4 - Friday, June 28, 1991 - North Shore News

WV meekly letting woodchoppers chop

SAVE THE Stein. Save the Carmanah. Save Robson Bight. Save this. Save that.

But did no one lift a finger to save Marine Drive, West Van- couver?

B.C. Hydro's happy wood- choppers have butchered it.

At this writing, still are butch- ering it.

Trees up to at least a foot anda half wide have come down west from about Cypress Park in the cause of protecting power lines.

It’s an outrage. The beautiful north side of the most beautiful municipal drive in the country has been brutally butchered by the doubtless deliriously happy tree- trimmers contracted by B.C. Hydro.

Which has left stumps and gaps like a smash in a row of beautiful teeth.

I've complained. Bitterly.

And it’s like sticking a finger in a bow! full of jelly.

Jelly, as in jellyfish — which characterizes the response I got from the officials of Canada’s richest and most gloriously nature-endowed municipality.

I'd never encountered our newish mayor, Mark Sager, be- fore. Not impressed.

Sager heard me out and sound- ed about as intellectually and emotionaily turned on as — well, a jellyfish.

ate

MORTGAGE SALE

* Compounded Semi-Annually Not In Advance 3-Month Convertible Term TIME-LIMITED OFFER!

COME IN OR PHONE 980-3355 TO ARRANGE YOUR MORTGAGE TODAY!

MONTREAL TRUST

$524 LONSDALE AVENUE NORTH VANCOUVER, BC.

He spoke as if B.C. Hydro were God. Unchallengeable. A power (no pun unless you insist on fia- ding one) unto itself.

The mayor has no influence on B.C. Hydro? Can’t pick up the phone and tell the corp to tell its woodchoppers to lay off?

G'wan with you.

And here’s some political ad- vice. The art of politics is a bit of acon. At its best, a gentle, legal con. And the effective politician knows how to make fairly sym- pathetic noises even if he thinks the caller is bananas, just this side of certifiable. And he can still diplomatically slip in his own point of view. If he has one.

Sager simply sounded unengag- ed, unenraged, ur-anything. Odd, for a young man who was seen as an ambitious whiz in his twenties.

Next call, John Pollitt, West Van’s manager of public works.

But our calls were passing ships, and evidently he put municipal arborist Shirley Nicolson on to me.

More frustration. If anything, Ms. Nicolson made the case for B.C. Hydro more vigorously than the corp itself did.

She kept using the phrase ‘‘plant material,’’ as in ‘‘un- suitable plant material.”

] have to admit that this kind of detached jargon, using two words where one would do and turning real and beautifully unplanned growth into some kind of abstract

$586 MARINE DRIVE, WEST VANCOUVER, B.C.

Visit beautiful Qualicum Beach and experience Island hospitality at its best, and superb golfing.

Eaglecrest Golf Course is proud to offer 18 holes of golf on our recently expanded 6,360 yd., par 71 course.

Pro Shop - CPGA Lessons «Rentals *Covered Driving Range eReserved Tee Time Full Service Lounge The Eagle Cate, daily tunch and dinner specials «Banquet Facilities Tea Times: 752-6311 Restaurant: 752-6622 (sland Highway, Quaticum Beach. Vancouver Island British Columbia, Canada

The Qualicum College inn your full service Resort Hotel invites you to visit our recently refurbished rooms.

*70 Guest Rooms Some with Ocean View or Fireplace Oliver's Restaurant open daily; breakfast, lunch and dinner eChippendale's Neighbourhood Pub ®Full Seminar Facilities Free Parking, Daily Maid Service #2 & 3 night Golf Packages available For information and reservations cail toll free in Canada 1-800-663-7306

427 College Saad. Quaicum Beach Vancouver tsiana. Betisn Columbia, Caraga VOR 2TO Prone (604) 752-9262 Fax (60s) 752-5142

VOR 2T0 ~ : You Deserve the Rest, Treat Yourself to the Perfect Match

Call Today

Trevor Lautens

GARDEN OF BIASES

entity without claim to our affec- tions — as in ‘‘the prairies were cleared of their buffalo material’’ —- that sort of talk, readers, does not encourage a lifetime friend- ship.

Anyway, by Ms. Nicelson’s lights, the problem is ‘‘unsuitable plant material’’ under the hydro lines.

Sure, sure, in our thankfully half-wild municipality the trees have a naughty way of growing just where nature dropped the seeds. And their branches can eventually get in the way of hydro

wires.

But this year B.C. Hydro has obviously overreacted wildly to last winter's series of power outages.

Yes, that was a pain. But we have such bad winters only once every four or five years. And the good-sized trees that were butch- ered by the woodchoppers must have been ‘*menaces”’ for years.

To extend this logic, B.C. Hydro shouldn't merely take out the odd tree. It should denude the “plant material’? over bush size all the way along the line —~ give the whole damn place a brush cut. Really mess it up.

Of course [ relentlessly pursued this issue further.

I phoned West Vancouver- Howe Sound MLA John Reynolds. He got back to me barely 60 seconds after I left a message at his office. Called on his cellular.

And Reynolds is a hard-nose. And a smart politician. Call Bob Wyman, he said. And if you don’t get any satisfaction, call me back and I’ll take it up with the minister (would any of this have happened if Jack Davis were still alive?).

So | called Wyman. Who is merely chairman of B.C. Hydro. And a West Vancouver resident.

He has a terrific secretary.

cerepertcreracss nee

URGENT IN NORTH VANCOUVER

LIC AUCTION

RE: DEFAULTED UNPAID DOCUMENTS CANADA CUSTOMS CLEARED

DUTIES & TAXES PAID AT PORT OF ENTRY

VALUABLE PERSIAN CARPETS

Fine imported rugs. The majority consist of hand-knotted oriental rugs. Contents: Persian Tabriz, Baluch, Indo Kirman, Deep Pile Mainland Chinese, Bokhara, Sunwashed Village Rugs, Kars, Silk Masterpiece Qum, etc. Sizes 1x1 to 10x14. Rugs unwrapped and liquidated piece by piece in the quickest possible manner.

MIONDAY, JULY isi, 1991

AT

DELBROOK COMMUNITY CENTRE 600 West Queens Road, North Vancouver AT 2:00 PM SHARP Viewing from 1:00 pm

* Advertising subject to terms and conditions of auction at auction site * Liquidation by Federal Collection Agency Inc. * Terms: Cash, major credit cards, bank cards or bank cheques * 10% freight, brokerage and warehousing charges to be added.

Within an hour or two, Brian Baxter, the corp’s top knock on the North Shore, showed up at my house on Marine Drive — the saws had already passed by, with relatively small effect on the property — and was perfectly charming to my relatives. As he was subsequently over the phone to me.

But charm won't bring the trees back.

Through all of this, by the way, everyone I phoned spoke as if mine was the first complaint. Strange. Two of my neighbors were livid. The woodchoppers took down a tree next doer that not only radically changes the outlook but no doubt wiil raise the level of road noise heard in the house.

Another neighbor stood beside his threatened maples and toid the choppers to go to hell.

Was I really the only one to tell off the authorities?

And if you want to see one of the worst examples, drive into superb Lighthouse Park on Beacon Lane.

And then drive out. Straight ahead, on Marine Drive, is a hideous hole where once four or five stout trees, and some lesser ones, stood.

Then weep.

a