Developers score victory in east end zoning fight By ALD. HARRY RANKIN The citizens of the Grandview Woodlands Area won a secondary victory at city council on March 22, when council agreed to hold public hearing on the issue of down-zoning the area. Actually for council to have done otherwise would have been to contravene city by-laws which call for public hearings where rezoning is involved: But a number of aldermen, as well as mayor Jack Volrich, wanted to settle the issue without a hearing. When a huge crowd of citizens gathered for a public hearing on March 18 at Britannia Secondary School, Volrich told the crowd that the meeting was an overflow. with crowds jamming the corridor and Poll shows ward support A public opinion poll in Van- couver’s Kitsilano area is in- dicative of majority support in Vancouver for a ward system, COPE president Bruce Yorke said this week. The opinion poll was sponsored by the Kitsilano Community Forum, an umbrella organization uniting 18 Kitsilano community groups, in conjunction with the March 22 debate on the ward system between Harry Rankin and May Brown. Of 94 who filled out the questionnaires, 84. favored the introduction of a ward system in Vancouver. A majority of those who were in favor of a ward system, preferred two aldermen per ward. “In 1973 a plebiscite was held in Vancouver,’’ Yorke recalled, ‘at that time 42 percent of those voting favored the ward system. No doubt that percentage would be much higher today. Probably it would be a majority.” Yorke’s statements were made in aregular column titled ‘Around Vancouver” that is designed to draw attention to key issues and events. The COPE leader called for a big turnout to a public meeting on the ward system issue, April 18 at 8 p.m. in the Britannia Centre. The meeting will be in rooms 319 and 320 of the complex, situated at Napier and Commercial Drive. The public meeting follows the city-wide conference held three months ago at the Downtown Eastside Residents Association headquarters. About 60 Vancouver organizations attended the con- ference and elected a committee to -prepare a comprehensive program of action. The committee will make its proposals for raising the debate on the ward system at the meeting. COPE is urging community organizations to send official delegates to the meeting. In- terested individuals are also in- vited to attend. “In my view the ward system would restore the substance of democracy into the civic electoral scene,”’ Yorke said, ‘‘and pressure should be organized to see that it is introduced as quickly as possible.’’ In spite of TEAM’s official policy favoring a ward system recent developments have served to undermine the basis of Vancouver communities, Yorke said. “Through the mayor’s office, TEAM has tried to fire the head of the city planning department, because he conscientiously sup- ports local planning,’’ Yorke charged. ‘‘Today a lot of things have changed. Effective area planning has been abandoned in - Kitsilano, in the West End, in Champlain Heights, in Grand- VIEW. vst The COPE president said: that the ‘‘main plan” for a ward system should be to follow the example of Kitsilano and take ‘‘the question of the ward system back into the communities for discussion and debate.” as such it presented a danger in case of fire. Legally and technically he was correct, but I suspect that this was only the excuse; his real reason was that he didn’t want to face up to a political fight in which hesand his TEAM-NPA right wing coalition might come off second best. But the major victory at city council’s meeting on March 22 went to the developers when city council voted to rezone the area for townhouse development instead. of for duplex development. This was a slap in the face to city planning director Ray Spaxman, to the citizen’s planning committee established by council and to the citizens in the area who want it to remain a family residential area. The central issue in the Grand- viéw-Woodlands controversy is the direction of future development of the area. Will it be a family- oriented area? (This was the concept when the city spent $10 million to build the Britannia Community Complex). Or will it be transformed into an area of apartment buildings with one bedroom and bachelor apart-: ments? . The developers, with the backing of some homeowners (including absentee landlords), want to build such apartments and. many ap- plications from them have poured into city hall. If they have their way, scores of perfectly good houses will be demolished to make way for apartments. The residents of the area, led by Doug Laalo, president of the Grandview Woodlands Tenants Association, want to keep it a family area. In this they were backed by. the city planning director Max Spaxman and the area citizens planning committee. Since the area is already zoned for apartments, the residents want it. downzoned to ban apartments. That’s the situation that faces the NPA-TEAM majority on council. Wanting to let the developers have their way, but fearing widespread public criticism if they did so openly, the TEAM-NPA majority on council passed a motion torezone it, not for duplexes only as the residents wanted, but for townhouses. This is the foot in the door that the developers want. There is no doubt — in my mind at all that after the public hearing, the TEAM-NPA majority on council will let the developers have their way. What many people still don’t know is why so many developers all of a sudden want to build so many apartments in this area. The - answer lies in the new joint federal-provincial Assisted Rental Program recently announced by the provincial government. It will provide generous ‘subsidies “up to $3,000 per year per suite to developers. Not only that, this new legislation will provide tax shelters that will enable people with money to show losses on apartment construction and so avoid paying income tax on other investments. Here is what Concost Con- sultants recently said in an en: thusiastic letter to developer: about this new legislation. “Assisted Rental Program developments thereby offer ex- tremely attractive opportunities for investors having high un-— sheltered incomes from other sources.” “... annual operating sub-— sidies up to $3,000 per year, in the form of grants and interest free loans, will be made available to investors in new rental housing.’ “The object is to. . rent controls.’ ss . investors having taxable incomes of $23,000 to. $51,000 can avoid paying from 33 percent to 43 percent of this in current taxes where a_ full available.”’ It is further pointed out that profits, after taxes, for developers : See RANKIN, pg. 11 Ee Vander Zalm: spy in the toilet bow! . phase out — tax shelter is By MAURICE RUSH f you thought human resources minister Bill Vander ‘Zalm had reached bottom in his attack on the aged, sick, poor and handicapped you were wrong. The real bottom was reached last week when he released his ‘‘fact sheet” on the study of the bowel movements of those unfortunate citizens who depend on the provincial government’s Pharmacare program. Not content with cutting back on every social services _ program in B.C., our resourceful human resources minister has crawled into the biffies of the poor to spy on their bowel movements to discover how he can cut back the government’s free laxative drug program while producing the same end result. His study has come up with the world-shaking discovery that “laxatives produced an average of 0.44 bowel movements per day at a cost of seven cents, while bran produced 0.61 bowel movements at a cost of 0.2 cents.” Now, isn’t that something? Who would have known? I. wonder how much it cost the provincial government for that study? : Now that Vander Zalm has established the “fact” that satisfactory bowel movements can be brought on by other than prescription drugs, he can proceed to justify cut- backs in free drugs under the new Pharmacare program. The logic of his latest discovery is that instead of paying for laxative drugs for the aged and poor, the provincial government should provide each needy person with a box of bran cereal every week. That, according to Vander Zalm’s study, will save the government millions of dollars a year. In fact, says his report, an estimated $7 million worth of Pharmacare prescription drugs ‘‘could be flushed down the toilet and end up in the Fraser or Juan de Fuca Strait”’ this year. - The “‘fact sheet,” says Vander Zalm, proves the need for changing the present Pharmacare program and putting an end to the idea that the public (meaning in this case the aged and poor) should expect ‘‘something for ere ”’ This is the old familiar oS of the Socreds under - PACIFIC TRIBUNE— APRIL 1, 1977- ~Pooe 2 RES S which they have boosted rates for public services, taking an estimated $1 billion out of the pockets of the people, while at the same time cutting back on every social welfare program. Having attacked those he called ‘“‘the welfare bums” for many months, Vander Zalm is now turning his attention and energies to saving the government money on the bowel movements of the aged and poor. His ‘‘fact sheet” proves the contention made in this column two weeks ago, that the provincial government intends to change the. Pharmacare program to eliminate free prescription drugs for many people now getting them, and to subsidize the program by cutting back free drugs to the needy by millions of dollars a year. Indications are that the government has been forced to reexamine its plans after the public outcry which followed disclosure of the scheme. But let’s not be fooled. Vander Zalm intends to follow through with his over-all scheme, even though he may have to make some small changes to make it less obnoxious. - Setting himself up as an expert on medical questions, “doctor’’ Vander Zalm’s “fact sheet’’ is a thinly-veiled attack on the medical profession. One wonders, in all this, whereare the men in white, the defenders of public health and the Hippocratic Oath? Not one has spoken out against Vander Zalm’s threat to revise the Pharmacare program. ‘Either the medical profession is intimidated, pre- occupied with making money, or just doesn’t have the «. guts to speak out. * * * he RS In a different league than Vander Zalm’s attack on the bowel movements of the poor, but nevertheless producing ~~ much the ‘same end product, is the continuing campaign against the Soviet Union on human rights. But in: the socialist countries every citizen is guaranteed the human right to full medical and dental care throughout their lives, including the supply of free drugs and services. Here’s a human right socialism guarantees to people which Vander Zalm and the Socred government would take away. These champions of human rights don’t recognize this as a right — only as something to be given or taken away depending on the whim of a capitalist government or ambitious politician who is anxious to ° build a political career on the suffering of the poor and unfortunate in our society. In more than 40 years in politics and the progressive movement I have never known a case where the bowel movements of the poor was made an issue of by a politician. Among his many other accomplishments, here is ‘a first for Vander Zalm. He is proving that excrement can be used not only to fertilize gardens, but also the political career of a ruthless, cold-hearted but ambitious politician. After giving.us his solution for the crisis of Con- ° federation — “‘let French Canada go, then we can take French off our corn flakes boxes’? — Vander Zalm now offers us a solution to the Pharmacare crisis: ‘cheaper bowel movements for the poor through eating bran.” You must admit, B.C.’s cereal-minded’ human resources minister is not your average capitalist politician. He’s more dangerous than most because he aims to make a career out of turning society against its victims, the poor and dispossessed. In his sick mind, they are the enemy ves at our gates. TRIBUNE Editor - MAURICE RUSH Assistant Editor SEAN GRIFFIN. Business and Circulation Manager — FRED WILSON Published weekly at Ford Bldg., Mezzanine’No. 3, . . 193 E. Hastings St., Vancouver 4, B.C. Phone 685-8108 “Subscription Rate: Canada, $8.00 one year; $4.50 for six months, All other countries, $10.00 one year Second class mail registration number 1560