North Van City staff forge ahead with study NORTH VANCOUVER City staff and the consultants hired lo conduct a safety audit of Lower Lonsdale say they're baffled over the lack of public response to the project. By Karen Mason Contributing Writer The consultants have held numerous mectings this month with focus groups representing women. seniors, youth and businesses in Lower Lonsdale. They discussed the purpose of the audit, provided the forms, and gave detailed instructions on how to go about completing them. So far, not one completed audit has been returned to the city. In addition, two recent informa- tion sessions directed at getting other members of the public involved in the audit were poorly attended. Only about a dozen people showed up at the first session at North Shore Neighbourhood House. No one came out to the sec- ond one. “I don’t think people can argue that they didn’t know about it,” says Larry Orr, a social planner with the city who’s heading up the audit process. He says most people would have received information about the sessions three days to a week ahead of time in the form of a flyer in their mailbox. “That flyer went to probably close to eight thousand addresses in Lower Lonsdale, plus we did an ad in the North Shore News, and we put posters around the community.” “What we ask peaple to do is take a look around them ina dilfer- ent way than they might normally do,” says Titterington. “In their buildings. for example, take a look at the lobby, take a look at the washing rooms, take a look at other particular places where somebody might be able to come in and hide and then possibly break in or assault someone.” The idea is for people to audit the streets and buildings they most often frequent. “If it’s their own apartment building.” Titterington says, “and it's where they spend x amount of hours of their day. and there's something wrong with it, maybe that would motivate them to spend the time and submit the form.” But it may be the time involved that’s actually deterring people from taking part in the audit. The entire process takes two to three hours. It’s a fairly major com- mitment of time, admits Orr. “Expecting people will go out and actually do a questionnaire that will take them two hours is perhaps expecting too much.” Still, he says, it’s important the audits are done, especially in what have been identified as priority areas. “The Lonsdale Quay, two blocks east and west of Lonsdale, all the way up Lonsdale, right up to the town centre area; these are the high-use areas and they're definite- ly areas where we need to get some impression from people as to the safety of those areas.” The city plans to use the results of the audit to identify and fix cur- rent safety problems, and to set guidelines for future development in Lower Lonsdale. Municipal government wouldn't be the only body making use of the Missing man A 55-YEAR-OLD Vancouver man remains missing after his moter home was found floating on Oct. 21 in Howe Sound near Porteau Cove. Horst Sowa was last seen by his wife at 2 p.m. on Oct. 20. Vancouver Police investigators deterniined the 1989 Ford motor home “gently or slowly” entered the water at 9:30 p.m. that night. The white vehicle, with brown stripes around the body and roof line, had a key in the ignition and gears engaged when it was pulled out of the water, said Vancouver Police Const. Anne Drennan. The vehicle also contained $8,000 cash, which Drennan said was not unusual for Sowa to carry with him. Drennan said there were no signs of a struggle or theft. Police are asking anyone who may have seen the vehicle between 2 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 26 to call 9- 1-1. “We are treating this as a potential anything at this oint,”’ said Drennan. point, SURANCE BROKERS Defieux Saxelby Insurance Services Inc. 105 - 200 West Esplanade North Vancouver { Located beneath Famous Players Theatre) audit results, Titlerington says coneeris that arise about privately owned proper- tes will also be addressed. and ree- ommendations will be sent to the properly owners. The RCMP will also receive the final report. Const. Darynn Storey of the community policing office in Lower Lonsdale says it’s hoped the information in the report will pro- vide better insight into the public's concerns when it comes to polic- ing. He says while police often tend to focus on larger crime issues such as murders and robberies, “some- times when you talk to Miss Citizen out there, what’s important to her is not so much those type of things; it’s just the barking dog around the block, or the noise in the neighborhood.” Despite the poor public response to the audit so far, no one is ready to give up just vel. Titterington says he and a fel- low consultant are now following up with people they met at the beginning of the process and encouraging them to go out and complete the audit. They've also met with city staff and members of the project’s steer- ing committee to come up with strategies. Possibilities include hav- ing members of the steering com- mittee do the audits, and hiring a couple of university students as well. Whatever happens, says Orr, the audit will be completed, and results and recommendations should be presented to the city by the end of the year, “There's ging to be something come out of this process. Tt won't be all lost. that's for sure.” Wednesday, © October 26, 1994 ~ North Shore News - 5 coo Diamond Specialists EM &® ewellers |: Est. £967 European Designer of Fine Jewellery, & Watchmaker. Gemologist, Goldsmith Roland Badke F.C. GM.A., G.G Serving our customers with exceptional quality & the highest & integrity since We carry a large | 1967. selection of... ad SWAROVSKI ff Capilano Mall 988-50 11 | MRAPIDIUBE 9 ae: THRU Cit CHANGE PROFESSIONALS i Limit 1 coupon per package * No cash value i. Open Sunday 10 to 4 f° Cannot be combined with any other offer BAHAY! 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