NEWS OPINION

Amor De Causeway:
a modest proposal
for a bridge from a
lover of the universe

WITH THE Christmas season bearing down on one and
all, most minds should be filling up with images of Saint

ty.

But mine is filling up with
names. Bridge names.

Crawling over the Second Nar-
rows. Bridge the other day, I
caught sight of a bullet-marked
sign on the concrete causeway.

““Second Narrows Bridge’’ its
metre-high reflective letters read.

A real inspired thought, that.

‘, Though unable to claim a real
stake “in the rich history of the
North Shore due to restless
parents who were tempted — and
satiated — with life in the big 9
(Ontario, not the Okanagan), I
‘can merely speak as a concerned
newcomer to the North Shore:

_. From what I’ve seen and heard
while living on the north side of
Burrard Inlet, life here for many is
a life on an island:

Political scientists call it isola-
-tionism. .

‘ North Shore inhabitants boast
—. quite rightly — that they are
; mighty close to‘a major Canadian
city, yet only a 15-minute ride via
SeaBus or bridge away from a
home that is as reassuringly un-
changing ‘as the area’s Protected
watersheds.

Forgotten”: in these boasts, |
feared as. I rejoiced “at | having
moved two car lengths in five
minutes, were the steel and con-
-crete arteries that connect the
heart of Vancouver with the North

‘Shore and keep the area: from .

falling into suburban obscurity.

. Of the-two° spans, ‘the poctic
“and esthetic beauty of ‘the !Lions
Gate Bridge brings out the
tourists.

But what, alas, of its forgotten
cousin?. ;

My first inquiries into the his-
tory of the Second Narrows
Bridge were met with clucks and
tales of death and deceit.

The bridge's construction,
marked by the death of 23
workers in June 1958, has left its
tragic imprint on the sturdy span,

With such a rich and poetic
tradition of naming every road,

t

Cineplex
THE B.C. SUPREME
Court has ordered Cineplex
Odeon Corp. to pay

$459, OK) in rent owing at its
Park | and Tilford theatre

complex. :

By Brent Mudry
Conrtibuting Writer

“le has also dismissed the theatre
chain's attempt to’ redefine — its
20-year lease. ‘

Following a one-day hearing on
Nov. 19, Mr. Justice Peter Fraser
rejected a creative loophole
Cineplex discovered four years
after signing the lease. He ruled
the theatre's projection booths
cannot be claimed. as “storage
areas."

Cineplex signed a 20-vear lease
with P&T Shopping Centre
Holdings in December 1988
agreeing to pay, $698,820 annually

CALL US:

Nick, mistletoe and, perhaps, the company Christmas par-

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

bridge, inlet, river, mountain, bay,
spit, cove, mall, pier in this
tourist-minded province, my idl-
ing mind revved at the intolerable
sloth of those responsible for
naming the Second Narrows
crossing. ‘

Demanding the heads of those
asleep at the switch three decades
ago serves no purpose. But solu-
tions today for past oversights do. |

My own modest proposal is that
we name that supported stretch of
asphalt over Burrard Inlet’s se-
cond narrows Amor De Cause-
way, in honor of B.C.’s second
premier.

Amor De Cosmos (Lover of the
Universe) — Biii Smith prior to
leaving the east coast in 1810 for
the gold rush fortunes of Califor-
nia — went on to publish the first
newspaper in Victoria.

He was also a_ wit-sharpened
thorn in the side of the ruling
British government. .

Swapping the publisher’s desk
for the soap box, De Cosmos
waded into politics and became
the: driving force behind putting
the ‘‘province’’ in The Province of
British Columbia.

As ‘premier of B.C. from 1872
to 1874, he fought in the
hinterland of Ottawa for the rights
of westerners.

But his great legacy is preserved
in’ only two provincially sanc-
tioned structures: an obscure hill
up north and a babbling brook on
Vancouver Island.

The latter of the two could be
in reference to De Cosmos’ even-
tual madness, and lonely death,

He docs not even rate his own
listing in the Canadian En-
cyclopedia,

With all due respeet to the iron
workers and their tronworkers’
Memorial Bridge proposal, | like
the ring of Amor De Causeway.

Friday, December 3, 1993 - North Shore News -— 3

NEWS 13 photo Terry Potors

A MOTION by the B.C. Federation ot Labor to rename the Second Narrows Bridge the Ironworkers’
Memorial Bridge, in honor of those workers who died while the bridge | was being bullt, has won the
support of at least one North Shore politician.

Dykeman opposes new name

for Second Narrows

Bridge

Ironworkers Memorial Bridge proposed. by labor group

NORTH VANCOUVER District Mayor.Murray Dykeman,
whose father was nearly killed when the Second: Narrows
Bridge collapsed while under construction in 1958, is op-
posed to a union request to rename the span the Iron-

workers’ Memorial Bridge.

The B.C. Federation of Labor
passed a motion at its:convention
in Vancouver this week to lobby
the provincial government to
rename the bridge in honor of
those who died when the structure
was being built.

The motion was made by Iron-

-workers’ Union Local 97,

Twenty-three workers died
when the bridge collapsed on June
17, 1958,

But Dykeman said it is too late
to rename the bridge.

He also noted that there already
is ‘fa fine’? memorial plaque on
the southeast corner of the bridge
that honors the 23 workers who

ordered to pay NV

44 Cineplex signed a 20. -year lease with Pat
Shepping Centre F Toleings in December
1988. 9F

in basic rent.

In November 1992, the theatre
chain decided it was paying too
much rent, and withheld retroac-
lively the amount it decided it had
overpaid.

“Apparently some sharp-eyed
minion in’ Cineplex's employ
belatedly discovered’ a clause in
the lease," Fraser noted in a deci-
sion released Nov, 29 in Van-
couver.

The clause excluded mezzanine
space used exclusively for storage
from the definition of floor area.

Cineplex claimed 2,864 square
feet (258 sq.. m) of its 30,447
square foot (2,740.sq. m) total
was mezzanine storage space.

But the judge noted, ‘Phe
principal use of the mezzanine
area has been for the projection of
films."

He added that the area is also
used for film repair, some storage
of refreshinents, office supplies

-and film reels,

A Cineplex. executive from
Toronto, Sam Di Michele, vice-
president for construction, —in-
surance and head office ad-
ministration, and formerly con-
troller and vice-president for fi-
nance, lold the judge via affidavit
that Cineptex's accounting
department. considers projection
rooms as ‘‘storage space’? and
seating areas as ‘‘selling space.”

By Sur] Rattan
News Reporter

were killed in the tragic accident.

Dykeman said he was standing
on the Lions Gate Bridge when he
saw the Second Narrows Bridge
fall.

His father had been working on
the bridge at the time and nar-
rowly escaped death,

“Et remember spending several
hours in agony not knowing who
had been killed,’ said Dykeman.

His father escaped injury, he
said, because he had just walked
off a bridge ramp moments before
it collapsed,

mall rent

But Justice Fraser was -not im-
pressed,

“The criteria employed — by
Cineplex for its financial analysis
de not affect the general mean-
ing,’’ the judge noted..

The judge ruled that Cineplex
must pay the full rent as long as it
uses the mezzanine area for pro-
jection and repair of films,

Meanwhile, local Cineplex of-
ficials were unaware of the dispute
or lawsuit.

“t don't know anything about
that,"’ said George Mah, assistant
district supervisor. “Our Toronto
head office would have done that
— they usually don't tell us any-
thing.”

Di Michele could ‘not be reached
for comment.

Said Scott Turner, lawyer for
the shopping. centre, ‘We're
pleased with the result. We believe
it was the correct. interpretation of
the lease."

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
983-2208 What do you think about renaming 2nd Narrows Bridge?

Dykeman said the present name.
of the bridge should remain. |

“It’s been 30 years. I have dif-
ficulty renaming the bridge. I’m
not unsympathetic to their
(union’s) concerns.

“The Second Narrows Bridge
almost has a heritage designation
to it,” said Dykeman.

But North -Vancouver-Lonsdale
NDP MLA David Schreck said he
likes the idea of renaming the
bridge the Ironworkers’ Memorial
Bridge.

He said he will lobby his cabinet
colleagues on behalf of the B.C,
Federation of Labor.

“T think that name = (lron-
workers’ Memorial) would be
more meaningful rather than’
naming it after where it crosses
the inlet.

“They should ‘rename it ‘after
those who gave their. lives," said
Schreck.

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