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Friday, November 12, 2010
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DNV staff want parks closed after 10 pm Niamh Scallan
nscallan@nsnews.com
A spate of vandalism in District of North Vancouver parks has councillors considering a permanent nighttime lockdown on all municipal parks.
Basket work
NEWS photo Mike Wakefield
LAINEY Drake (left), Wendy Phillips and Susie Martin put the finishing touches on the 160 or so baskets for Operation Gift Basket after collecting, gathering and creating beautiful gift baskets full of toiletries. The third annual drive for the group will once again make Christmas a little brighter for women in need through the Harvest Project.
Councillors discussed the closure option during a workshop with the parks department Monday evening. During the workshop, staff proposed a bylaw amendment — as part of the draft Parks and Open Space Strategic Plan — to close all municipal parks from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. Parks manager Richard Boulton told councillors that the nighttime closure could help to curb vandalism — such as graffiti, a burned-down washroom, broken trail signs and damaged trailheads — that the parks department has responded to in recent years. “We’re probably spending around $60,000 to $80,000 every year on vandalism in our See Council page 3
Mayors condemn TransLink tax grab Benjamin Alldritt
balldritt@nsnews.com
NORTH Shore mayors are unanimous in their opposition to a pair of property tax-funded transit expansion plans, setting the stage for a confrontation with the TransLink board and the province. The TransLink board presented two different plans to the Lower Mainland’s mayors on Tuesday. The first supplemental budget funds only the Evergreen Line — a SkyTrain connection to the northeast — and the North Fraser Perimeter Road, a major arterial in Coquitlam that is an element of the province’s Gateway Program.
Property tax eyed for Evergreen Line and expanded service plan
This plan requires $44.7 million annually in new property tax revenues, costing an average household $36.36 more on their bill. Another plan, Moving Forward, delivers all of this and also a nine per cent increase in overall bus service, an extension of 15-minute SeaBus service into evenings and weekends, renovations of several stations — including Lonsdale Quay — and new bus routes south of the Fraser River. This plan needs $75.8 million annually, tacking another $61.65 onto an average household’s bill.
Due to higher property values, the numbers on North Shore tax notices may well be higher than the regional averages. The board’s report stressed that if the mayors don’t make up their minds in December, senior government contributions may be lost. “The challenge for the mayors’ council all along,” said West Vancouver Mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones, “has been that we are unequivocally opposed to further property taxation to pay for the supplementals and that is the only option that the board is presenting us with. So I don’t expect the supplemental budgets for either of the two proposals to be approved.” See Mussatto page 4