LOWER MAINLAND Cit-A-Del seeks tax reform | Last year the Delta school board was council and most candidates for trustee are This year TIME supports five trustee lone among Lower Mainland districts in mew, with several incumbents retiring. candidates, including the three candidates ailing to receive special provincial top up Meanwhile, formerly divided right-wing running for Cit-A-Del. grants to cover the financial shortfall result- forces seem to have coalesced around the Stevens, a fisherman and son of former ng in decreased quality of education. But mayoral campaign of Ald. Doug Husband. [nited Fishermen and Allied Workers hen, Delta trustees were outspoken in their Cit-A-Del trustee candidate and long- Union president Homer Stevens, calls for )pposition to provincial government cut- time parent activist John Stevens saida key the provincial government to return the acks. ‘ part of his campaign is “defending the good power to tax industrial and commercial Meanwhile, some of the best farmlandin record of the incumbent school board.” properties for funds to school districts. Canada is almost under pavement because The board, five of whose members were (That power was taken from trustees with he municipal council is poised to use Social __—_ endorsed by an activist citizens group, con- _the onset of the Socred restraint program in Lira ay to vote large parcelsoutof —_sistently fought against Social Credit cut- 1982.) e icultural Land Reserve. backs and were penalized by not receiving : _ Keyissues like these have swung the spot- funds from the provincial Fund for Excel- pa hae ee ee oe ight on the sprawling, largely rural com- _lence in Education last year, he said. ety = a power returned té School districts JOHN STEVENS... nunity in the southern Lower Mainland, Four of the trustees endorsed by 4, AS Sapa last year — which has been vhere labour supported progressives inthe | TIME — Trustees for Independent Man- xe ene by a right-wing “tax revolt” “itizens Association of Delta — Cit-A- agement of Education — are not seeking P sf . local autonomy for Delta’s schools. ee See will differentiate between large and small Del — are running in the municipal elec- _ re-election. Three of them have cited the Bh businesses. ion Nov. 21. 2m constant wrangle with the province over The group, calling itself the Delta Asso- “We stand for less taxes on small busi- The Civic coalition, which currently has _ funding as the reason. ciation of Taxpayers, has sponsored all- _ nesses and residences and for making large’ three members on municipal council and TIME candidates run on a platform of candidates meetings and attempted to — bysiness pay its fair share,” Stevens said. which supports a five-member majority on increased community involvement in edu- _ PTOmote the notion that quality education Cit-A-Del opposes proposed projects school board, faces a crucial fight to defeat cation, local control of education, and in 40es not depend on financing. In this that would remove hundreds of hectares Social Credit supported candidates. their campaign literature stress the need for they’ve enjoyed the editorial support ofthe from the Agricultural Land Reserve. Cur- The electoral battle is challenging ‘adequate resources for education, includ- Delta Optimist newspaper, but despite rently, there are plans to develop the former because all progressive contenders for ing a fair share of provincial resources.” claims of public support have attracted min- —_Spetifore lands in Tsawwassen, the Genstar imal attendance at their meetings, Stevens _ holdings and the Wall and Redekop hold- said. ings in south Ladner. Running with Stevens on the Cit-A-Del Stevens said the civic alliance calls for & ca Su tes etter slate are incumbent Janet Shauntz and more citizen involvement in Delta’s plan- teacher Val Anderson, along with TIME ning with upgrading for parks and the candidates George Hocksworth, a teacher, downtown core and quarterly budget , : ; and Linda Nygard. reports from council. We're five weeks into the 1987 testing, we think it’s imperative that Meanwhile Stevens’ brother Bruce, con- Cit-4-Del opposes any privatization of _ Subscription drive. And while some the paper is read by more British testing a municipal council seat, has cited _civic services and states that all contracted our friends have put some elbow Columbians. taxes and farmland as key issues in the elec-. work for the municipality should be per- grease into it, others are still not Prizes await the top subscription- toral race. formed at union rates of pay. making the effort to spread the getters and some new subscribers. He told the Tribune a 14-17 percent tax . Running with Stevens for council are Tribune around the province. So don’t let others hog the glory. hike on residences last year was part of a Don Anderson, a member of the Meatcut- In this era of privatization, anti- Go out and earn your place in sub province-wide tendency that must be rev- ters Union; former school trustee Emile labour legislation and cruise missile drive history today. ersed. Nucho; Sylvia Bishop, the NDP candidate “In the last four years there has been a for Delta in the 1986 provincial election; 55-per cent drop in business taxes. (Provin- Young New Democrats provincial presi- We nn eq a 300 a cial Finance Minister Mel) Couvelier has. dent Jamie MacEvoy and air traffic con- new r Ea er S recognized the problem somewhat in his troller Bruce McDonald. The mayoral statement that he supports a taxchangethat candidate is Ald. Beth Johnson. False Creek shrinking through neglect of city’s interests _ The right-wing majority on city coun- cil was embarrassed once again after yet another political flip-flop — this time over the proposed walkway along the north shore of False Creek. The matter touched a raw nerve in the Non Partisan Association, splitting it down the middle and forcing the mayor to twist the arm of at least one NPAer to change his vote. The walkway controversy focused public attention again on Mayor Gor- don Campbell’s continuing leadership problems, but more significantly it also indicated the willingness of Campbell and the NPA to sell out the city’s posi- tion on the important issue of the rede- velopment of the B.C. Place lands. The issue was a deal offered to the city by the so-called “good Samaritan” Kevin Murphy, president of B.C. Enter- prises Corporation (formerly B.C. Place Corporation) to build a temporary walkway along the north shore of False Creek. The condition was that the city permit a new shoreline, which would allow the 11 acres of False Creek filled in for Expo 86 to remain, thereby adding $15 million in values to the former Expo site which the province is trying to sell. _ The deal was no deal at all. A shore- line walkway after Expo had been prom- ised in all post-Expo plans for the north shore of False Creek by the provincial government, B.C. Place Corporation and the city. It was included in the colour brochures on B.C. Place sent to every household in B.C. several years back by the B.C. government. To suddenly make the walkway con- ditional on a major concession by the city was a clever manipulation of the public and a test of city council’s resolve to stand by its policies on the develop- ment of False Creek. When Expo 86 filled in part of False Creek to expand the Expo site it was on the firm agreement that after Expo the shoreline would be returned to its origi- nal place. This was in accordance with the city’s long-standing policy of prevent- ing any further erosion of the open water body of False Creek. important planning principle for False Creek; it also set a negative precedent that compromises the integrity of all council’s policies on development for the inlet. The city planning department has recently consolidated all previous city policies on B.C. Place since 1980, includ- ing our objectives for social housing, — parks and open space, and commercial development, into one package. The city policy is for a housing mix that would provide about 24 per cent for low- income residents, and limit office and The mayor’s proposal to give away the 11 acres of False Creek on the pretence that it was in exchange for a walkway which had always been promised was at first rebuked by council, which rejected the proposal at its Oct. 20 meeting. But Campbell, who had obviously made a deal with the Socreds behind Council’s back, forced Ald. Philip Owen to change his vote at the next meeting Oct. 27, and council subsequently reversed its posi- tion. The turnabout not only sold out an Libby Davies Bruce Eriksen commercial space to about three million square feet. It also rules out permanent floating restaurants in False Creek such as McBarge. It is vital that city council reaffirm these policies now, because B.C. Enter- ~ _ prises Corporation, the agent for the provincial government, is now receiving _ development proposals from private developers. Clearly the Socreds want to get the highest possible price for False Creek, and developers will be seeking the highest possible density and the most profitable land use. Unless the city stands firm on its policies, we will end up witha high-density, developer’s fantasyland. Ever since Grace McCarthy announc- ed the elimination of B.C. Place corpora- tion, cancelled the North Park dev- elopment and opened the entire site for sale to the highest bidder, the Committee of Progressive Electors and the city plan- ning commission have been concerned about protecting the city’s interests. Mayor Campbell had assured council and the public that the city would have zoning power over the site and that the Socreds would overrule council at their political peril. Since then the lengths that Mayor Campbell has been prepared to go to have council cave in on the walkway puts his commitment to defend Vancouver’s interest in a dubious context. Unless community organizations and individual citizens become involved in the decision- making over False Creek, as they did when B.C. Place was first proposed in 1980, the strong likelihood is that Vander Zalm, McCarthy and the developers will run roughshod over our planning proce- dures and principles. The development of False Creek will have an impact on the liveability of Van- couver for better or for worse. We can’t allow it to be sacrificed for the financial gain of the Socred government and their developer friends. Libby Davies and Bruce Eriksen are Vancouver city aldermen and members of the Committee of Progressive Electors. , e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 4, 1987