34 - Sunday, July 14, 1991 — North Shore News HIGH PROFILES _ Taking on the challenges of Lions Bay News photo Paul McGrath GORDON PRESCOTT, who has been mayor of Lions Bay since 1988, wants to see more stringent testing of heavy vehicles using the Sea to Sky highway and eventually an indian Arm route to Whistier that would result in less traffic for the overburdened Howe Sound road. In the meantime, he’s proud _of his community and the volunteerism that allows his council to maintain the lowest taxes in B.C. Gordon Prescott: in his own words What are your priorities as mayor of Lions Bay? I want to see the water system set- tled, because it scares me that we have so much reliance on one source. The highway rernains my number one concern — | am con- cerned for the safety of the resi- dents. The pulp mills on Howe Sound have done a pretty good job of cleaning up. A lot of the stuff Terry Jacks was complaining about has been fixed. We have a good relationship with John Reynolds. He’s a _ co-operative MLA and a friend to the village. What has been your disappointment as mayor? biggest The voters aren’t always right. Good people have been aldermen, but the voters have sometiines chosen not to re-elect them. But politicians have a choice too — they can either bow out, die in of- fice, or be voted out. Not enough of us bow out gracefully. What do you enjoy most about the job? It’s the satisfaction of ac- complishing something. Our fire Woburn International Academy of British Columbia ¢ SMALL CLASSES e INDIVIDUALIZED PROGRAMS * GRADES 6- 12 Recently relocated in Vancouver's historic Gastown, the Internationa! Academy is accredited by the B.C. Ministry of Education and its courses follow che Ministry Curriculum Guides. Traditiona! values of academic excellence, sportsmanship and competitiveness are encouraged. An Enriched Academic Program including a French Immersion Approach is available to qualifying students. 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Our tax base is the residents, and it’s a difficult balance, to produce the service the public demands with the limited budgets we have. “*ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING is the greatest satisfaction, and just keeping everything running on an even keel”’ is how Gordon Prescott describes his three years as mayor of Lions Bay. By Patrick Raynard Contributing Writer The Howe Sound community of 1,200 north of Horseshoe Bay has been one of the Lower Mainland’s quiet success stories. Last week Prescott took an hour to discuss some of Lions Bay’s issues with the North Shore News and to talk about his own political career. The condition of Highway 99, known as the Sea to Sky highway, and the policing of this breathtak- ingly beautiful stretch of road has always been Prescott’s and his fellow citizens’ biggest concern. But the mayor is positive. “The highway is substantially safer and the pertinent creeks have all had new bridges put on them,”’ he says, adding that the increased police presence — the highway is patrolled by the Squamish RCMP as far south as the West Van- couver municipal boundary — has probably helped reduce accidents to ‘‘next to nothing’’ so far this year. But Prescott feels strongly that the testing of heavy vehicles isn’t nearly stringent enough, and that the brake testing station at the top of the hill above Horseshoe Bay should be substantially beefed up. “It’s ridiculous to have that facade up there that makes the public think they will be safe (from malfunctioning trucks). What they do there is only for the ferry. It has nothing to do with highway safety. “All they do up there is walk around the trucks and kick the tires,’ Prescott says, adding that e NAME: Gordon Prescott © AGE: 42 © POSITION: Mayor, Village of Lions Bay * EDUCATION: forestry at BCIT * FAMILY: Married to Barbara since 1970; kids, Matthew, 15 and Rebecca, 12 * HOBBIES: Votlanteering. _fish- ing, building a Gulf Islands hideaway Handsworth; the runaway asphalt truck that killed a mother and child in the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal last year, and several of the other trucks that have had repeat acci- dents from brake and other failures on the Sea to Sky high- way, ‘‘shouldn't even have been on the road.°’ He also points out that the staff at the testing station appear to do nothing about the truck drivers who cruise past the station without reporting. Prescott believes that, while it is good that the entire Sea to Sky highway may eventually be widen- ed to four lanes, it would be cheaper, safer and less disruptive to traffic to build an entirely new route from Vancouver to Whistler, preferably up Indian Arm, which would join the ex- isting highway just north of Squamish. “The traffic flows we are get- ting on our road here are 10,000 ears per day during the peak of the ski season,’’ plus commercial and heavy vehicles, he says. Prescott, a silviculturist by pro- fession, believes that the 30- hectare patch of mountainside that was logged just south of Lions Bay in 1987-88 will be the last piece thus affected on the eastern shore of Howe Sound. “We (Lions Bay council) challenged it, but it had been a mining lease and the timber rights were sold, therefore it was deemed See Prescott page 33 MINIT = TUNE & BRAKE ON A COMPLETE 4 WHEEL BRAKE PACKAGE OUA BRAKE PACKAGE INCLUDES REPLACE FRONT PADS RESUR CHECK WHEEL BEARING, CALIPERS, HOSES, SPRINGS AND PARKING BRAKE CABLE ALL THIS FOR $4 49°99 ' Meade, exira_ Thia coupon musi be presented lor jacount. Only one coupon per service . Ofers may rct be cornbred. OTHER AUTO CENTRES PLES S neereac ANY TUNE-UP REG. 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