_VANCOUVER

City gives developers free rein

Developers have retained the
unfettered right to tear down
any residential building they
wish to make way for luxury
redevelopment, after Van-
couver city council voted six to
four Tuesday to defeat COPE
alderman Bruce Eriksen’s call
for a one year moratorium on
demolition of structurally
sound rental housing.

At the first of two special
meetings on the issue, more than
200 tenants and citizens endors-
ing controls had appealed to the
city for protection against
redevelopment which would
evict them from their homes,
and in many cases from the city.
This Tuesday a group of about
100. developers squared off
against an equal number of ten-
ants before council briefly de-
bated Eriksen’s motion and vot-
ed for the developers.

Identical votes also defeated
three other motions by Eriksen
calling for penalties for allowing
buildings to rundown in viola-
tion. of standards of
maintenance bylaws, and re-
quiring developers to include
low and middle income housing
in future developments.

Voting for Eriksen’s motions
were the three COPE aldermen
and mayor Harcourt. Voting
against were four NPA
aldermen and the two TEAM
aldermen. The TEAM votes
were decisive in defeating the
motion and fating hundreds of
affordable rental units to the
wrecker’s ball within two mon-
ths.

About 15 developer

spokesmen offered council con-
ciliation and threats in opposi-
tion to the moratorium. A
number of developers proposed
a displacement fee for evicted
tenants, and Michael Jackson
of Hilcon Developments
repeated his offer made in large
ads in daily newspapers that he
would provide ‘“‘expertise”’ to-
build low income housing — if
the city provided 99 year leased
land, guaranteed financing and
subsidized the rents. The Board
of Trade warned that business
would react to a moratorium on
demolitions by holding
buildings untenanted and “in
desperation there may be tor-
chings.”’

Taking the developer’s argu-
ment to its extreme and
ludicrous conclusion was Fraser
Institute economist Walter
Block who likened demolition
control to rent control and then
held up large pictures compar-
ing cities with rent controls to
Hiroshima and Nagasaki after
the dropping of theatom bomb.

The only member of council }

to defend Block from the
ridicule which ensued was NPA
alderman George Puil ‘who
defined the issue in terms of
‘free enterprise’? and threw
plaudits to the developers for
“hard work in building our
city.

Nathan Divinski put the

NPA philosophy most crudely
when he said “‘private enterprise
has produced the best society
known to man”’ and that the
solution to the housing crisis is
to “harness greed and profit

Demolition policy:

people vs profits |

Why is an anti-demolition
by-law necessary for Van-
couver?

For one very good and clear
reason — it prevents low and
moderately priced accommoda-
tion being torn down to make
way for expensive luxury ac-
commodation. It prevents or-
dinary working people from be-
ing evicted to make way for
others much better off.

Harry

Rankin

The developers and real estate
interests strongly oppose an
anti-demolition by-law, of
course. However, they don’t tell
us that what they’re really mad
about is that such alaw may pre-

vent some of them from making

the super profits involved in lux-
ury accommodation. They tell
us an anti-demolition by-law
would be bad for the future of
Vancouver. Their sudden con-
cern for the future of Vancouver
and its citizens would be com-
mendable, if it weren’t for the
fact that their lack of concern in
the past speaks louder than
words. :
The Rental Housing Council
of B.C., which speaks for many
of the big apartment owners,
charged that if the city prevents
‘the replacement of an

uneconomic worn out
building”’, then we are, ‘‘laying
the groundwork for Vancouver
becoming slowly but surely a
‘slum city’ ”’.

A building may be
‘“‘uneconomic’’ for the
developer in the sense that he
could make a lot more money if
it were torn down and replaced
with luxury apartments or lux-

ury condominiums. But the —

wealthy aren’t suffering. They
can always find housing and.a
lot of luxury housing is being
built by them and for them. Our
concern is that perfectly good,
moderately priced housing
should not be torn down while
we have such a housing shor-
tage.

As for Vancouver. becom#mg
aslum city, let me say first of all

that the slums we have today in .

the downtown eastside area
were not created by the city or
the tenants of these slum
buildings — they were created
by the developers and other
business interests who refuse to
upgrade them because. this
would cut into their profits.

If people are given priority
over property, then the anti-
demolition bylaw should pass.

seeking to produce the housing
we need.”

May Brown justified her pro-
developer stand by suggesting
that demolition control would
restrict supply of housing and
push rents up in the rest of the
market.

COPE’s Bruce Yorke
answered Brown pointing out
that demolishing low priced
housing and replacing it with
luxury housing will push rents
up in the whole market, and the
control of demolition will help
stabilize the market. He pointed
out that the ‘‘hard working’
developers Puil defended in-
cluded Robert Campeau, the
largest developer in the country
presently applying for several

demolition permits to make way
for luxury redevelopment.

‘An apartment is a tenants’
home,”’ Yorke said, ‘‘that is a
greater moral and social con-
sideration than the maximiza-
tion of profits.”’

Eriksen told the Tribune that
he expected the TEAM
aldermen to vote against his mo-
tions. “‘At least they all had to
make it clear, in public, exactly
where they stand on a basic
issue,’’ he said.

COPE will be making more
initiatives on the housing crisis
with further motions on demoli-
tion control and a motion from
Bruce Yorke to control conver-
sions of rental units into long

_term lease agreements.

Housing
crisis week

Over 30 members of the
Greater Vancouver Renters

“Association braved buckets of

rain to protest the dismantling
of rent controls at the consti-
tuency office of consumer af-
fairs minister, Peter Hyndman
last Saturday.

The demo kicked off a
number of activities planned for
Vancouver’s ‘‘Housing Crisis |
Week,”’ Apr. 14-18, including
five consecutive evening perfor-
mances of Headlines Theatre’s
hit comedy, Buy, Buy Van-
couver at the Vancouver East
Cultural Centre.

The GVRD has also called a
public meeting, Sat., Apr. 11 at.
1 p.m., 1155 Thurlow St., Van.
The theme: ‘‘They’re wrecking
our homes and raising our
rents.”

TRIBUNE PHOTO—RICHARD BLACKBURN

it
People and Issues

hen the Thompson newspaper chain sold out
its interests in Pacific Press last year, some may
have concluded that the multinational giant had for-

-saken Vancouver. Well, it isn’t so.

It was less than a year ago, Aug. 27, 1979,
remembered as ‘‘Black Wednesday’’, that Thom-
son handed over control of Pacific Press, publisher
of both daily newspapers in Vancouver, to the
Southam newspaper chain as part of the cross-
Canada corporate machination that eliminated
competition in daily newspapers in Vancouver, Vic-
toria, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

Now, Thomson is back with a request before
Vancouver city council for permission to flood
downtown Vancouver with vending boxes for. . .
the Toronto based Globe and Mail.

Of course the Globe objects to being labelled a
‘“‘Toronto’’ newspaper, and insists on being known
as ‘Canada’s national newspaper.’’ Unfortunately
a perusal of the product doesn’t support the hype.
We looked through a typical issue, that of April 6,
and found a single article concerned with a B.C.
issue.

Thomson’s corporate manoeuvers have already ©

undermined freedom of expression and accoun-
tability in daily newspapers in Canada, not least in
Vancouver, and have threatened the job security of
newspaper workers.

Surely much more is required to demonstrate that
the Globe and Mail will serve the interests of this
region, and provide stable employment for
newspaper workers here, before Vancouver bestows
it the privilege of putting vending boxes on city pro-

perty.

The Tribune has made its concerns on this issue
known to city council with’a letter last week from
vice president of the Board of Directors George
Hewison. Instead of granting special privilege to
Thomson, Hewison urged the city to take the oppor-
tunity to consider how it can assist “‘local, indepen-
dent, community and alternate newspapers to offset
the unacceptable degree of corporate concentration
in Vancouver’s major newspapers.”

One possibility in this regard would be city design-
ed vending boxes which could accomodate not only
the large daily newspapers, but weekly papers as
well. a

* * *

Te: crew of the British freighter Southland
Star, members of the National Union of
Seamen, whose three week strike in February forced
them to tie up in Vancouver, returned last Friday to
VanTerm dock, and took the occasion to express
their gratitude to the labor movement for the sup-
port they received during the strike.

In particular the crew singled out CBRT Local
400 president Tom McGrath and International
Transport Workers Federation represented Gerry
McCullough for their solidarity efforts and
presented the two with a special plaque.

A separate plaque in appreciation of support
from several unions who donated funds to help the
strikers while in Vancouver was presented to the
Vancouver and District Labor Council this week by
the CBRT’s Dave Crain on behalf of the crew.

* * *

& .C. Federation of labor president Jim
Kinnaird will be the feature speaker at the 1981
May Day celebrations, set for May 3 at 2 p.m. in the
Templeton Auditorium in Vancouver.

The strike struggles of workers in B.C. this year
will be a major theme of the rally, to be addressed as
well by Communist Party labor secretary Jack
Phillips. As in past years, the NDP is also expected
to provide a speaker. —

No US. intervention in El Salvador will be
another theme of the concert-meeting with a speaker
from that war torn country. Proceeds from the event
will go humanitarian aid for Central America.

be * *
he film El Salvador: Revolution Or Death is a
must for anyone searching for an understand-
ing of events in that country, and it will be shown by
the B.C. Peace Council Apr. 14, 7:30 p.m. at the
Vancouver Public Library main branch.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 10, 1981—Page 2