A8 Terrace Review — Wednesday, September 26, 1990 OF THE ‘TOWN This week the Terrace Review asked: . | Now that the city is enforcing — | the parking bylaws, do you ‘think more spaces should be — provided downtown? — Dawn Tomas I think they have to, There are so many new buildings going up, but there doesn't seam to be an increase in parking spaces available. Rodney Wetmore Sure, for other cars | guess. I drive a motorbike so | don't have too much of a problem. | guess there's a need for it in certain spots, Fred Benard Probably, yeah. Come here Saturday (Skeena Mall) and good luck at trying to find a spot! They should also enforce speed regulations. ee, % Doug Brewer Probably not. Once you get to know the town, it's easy to find a parking space if you look around. a a Forestry INSIghtS — coninus tom page a7 the Commission heard, is that they want the land claims issue settled Mark Fjaagesund ; Yes, | work at McDonald's; | . the lot is always full because — there isn't enough parking at" the mall. , L_ Inanagement commitment and lack of adequate balance from interest impacts of clear-cut logging. O, fora. water apse Jin the park by Tod Strachan Just what does it take to put a park privy up? A lot more than you might. think — apparently. Terrace.city council wants a wash- room in George Little Memorial Park in the worst way. First, though, what they need is somicone to build it... at a price they can afford. They don’t want anything fancy. They don’t want hot water. Cold water will be just fine. It won’t be heated. Who uses the park in the winter? And they only want about 450 square feet. That’s a little less than 20 by 24 feet; say, about four-tenths the size of the average home. Their only real specification is that they want it built out of cement blocks to discourage would-be vandals. What could be simpler? All they want is a simple outdoor privy to make those lazy days in the park a little less painful. It’s not like they want to add a couple of dozen fect to the aquatic centre. But this ~ ‘project is turning into something a lot more painful than a day in the park with no place to go. In June, the- city: asked the local construc- tion industry for offers. But when the deadHne came in July, there were none; Two local contractors did pick up tender packages but ' after considering the size of the project neither returned with a bid. Not to worry, said council. We'll just advertise the job again. And it worked. Two sealed envelopes were left with the city. And when the deadline came at 1:30 p.m., Sept. 5, the sealed bids were opened with great anticipation. But it wasn’t to be. Sandhals Construc- ~ tion said it would cost the city $44,892 and Randy Huisman Con- tracting offered to do it for just $65,500. ° This couldn’t be. The city had done a few estimates of their own and budgeted: $30,000 for the jab. More than ample, they thought. groups”. On this point, the commission recommended: "The Ministry of Forests should re-examine the purpose, makeup and the commit- ment to its Timber Supply Area Steering Committees with a view | to making these more effective." Land claims —- The commission found a strong desire on the part of almost everyone in the province that the land claims question issue be resolved. According to the commission, land claims are affec- ting many forestry. practices — investments in silviculture, for one _— while: communities have con- cerns for their economic stability and workers have fears for their jobs and economic well-being. In their. report, the commission. states, "The overwhelming view of - British ‘Columbians, from whom as soon as possible and they want it accomplished by negotiation among the parties directly involved: namely, the aboriginal people and the federal and provin- cial governments." he B.C. Forest Resources Commission will have more to say on these topics in their final report next spring. But it’s clear from their statements that much work is required to correct the woes of the - forest industry. Oneof the more pressing "needs", according to this preliminary report, is the need for a comprehensive resource inven- tory. From the final. report. we. can expect recommendations | more directly related .to tenure and- management practices; particularly with regard to the effectiveness of “Tree Farm Licences and the truc While we wait for that report, though, and before we leave the topic of tenure for a discussion on the appraisal system, we are going to highlight next week some infor- mation included. in the May 3, 1990, Federal. Hansard. That was ihe day professor Rees testified before the Standing Committee on Environment in Ottawa. Unlike the Forest Resources Commission, professor Rees’s testimony docsn’t offers any solu- tions. But he pulls no punches in telling us exactly whal’s wrong with the forest industry, and in general, the world today. And he confirms what we’ve been saying all along about what we can expect in. the future if we: “don’t: change : the way we do ‘business today. Even with the $1,602.06 they had spent on design work and tender advertising they still had $28,397.94. and that should . be more than enough to build'a rudi- mentary facility. What to do? This question was tossed around at the last meeting of council and the end result was « that administration has been asked to sit-down with the lowest bidder, Sandhals Construction, and figure out a way to build a park privy for. the budgeted price: of $30,000.. Not everyone agreed that: the delay this would cause would be good, however. Alderman Danny Sheridan said that the $30,000 was a number that was simply "thrown out" at a spring budget. meeting, but if it was going to cost some- thing closer to $45,000 they should go ahead and do it anyway. "J think they’re important and we should find the money and go ahead," Sheridan told his peers. He said his Finance Committee was already in the process of going through the city’s accounts and the extra money they needed could be taken from one of the budgeted projects that didn’t get done. Sheridan backed up his proposal by noting that the park privy wasn't built last summer because the construction industry was too busy to take any real interest, and there was every possibility they could run into the same problem in 1991 if they didn’t put up the building this fall. And as an added incentive he suggested that if they wait until,next year the price could go up. But not everyone agreed. "If you can’t build a five-holer for less than $30,000 something’s wrong," argued Dave Hull. "Why don’t we do our own contracting?" Because, explained Sheridan, Public Works is already back-logged on other jobs and the city only has two months to get the job done before winter sets in. But Hull wouldn’t buy it. "I think it should be turned back to Public Works and let them do it in-house," he said. With a stalemate at hand, and with Ruth Hallock stating the bottom line, "They are needed," Darryl Laurent came up with the winning proposal. Sit down with . the low bidder and negotiate to make the job fit the budget. And where does this story end? We don’t know yet. But we’re still reeling from the pool experience and it’s just possible that negotiat- ing the value of this project could triple the value — that would be $90,000 — before there’s any relief in sight. Pifer == Continued from page AG have publicly questioned the behaviour of other gallery reporters during the Bud Smith tapes affair has increased the hostility and intensity of the re- sponse to my indiscretion. 1 was wrong to continue the Rogers arrangement and to ac- " cept: constituency association cheques. It was. unwise, yes; but it does not erase 20 years" of a reputation. for integrity — and credibility. . You may be interested to know that because of the terms of other new TV commitments, I ended any association with. - Rogers several days ‘before all of this came up.