6 - North Shore News -— Friday, February 25, 2060 ider wi HEERS to the Vancouver Park Board for mustering the gumption to support the widening of the Stanley Park cause- way. It made no sense to revamp the Lions Gate Bridge without an adjust- ment to the causeway. It’s a danger- ous stretch of road. The most powerful argument pre- sented by foes of the widening is that a wider causeway will encourage more causeway speeding. When conditions allow for it, dri- vers speed on it already. The answer is police enforcement of the causeway. This is not being done. It should be. It’s revealing to note that ICBC has committed $2 million to the total cost of the $15 million causeway pro- ject.. VIEW POINT: The corperation maintains that the wider lanes — from the current 2.9 metres (9.5 ft.) to 3.5 metres (11.5 ft.) —- will reduce crashes and severe accident claims. According to ICBC, a single head- on crash can lead to claims costs of $5 million and up. he improved causeway is there- fore a good investment. The much publicized loss of trees for this project is a red herring. We’re not talking about the felling of old growth. Conveniently, elimination of the Chilco bus loop and the return of that area to park green space is never mentioned by opponents. Meanwhile energy must now be focused on bringing about a third crossing of Burrard Inlet and improved transit options such as SeaBus, SkyTrain and cycling access. Sere tileLep 4 Comments of N. Van City mayor criticized Open letter to North Vancouver City mayor and coun- cil: _I was amazed to learn of Mayor Barbara Sharp’s views during the recent CBC mozning radio program. Perhaps, Mayor Sharp, if-you lived in West Vancouver or in close proximity te the Lions Gate Bridge, you would understand the need for additional vehicie capacity. To suggzst that West Van residents’ views concerning the inadequacy of crossings to the North Shore is attrib- uted to a love affair with their autos is nothing short of a _cheap shot from someone. who has obviously not taken the . time to examine the current conditions, The Lions Gate Bridge was designed for a 50-year life expectancy to serve the North Shore and never designed . to service the volumes of traffic travelling to the Sunshine . Coast, Nanaimo and the North Island, Howe Sound, Squamish, Whistler and the Pemberton Valley. ; Take a look at ‘Taylor Way and Marine Drive on any given weekend when the brige of ferry and/or Whistler traffic hits. ___/Take a look at the southbound line up to the Lions Gate during the evening rush hour and even you will have to conclude that this bridge is a major arterial route serv- ing communities ‘well beyond North Vancouver District and West Vancouver. (I’ve not included North Vancouver . City as apparently, by. your comments, your. constituents are not affected.) >. -- : It’s a disservice to the residents of the North Shore’ ., that-the three. mtnicipal governments are not working in a positive direction in finding a solution to move traffic via : a third crossing directly to the Upper Levels highway as to :, relieve. the.current impact on the Lions Gate Bridge and. : in particular Marine Drive, Capilano Road and Taylor aye oe . Action should also be pursued - in getting the Nanaimo - ferries-out of Horseshoe Bay. . Don Weber | ; =. West. Vancouver B North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an indepencsra suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published exch Wednestay, Ftktay and Sunday by HCN Pubtications Company and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sates Product Agreement No. 0087233. Mailing rates avaiable on reques. Mask Fancher ae { sor B.¢.! ter, Mie ‘fpr Wtayyptes Back to the trough for NDP hogs THE pigs looked up from the trough. The pigs voted. The pigs resumed slurping furiously at the trongh. This is the concise description of the “New” “Democratic” Party’s leadership con vention. The aftermath, how- ever, held some modest surprises, even for one who treats it as having all che legitimacy of the colonels’ regime in Volcanovia. One was that my iongtime Vancouver Sun colleague Vaughn Palmer accepts that the raciatly-based delegare-stuffing antics of Ujjal Dosainjh’s backers were accepted as part of the proper democratic process by the “magnanimous” Corky Evans. That process involved bulk sign-ups of East Indians including the unwitting, the too-young, the late-dead, and those belonging to other parties. Azare lapse of Vaughn’s judgment. But he was surely wrong. Corky wasn't “magnanimous.” More like mercenary. The Judas hugs and kisses were all over the platform the instant Dosanjh was announced as winner in this disgustingly tainted process. Corky hugged. Len (Who?) Werden hugged. Joy MacPhail hugged. (Yeah, sure, Joy hugged me too at my retire- ment dinner, and we held hands and taiked about old days in Hamilton, our native city. If shell hug me, she'll hug anybody, is what I concluded — and, dammit, I still like her.) Gordon Wilson hugged too, but, Publisher 985-2131 (191) pspeck@nsnews.com watching him carefully and checking the Sincere-O-Meter, I noticed the needle barely moved. In fact I'd advise our newly anointed Caesar not to go to the Forum on the Ides of March if Brutus — ah, Wilson — is seen lurking in the crowd with a sharp object in his hand. Days before the results of this racially-fixed election were known, it was speculated that if Dosanjh snatches disas- ter from the jaws of defeat in the next elec- tion, Wilson will be standing by, cheerfully _ volunteering to bury the body and jet on with the job of levi- tating himself into the premier’s chair. Rafe Mair came closer to the mark when he saw the hugs of the vanquished not as evidence of healing but of hustling, — to retain or gain the pluin jobs in cab- inet or otherwise fawningly move closer to the throne. Anyway, it flatters the rotten NDP gang for me to treat it even this seriously. For most British Columbians it just “ meant that Tammany Hall North was closing ranks and its political mafia repo- sitioning their snouts in the public trough, swilling everything they can in the dying montis (or longer?) of ihe fnost corrupt, crime-tainted, incompetent and arrogantly broke government in this province’s history... But ovo more words — one of cau- tion, one of get-realism. A Caution: The NDP could still win the next election. Never underestimate the party’s demagoguery, the number of peo- ple purchased by its favouzitism, and ‘Olympics. unpredicrable factors. Get real: The cry for an immediate election by Gordon Campbell, grave edi- torialists and unsorted citizens — forget it. Not even a fairly principled parry would go to the people with numbers like the NDP’s — unless it felt that nov-. elty, the novelty of a new leader, was the - best card it couid play before the govern- -ment's meter runs out in June 200:. ” Unuil then: Oink; oink! 7 900, 2. : Entertaining hockey ganie,last Sunday. . when the Vancouver Canucks Alumni (aka Old-timers), like fondly remembered Chris Oddieifson, John Grisdale, Jiri Bubla and Orland Kurtenbach, drew =. away from a 3-3 tic to beat the inipres- ~, sively competitive West Vancouver Police ». team 8-4. ws No serious checking, some hi-jinks,”'""“. such as when the Canucks dumped 2 pail - of water on WY Chief Grant Churchill; ~~." and WV Sgt. Jim Almas retaliated by. ; handcuffing Canucks goalie Terry *:::: Bingley to the goalposts in the third peri- od (even then Bingley let in only one~ ° The charity game generated $i, for the Canucks Alumni Scholarship Fund and $2,900 for the B.C: Special “All 500 tickets were sold in five hours; Sgt. Almas said. as Tae Which spotlighted the shuddering: inadequacy of the venue, the. WV arena Propezly promoted and in a proper rink, . the game would deserve to attract far more fans. aan arrrner Next year it’ll move to North Van’s - 2,000-seat arena, where 2’sellout would reap $10,000 for the charities. 0" : —lautens@axionet. uD LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ; Letters must include your name, full address & telephone number. 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