BRITISH COLUMBIA...

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Profit the motive
in B.C. Place plan

A real battle is shaping up
between the city and the pro-
vince over how B.C. Place, that
227-acre area on the north shore

of B.C. Place coincide, by and
large, with those of the city. But
I have two further objections
about how the development is to

of False Creek that premier take place.
Bennett bought from the CPR, One is that the housing will be
is to be developed. very high priced because there

The city believes it should bea
livable area available to the peo-
ple of average incomes; the pro-
vince wants to make it into a lux-
ury executive city that will “earn
a good profit’’ for the govern-
ment to be spent elsewhere in the
province.

are too many middle men mak-
ing a profit on it. The province
owns the land now. It could go
into the contracting business
itself and cut out the profit nor-
mally made by contractors. Or it
could hire contractors to build
the housing. But it is doing

Harry

Rankin

cg

neither. It will lease the land to
private developers who natural-
ly expect to make a mint on it.
Then the developers will hire
contractors. So by the time the
apartments and townhouses are
ready for renting, they will be
forced to bear the additional
cost of the profits made not only
by contractors but also by the
private developers.

The other objection I have is
that the government plans to use
the profits made from B.C.
Place to pay for the cost of the
stadium. The stadium will be us-
ed mainly by private sports and
other promoters. Why should it
be subsidized from public
funds? Why can’t these pro-
moters be charged rental fees
which, over a period of years,
will pay for both the operating
and construction costs?

Actually I have one further
objection. No real plans’ have
yet been drawn up by the pro-
vince to take care of the enor-
mous amount of traffic that will
be generated by the stadium and
the whole high-density develop-
ment of B.C. Place. This traffic
problem will be nothing less
than a nightmare.

The provincial government
wants a high density develop-
ment, three times that of Van-
couver’s west end, including
12,000 apartments (some 50
storeys high) as well as
townhouses. The emphasis
would be on high priced
bachelor and single family
apartments, with only token
numbers for -non-profit and
one-third for families with
children. .

The city wants the housing
development limited to 7-10,000
units with one-third non-profit
and one-third for families with
children.

The provincial government
wants to build 715,000 square
metres of office space (which is
equal to 40 per cent of the whole
commercial space we have in the
downtown area today). The city
says that 278,800 square metres
would be ample.

The provincial government
wants to build an expensive $20
million artificial lake; the city
wants three neighbourhood
parks.

And so it goes. There’s no
meeting of minds here.

My views on the development

Vancouver-area tenants and
mobile home owners will carry
their message to the provincial
government demanding a full rent
controls program and reduced pro-
perty taxes in a demonstration in
Victoria Mar. 24.

A joint effort of the Greater
Vancouver Renters Association
and the Fraser Valley division of
the B.C. Federation of Mobile
Home Owners, the demonstration
has the support of the Vancouver
and New Westminster Labor
Councils and the B.C. Federation
of Labor.

The federation has also sent an
appeal to local trade unions asking
their support ‘‘to make this a

Victoria rent rally set

memorable occasion for the pro-
vincial government.”’

In acircular, the GVRA pointed
out that the current rents controls
program has almost expired and is
rendered even more ineffective due
to ‘the huge loopholes in the
Residential Tenancy Act.’’ ‘‘Rent
controls came about in the first
place because of the work of an ac-
tive tenant movement. Only an ac-
tive tenant movement can bring
them back,”’ it said.

The mobile home owners
federation, which lists a member-
ship of ‘‘415 mobile home parks in
41 towns across B.C., and 35 parks
in the Fraser Valley,’’ noted many

mobile home owners are seniors on |
fixed income who face a ‘‘double’
jeopardy because they are both)
property owners and tenants.” The |
Owners must pay increased taxes:
and applied directly on their homes |
and pay for the park owners’ taxes
and other expenses through in-}
creased land rents, federation of-
ficials said. |

both the Surrey Drive Inn at 8200
King George: Highway, and].
Oakridge Shopping Centre at 41st |
and Cambie in Vancouver, at 7:30 |
a.m. For further information the
organizers list these numbers:
835-5685, 298-3768. q

Pare te bay NX ae |

Buses are scheduled to leave |

Trustees get teacher praise
in ignoring restraint order

The B.C. Teachers Federation
has praised the B.C. School Trust-
ees Association for its ‘‘courag-
eous”’ stand in urging local school
boards to ignore a directive that
they revise their budgets in line with
the provincial government’s spend-
ing restraints program.

BCSTA president Gary Begin
said Mar. 8 the government’s order
that local school boards submit
pared budgets by a Mar. 31 dead-
line was “‘unlawful’’ since no legis-
lation has been passed.

“We're gratified to find the
trustees aligned with us on this cru-
cial issue,’’. said BCTF president
Larry Kuehn in a release the same
day. The teachers’ federation has
said it will work with local school
trustees in a unified effort to op-
pose the cuts most boards face
under the controls program.

Begin said the directive violates
the budget bylaws of the province’s
75 school districts since it lacks the
backing of legislation. And in a re-
cent meeting with education min-
ister Brian Smith he charged that
the restraint program interfered
with local communities’ right to de-
termine their educational require-
ments.

The government’s directive or-
ders school boards to submit revis-

ed versions of their already approv-
ed 1982 budgets to reflect the re-
straint program’s 12 percent ceiling
on spending increases effective
Sept. 30. School trustees, warning
of ‘‘the huge social and economic
costs the program will inflict,” say
the absence of ‘‘clear guidelines”’
from the education ministry makes
it impossible to redraft their bud-
gets.

This lack of clarity was the sub-
ject of Begin’s meeting with educa-
tion minister Smith. In it Begin ask-
ed Smith to exclude from the re-
straint program items such as
teachers’ regular salary increments,
local ‘‘special needs’’ programs
and past budgets’ surpluses or defi-
cits. Smith replied only that he
would ‘‘consider’’ Begin’s requests
and possibly extend the submission
deadline to Apr. 8.

Begin, who has said that the real
victims of the restraints will be
B.C.’s children, said many school
boards had already decided to ig-
nore the ministry’s directive.

The majority of trustees on the —

Vancouver School Board are on
recordas ‘officially opposed to the
restraint program or any action
which means potential cuts to the
budget,’”’ school board informa-

_ sais a SN Sa in a mh tn Re,
he existence on Vancouver city council of politicians with redneck
attitudes is nothing terribly new (remember former mayor Tom
Campbell?) but sometimes it is a little startling to see just how gross
some can be. And we did shake our heads a bit when we saw a report in
arecent Ubyssey of the address to a meeting of students by Vancouver
alderman Nathan Divinsky.
In his wi ing tirade, Divinsky pointed particularly to the
welfare system. ‘‘It’s never been better than right here right now,”’ he
| said. “Kings never lived as good as people on welfare in Vancouver.”’

“As for the ‘‘able-bodied’’ on welfare, they “‘should sweep the
streets’’ since they “‘have to learn to look after themselves.”’

Especially appalling were his views on women. He criticized preg-
nant single women who don’t give their babies up for adoption and
commented: ‘‘Nobody asked them to uncross their legs.’

And women who leave their husbands and seek assistance from
welfare shouldn’t get it, he said. ‘‘They should never have left their
husbands in the first place.”’

Fortunately, Divinsky, who is also a mathematics professor at UBC,
probably gets more people to his lectures. There were only about 20
people at the meeting which was apparently arranged by the Tories.
According to the Ubyssey, they were mainly male and ‘‘applauded and
cheered’? when he made his comments about women. :

found political campaigning “‘humiliating’’ and therefore didn’t do
any in the last election. “‘But I barely got elected,”” he noted.

This time, if he runs, we trust the electorate will treat him with the
contempt he deserves.

* * * * *

T hose who have read and admired Margaret Randall’s many books,
including the recent accountof revolutionary women in Nicaragua,
Sandino’s Daughters, will probably be interested in hearing the well-
known author when she appears in Vancouver Mar. 15.

Randall, who now lives in Nicaragua where she works with the

There was, however, one interesting comment: Divinsky said that he _

Women’s Association, will be speaking on recent developments in
Cuba, Nicaragua and Central America and will also be reading from
Sandino’s Daughters as well as from her new book, a collection of
poetry by Cuban women. The meeting is at the Legion Hall at 6th and
Commercial in Vancouver at 8 p.m. There is a $3 donation to cover
costs, $1 for unemployed.
* * * *
A s readers will have noticed, we reported in our issue last week that
North Vancouver District Council had agreed to put the referen-
dum on disarmament to the electorate in the November elections and
that Vancouver council was considering the issue. Now we have a
report from the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle stating that the two
councils itcovers, Ladysmith and North Cowichan, have also voted to
put the question to a referendum.
At the same time,however, North Vancouver city council turned it
down. Asaresult, some of those in North Vancouver will have the right

to vote on the issue while others will not.
* cd * * *

W e’re not in the habit of promoting businesses but in this case, there
a distinct benefit to Tribune readers and, in any event, the pro-
prietor is someone who has assisted the paper many times, particularly
during the annual press drive banquet.

_. Just last month, Gus Falias opened his Samos Restaurant on Den-
man Street in Vancouver. And apart from good Greek and Italian
food, Tribune readers can get a 50 percent discount on meals until the
end of March. It’s only once per customer, of course, but all you have
to do is take a Tribune with you. The address and times are on the
display ad on page 4.

OS te eae ee Peg ae eg

tion officer Chuck Gosby said inal
interview. 4
Gosby said the board will hold@
public meeting at Hudson schoo!
on Mar. 15 at 7 p.m. in response t?
the ‘“‘terrific groundswell’ from!
parents and others ‘‘to raise pal
ticular hell’? about the restraint
program. a
Restraints would “thamper ov!
ability to provide special assistance}
to the large numbers of childre?
who need it, and would have a ma"
jor impact on areas such as physical
education, French immersion pro
grams, the teaching of English as#
second language, library and cout
selling services and many others,”
said BCTF president Kuehn.

Kuehn congratulated the
BCSTA for “‘its courageous refusd
to knuckle under to unwarranted
and unauthorized demands by thé
government for cuts in this year’s
school budgets.” ‘ay

“Trustees, like teachers, knoW

how little fat there is in this year’s
budgets. They know that childret
will suffer if they are eventually
forced to make these cuts. Wé
should all encourage the trustees 0
continue to fight against such 4
ham fisted approach to cost col
trols,’’ said Kuehn in his release.

The BCTF president said his ol”
ganization is working on ‘‘a more
realistic alternative’? to premiel
Bennett’s controls. ¥

—

Correction

The article headed ‘‘Co-op | )
housing cut ‘political,’ ”’ in the |
Feb. 26 edition wrongly al-|
tributed statements, which criti- |
cized the cuts in federal funding,
to Bob Henry, Interior repre-
sentative for Central Mortgage
and Housing, and to Carol Hut-
chinson, chairperson of the Sal-
mon Arm and District Co-oper-
ative Housing Association.

In fact, neither Henry not
Hutchinson made_ thé
statements attributed to them.

The report was sent in by 4
volunteer correspondent
the Tribune erred in not check
ing the veracity of the remarks
with the sources quoted.

The Tribune sincerely
apologizes for any embarrass”
ment which the error may hav
caused.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 12, 1982—Page 2

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