REWARDED : . The Governor General has honoured City of North Vancouver Councillor Stella Jo ; gq Dean. She was presented with a Clean World Award in February for her commit- ment to improving and enhancing North Vancouver's environment over the last three decades. She has been working to promote and maintain a clean environment through her work as both a director and Chair of Pitch-In British Columbia’s Waste Management Society for the past 28 years. “pe Congratulations Stella! 20,001 — 50,000 residents and now the City has officially entered the 1999 national ‘Communities in Bloom’ competition.‘Communities in “3 Bloom’ is an environmental awareness and municipal beautification program which is championed by the ‘Communities in Bloom’ committee chaired by Stella Jo Dean. It's an initiative designed to involve whole communities in the challenge of improving the visual appeal of Canadian cities, towns and villages and an opportunity to compete for provincial and nation- al awards. Judging of the City will take place on july 23, 1999. Both public and private properties will be evaluated. Many community-based interest groups are also involved in a wide variety of projects aimed at meeting the judging criteria. There's still time to get involved. What follows is a sample of some of the community projects that will help make the City of North Vancouver ‘A Winning Community in Bloom’ WHAT'S BLUE AND WHITE AND READ ALL OVER? Lock up! There’s a new colour scheme for street signs in the City of North Vancouver. Blue and . white signs started popping-up all over the City in April. They've been designed to improve safety and readability a0 b > NORTH VANCOUVER IS WIPING OUT GRAFFITI The writing may be on the wall bur. this year there's less of it. Jim Johnson, coordinator of the Anti-Graffiti Program, says North Vancouver is making a dent in the graffiti problem. The City has been waging war against graffiti since 1995.“Our aim is to have the City of North Vancouver be a model in the aT 7 aa a battle against this kind of vandal- po ism.” He makes three or four patrols of the area every week painting over any new graffiti as quickly as possible. Sometimes he uses chemicals to wash away the damage. He says the goal is “zero tolerance.” A bylaw is cur- rently in place to prohibit graffid. He says the penalties for this type of crime can be costly. In March, the Rotary Club of Lions Gate made his efforts to tidy-up the community a little bit easi- er. They donated a van to be used by Community Policing Centre volunteers while patrolling the city streets and alleys.A graffici telephone hotline has now been established. You can call 990-7467 to report graffiti. a City of North Vancouver heart off geur cemmmurnity 141 West 14th Street, North Vancouver BC V7M 1H9 Phone: 985-7761 Fax: 985-9417 ‘COMMUNITIES ! BLOOM’ PARTICIPANTS ARE JUDGED ON: + Community involvement + Environmental effore + Heritage conservation + Tidiness efforts + Landscaped areas + Turf area + Urban forestry development + Floral arrangement PAINTED FiSH North Shore Brownies and Girl Guides, Youth Services Canada and merabers of the Community Living Society have painted ‘yellow fish’on storm drains. It's a project aimed at heightening public awareness about the dangers of dumping things like oils and solvents into the storm drain system — a system that leads to the City’s watercourse and fish habitats! YOUTH BIKE PATROL The ‘Communities in Bloom’ committee is promoting a Youth Bike Patrol. Young peoole will be trained by the RCMP. PITCH-IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Several wooded areas will be cleaned-up as part of Pitch-In British Columbia Week in early May. Mayor Jack E. Loucks Councillor john Braithwaite Councillor Stella Jo Dean Councillor Bob Fearnley Councillor Darrell Mussatto Councillor Barbara Perrault Councillor Barbara Sharp WYWVV.CIiv. ZOrg,