OSS SN, eS RSS Dares NEWS VIEWPOINT Ferry fumbie and other North Shore residents should join Allied Shipbuilders in offering three cheers to the news that the provincial government has finally approved construction of a second superferry for the B.C. Ferry Corp. Nee SHORE shipyard workers The massive 470-car vessel will comple- ment its sister ship, which is currently be- ing built for BCFC, The NDP government’s decision makes good sense considering that the investment of millions of taxpayers’ dollars in upgrading Victoria and Tsawwassen ferry docks to handle a single superferry would have been largely wasted. It also makes good sense for the whole West Coast shipbuilding industry, which needs all the kelp it can get to stay aflont in currently rough economic seas. But the government’s delay in making what should have been a straightforward decision has cost local shipyards much un- necessary concern over the future of the project and could cost B.C. taxpayers mil- lions of dollars. The first superferry wil! cost approxi- mately $119 million; the second ferry was to cost substantially less because of prom- ised supplier discounts made available for a two-ferry deal. But those discounts disappeared in the delay, and now the se- cond st:xerferry will cost an estimated $130 million. As the old saw dictates: he who hesitates is lost. We lost a few million dollars on this one, but maybe we have gained some invaluable experience for next time. Maybe. NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK “It’s the °90s. What are you going to do? I’m going for broke.”’ Miss North Shore organizer Gertie Todd, on deciding to allow males to get involved in a local talent competition. “How caz you annex something - else when you have no control over what you've siready got up _ there?”’ Detlef Schmidt, president of the Indian Arm Ratepayers Associa- tien, to North Vancouver District - Council on its decision to annex the portion of Electoral Area B that is immediately north of the district. “*, there seems to be some detec- tive out there who senses that as Publisher Peter Speck soon as an MLA walks into his office the phone starts ringing off the hook.”’ West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Jeremy Dalton, on the trials and tribulations of being an MLA. ‘Light opera is still as popular as ever. It’s fun, it’s comedy and, best of all, you can hear and ua- derstand what the characters are saying.”’ Greater Vancouver Opera Society president Tom Wright, on light opera. Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution “41 believe people do want to be part of it in a safe, registered, open way. Nobody wants to be a fink or spy on their neighbor.”’ North Vancouver District Mayor Murray Dykeman, speak- ing in favor of extending the district’s program of registering i!- legal suites. : “They would only do it once.”’ West Vancouver District Ald. Diana Hutchinson, during a council discussion into allowing a West Vancouver residential drive- way access to Marine Drive, on how many times a resident would back his vehicle on to the busy thoroughfare. 986-1337 When will the jackboots see suite reason? WOMEN ARE rightly known as the caring, compassionate sex but it didn’t show much last weck at North Van District Council. The bee in former mayor Marilya Baker’s bonnet is still buzzing loudly in the ears of the two current femaie council members. Marilyn, for eight years the near-perfect mayor, had an obsession about closing down ail the estimated 3,000-4,000 so-call- ed ‘‘ilegal’’ suites by 1995. This, despite the fact that council has no way of even finding where nine out of 10 of them are without a Gestapo-like house-to-house search by a costly army of municipal jackboots. Nevertheless, Aldermen Joan Gadsby and Janice Harris defeated three male colleagues, including the mayor, on a motion to at least move the closure deadline to the year 2000 for the handful of suite owners likely to register voluntarily (a laughable 297 to date). What the fire-breathing ladies plan to do about the 80%-90% of owners who wisely decline to report their suites, while making sure their tenants don’t annoy anyone, is unclear. Search war- rants? Paid informants? A police sweep of every single-family home? Where are you, Joe Stalin, when we need you? Attempting to prove the enor- mity of the problem, Ald. Harris cited **50 to 60°’ complaints received each year. That's tess than 2% of the estimated total! suites, which suggests most district voters have a lot more good sense and understanding for lower- income neighbors than some of their elected representatives. Today’s economy makes suites an essential housing component. In North Van District they pro- vide the only homes that some 5,000-6,000 citizens — many of them single mothers and pen- sioners — can afford. In addition, many suite owners themselves de- pend on them to help with the mortgage. Radically changed times means the ‘‘pure’’ single-family zone of 30 years ago is becoming an anachronism. Certainly all suites should be registered and regulated by city hall for safety, health and the number of tenants — a course recommended by District’s own Housing Strategy Task Force but thrown out by council last November. Since suites involve no increase in property, no extra property tax is justified. Instead, council could always seek voter approval for a head tax on home OCCUPANTS! Noel Wright eo ON te HITHER AND YON Non-cooperative owners, when found, should be duly penalized. Nuisances to neighbors should be handled like any other nuisances. .. But no home dwellers, basement or otherwise, should live in fear of being thrown out on the street by prowling jackboots. Aldermen Gadsby, Harris, Buchols and Cuthbert should do- nate their own jackboots to the Sally Ann and try to see suite reason. eos | WRAP-UP: Officially opened / yesterday by council members and © Lynn Vailey Lions was another NV District Centennial project, ° the Lynn Creek Nature Access -_ Trail. Starting at the foot of St. . Denis just west of the Coach House, it’s a flat one kilometre. with beautiful river views and =~ wheelchair accessible ... Another half-price sale day Thursday, Feb. — 27, at Mt. Seymour U.C. Thrift Shop, 1200 Parkgate ... From the. Better Late Dept. many happy” *: . returns of Wednesday, Feb. 19, to © West Van’s Sybil Hunden — at 75 still swimming half a mileaday.. — ... The same yesterday, Feb. 22, — to North Van Kiwanian ~. Sakerkhanu Karim ... And happy... birthday Tuesday, Feb. 25, to his’ . fellow Kiwanian Hugh McKay. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: Funny . how many people know more =~ when you tell them something than when you ask them some-"_ thing. : ‘ Managing Editor... Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor .Noel Wright Advertising Direstor .. Linda Stewart Comptroller Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph tl of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and SS distributed to every door on the North Shore. Sawtelle eel : Second Grass Matt Res istration Number 885. s wbscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per =—= yeas. Mailing rates available on request. Nor ionsdale Avenue, SDA DIVISION Submissions are wefcome but we cannot accept V7M 2H4 + 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) responsibility tor unsolicited material including Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Newsrcom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 MEMBER SR" ——— ae north shore an ALDERMEN JOAN Gadsby (left) and Janice Harris... kick them ail manuscripis and pictures which should be out of home suite home. se accompanied py a stamped, addressed envelope.