Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 28, 1999

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432
EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Keep the core

DOES TERRACE want its downtown to con-
tinue to grow as a thriving centre for small busi- :
ness and pedestrians alike? :
_ Or should retail development be allowed to
sprawl uncontrolled along the highway? ;

That’s the simple choice city council is now
facing as it grapples with the issue of whether to
restrict retail development along the highway
and Keith Ave.

Property owners there say they bought land on
the basis of being able to develop any kind of
store and now the city’s changing the rules.

While that’s true, this is a situation where the
city cannot afford not to act.

City planner David Trawin’s proposed restric-
tions are already considerably watered down.

Retail stores must be at least 5,000 square feet
to be along the highway, although small
properties are exempt and major developments
can have up to 10 per cent of the floor space for
small shops.

Many young growing cities have been through
exactly what Terrace now faces.

As a downtown grows and thrives and becomes
the best place to do business, property prices
there understandably rise.

That makes it lucrative to develop strip malls
and the like on the outskirts — where land is’
cheaper — and then lure business tenants out of
downtown with cheaper rents.

If local government doesn’t put the brakes on
before it’s too late, that situation leads to vacant,
dead downtowns and a gridlock of cars, shop-
ping malls and parking lots in outlying areas. A
city where you can’t do anything without driv-
ing. ,

The restriction to keep most small shops :

downtown and prevent new highway strip malls :
- is both in line with the Official Community Plan
and is fundamental to the city’s new strategy for _
the downtown. That vision calls for more appeal- |
ing building construction and city infrastructure ‘
to promote a more _pedestrian-friendly °
downtown. ee ine
' If council isn’t prepared to back its planner on
the retail restrictions now, it may as well scrap
the downtown plan as well.

Go green

BIT BY bit it seems the downtown park legacy
left by city fourider George Little is being eaten
away. The bandshell took a chunk and the con-
struction of washrooms soon followed by the ex-
pansion of the library.

Which makes it all the more important for the
city to act on providing more parkland. There are
two golden opportunities — the vacant highways
maintenance site on Park Ave. and the soon-to-
be vacant spot now containing Skeena Junior
Secondary —— where on one of them the city will
have a chance to add to its green space.

Granted, the highways yard will require en-
vironmental clean up and some of the Skeena
Junior site. might be required for school district
athletics. And the city might not be in a position
to develop both spots into parkland. But as a
wise person once said, “‘Buy land. They’re not
making it anymore.””

PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur

NEWS Jcff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens
NEWS /COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton
OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly
CIRCULATION MANAGER: Carol Kirkaldy
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:
Sam Bedford, Bunnie Cote
TELEMARKETER: Tabatha Orange

DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur
AD ASSISTANT: Julie Davidson

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Serving the Terrace and Thornhi! area. Published on Wednesday of aach week al 3210 Clinton Street,
Terrace, British Columbia, VBG 5R2,

Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles In the Terraca Standard are the property of ihe
copyright holdars, including Caribao Press {1969) Ltd,, its illustration repra services and advertising

agencies.
Reproduction in whole of in part, without writlen parmissian, 's specifically prohibiled.
Authorized a3 second-class mall pending the Past Office Department, for payment of postage in cast.

Special thanks to all aur contributors and correspondents

for their time and talents

Campbell's

VICTORIA - Something
happened to Gordon Campbell
at the Liberal convention in
Kelowna.

This wasn’t the sarne. man |
saw and heard during Question
Period in the legislature even a
week ago. He had made that
transition from a politician who
wants to be premier {o one who
knows he will be.

Oh sure, he had steadily
honed his skills since the days
when he wore plaid shirts
because his handlers told him
he had to come across more like
a regular guy. He had also
learned to deliver an impas-
sioned speech instead of the
boring ramblings with which he

used to induce sleep in his andi;

ence a few years back.:
_ But those
learned. His speech to’ more
than 700 delegates in Kelowna
wasn’t. That came straight from

2 AME But em -

True, it’s easier to rouse an

audience of the converted than _

to win over the undecided,
leave alone the hostile, but
something tells me that the pas-
sionate Campbell we saw at the
convention will be the one try-
ing to bury the NDP in the next
election campaign.

And if his rhetoric was
impressive, the substance of his
speech was fascinaling. If he

“FROM-THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

things. were --

keeps only half the promises he
made at that convention, Camp-
bell will have his plate full if

and when he becomes premier...
To start with, he said a.Lib-.. ©
eral. government would deliver .

a balanced budget by the end of
the third year. Mind you, asked
if he would resign if he failed to
balance the books by that dead-
line, he wouldn’t comment.
Of course it’s possible.

- When’ he was finance. minister,

Premier Glen Clark once said
he couldn’! imagine anything
easier than balancing a budget,

-but he never did, not as finance

minister nor as premier. And the
reason is that it’s not easy at all.

"Possible? Yes. Easy? No.

To accomplish the feat of
balancing the budget within

ow

— _ NATO
HALT ALL

eeaia

[{

Sa

AIK STRIKES
IMMEDIATELY. -.

THE SERBIAN-CANADIANS

IN VICTORIA
DEMAND IT... -

oe

of the soup

three years of taking power,
Campbell will have to emulate
Ralph Klein and Mike Harris
rolled into one, and then some.

There will have to be cuts to
services the likes of which we
haven’t seen in this province,
not even during Bill Bennett's
restraint program. Heads in the
public service will have roll by
the thousands. And even then
he will need an least modest
economic recovery.

So, with improved economic
conditions, a willingness to
implement some radical and
unpopular pelicies, and the
determination to live with the
political fallout that will
undoubtedly follow, you might

, Say. it's easy.to balance, the bud: . ,..,
‘get. Maybe ;that's what Clark

meant. He just forget. to add that:
he wouldn’t be caught dead
doing it.

Campbell also promised to
open cabinet meetings to the
public, an interesting concept.
The only closed cabinet meet-
ings, he said, would be those at
which legal or privacy issues
were discussed. Cabinet meet-
ings involving parks, land use,
resource tenure and Agricul-
tural Land Reserve decisions
would be open to the public.

Campbell said major elec-
toral reform would also be in a
Liberal government’s agenda.

An independent citizens’

assembly would look at how ~
British Columbians want to .

elect their representatives. The
debate would included prefer-

ential ballots and proportionate --

representation.

Last but not least, Campbell *

promised to introduce free
votes for all MLAs, except

where votes of confidence are ¢

involved,
It’s certainly a concept worth

trying. It would take some time. :

for MLAs to get used to the fact +

that they can vote according’ to ..

their conscience or preference
rather than slavishly adhere to
the party line, but the idea has
promise.

. Given the public’s cynicism
and general. dislike of politi-
cians, Campbell had better be

prepared to keep the promises -.

7

he made at the convention. Fail- -

ing to do so, would. further
undermine what’s left of. public
trust. ‘
Campbell has shown he can
act the leader, and { don’t mean

that in the partisan sense.

Whether he has the stuffto bea _

true leader, won’t be known -

he

until he gets a chance to prove :,

it.

Beyer can be reached at — Tel: .

(250) 920-9300; e-mail:

hubert@coolcom.com; web: ~:

http://wvew.hubertbeyer.com/

Their home life is off limits

‘FOR SEVERAL days last
week welfare recipients occu-
pied Premier Clark’s con-
stituency office to pressure him
into increasing welfare funding.

Their aim is to receive an
extra week’s funding in a
month with five wecks. At the
moment they receive four
weeks funding per month, no
matter how many weeks a
month has. ,

Judging from news photos,
protesters were pushy. and
uncivil to Clark’s constituency
staff. That’s unfortunate.
Besides looking like goons,
they failed to enlist. the quiet
diplomacy secretaries . are
famous for.

When police executed a law-
ful court order and ousted the

protesters from Clark's office -

last Tuesday, several slumbered
in sleeping bags, furthering the
stereotype of weifare bums ~
lazy and slothful.

THIS TRAIL SUCKS !

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

While they were elbowing
their way around Clark’s office,
they came up with the brilliant
idea of picketing past his front
yard April 21 during his daugh-

ter’s birthday party.
Bad idea’ Number Two.
Why? ~~ Because _— British

Columbians didn’t elect Clark’s

‘ daughter. Or his wife. Or any of

THAT TRAIL!

ARYMORE! 11'S 1
THEN

Ew PA

TM NOTCLEARING But YOU CREATED
Don'T TRAP THERE
RK f

his other family members.

Clark’s home and family
should not be drawn into this
protest. They had no hand in
setting welfare rates. Neither
would they act to increase wel-
fare rates.

Whenever political grand-
standing slops over into the per-
sonal realm, instigators lose
public support and goodwill, At
least they lose mine.

I believe picketing al or near
a politician’s home is intended
ta create a media event so pick-
eters can see themselves on the
supper news.

My belief stems from events
during Terrace’s first-ever
teachers’ strike: in the early
1980s. After several days of
peaceful sit-ins at the school
board offices where concerned
parents sat quietly in the visi-
tors’ waiting area, not making a
noisy nuisance of ourselves or
disrupting the work of staff,

AN HISTORIC TRAIL!
AN NEW
dnl PG ¥ SAS

ND MAINTAIN
HISTOR TRALS

a es iF ¥, DESIGNATE.
|

. media interest plateaved,

That’s when one publicity ~

secker suggested we picket the .

school board chairman’s home. |

Possibilities for reviving _
media interest abounded; a .:
change of venue from the -

impersonal school board build-

ing to a residential neighbour- ..

hood. Singling out an elected

politician for harassment. A -

hew round of reporters’ ques- ~
tions, seeking reactions from all “

sides, Maybe even a court ”

injunction or risk of an arrest.

Fortunately, though we were ~

all upset by circumstances that

had precipitated the strike, and ::

about the stonewalling we had |.

to face from trustees, adminis-

trators, and even teachers, we -

had no wish to discomfit inno- «
cent families,

Picketing a private residence
was niled out pronto. And that's
the way it should be every-~
where else.

NEXT TIME WE'RE |

SCOUTING BOUNDARIES :
FORTHENEW PARK, FF, |:
KEEP YUR MOUTH
SHUT OKAY PI)

) a ; wi,