‘Park may not need savi

Dear Editor:

Re: “Proposal for Myrtle Park not
welcome,” North Shore News, Nov. 26.

We are writing in response to Moya
Swift's letter, and concurrent petition
being circulated by the Save Myrtle Park
association in Deep Cove.

We would like to ask those who have
signed the petition, or who are consider-
ing doing so, to seek out all the facts
regarding this complex issue. In_ their
haste, this impassioned, yet rapidly put
together group of concerned citizens has
not gathered all the facts, nor considered
the views of the many other parties
involved. Therefore, unfortunately, the
Save Myrtle Parkers are operating on mis-
information and hearsay, Many of the
assumptions being made are creating

_ Negativity in the community and hurting

the reputation of the Deep Cove Parent
Participation Preschool. As past partici-
‘pating parents of this school and active
members of the local community, we feel
is is necessary to try and set the record
straight. .

= Moya and her group have targeting
_. the DCPPP because they are opposed to
"private usage of a public park. We under-

Higher fuel

MAIL BO

stand their concerns, but would like to
point out that private groups are already
operating in the = park, The
hockey /lacrosse rink is rented by private
groups at various times. The playing
fields are reserved, at times, for use exclu-
sively by sports teams in the spring and
summer and are closed to all others. In
fact, hundreds of people use the park for
many different purposes already. If Moya
would like to have a “play date with only
a couple of children” in the park, thea
perhaps she’s not really in favour of
Myrtle Park “for the use of the many
rather than the few.”

We would also like to point out that
the DCPPP is a parent-run, ficenced
preschool operating five, two-hour class-
ea week. It is not a daycare facility, nor
does it provide before- and after-school
care. As far as traffic and parking con-
cerns, we tend to think that since many of
the children attending the preschool typ-
ically have older siblings attending Cove
Cliff elementary school, two blocks away,
that it is an advantage to have parents
park their cars once or walk to both loca-
tions rather than driving.

As well as the DCPPP, other parties _

tax a better option

including several sports organizations
Were present ata June, 2000 public infor-
mation meeting with district councillors
and parks board memtbers to discuss vari-
ous needs and wants. All present agreed
that over time, with more meetings and
working together with the public, a plan
would evolve that meets everyone's needs
yet preserves the uniqueness of Myrtle
Park.

There were no proposals set, no pacts
created, no secret handshakes.
Unfortunately, none of the organizers of
the Save Myrtle Park association were at
this meeting.

So please, take the time to get the
facts by talking to the parks board (as
Moya suggests), but also, talk to your
neighbours, DCPPP members, the sports
organizations and your local councillors
so that you can hear what everyone has to
say. Perhaps Myrtle Park doesn't need
rescuing after all.

Sally Sheppard

Beverley Chyoyk
er

Bev Reid my

Sari Kerr

Christine Tevlin

2" Dear Ecitor:

“+. This is one North Shore
resident who has nothing —
or nothing scrious — against
the: TransLink vehicle levy. I

‘believe that most of its oppo- -

nents,®: including ‘relatively
well-informed. ones. - like
Timothy Renshaw, do: not

filly appreciate all the aspects .

of: this ‘complex topic. ‘Too
often, the question is present-
ed merely as, “Do you want to
pay .an’ extra’ $70 a year to
Operate your car?”. — most
people’s answer. to which is
easy to: guess. But motoring

has costs over and above what’:
: ‘ deaths (for example, the pay- -.
* outs from public health plans °

pay to operate our cars.

“To me, the most important '
of these costs are environmen-

The ° air: quality in. the’:

Vancouver area is bad and get-

ting worse. I walk to and from...’

ork and find my eyes, throat.

-and ‘lings ‘irritated’ by the”

: street-level’ pollution, but my
ings -aré‘ healthy. For those

with asthma and other lung
disorders, heightened levels of
air pollution | translate to
reduced activity, emergency
hospital visits and premature
death.

Children are at particular
risk: hospitalization of young
children for asthma increased
by over 20 per cent in the
1980s. The federal govern-
ment estimates that up to

- 16,000 deaths per ycar in

Canada are associated with air
pollution. Apart from the suf-
fering and misery, we could

calculate a dollar cost for:

those “hospital. visits | and

and private insitrance), and it
would be large. aoe
Since about 65 per cent of
the. Vancouver region’s air
Hution: is due, to: automo-
iles, the mortality effects of
air. pollution 'can_ be “traced

straight back to. us niotorists. °:
We are. inflicting’ injury’ on:

e

Inspection station

Ail above with written B.C.A.A., inspection |”
report; rotate tires, top up all fiuids road test.

people and leaving them and
others to pick up the tab.

The TransLink levy of
course will do nothing to
defray hospital expenses or
life-insurance claims, but it
does make a small step toward
getting us to link our motor-
ing behavior to its down-

‘stream costs. One problem
_ with the levy is that it is too

small either to motivate a
motorist to switch to less pol-

. luting transportation, or to

fund a significant investment
in that alternative transporta-
tion. Another problem is that
it paints all vehicle owners
with the same brush: I'll pay
the same (or almost the same)
levy “for my four-cylinder
Toyota,. driven 10,000 kilo-
metres per year, as will some-
one who drives his six-cylinder

_ car 50,000 kilometres.’

A better option would be”

would have motorists paying
exactly in proportion to how :

much pollution they are creat-
ing, and would also provide a
continual incentive (every fill-
up) instead of an annual sting
at insurance-renewal time.
The most important: goal for
the funding options chosen
for TransLink is to provide
incentives for people to
behave in socially more
responsible ways.

Scheming to get. federal
funding will not accomplish

this. We- must: also leave ©
behind the idea: that more”

roads are the answer to our

problems. Not only is this a.

solution from the 1950s, it
actually would: worsen the

’ most serious problems that we".
‘are trying to deal with. nal

Paul Vitols «0
North Vancouver. :

“an increased fuel’ tax. This *

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