Vancouver

We're ontra

When it comes to getting the message
of trade unions, community groups and
other progressive organizations out to
potential supporters, there’s no contest
between the Tribune’s coverage and that
of the big-business media.

Unfortunately, this year there is also
“no contest” of another sort. But you’ve
shown that this may not matter too
much.

Last week we said that we face critical
times. Now we know you listened.

We set a goal of achieving $5,000 by
the time the drive opened. As of Tues-
day, April 5, we found we’d oversubs-
cribed that target, with more than $5,900
in the coffers.

Actually, we didn’t overachieve —
you did.

In the last issue we informed you that
we'd been told by the RCMP that our
yearly contest — the one we’ve held
since 1938 — was illegal. We also said we
had no illusions as to why the contest was
suddenly in the spotlight: this is the era of
the Vander Zalm Socreds, and all organ-
izations that speak out against the poli-
cies of further cutbacks, privatization,
free trade, and attacks on union and
democratic rights have been targeted for
harassment.

Many of you knew that before we ran
our message last week, because we'd told
press club directors of the problem and
of the need to get the 1988 drive off ona
sound financial footing.

We know that during the dozens of
financial drives over the decades most of
our supporters have given to the Tribune
because of a commitment — a com-
mitment to a society based on equality,
an end to class exploitation, to sexism

and racism.
In recent years we’ve put the money to

good use, expanding our facilities and
modernizing the office to produce more
B.C. pages and cut down on production
costs.

With the loss of the contest, it’s no
exaggeration to say that we’ll simply be
aiming to maintain these facilities.

This year, we’ve reduced the target to
the level we set in the early part of the
decade: $82,000.

There are several ways to support this
effort. The key one is to attend the kick-
off banquet on Saturday, April 16. Held
at the Maritime Labour Centre, 111 Vic-
toria Dr., Vancouver, it will feature past
Tribune Publishing Co. president, and
nominee for Communist Party of Can-
ada leader, George Hewison.

There may be no Tribune contest this
year. But that doesn’t mean the stakes
aren’t high.

Everyone can be a winner by digging
into their resources and helping us top
the target in 1988.

If there’s is a contest to see who lasts

the decade and beyond — the Tribune .

or Vander Zalm’s reactionary -Socreds
— yc like you to put your money on

Help raise $82, 000

Pressure wins hearings
on tank farm expansion

North Burnaby residents met March
31 in a united demand that the federal
National Energy Board reject proposals
to expand the storage and transshipment
facilities of a petroleum firm accused of
being a major polluter and safety hazard.

More than 80 people attended the
meeting, even though it was on the eve of
the four-day Easter weekend, to consider
upcoming NEB hearings on Trans
Mountain Pipeline’s application set for
April 11-12.

Those hearings, in the MacPherson
Hall at 7325 MacPherson Ave. in south
Burnaby, came after joint pressure from
the citizens, Burnaby MP Svend Robin-
son, and the Vancouver and District
Labour Council’s committee on danger-
ous substances.

Organizer David Fairey said the meet-
ing set several demands, including:

e@ That Trans Mountain’s tank farm
on the south side of Burnaby mountain
— now a key residential district — be
phased out.

e That any decision on the company’s
application to expand the farm — to 13
from 10 holding tanks — and its West-
ridge transshipment terminal on Burrard
Inlet be postponed until thorough safety
and environmental studies have been
carried out.

@ That regardless of whether the pres-
ent facility is eliminated, there be no
further expansion of Trans Mountain’s
facilities, and that current vapour emis-
sions be controlled and monitored.

© That there be no further tanker ship
loadings at the transshipment facility
without proper procedures to “capture”
escaping vapours.

The NEB came under-fire from. the
citizens’ group for failing to adequately
advertise public hearings on the applica-
tion in local media outlets, and for hold-
ing the hearings in downtown Vancouver
rather than in the municipality — a con-
travention of the National Energy Board
Act.

The board initially rejected the citi-
zens’ request to reconvene hearings in
Burnaby, instead setting the final talks in
Ottawa and establishing a deadline that
left the group less than a week to prepare
a presentation.

Fairey, in a brief submitted on behalf
of the citizens, stated that the facilities
should be examined for potential fire
hazards, and called for a study of the
dangers of maintaining chemical and
petroleum facilities in the Vancouver

port.
Hearings will take place 3 p.m.-9 p.m.
on both days.

2 e Pacific Tribune, April 6, 1988

Citizens demanding
end to secret talks

around Expo lands

The secretive deal for the former Expo
lands on the north shore of False Creek is a
scandalous breach of the public trust.

Who the land is sold to and what is deve-
loped is of great importance to Vancouver.
The public overwhelmingly rejected pre-
vious proposals for huge densities in office
and commercial development on the site,
and expressed a clear preference for affor-
dable housing, parks and open space as the
major uses for this land.

Mayor Gordon Campbell has said that
even if,the public is concerned about a secret
deal to sell the Expo lands, he isn’t because
the city will retain control over what is ulti-
mately built. But his glib assurances do not
satisfy the legitimate concerns that people
have concerning commitments that city

~

council may make to the purchaser regard-

ing future development on the site.

The provincial government has made it
clear that it is interested only in hard, cold
cash to cover its deficits. And only very high
densities, at odds with the wishes and needs
of Vancouverites, will fetch the price that
the province wants.

Campbell and the Non-Partisan Associa-
tion council have abandoned the interests of
Vancouver by their meek compliance with
the undemocratic process to sell the heart of
the city. City council should have demanded
public disclosure of all proposals under
consideration, and it should have insisted
on public input before a decision is reached.

Your Committee of Progressive Electors
aldermen have repeatedly demanded that
the city get involved in the process by mak-
ing clear its objectives for the development
of this land. We pressed council to do this a
year ago when the sale of the land was first
announced.

City hall already had a comprehensive set
of policies for the development of the site,
which had been worked out by the previous
council with public involvement. Mayor
Campbell, however, decided to start over

Libby Davies
Bruce Eriksen

again and convened a series of meetings to
review the history of the False Creek basin
and develop policies for the future.

This process has become a farce of deci-
sion making. It is clear that the real deci: _
sions about False Creek are being made —
behind closed doors and without any public _
participation.

The NPA has acted, in fact, to facilitate _
the Socred agenda for False Creek. By |
delaying the city’s involvement until after a
sale, the city will face a billionaire developer
who will attempt to use the development
proposal to hold the city to ransom to get"
exactly what the developer wants. This”
would be a disastrous situation for Vata
couver.

This charade being conducted by the
NPA on behalf of the provincial govern-

>,

aS al ag yas aos oS

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ment must be challenged by the people of —
Vancouver. COPE has been working hard
contacting community groups, unions and
concerned citizens to find the way to make ©
our demands heard. There are many issues |
associated with the development of this —
land, but we suggest a focus on these three
demands:

@ There should be no sale of the land
until there is full public disclosure of all
proposals under consideration.

e There should be no sale of the land
without an open and democratic process
that involves the public to establish devel-
opment policies regarding densities, hous-
ing mix, parks and open space and other
guidelines for development.

@ There must be a firm commitment to
the provision of affordable housing, includ-
ing co-ops, and non-profit rental and spec-
ial needs housing. COPE’s position is that 50
per cent of the housing must be affordable
to moderate and low income households.

As COPE aldermen, we will use every
opportunity to demand that city council
speak out now to defend the public interest.
We know that we can count on your sup-
port.

COPE: restore garbage service

Vancouver city garbage will be left sitting
in back lanes for as long as 10 days follow-
ing the Easter weekend because of cutbacks
by city council’s right wing majority, the
Committee of Progressive Electors charges.

COPE spokesman and former alderman
Bruce Yorke called recent cuts to the gar-
bage collection service, “‘a false economy
and an affront to civic pride and health.”

COPE aldermen Libby Davies and
Bruce Eriksen will introduce a motion for
full restoration of garbage services at the
April 12 council meeting.

Council is also set that day to discuss a
COPE notice of motion that.the fair wage
policy for contracted workers be restored,

following a city victory in the B.C. Appeal
Court.

The Non-Partisan Association majority —
on council replaced the former system by —
which garbage was collected on the same
day each week, with a system that avoids —
paying for overtime by “bumping” collec
tion by a day following a long weekend.

“Every citizen who wants full garbage —
service restored should exercise their demo- —
cratic right to appear before council — or
start phoning and writing council members,”
Yorke said.

He said his home was included among
those that were left without garbage service —
for 10 days because of the four-day: E Easter
weekend.