Vancouver

COPE demands

Vancouver residents Monday heeded a
call for action and demanded the provincial
freeze the sale and development of the
former site of Expo 86 as well as a full public
hearing into future development of the
lands. ;
And the resolution at the meeting called
by the Committee of Progressive Electors
called for the city to purchase and develop
the site, using the housing on the south
shore of False Creek as an example.

The meeting provided a sounding board
for months of frustration over the secret
dealings on the future of the site — secrets
that have been exposed somewhat with the
internecine bickering among millionaire
developers and among the Socreds becom-
ing public.

Development of the site has become an
increasingly volatile issue since Economic
Development Minister Grace McCarthy
created the B.C. Enterprises Corporation
and put all its holdings up for sale as one
block after scrapping three years of costly
planning and negotiations between the city
and the former B.C. Place Crown corpora-
tion. The first development slated for the
site, called North Park and situated next to
Chinatown, had the approval of several
community organizations because it inclu-
ded low-income housing and a school.

(On Tuesday the government announced

that the Expo lands would be sold separ-
ately from BCEC’s other holdings around
the province, but still said the Expo site
would be sold in one chunk.)

With interested parties like Hong Kong
multi-millionaire Li Ka-shing and Bill
Vander Zalm backer Peter Toiga seeking
the land, fears have been raised that the site
will be developed for maximum profit, with
high-rise office towers, expensive housing
and little park space. _

(Six years ago a government proposal for
a high-density, commercial oriented project
on what was then known as B.C. Place had
the city government and community groups
up in arms. The city itself had a lesser den-
sity plan with much more park space. In

_ subsequent years relations between the cor-

poration and the city improved, resulting in
the now-dead North Park proposal.)

Residents lined up to cite the need for
low-income housing in Vancouver and to
demand that any development of the B.C.
Enterprise Corp. land contain a mix of
housing, including social housing and co-
ops.

Speakers, including Vancouver COPE
alderman Libby Davies and Vancouver-
Point Grey New Democratic MLA Darlene
Marzari, demanded Mayor Gordon Camp-
bell make public what he knows about
plans for the site.

city

BILL ZANDER .... project must be built

We asked you for an extra mea-
sure of support to meet the chal-
lenge of this year’s drive. And
you’ve responded in spades.

As: of this week, the drive total
stands at $16,439. That’s no small
achievement considering it’s been
done without the benefit of the con-
test which was banned by the
attorney-general’s department this
year.

At Saturday’s gala banquet,
dozens of people brought dona-
tions, telling us at the same time
that they couldn’t allow the Socred
government’s action to stand in the
way of the Tribune getting the

GREATER VANCOUVER
Quota Achieved

Bill Bennett 500 125
Burnaby 6,000 1,554
Coquitlam 2,500 631
Aubrey Burton 500 ---
. Effie Jones 1,500 525
Kingsway 5,000 1,637
New West. 2,000 790
Nigel Morgan 600 ---
North: Van. 2,500 1,430
Richmond 1,500 750
Seamen 500 40
Van. East 9,000 333
Van. Fishermen 600 ---
West Side ™ 4,800 1,936
FRASER VALLEY

Delta 600 ---
Fraser Valley 300 ---
Langley 600 50
Maple. Ridge 2,200 100
Surrey . 2,200 740
1,000 425

White Rock

Only 66 days left

money it needs.

Already, there are 10 people who
have turned in $500 or more —
another major achievement for this
point in the drive. They. include
Jean Bird, Bill Gee, Ed Skeeles,
Agnes Jackson, Annabelle MacKay,
Lydia Friberg, Mona Morgan, Hal
Griffin, Maurice Rush and Al and
Olga Grinkus.

The spirit that has kept this paper
going for 53 years is very much alive
in 1988. We’re counting on it carry-
ing us through — and pushing us
over the target of $82,000.

There are 66 days to go and
$66,000 yet to raise. Keep it up.

Here is where we stand

OKANAGAN
Kamloops 1,000 500
Penticton 450 90
Vernon 1,600 950

N. COAST/INTERIOR
Correspondence’ 1,500 1,000
Creston 400 ---
Fernie 250 110
L. Similkameen 500 ---
Powell River 500 300
Prince George 200 ---
Prince Rupert 300 ---
Sunshine Coast 600 ---
Trail 700 20

VANCOUVER ISLAND

‘ Campbell River 2,000 760
Comox Valley 1,400 15
Nanaimo 2,800 630
Port Alberni | 1,400 220
Victoria 3,200 748
Miscellaneous 2,500 30
TOTAL: 65,700 16,439

2 « Pacific Tribune, April 20, 1988

$66,000 to go

union.

And Marzari revealed a little-known
piece of legislation from last summer in
which the accumulated debt from several
Crown corporations was rolled into BCEC.

Tom Tao, vice-president of the Chinese
Benevolent Association sent to speak in
place of CBA president Bill Yee, said any
development on the site must not compete

with existing businesses nearby and should .

be “compatible” with surrounding com-
munities.

Bill Zander, president of the Provincial
Council of Carpenters said building trades
unions also call for a mix of housing, to be
built by union labour.

“The future of these lands is being
decided behind closed doors, with abso-
lutely no opportunity for input from the
public,” Davies charged.

Davies said that despite Campbell’s assu-
rances that any development on the Expo
lands must follow city bylaws and regula-
tions, city council currently has no public
policies on development.

And, she warned, the provincial govern-
ment could pass legislation exempting the
lands from city control.

Noting that McCarthy had said that the
mayor would be kept up to date on devel-
opments, Davies called on the mayor to
speak out on proposed plans for the site.

“We're not prepared to live with the con-
sequences of this scandalous private deal
with the city as the silent partner. COPE
believes it’s time for the city to step in and
clean up the mess,” Davies said in calling on
Vancouver to make a bid for the site.

Zander suggested that selling the land in
one parcel when it is not slated to be deve-
loped all at once will rob British Columbi-
ans of the full benefit of a piecemeal sale of
the property.

“(The Socreds) haven’t any concern for
people ... but when it comes to developers
and the rich and their pals, they are pre-
pared to give (the land) away at fire sale
prices,” he charged.

Currently the union is appealing, under a
special exemption from the trade union
boycott, an Industrial Relations Council
ruling voiding the contract Building Trades
unions had with BCE Development, a Bell
Canada subsidiary and one of the major
bidders for the site.

The Carpenters Union president termed
it “a bloody disgrace” that non-union con-
tractors allowed by government interven-
tion to build Expo facilities in 1985 and 1986
cheated their employees of more than
$400,000 supposedly guaranteed under
provincial fair wage legislation — money
the Carpenters through an action later won
for the non-union workers.

Zander also noted Premier Vander Zalm
rejected a proposal to build mixed housing
on the site utilizing union pension funds.

If corporations get away with exploiting

non-union workers on the site, they will be
cheating all the people of Vancouver,
Zander said.

“We want (development of Expo lands)

buy Expo lands

BRUCE YORKE ... a scandal of the

highest order.

to be a monument to good development —
not a monument to making money,” he
asserted.

Marzari revealed that BCEC holdings
come with an attractive feature: $600 mil-
lion worth of debt accumulated by other
Crown corporations.

She said the government passed 4
“byzantine” piece of legislation July
16 — two days before the house recessed
— called the B.C. Enterprise Financial Res-
tructuring Act that rolled the debt of the
B.C. Development Corp., the B.C. Pavilion
Corp. and B.C. Place Stadium Corp. into
the recently created BCEC. |

“That’s $600 million worth of debt that
this government thinks it’s going to get back
by selling off our land in Vancouver so that
their books will look good before the next
election,” Marzari said. 3

_ The NDP MLA and former Vancouver

alderman noted later that the debt is an.
attractive feature for potential purchasers
who could use it as a tax write-off. She said
the total holdings of BCEC likely exceed
$600 million in assessed value. 4

Marzari cautioned people not to get “‘dis-
tracted” by the current squabbling between

' McCarthy and Vander Zalm over the pre-

mier’s interference in the bidding process,
stressing that the important issue was the
secret bidding process and under-the-table
deals. -

“We have to form coalitions all over this
city to push this council to act, and to see the
election of a council that will,” she declared.

Former alderman Bruce Yorke called the
current process “a scandal of the highest
order” and said the city should immediately
start negotiations to purchase the site.

“That’s the only way there will be decent
public input,” he said.

Yorke said the city has already invested
$42 million in the new Cambie Street
bridge — built primarily to service Expo —
— and some $7 million in sewers and other
services for the land. He said the city has the
resources of its lush property endowment
fund — last estimated at some $470
million — to help finance the purchase.

“Tt is not too late to make this demand, to
call for a fresh start on the site. This will be
the number one issue in the civic election,”
Yorke declared.

May 1 rally set

The May Day march and rally in Van-
couver have been revived for this year, with
a march at 12 noon from Clark Park, at
Commercial and 14th, to a rally at Grand-
view Park, at. William and Commercial.

The event, which takes place on Sunday, ~
May 1, is organized by the Trade Union
May Day Committee. - :