6 - Wednesday, September 17, 1986 - North Shore News

News Viewpoint

Lovely as a tree

ontrolling tree heights isn't as simple as. it

might at first

seem.

In West) Van—where

council, somewhat reluctantly, is now petition- ing Victoria for control legislation—it's a special pro- blem, due not only to the superabundance of trees but also to the steep and varying undulations of the ter-

rain. The latter factor makes

nonsense of proposals to

legislate a uniform tree height, comparable to the

building height regulation.

There are places in West

Van where 25-ft alders obsiruct a neighbor's view and other locations where 125-ft evergreens rob nobody of

a view.

As well, individual tastes vary greatly. One comes across a surprising number of residents who value the peaceful greenery of a forest-like setting more than an ocean or harbor panorama. So neighbors are some- times at odds with one another over personal prefer- ences. One man's tree is another man’s protest.

Finally, of course, there’s the question of cost—and cost-sharing—which may frustrate amicable private solutions to tree-vs.-view conflicts. Topping can be an expensive and ONGOING commitment. In our tush

climate it speeds up growth

and the operation must be

repeated at regular intervals to be effective. Council’s petition contemplates, as a last resort, binding arbitration where conflicts can’t be resolved on _an informal give-and-take basis between parties con- cerned. But friendly compromise over the backyard fence remains infinitely preferable and more in keeping with the West Van style. Neighbors shouldn’t need to be kept in line with a big stick over a thing as lovely as

a tree!

Crusader fuming over fanatics iahe

WHAT A RELIEF it is to suddenly spy one familiar, friendly face in a cocktail-hour crowd of complete strangers

who look as if they don’t

I got the same feeling last week when the public relations kit from Michel Bedard of Montreal landed on my desk—packaged in a glossy folder that Air Canada or the Royal Bank wouldn’t be ashamed of,

It’s no secret that Wright hasn’t yet managed to kick the weed, or even very seriously tried. Put it down to my handicap of being born with a stunted backbone, a kind of moral paraplegic. So M. Bedard really lit up my day.

His kit introduced me to the recently founded Smokers Freedom Society (SFS), of which he’s president, and it soon became obvious that someone had done a lot of hard digging in defence of today’s embattled minority of puf- fers.

‘Freedom to smoke, with respect for others’' is the constant- ly repeated SFS slogan throughout the presentation. Its 15 pages of background material detail the reasons why smokers, in turn, are entitled to a little more respect than they presently get from those “‘others’’.

The SFS, explains M. Bedard, aims ‘‘to defend and promote the responsible freedom to smoke. From this, more comfortable and

really want to know you. peaceful coexistence between smokers and nonsmokers should emerge.”’

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There’s more on the tolerance theme, including a bit about smokers showing courtesy to nonsmokers who dislike the smell. But the really solid stuff for us unrepentant sinners comes in the claimed debunking of conventional

Noel Wright

Chiefly, he’s against the fanati- cism of many nonsmokers whose “srowing number of allegations, each more exaggerated than the last, have tended to compromise and erode the freedom to smoke. The accusations, often based on the results of studies which are not always accurate, have given rise to a profound change in the outlook of some nonsmokers for whom smoking has become more than a personal weakness—it has become a social offence to be eradicated.’”

Great stuff, M. Bedard. Don’t we hostages of Rothman and Ex- port Light know all about it!

LETTER OF THE DAY

How can council

Dear Editor:

So! B.C.E. (Daon) has reapplied for a commercial zoning of the Park and Tilford Site! This begs many questions.

Firstly, can the current council, morally, ethically and legally sit in judgement of this project when four of the seven members of

council had campaign support paid for by this developer and when both council and the A.P.C. have already voted unanimously against the project? Can they vote with a clear conscience on behalf of all of us under such circumstances?

Secondly, the technical aspects of the project must be examined. In the face of a well thought out

@ focus @

wisdom about smoking and health.

M. Bedard gives chapter and verse from 15 or more professional sources whose research has found virtually no evidence that “downstream” smoke does any real harm to the health of nonsmokers forced to breathe the tainted air of smokers.

As well, some of his sources cast doubt on the extent to which smoking alone—relative to all the other nasty things in our modern environment—harms smokers themselves.

They note that the vast majority of Canada’s seven million smokers

back

community plan; a plan that calls for commercial development prin- cipaly in Lower Lonsdale, will not the addition of 250,000 sq. ft. of additional unplanned retail space retard redevelopment in Lower Lonsdale?

Redevelopment there is an- chored by the newly completed Lonsdale Quay Development and

Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-211 Distribution 986-1337 Subscriptions 986-1337

Nonthk News.* fee sts

die of causes other than the weed. And there’s even some research that suggests colon cancer, Parkin- son’s disease and diabetes afflict smokers less often than nonsmokers.

The authorities cited by M. Bedard for this cheering news aren't exactly lightweights. They include a medical vice-president of the American Cancer Society, two doctors from the U.S. National Institute of Health, doctors from the Universities of Arizona and Toronto, members of a World Health Organization seminar on “ambient smoke’’ and researchers at a Geneva University symposium on indoor air pollution.

Also quoted is the Canadian Council of Yobacco Product Manufacturers wise members generate 61,000 jobs, $6 billion in sales and $4 billion in taxes. They're kicking in $100,000 to help the campaign, but M. Bedard in- sists he’s nobody’s puppet and says he needs public donations to keep the Society alive.

To learn more about his crusade to ‘re-establish the social respect- ability of smoking’? contact the SFS at 8615 St.Lawrence Blvd, Office 300, Montreal H2P 2M9, phone (514)384-5860. Membership dues start as low as $2 a year—and they welcome nonsmokers too.

Never accuse us harassed nico- tine junkies of intolerance!

P&l devel

Lower Lonsdale Revitalization Project.

Do we rip up the community plan and let commercial develop- ment go where it chooses?

And why does B.C.E. choose the P, and T, site? Is it because of a desperate desire to save the gardens? If so, why not buy land in a presently zoned commercial area in Lower Lonsdale, close to

Publisher: Editor-in-Chiet Managing Editor Adveitising Director

Peter Speck Noel Wright Barrett Fisher Linda Stewart

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Entre contents 1986 North Shore Free Press Liu All aghts reserved

EARS AGO...

(From the North Shore News dur- ing the week of Sept. 13, 1981) SUSPECTED arson fires gutted the Old Country restaurant on Marine in North Van and heavily damaged Shoppers Drug Mart in West Van. They were the sixth and seventh suspicious North: Shore fires in five weeks.

** *

MISSING, presumed killed, was a 24-year old man who tried to dive from Lions Gate Bridge (240 ft. above the water) in the early hours. Police said he was ‘known as a daredevil’? who had dived from up to 150 ft.

see

PRIVATE GARBAGE oollection in West Van moved a step nearer as council voted to receive bids from interested firms.

+ee

AN INQUEST jury ‘irged licensing of crane drivers fellowing the North Van death of a man run over by a mobile crane.

oper?

the Seabus and other tourist at- tractions and re-establish a garden? Or is it a 37 Million Profit on the industrial to commercial zoning change that is B.C.E.’s motive? Isn't THAT why they have tried to buy themselves a majority of four votes on City Council.

Rod Clark

North Vancouver