DOWNTOWN BUSINESS FAVORED BY NPA COUNCIL . BY E.G. B. This week we have good news for home-builders. Are you tired of looking around in South Vancouver or Grandview for a lot worth less than $3500? Then all you have to do is to get out of ~ those high priced areas and , start looking in the run-down . parts of the city where prop- erty is worth less than half as much. We have the word of the ‘assessor — his official word recorded in black and white “on the City records, that ten acres of developed property on South Granville has a pre- sent market value equal to $1280 per 33-foot lot. This property comprises the Austin Taylor estate. Or better yet, you might lower your standards to the ~ extent of being willing to live _on Southwest Marine, among ~ such lumpen-proletarians as Henry Reifel or Gordon Far- rell. According to the asses- sor, these properties can be bought for just $1040 per stand lot. For those with slightly “more elegant tastes, there is Shaughnessy Heights where that downtrodden peasant, J. V. Clyne, Chairman of Mac- * Millan, Bloedel, values ‘his . property, according to Asses- _ sor MacQueen, at $2300 per . standard lot. e The above is not a fairy tale. Nor have we been look- ing at ancient records com- piled during the depth of the- - depression. The values of the properties mentioned are re- corded on the 1962 assessment roll at those amounts (as in- dicated by assessments at fifty per cent). If you are in- terested, you may also check the assessments of other mil- lionaires, such’as the Grauers, F. M. Ross, H. R. MacMillan, ete., and find that they have all been treated in a similar way. When challenged about these assessments, Mr. Mac- Queen is reported to have said that the back half of the Reifel property (Rio Vista) is poor land good only for agri- culture. One wonders what Reifel raises there — pigs? And perhaps Austin Taylor’s Soviet Film “BALLAD OF A SOLDIER” RUSSIAN HALL 600 Campbell Ave. Sun., Feb. 18 — 7 p.m: Feb, 18— He Tom McEWEN Communist Party Candi- date for Vancouver East on SUNDAY, FEB. 18 at 4 p.m. CLINTON HALL— 2605 East Pender St. SO- CIAL & FILMS to follow.. Refreshments will be serv- ed. All welcome. City assessments favor rich, discriminate against poor estate is really a horse ranch. was: increased ‘during. thi's And the widow Grauer — does she keep chickens in Shaughnessy? Another explanation has been put forward by the Pro- vincial assessor, a man who rejoices in the name of Wild- man. According to the daily papers, when confronted with ‘the above. statistics, he “seethed” forth the explana- tion that the properties men- tioned are large parcels which cannot be subdivided, and are therefore not as valuable as smaller ones. Who says they can’t be sub- divided? Any number of people would be willing “to buy any amount of the Reifel estate or the Taylor estate and divide it up into thirty-three foot--parcels. Ah, but there’s the rub. Reifel and Taylor would not be willing to sell. The land can’t be subdivided because they don’t want it to be subdivided. Well, let’s all go down to the assessment office and file affidavits that we won’t per- mit our thirty-three foot lots to be subdivided either, and see if we can get our assess- ments knocked down to the same level. e The favouring of» million- aires’ residences is only one aspect of the discriminatory assessment policy. In total, the rich have been handed a much bigger favour: in the fact that with residen- tial assessments increased by. 44 per cent this year, indust:. rial and commercial property: has not increased at all. : This is not a new phenome- non, During the last fifteen years, homeowners have been: hit again and again, their as- sessments being doubled and tripled over that period and again and again, with the re- sult that many downtown properties carry the same valuation today as they did at the end of the war, and ap- parently not one property in the whole downtown area! latest re-assessment. MacQueen has an explana- tion for this too. He says that in the nineteen forties, down- town property was overas- sessed, and that he has been waiting for residential pro- perty assessments to catch up. Is this true? Let’s look*at the record. In 1950, this same MacQueen re-asssessed the downtown area, increasing as- sessments by from 25 to 60 per cent. That apparently. was his judgment of their value at that time. This resulted in a delegation to City Hall from the Downtown Business Mens Association. Thereafter the City Council met as a “Board of Equalization” — the only time in history tht it has done so — and ordered the assessor to rescind all of the increases. The minutes of that infamous meeting are summarized in a box.on this page. After that rap across the knuckles, Mr. MacQueen has never been brave enough to step out of line and try it again. @ What are the effects of this policy of favouritism, as measured in your tax bill? The City doesn’t publish a breakdown of assessments as .between residential and commercial or industrial pro- perties, However, it is obvious ‘that if the assessment of ‘homeowners’ properties has risen by 44 per cent, and in- ‘dustrial . property. has. not ‘risen, the effect will be that ‘a much higher proportion of the total property taxes will ‘Hereafter be payable by the homeowners, and less by in- dustrial and commercial pro- -perty. City officials have esti- ‘mated that-the net transfer of taxes from industrial to resi- dential taxpayers will be about $1,000,000. If that esti- mate is true, the average homeowner is faced with an increased tax of about $12.50 this year, in addition to the effect of increased spending 1 in the year’s budget. BRITISH PROTEST ATTACK ON LIBERTY BY U.S. GOVT. SHALL LIBERTY UE IN CHAINS2 @ rt Lat SAO te ee tinder attack, From eee Ct Put thousand ens behind prison ba Above is the cover of an anti-McCarran Act pamphlet put out by the British Committee for Democratic Rights in the USA. The Committee is located in London. |cial government for a $2500 _A shocking example of towards downtown business properties in 1950 the City The Pacific Tribune has perties scattered throughout the minutes) Name D. M. Brown D. M. Brown Seymour Electric Co. Richards Engineering Co. Miriam Whidden W. H. Gallagher and Co. T. Eaton Realty Co. John Walker Herb Osmond Green Black Motors (Seigler) Blane Fullerton & Co. J. Maguire Bella Elliott - David Spencer each of the properties with in taxes. Consolidated Hidng. (DeWolf) 58,500 Shocking exmples how Hall favors big business favoritism by City property was shown incident in 1950 which is explained in this article After increasing assessments on downtown | Council, after pressure brought to bear by the Downtown Business Men’s / sat as a “Board of Equalization” to rescind the inct! in its possession a p of the minutes of the historic meeting of the “Boa Equalization” which met at City Hall at 3 p.m, on 28, 1950. Here’s what they did: 1. Cut the assessment of the following busin the downtown area: From To 4 $.15,000 $10,620 8.750 6,440 15,000 10,620 “ 5,625 4,345 10,430 8,580° 3,125. ° 2,510 4a 5,000 3,650. 18,320. 13,915 “ 46,740 ~ 12,500 9,500: 114,300 80,095 “ 12,500 8.750. ” 3,750 2,925 13,500 10,260, “ 17,500 10,840 ” = 2. After carrying through these cuts in assessmé! : Board of Equalization” directed the city asse reduce the assessed value of any land in the vicin Tespect to which a det of the Court of Revision was handed down this day .---The affect of this latter decision was to carry th a general reduction of business properties whic the years saved downtown big business millions of Act on Communist brief: the whole assessment. roll concerned to the Court of Surrey council appeals whole assessment roll Charles Stewart, Secretary of the Nort club of the Communist Party, has been’ inform Surrey municipal council that it has decided’ to ‘as far. as land -valu Revision. 4 In a letter to the Surrey Communist Party the muni- cipal clerk. informed Stewart that a brief recently submit- ted by the Communist Party had been presented to the municipal council, and that council had taken the afore- mentioned action to have the matter of assessments “look- ed into again.” The municipal clerk also informed Stewart that -sug- gestions contained in the Communist Party brief will be considered by council when resolutions are drafted for the forthcoming meeting of the Union of B.C, Muni- cipalities convention. ~~ The Communist Party brief presented in January pointed out that home assessments had gone up as much as 400 percent while assessment on industrial and commercial properties had been cut. It proposed: a graduated business tax which. would bring substantial revenues; an application to the provin- homeowner exemption on SOCIAL EVENING Sat., Feb. 17—8:30 p.m. 4022 Perry St. a Wear Stereo-Performance Red Army Choir Concert homes and higher: m -8rants; and Federal an vincial assumption of th cost of education. | The Union of B.C. Mu! alities convention ech Kamloops Tuesday, Feb! 20 and the issue of ? taxes is expected to be’ lighted. - ab Recently Vancouver 4) man Halford Wilson sah intended to propose th UBCM ask Victoria basic exemption on ho! C.P. CLUBS HONOURE The s.C, Communis honored two of its club week for outstanding raising finances for Party. : Shields were award the Lake Cowichan cl the provincial organizZ and South Burnaby Cl the Greater. Vancouve?® gion, it was announced statement by Charles provincial organize Party. | eke! Caron went on to thal club members and party porters who made Refreshments February 16, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Paé splendid achievements EAs r