f.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Public wants
more money
for schools,

survey finds

Continued from page 1
most will undoubtedly have high residential
tax hikes included, the association of super-
intendents warned.

In their report the superintendents —
who are the senior employees in the school
districts — point to the fact that the pro-
vincial government in 1982 removed from
boards the power to tax commercial and
industrial properties.

“Tn addition, the government committed
itself to reduce these taxes. However, the
results of this reduction in the commercial
and industrial taxes together with increases
in budgets in order to maintain an accepta-
ble levels of services resulted in excessive
(residential) property tax increases,” the
report stated.

Lupini said the association was not
recommending that the industrial tax be
restored, but that the government increase
funding, possibly from general revenues, to
relieve boards of the necessity to tax
homeowners.

Otherwise, he warned, there may be a
“serious backlash” from taxpayers.

Association. vice-president Owen Corco-
ran, who is superintendent of the Burns
Lake school district, said many of the fami-
lies in his area are on fixed incomes and can
not bear another large tax hike.

Recently principals and vice-principals in
Vancouver’s “inner city” schools told the
school board that increased funding was
necessary to aid the city’s more economi-
cally disadvantaged children overcome the
restrictions of poverty and ill-nourishment.

Backing the call for more education dol-
lars is a poll conducted by Marktrend
Research for the B.C. Teachers Federation,
which found that more than half the
respondents thought education is being
underfunded.

Some 59 per cent of the respondents said
they favoured paying higher taxes to fund
education, but 60 per cent believed school
boards should have the power to tax com-
mercial and industrial properties.

“Local teachers, principals and school
trustees outscored both the premier and the
minister of education for ‘believability’
when speaking on education issues,” a
report on the survey, released Tuesday,
stated.

It reported that 96 per cent of the
respondents agreed that “every student
should have the same opportunity for a
comprehensive quality education.”

BCTF president Elsie McMurphy said
the results show “the value that the public
puts on education and its contribution to
society.

“Local boards should feel confident in
submitting budgets that meet educational
needs,” she said.

Education cutbacks have raised the ques-
tion of equality of opportunity in recent
weeks, with the revelation that parents in
more economically secure districts organize
drives to raise funds for special school
projects — a practice beyond the reach of
parents of children in inner city schools.

Additionally, attention has been focused
on the Social Credit government’s increased
funding — often in excess of 30 per cent in
annual increases — of private schools.

The superintendents’ association reported
that in the past five years, school district
budgets increased by 11 per cent, while the
Consumer Price Index, the standard infla-
tion marker, rose by 19 per cent.

Meanwhile, property taxes on home-
owners have, after the homeowner grant
was deducted, increased 77 per cent in 1982-
87, the superintendents stated.

2 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 17, 1988

— DAN KEETON

TRIBUNE PHOTO

Bruce Yorke and Muriel Irmen, members of the B.C. Peace Council, gather names for the Canadian Peace Pledge
Campaign on Commercial Drive in Vancouver on Saturday, reportedly filling all 200 cards. Prior to Saturday's blitz at
several city locations, some.6,700 Lower Mainland residents had signed the cards which is a pledge to vote only for
pro-disarmament candidates in the upcoming federal election. Card signers will receive results et a meeting between the
Canadian Peace Alliance and the three major federal parties.

NPA is listening to developers,
not the public, on scenic views

Approximately 70 per cent of the moun-
tain skyline within identified “view corri-
dors” could be blocked within 25-40 years
by downtown development.

That is the prediction of the Vancouver
city planning department, based on more
than two years of detailed work that identi-
fied 22 priority views. from the Granville
and Cambie street bridges and five key pub-
lic places on the south shore of False Creek.

In 1985, the previous city council agreed
it was time to develop a policy to protect the
views that Vancouverites hold so dearly.
Seven viewpoints and 22 views were selected
because they are the ones now in danger of
being lost unless something is done.

The painstaking work by the planning
department did not produce some vague,
generalized statement about our desire to
preserve views of the mountains, but rather
a detailed analysis of what must be done to
save key view corridors that are threatened
by a growing downtown core. The report
gives details about the impact of construc-
tion on specific downtown sites and
includes positive and reasonable sugges-
tions on how to minimize that impact.
However, the most important recommen-
dation is that city council institute a full and
open public consultation process so that
everyone, including developers, can make
their case known to city council.

Since the report was tabled last Novem-
ber, the majority in the Non-Partisan Asso-
ciation has refused to send it out for public
discussion. Instead the NPA has allowed its
developer friends to come to city hall and
speak against the report before the public
has had a fair chance to say its piece.

Not surprising, the first in line to bash the
report and urge city council not to send the
report out for public discussion was former
NPA president Brian Calder, representing
real estate interests.

It is an outrage thatthe NPA will listen to

Libby Davies
Bruce Eriksen

Scenic views ..

a select group, including the B.C. Enterprise
Corporation (the Crown corporation
in charge of the North Shore of False
Creek) without allowing non-developers an
equal opportunity in the public process
proposed by the, planning department.

Of course, the downtown real estate
interests are loath to accept any restrictions,
however modest and justified these are, that
interfere with their profit margins.

The public must be allowed to comment -

and there must be a public debate. The

. threatened by unregulated development.
ay

NPA should be ashamed of its preferential
treatment of the vested interests of the real
estate market.

The 1980 Goals for Vancouver program
found that 96 per cent of the city’s residents
surveyed considered preserving views of the
mountains and water as the highest priority.
City council must have the political will and
commitment to listen to the people over the
interests of developers, and adopt a fair,
clear and consistent policy that will protect
key views for our future generations.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — DAN KEETON