A8 - Sunday, January 8, 1984 -

i mailbox

North Shore News

I applaud the members of
the Vancouver Parks Board
and commissioner Jim
Harvey in particular, for,
their plans to hold a public
hearing concerning further
development in:Stanley Park.
The board’s recent approval
of Aquarium expansion and_
addition of a new whale pool,
and its proposed Zoo exten-
sion give serious cause for
alarm.

I have lived in Vancouver
since 1928. My father came
to Vancouver in 1907, and
often told: me about those
early days. 1 remember the
park as it once was, before its *
gradual erosion by non-park
activities which draw crowds
and require black topped
parking lots. ‘

How many residents of .

Greater Vancouver today
know that buffalo once graz-
ed on the site of the Royal
Vancouver Yacht Club park-
ing ‘lot — or that cars could
be driven into the old Hollow

January 9-14

OUR ‘GOOD FORTUNE’ IS
YOUR GOOD FORTUNE

We're breaking out the
savings! Six big days!
Fabulous ‘fortunate’

Tree — or even know what
the Seven Sisters were? How
many remember the old In-
dian who lived in the park —
or Denman Island before it
was taken over by the navy?

Stanley Park is a regional
park in practice if not in
jurisdiction, one of the jewels
in Vancouver’s beautiful set-
ting of mountains and sea,
enjoyed by ali the residents of
the North Shore and Greater
Vancouver. Did-not Lord
Stanley dedicate this park

*“*for the enjoyment of all

peoples ... for all time’’?
This principle in creating
the park sets it aside from or-
dinary.unban parks by embo-
dying a concept of preserva-
tion for citizens yet unborn.
This principle governs our
national parks in a much
more all encompassing
philosophy — total preserva-

tion. Our provincial parks

system is partially protected
through ecological reserves
and Class A parks, but urban
parks play a much different

Savings!

westlynn mall

1199 Lynn Valley Rd.
North Vancouver

role.

My point is that in con-
sidering Stanley Park as an
urban park, the Board is
making a very serious shift in
philosophy from that of the
park’s original creators. With
every further incursion of
buildings or pavement into
wooded or grassed areas our
wilderness heritage is slowly
eaten away.

i have discussed with many
friends and acquaintances the
concept of. expanding the
zoo, and have found them
unanimously opposed to any
further encroachment on
Park land - with one excep-
tion. All agreed that present
inmates, particularly our
elderly bears, should be given
improved accommodation
for their twilight years. In a
civilized society such as ours
there can be no justification
for continuing to keep them
in a bleak, barren, hostile,
concrete environment, or to
send them away to another
zoo because they are growing

old. wa

Any further expansion of
the zoo should be done on a
regional basis and support of
the Tynehead Animal Park is
the obvious move. Animals
in a zoo can never mirror
animals in the wild in any
case. Suggest wild life films
shown on summer ‘evenings
in existing facilities such as
the Museum or the
Planetarium are far
preferable.

Stanley Park is already a
traffic bottleneck. The
Aquarium could better’ be
placed elsewhere in the city.
Since it is located in the park,
I suggest any further expan-
sion should be limited.

To allow the construction
of a new whale pool without
an ironclad guarantee that
the present pitiable whales
will not be replaced when
they die is to open the door to
a greedy ‘‘collector’’ type of
philosophy, with no thought
given to the exploitation and
imprisonment of these in-

telligent mammals. ;

1 realize the Board has
given its approval to expan-
sion of the Aquarium, but I
urge it to reconsider its deci-
sion and examine the basic
thinking about it. We have a
national moratorium on
whaling. I hope the Board
will recognize this.

I ask the Board to take a
good long look at the direc-
tion in which it is heading. It

If you think fitness is
a distant goal,
consider this:

Stanley Park is too p ecious to lose

“Dear Editor:

is my fear that if the present
trend of gradual erosion of
parkland is continued,
Stahley Park will become a
sort of crowd-oriented circus,
with user fees, honky-tonk
atmosphere, traffic jams,
parking meters, etc. and its
future as an oasis of tran-
quillity will be irrevocably
lost.

D. Belhouse

North Vancouver

~The Canadian movement for personal fitness.