In spite of snow elsewhere, 18 inches Apr 27 in Minnesota, here May 1st daffodils fading and tulips out......

Main Items Ccl Mtg May 5th: BC Srs Games; RODGERS CRK DEVT; DOGWALKING; Nbrhd Character/Housing; May 12 Ccl Mtg 6pm; 2008 Tax Rates; Correspondence (Marine & 11th, Safety in H Bay, TILMA, Noise Bylaw)

=  Vive le Canada; from the EDITOR'S DESK (Uplift/Windfall/CBs, Rodgers Crk Upzoning, Amb Town Ctr); NATUREWATCH (Bees, Dogs, Birds); BUDGETWATCH (Muffins, Salaries); CULTUREWATCH (Opera, Theatre); UPDATES (Streamkeepers, Heritage Register, North Shore Police Services Review, Arts Facilities WG)

=  Apr 21st Ccl NOTES: Pat's Restaurant (445 - 13th); Ambleside Town Ctr's Bylaws, Comments by May 12th, first reading May 26; Collingwood (Wentworth) Zoning with PH May 28; Measuring Up Initiative

=  May 1st Ccl AGENDA / Mtg NOTES (Setting mill rate); May 5th Ccl mtg AGENDA

=  NEWSWATCH (Carter; Women/Saudi Arabia); WEBWATCH (Year of Potato, Exercise); Scots; Haiku; Quotations

=== Vive le Canada === for the ladies...... (see NEWSWATCH below too)

from Vancouver Sun Apr 24, pB1  ...  It was on April 24, 1928, that women were told by the Supreme Court of Canada that they were not "qualified persons" under the law, and, therefore, not entitled to the same rights and freedoms as men.

What is UPLIFT I hear some ask?  Difference between what land is worth at present and increased value if upzoned/increased density.  Americans more accurately call it WINDFALL.  In exchange for the higher value, for cmnty to get a share is both right and fair (called Cmnty Benefits).  Many advocate at least 75%.  The profit from what's built is entirely the devprs; residents through Ccl grant, agree to, the new zoning (done with the stroke of a pen) and deserve to be compensated.  (In UK, Windfall is P Gain Supplement.)

*** MAJOR ISSUES for Ccl end of May.  Pls be informed and give Ccl your views: a strategy for the Ambleside town centre and the devt of over 200 acres above the Upper Levels (called Rodgers Creek, zoned for 375 units but more than 736 units recommended by the WG, plus an uncertain add'l number b/c the proposal provides for an UNCOUNTED number of units as 'accessory' buildings).   An accurate calculation of the Uplift is critically important so the public share, Cmnty Benefits, can actually be given back to the residents.

***  VOLUNTEERS: a Canadian tradition, part of our heritage enriching our society.  Pleasantly surprised to receive a call from the North Shore News b/c they were doing a feature on Volunteers so answered questions.  Sure to find me at M Hall so they took a photo just before the Apr 21st ccl mtg.  How kind of them to include me.  May I hasten to say that Heritage West Van is in the Cmnty Day parade, we don't organize it (but do for Heritage Week and RoyalTea-by-the-Sea).  Here's what the reporter wrote from our conversation (Sunday's edition April 27): http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/specialsection/story.html?id=c4fea0d0-8e9a-4c46-abdb-7bf374fd7e90

BEES -- We love animal programs on TV -- and science ones too.  Many of you have heard of the serious problems with bees, so essential for pollination and our fruit, etc.  There's also a mite and/or disease so studies and measures are being taken.  One is artificial insemination of bees.  Talk about precise work!

DOGS -- Then there's "Scuba Pooch": http://www.cbc.ca/photogallery/news/1221/

BIRDS -- You've heard of the lyrebird of Australia; was just sent this clip.  In it David Attenborough describes its range mimicking sounds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHkBWPOHYIs

>  MUFFINS     Well, the goodies some volunteers get to munch on during cmte and WG mtgs is pittance compared with the time those residents, many professionals as well as cmnty-minded citizens, put in offering their expertise, advice, and time to help define topics and offer recommendations and solutions to Ccl for their consideration.  This doesn't mean we can't come up with another way of providing nummies.  Restaurants and caterers have budgets for advertising.  Why not have them in rotation (by month or so) supply the goodies free in return for the good PR and recognition by DWV -- in Tidings or wherever?

> SALARIES (otherwise known as 'Remuneration' so you don't really know the salaries)

In any case, that's how much money they got:  http://www.westvancouver.ca/upload/documents/council_agendas/2008/april/apr14/7.pdf

:-(  It's maddening not just for info to be delayed, but also to be told oh yes, we'll give you the remuneration information but you still won't know what the salaries.

:-(  It's frustrating not to know there are steps as well as increases or how it works (as you heard mbrs of Ccl complain and ask for the 'step/level' salary increases).

:-(  It's apoplectic-making to be led to believe the increase is 3% when the graph the Marley Group has sent out shows that senior management has had an increase of almost 8% in both 2006 and 2007!!!

:-(  How much bargaining power does DWV have when they haven't started or are negotiating with the unions AFTER having passed a budget with a 3% increase, openly stating that 3% is for the anticipated salary increase?

:-|  That's why I said, if stuck with another "3%", then why not grant a range, not flat, from 1% to 5% -- that provides a way to reward good performance and maybe even look at accountability.

:-(  Still no explanation of why the AVERAGE salary increase in the IT Dept was 9% -- 9%! that's three times the increase we've been told it wd be, not to mention the amounts higher than that so that 9% is an average.

===   CULTUREWATCH   ===  Opera and Theatre

> Hoping to find time to go to LA BOHEME, Vancouver Opera, on till Tues May 6.

> Missed yet another variation of Romeo and Juliet and also sorry to have missed POSTER BOYS at the QE but did get to see Ben Jonson's VOLPONE, a black comedy written in 1606, at the Jericho Arts Ctr.  The off-the-wall element is unexpected considering Ben Jonson was a satirist and a contemporary of Shakespeare.  This adaptation is set in 1898 Venice, already anachronistic, and then injected are some echoes of John Cleese's Ministry of Funny Walks and some bits that for me were Monty Pythonesque.  The couple of musical interludes are hilarious.

The talented director, John Murphy, even put in a couple of Canadian references.  Indeed, one of the actors has a line complaining that John Murphy is a megalomaniac!  (He'll be at Bard on the Beach this summer so look forward to seeing him.)  It was fun, and had a few pearls of wisdom as observations on life/society.

> :-) :-) :-) Was fortunate though to attend Antony Holland's 88th birthday on Granville Island.  What an extraordinary evening with some of Vancouver's exceptional actors performing short scenes superbly -- some touching, some dramatic, some humorous, and even a song from Jacque Brel (I think that was the longest running musical in Vancouver's history).  The great news is that TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE returns to the Arts Club on Granville Island for the month of May -- so you have another chance to see Antony Holland on stage and soon!

>>> WV  STREAMKEEPERS hv bn so active helping and transporting smolts, fish, etc.  Watch a clip of a recent project: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-5325923232770846994&hl=en-CA

>>>  Information on the HERITAGE REGISTER will be on display at the Library and at the WV Partners' office during May.  The Heritage WG's first presentation to Ccl will be made at 6pm on Monday May 12th, prior to the Youth Council wch starts at 7pm.

DWV, together with City/District of NV, are inviting N Sh residents to participate in a public survey that will assist in facilitating a review of police services across all three Ms.  In Feb 2008, the three Ms retained a consultant to lead a multi-phase review of N Sh police services, one that aims to enhance the quality of public safety.  The consulting firm of Perivale & Taylor will conduct a comprehensive background review of all N Sh police services. Phase I of the review, which is anticipated to take four months to complete, includes: 

Speaker Christopher B. Leinberger, Metropolitan Land Strategist and Developer, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC.  Panelists include Jim Cox, President, VanCity Enterprises; Blake Hudema, Vice President -

Pacific Region, Genstar Development Company.  In a series of FREE LECTURES.  See www.sfu.ca/city/PDFs/ShiftingGears_lec2_3.pdf

o  Interspiritual Blessing of the Salmon: SUNDAY April 27 on False Creek (Vanier Park) as they head to the sea. Honour the spirit of the salmon that used to live in the streams that flowed into English Bay, remember a lost salmon stream. In addition to the blessing, entertainment, crafts, food, storytelling, an environmental fair, and wooden-boat building.  For more information, contact False Creek Watershed Society's Celia Brauer at info@falsecreekwatershed.org.

~ 10am ~ Special Ccl Mtg

~ 4:30pm ~ Design Review Cmte Mtg (last one was cancelled so was this one)

~ 2pm ~ The West Vancouver Shoreline Preservation Society (WVSPS) Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at the WV Memorial Library, to commence at 2pm and conclude no later than 4:30pm.  The Directors of the Society look forward to your attendance so they may share with you the positive initiatives that the Society has participated in during 2007 and 2008 to date.  The President, Ray Richards, will share with you the Society's vision for the future, not only for the coming year but also for many years to come.

        ~ 5pm ~ NSh Substance Abuse WG

== Mon May 12th  ==  Ccl Workshop 6 to 7pm; Youth Ccl Mtg 7 to 9pm

+++  WV MEMORIAL LIBRARY +++ see www.westvanlib.org

+++ SILK PURSE (1570 Argyle) www.silkpurse.ca

not changing ht or sq ftage, public amenity 3% of construction cost, based on cost per sq ft; changing daily and if building costs $275 sq ft $61K, or if $300 wd be $66K; based on real estimate

open to ideas, if Ccl agreeable to 3%, open to public amenity art on site or whatever Ccl chooses to do

If there is no further public input,  RECOMMENDED: THAT all written and verbal submissions ... be received.

caution to owner, haven't really passed strategy for Amb; until we truly know what we want to see finally

A little awkward; from what we've heard, there are reasons we wd not approve this; wd be better for everybody if we reached that decision this evening.  That wd give applicant a chance to rethink and come back with something else in July; if simply do this, just lose a lot of time, get feeling public not keen, parking and considerations Cclr Sop has made

JC: exclusive to WV?

JF: expectation more public persona to that cmte

are you aware of any initiatives in future, police costs? joint.... increase in liabilities ..... traffic in corridor....  portion of carbon tax? so we can find ways to offset any potential areas wrt increased traffic in particular TWay and M Dr and corridor; going to impact us in future ....  wonder talked about that in MetroV or to anybody in prov govt

Mayor: will make sure.  Letter No 7

the other shoe: toward the end of 2007, and nobody around the table had heard this, we only picked it up from notes to the financial stmts, that prov govt has formed a new body called the South Coast BC Transportation Authority (SCBCTA), through an act in Dec, establishing as a successor to the GVTA wch is commonly known as TransLink.  So the Regional District is no longer the borrowing conduit for this new entity, however, under the terms of the SCBCTA, and the Ms in the Transportation Service region are jointly and severally liable for obligations arising under security issues by this new body to the MFA of BC

IOW, this body can now go out independently on its own and borrow money from wherever, in particular the MFA and the corporations, districts, within the umbrella of the GVRD are to be held jointly and severally liable.

Sop: on work you've been doing shd it not be a responsibility of Ccl to ask our MLAs to come to us to explain this ongoing web being created by prov govt, this pressure on our taxation (property tax) based on the common principle, taxation without representation

know you're strong; we have to make a stmt somewhere; we shd be out there first, saying this absolutely no representation by the public

new initiative, we have to have a public display of displeasure; have them come here and explain what is happening with prov govt budget that they're constantly putting pressure.....  we know over and above that...  we're taking some measures, if ripe old apple plucked from the tree every time we're not going to get anywhere in the future; a stranglehold on tax forevermore.  It's wrong and we have to do something about it

in 2009 Mr Laing has got a new direction from the prov govt and here they are behind closed doors making decisions on our property tax.

they can dictate to us and the public has no area to go except to us

we're elected to look after the purse strings, and we shd be making  strong statement -- that's my opening stmt, at least have MLAs come here, as elected officials, why aren't you doing something about it?

Mayor: certainly on TransLink they backed off on resid prop tax class; we were pushing hard with that, half a step forward

you're welcome at any and all of them volunteers on NSh are many; senior mbrs, mostly women, most retired, all of us; we volunteer for WGs, I belong to five diff non-profit org

driving increasing frustrating; [cars/traffic from] bottom of Capilano Rd went all the way back to Home Depot; one going east; for sake of single roundabout that congestion cd hv bn eliminated; feel strongly about that; drove recently from London to Newcastle and [fewer] stop signs than from here to Second Narrows bridge

frustration culminated yesterday at quarter past 9 in morning, to police cars, four policemen on overtime

Mayor: how cd they be on overtime?

ME: sgl time's enough

in terms of deployment of valuable resources, frankly a waste of time; had there been a roundabout there, I think traffic wd hv flowed much more successfully and wd not have to bother with ticketing

try to give, take some action on high priority as we can afford them; several underway

Mayor: had that suggestion before; there's different levels of construction.

CALL TO ORDER  10am

MS moved, Sop second

RL: budget adopted Apr 14; 3.5% tax increase reflected in this bylaw

received requisitions from other utilities, TransLink, school, etc also included in this

Sop: HOGrant status been raised? we wrote asking it be fair

RL: prov is sticking with percentage of homeowners overall that qualify, so have maintained same amount

Kerry Won: been raised to $1.050M, otherwise not other adjustments

Sop: isn't it incumbent on us to have equitable throughout the prov?

foolish to exempt a few out of this scenario; it's wrong and govt shd know that

assessments went high; we shd request and break off even

95% get a break in assessment

Mayor: if you wish to make a sep motion that's fine; break out in motion

Sop: secondly, the TransLink cost $800+ specifically to WV; do we know other two NV Ms?

RL: can find that out

Mayor: this is ours

Sop: assume right amt; have you asked -- this is taxation without representation!

Mayor: consistent with Mayors' Ccl

Sop: with this info

Mayor: other taxation authorities

RL: these other taxation authorities establish within their own org; forward on to us their approved levies

approved tax rate, approved dollar level and we convert

these numbers are straightforward, no opp to change them or challenge them in any way; we incorporate them in our bylaws

VV: note the number $1.582M pay to GVRD, have seen diff numbers

is this a comprehensive number, water, sewer, etc?

RL: sep levy for sewer, pay for water on per cu m basis

this is park functions, labour functions, I think 911 costs included; administrative effort of GVRD

utilities separate

also solid waste; also per tonnage fee; do on a NShwide basis

VV: this money we pay to GVRD, no legal opportunity to withdraw if we don't think we're getting enough for what we pay

RL: GVRD budget, pay according to theirs; governance issues larger and not within any of my reports

Sop: other regional levies, water, sewer?

RL: no

Sop: on average [increase] of $150.63 plus water and sewer

RL: water and sewer rates were passed in Dec on user pay basis based on consumption

can't speak how much up b/c not flat rate, based on consumption

not possible to pick one number for water or sewer going up b/c depends on consumption

Mayor: call question

PASSED

5.  PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS -- none  6.  ADJOURNMENT  10:11!

(a) Community Engagement Committee - Feb 13, 2008;  (b) Community Engagement Committee - Mar 5, 2008

>>>  At 6:16 PM +0100 4/21/08, Newsnight wrote re PRESIDENT CARTER:

The former US President, Jimmy Carter - who met last week with the top Hamas leaders in Syria - says Hamas is prepared to accept Israel's right to live as a neighbour in peace. He said even if Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert negotiated for the full recognition of Israel, Hamas would accept it, as long as it was approved in a Palestinian referendum. He tells us that Hamas is prepared to stick to a mutual ceasefire.  His exclusive interview is the BBC website.

>>> HOPE?  A student studying at Pearson College near Victoria; he's Palestinian and his roommate is Israeli -- starts with some stories and ends with hope. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RBeyKat7YIs

>>>  CBC Almanac Apr 25:

-  80% of the food consumed on Vancouver Island used to be produced there, today it is 3%

-  It takes more than a gallon of oil/gas to produce a gallon of ethanol

=   History of the potato  http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10759072

I think you should try the new exercise regime that is all the rage.  It will be good for your health and mental well-being:

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side. With a five-lb potato sack in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you can.  

Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.  

Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. 

After a couple of weeks, move up to ten-lb potato sacks.  

Then try 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (***I'm at this level.) 

After you feel confident at that level put a potato in each of the sacks.

Question:  Is it true Nero played the bagpipes, not the violin, while Rome burned?

   Answer:  That was July 16, 64AD, violin was invented about 1600 years later; a type of bagpipe tibia trucularius

Question:  What's the difference between a bagpipe and an onion?

   Answer:  No one cries when you cut up a bagpipe.

Scottish Short Joke:

===  HAIKU  ===   2008 April 25

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527) was born in Florence, Italy.  He was brought up in the impoverished branch of a distinguished family, and had an up-and-down career as a government functionary and diplomat.  Even though he showed some talent as a poet, musician, and playwright, his name is remembered to history primarily because of his 1532 book "The Prince", which described the methods a ruler should use to gain and maintain power.  While "Machiavellian" has become a synonym for calculated manipulation and cynical cunning, the eponym is now regarded as an inaccurate oversimplification of his core beliefs.  Many of his observations have an honoured place in political and military history:

"We are aware of the suffering of the people of Gaza but, in our eyes, the suffering of the residents of communities that border on that area and those of the Israeli army count more," said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

                -- reporting by Matthew Fisher in article in Vancouver Sun, 2008 Apr 17, p A 13

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.

                        -- Pericles (430 B.C.)

What molting time is to the birds, so adversity or misfortune is to us humans.

                        -- Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853 - 1890)

Women's total instinct for gambling has been satisfied by marriage.

                        -- Gloria Steinem, American (b. 1934)

I think it's about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we've been voting for boobs long enough.

    -- Arizona politician Claire Sargent, in the 1992 senatorial campaign. She failed to unseat John McCain.

Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.  I think I've forgotten this before.

                        -- Steven Wright, comedian (b. 1955)