E brainsick in Ottawa busy themselves coming up with dopey ideas like bailing out American hockey millionaires. In Victoria, the walking dead obsess over who will be the next captais: of a ' sinking ship. Qn the North Shore, meanwhile, a t idea is born. These is trouble though: for this necessary vision to proceed to reality its preponents mvst secure the attention and support of government. In December 1998, Vancouver and the nearby ski resort of Whistler were picked to represent Canada in a bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Vancouver-Whistler entry beat out Quebec City and Calgary, Alberta, host of the 1988 Winter Games. — - . For the 2020 Olympic to work, “we'll need improved transportation VIEW POINT-——— Wi and transit infrastructure. A spruced up Lions Gate is not going to cut it. John Clark, the West Vancouver councillor whe is working hard to cre- ate the critical mass needed to build a harbour tunnei knows this well. Before we can build a tunnel, he’s building a committee, including representation by business and regional government interests. The idea for a First Narrows tunnel has been kicked around in various forms, albeit in fits and starts, since | 1894. It’s a plausible engineering feat and the money is available. The missing ingredient has always been a lack of focused political will. The 2010 Olympic bid provides a tantalizing cat- A tunnel with rail links is imperative if the bid is to have any legs at all. QU, maitbeo x Fast Cats are no fun Dear Editor: . I returned from Nanaimo last Sunday on the so-called fast » it’s horrible! 7 _., The seating is crowded and haphazard and mainly designed for reading or coffee-drinking people. Forget about vegging or sleeping in these chairs unless you can do it airplane style. The passenger deck is so crowded and pedestrian-unftiend- ly. Instead of the continuous oval track design, this ferry’s walkway is.a horseshoe, two dead-ends. The bathrooms arc -- located right next to the phones, so there is a big blob of peo- |: ple- getting in each other's way there. Forget about aimless -wandering. (20 _ ‘ The. walkways: are’ too narrow, it’s hard to move about. » They are also hardwoed floor. Why? It’s already all scuffed up and’ the hardwood. amplifies the sounds of children running and, luggage wheels dragging. There are so many tables around! It’s hard to find your own space, something easily ‘accomplished on a normal ferry. This ferry reminded me of an overgrown SeaBus, where I’m forced to sit inside and tolerate ~. the tortured commute. ; _ Downstairs in the car-hold (stairway access is weird: locat- ed in the cating area), the driver to my right couldn’t get out ‘his driver's side lsecause the lanes are 'so narrow. “During unloading, some cars have to back up, because not all lanes are continuous from back to front.: When slowing on approach to Horseshoe Bay, the ferry was ‘ocking ‘so violently that few could walk; several passengers looked notably sea sick. coe ‘The sea was not that rough, after all we were very close to. Horseshoe. Ba ote ae : : «The whole thing is so neon and imperional. Regardless of ; ad ergonomics cited above, I just don’t like the feel of this On the normal ships there is so much space, outdoors and ferey. I can’t believe the design of these ships. In my opinion, -in anid it'stems much more relaxed; this ship feels very. crowd- . d and unnatural... ; ; 2 . }These’ships are no fun to travel in. Since I am originally from Powell River, it scares me even more to think they might trarisfer these tin cans to.the Langdale run.: “forth Shore Hens, founded in 1969 as an under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 af the: - ‘Excise Tax Act, i published each Weanvsday, Friday and Sunday by HCN Publications Company and distributed to every doar on the ; Narth Shose. Canade Pest Canat:sn Putiications, Mad Sales Produc! Anreement No. 0087238. ‘Mailing rates avmlabio on request. 7 Distribution Manager 986-1237 (124) REWAPA PER: PSS CORSDLE 166 s bemognsnews.corn cari raxgced ae 61.582 (average ciculation, Wednesday, Fiday & Sunday) ” Creative Services Director 985-2131 (127). Avancher@nsnews.com THE face and the facelift of West Vancouver: Do you know these establishments? Chianti Cafe. Dream City Hair Design. Dick’s Appliances. Gordon Soules Book Publishers. Cptix Art in Eyewear. Giuseppe the Roman Tailor. Beach Side Cafe. Yoko’s Haut Coilfure. (Clever name, that.) Art Upholstering Studio. Lotus Supplements and Essential Oils. They have this in common: All are small businesses. Ali are on the south side of West Van’s Marine Drive, in the 1300-block — most readily identified as the one that begins, for those approaching from Lions Gate Bridge, with the police station on the corner on the left. , And all are part of new mayor Ron Wood's ambitious ideal — which is to knock down those premises and redevel- op the block with a sparkling, first-class hotel that befits the proud and affluent town of West Vancouver. Mayor Wood during his days as coun- ’ cillor made no secret — at least he told me in no uncertain terms -—~ that he was- o’t pleased with the entrance to Ambleside. . . Behind their facades, the buildings are old and some are not in good shape, he said. Ir's also no secret that for years many of the councillors and the towa’s movers - and shakers have wished the police station and the now-closed courtroom were somewhere else. — not sitting on a prime Dee Dhaliwal -- HR/Promotions Manager 985-2131 (218). ddhaliwal@nsnews.com PETER SPECK Publisher $65-2131 (101) pspeck@nsneves.com wile. | f. Fanche:.:: .. - -__ - Terry Peters Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) | tpelers@nsnews.com ¢ Stephenson Classitied Manager 986-6222 (202) vstephenson@nsnews.com Entire contents @ 1999 HCN Puliications Company. All tights reserved. A PRAIRIE PLOY To INCREASE FEDERAL FAR There goes the neighbourhood piece of real estate with water views. If the 1300-block is transformed as envisioned by Wood and others — new councillor and former Chamber of Commerce president John Clatk, who runs a men’s clothing store on the other side of the adjacent. block, on Bellevue, is also hot for redevelopraent — the proposal is to move the cop shop up the hill to municipal property - on Fulton Avenue, abutting the fire hall. Just how that would go down with the neigh- bors would be worth watching. Change - comes to West Van with glacial speed. Many an eager idea has slammed into stubborn resistance and exploded. Think of such visions as the teahouse on the beach at Dundarave, an arts and offices © complex on the old post office site, an arts centre on the Ambleside soccer field. . Obviously the motivation for redevel- oping the 1300-block is to gussy-up- Ambleside’s entire commercial area — —- ’ and to produce more tax revenue. As for the proposed hotel: It’s astounding that a town with such lus- cious natural advantages is so hotel-poor. ” Bevond the.charming and beautifully sit- uated but small Park Royal, the next accommodation is in Horseshoe Bay, with a few grumpily tolerated bed-and-break- fasts in between. My own hobby-horse is for a luxury hotel above the Upper Levels Highway, taking advantage of both the gorgeous: . view (when available) and Whistler-bound skiers who might be glad to pause before tackling Highway 99 on a bad day or ; é sand Clarks are right, maybe it’s p TOUTATIMLALE ATT | wr: : after dark. Bur, apart from that, I’m among the instant nostalgists for those small 1300- . block businesses, Enter Giuseppe the Roman Tailor’s “" ~ and the tailor greets you trom his back shop, wreathed in bolts of cloth. Dick's is an experience, jammed with repaired appliances bearing the most exquisitely |=... lettered tags — some dated two or three: years ago, their owners apparently forge ful. The Beach Side anid the Chianti cafe are charining and have enthusiastic clien teles. a Same with the block’s north side: *. Realtors, restaurants, a convenience stor a corner market, photo studios, a vete: nary hospital, craft supplies — this isa block of businesses offering real good and services on a humian-scale strect: Urban philosopher Jane Jacobs would approve. wee a The West Vancouver of the Wood an Clark vision seems to me a town fit large- ly for latte-drinters, up-market yuppies and exploitable tourists. A town: furth and further removed fromy the relaxed and neighbourly place of other days'th ~Peter Speck evoked so well in his recent . News article. - ae I warmly allow that maybe the We maybe it’s inevitable, but some of thi slick new business and its shudderingly awful, alienating “modern” architect: has alrcady moved in. Count me out I was misintormed in attributing to ‘hi the suggestion of moving Horseshoe Bay’s Nanaimo ferry traffic to Port LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ~ Letters must include your name, - : full address & telephone number.” imathy Rens! Managing Editar 985-2131 (116) trenshaw@nsnews.com Disptay Advertising Menager. 980-0511 (317) dwhitmangnsnews.com VIA e-mail: trenshaw@nsnews.com Newsroom Fax | 585-2104 - Clessified, Accounting | & Haale Gfice Fax Michoat ska - Hows Edit “986-2131 (114). |.