6 - Wednesday, January 25, 1989 - North Shore News INSIGHTS A pearl-diving payoff not to be sneezed at! SINK-’N’-SUDS DEPT. If you’re a career-oriented Grade 12er, never sneer at dishwashing (or ‘‘pear] diving*’, as they call it, in the hospitality trade). Just don’t stick with it too long. The Class of ’62 West Van High grad didn’t, and his employer, West Van White Spot, soon pro- moted him — to car hop. Over the next quarter of a century things got even better. This spring our now 45-year-old North Shore boy, Steve Halliday, moves to Honolulu to start his lat- est job — vice-president operations for the Japanese-owned Pan Pacific-Emerald Hotels group, responsible for eight world-class hotels in North America, Oceania and Hawaii. They include Waikiki’s huge 1,350-room Hawai- jan Regent, the luxurious Mauna Lani Bay resort on the Big Island and similar hostetries in Anaheim, San Diego, Vanuatu, New Zealand and Australia — not forgetting Vancouver's Pan Pacific, of which Steve is presently general manager. STEVE HALLIDAY hits the heights. Well known here earlier as man- ager for a number of years of the Westin Bayshore Inn, he also held executive positions with Westin Hotels in Toronto and Edmonton before returning five years ago to become boss of the spanking new Pan Pacific. Under his guidance Vancouver's spectacular harbor- side landmark has already been accepted as a member of the inter- national hospitality industry’s ‘hall of fame’’ — the exclusive fraternity of Leading Hotels of the World, limited to 220 top hotels around the globe. So never be afraid, you guys, to pile into the sink and suds if that’s what it takes to start. You, too, could wind up as a six-figure suc- cess story living in Hawaii! ese HOW TO KEEP B.C. moving in the 21st century was the problem presented last Friday by Highways and Transportation Minister Neil Vant to a joint breakfast mecting of North and West Van, Squamish and Whistler Chambers of Com- merce. Our present transportation system is wearing out and the solu- tion is Mr. Vant’s master plan, “Freedom to Move’’, which he served up with the Danish and the help of a movie projector. That plus, as usual, MONEY — lots of thine and mine. To maintain and upgrade highways, bridges, transit, airports, ferries and BC Rail to adequate standards is going to cost up to a cool $8 billion by the year 2000. The good news is that it in- cludes the long-awaited $20 million Lonsdale-Upper Levels overpass, for which tenders are to be called any moment now. An engaging and articulate speaker, Mr. Vant managed some- how to makc it all sound relatively painless. His earlier, oddly assorted careers were in construc- tion and the church, and an anec- dote from his days as an Anglican priest in the Cariboo gives a clue to one of his major talents. ‘‘People would always come and complain to me when it rained on their wed- ding,”’ he said. ‘‘I used to explain to them that I was only in sales — not management!"* ees WRAP-UP: Free counselling help — both individual and at regular Tuesday meetings — for peopie caring for older family members is offered ty the newly launched © wednesday world ¢ North Shore Home Support Pro- gram, which has just received a New Horizons grant from Ottawa. Call coordinator Phyllis Howard, 985-7138 or 984-0185 for details ... Proud North Van mom is Dorothy Podolski whose son, Darrell Dean, is being promoted to Brigadier General. At 47 — a career officer who's served in the Sinai and Germany, and a judo Black Belt — he’s believed to be one of Canada’s youngest ever generals ... i And North Shore Keep Well in- vites seniors to hear Consumers Association president Ada Brown tell how to avoid consumer rip offs — tomorrow Thursday, Jan. 26, at 12:15 p.m. in West Van Seniors Centre. oe @ WRIGHT OR WRONG: ‘Moving in cycles’’ is the dignified way of admitting that you're running around in circles. NEWS photc Net! Lucente HISTORY ON THE BLOCK...Bob Siebold of Maynard's calls for bids on assorted industria! equipment at the recent Matsumoto shipyard auction — marking the en¢ of 40 years of North Shore shipbuilding history. Control costs | yo INVESTMENT is good, we've been NOW THE LETTER CARRIERS UNION! eres HAS MERGED WITH GUPW. THERE WILL NO LONGER BE TWO, WEEK- told. But unlimited foreign investment is simply EVERY irresponsibie. A case in point is the enormous LING STRIKES YEAR... amount of local rea! estate falling into non-Canadian hands. High real estate costs are hurting the average North Shore resident: property assessments — and eventually property taxes — are rising quickly; it is becoming next to impossibie for young couples and pensioners to buy affordable housing locally; and because of the housing pinch, low-cest rental suites are practically non-exis- tent. Yet foreign investment alone cannot be blamed for spiralling real estate values. An influx of Canadians from cther previnces is swelling the Lower Mainiand’s population. Poor transportation links make com- muting difficult, putting further pressure on housing demands in central areas. And a lack of motivation for developers to build rental accommodation is making matters even worse. But mass purchases of real estate by off-shore buyers remain a major cause of rising housing costs. Flipping real estate — whether it be by foreigners or Canadians — is making a lot of people rich at the expense of the lower and middle classes. But there is a solution that would stabilize Lower Mainiand housing costs without discouraging foreign investment in commercial and industrial markets. Leg- islation must be introduced to limit the purchase of residential property to Canadians and landed im- migrants, and a cooling-off period between residential real estate sales must be established. This would con- trol land speculation and properts flipping. The result fay Lnwert ow Y e ine costs without discouragin; Ss in aan would be moderule housing costs Big vine, cas ones el North Shore owned and managed | foreign investment. : wn Entire contents « 1989 Nu:tr Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved. Sob wie 8 SUNT AND WE AT vane OUYE 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-13:37 986-1337 985-3227 Display Advartising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscniprons Publisher Peter Speck Managing Editor Barrett Fisher Associate Editor Noei Wright Advertising Directur Linda Stewart Norta Shore News, ° |. aay a wt 1439 Lonsdale Avenue. WUNDAY + WEONESUAY « FHIDAY WM Ghat 59,170 oo lie, | i ‘ | , forth Vancouver, BC