A damming indictment of the last election in North Vancouver City...Click here to view the video Kerry Morris outlines a vast array of alleged North Van City  civic wrongdoing, dirty tricks and incompetence in latest You Tube video

'Trail users' upset at park hours

The hours of operation to the almost $500,000 parking lot the cost of which was borne by the District taxpayer, are not to the liking of some of those who might use it. The park is set to close at 8 PM at this time and as in all DNV Parks the hours of closure are dawn until dusk. The mountain biker user group is expressing concern that this is too early of a closure because many riders don't start out until 7 PM during the week and users are faced with their vehicles being impounded if they're past the closure time. DNV spokesperson Stephanie Smiley says the 8 PM closure is consistent with other public parks in the District's jurisdiction.

 Should we be changing the hours of operations of all parks in the DNV?

Province newspaper story: Mountain bikers raise eyebrows to closure time....

WHAT’S IN A COMMUNITY’S NAME?

Some would call it authoritarianism whenever a political or governmental body unilaterally takes over, co-opts, perverts or steals a peoples name or identity without their permission for whatever ulterior motive, however supposedly lofty the motive.

At its core, authoritarian tendencies, which start out as simple insensitive high-handedness, favour subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom. It centers on one person or persons who don’t consider themselves accountable, whether elected or unelected. Contained within it are elements that, in more dire conditions or circumstances, can potentially lead to ever more draconian, even fascist tendencies. Look at what’s happening to Greece!

But in a small potato way, this is how these things start when bureaucrats, like those in the DNV, begin unilaterally renaming all the former communities along the Western Gateway of the District, (See its new website: www.dnv.org/programs-and-services/your-neighbourhood).

Lower Capilano, Woodcroft, Pemberton Heights and Norgate - that formerly were bona-fide, self-identified, proud communities in their own right - now have been arbitrarily renamed, without any local input. They’ve been reduced from the status of full-fledged communities to mere neighbourhoods under the pre-eminent name – Lions Gate – that formerly was the name of a separate community whose identity now has been erased and isn’t even named as one of the neighbourhoods of the Western Gateway. But while one community’s identity has been erased, another phantom community – Pemberton – has been magically created. Where is it? Is it the light industrial area of Pemberton? The new C-9 zoned Marine Drive Corridor for future high-rise dwellers?

The DNV’s bureaucrats speak of the collective revitalization and vibrancy of these new neighbourhoods in the distant future. God Help Us All!

Such insolence! Such effrontery! It’s astonishing! Where will it end?

Jerome Irwin, 1398 Hope Road, Community of Lower Capilano, B.C. V7P 1W7

Politicians at odds

Seems a couple of our local politicians the Honourable DNV Mayor Richard Walton and  BC MLA Jane Thornthwaite respectively have a difference of views on how much money has been spent in recent years on the local Highway. According to a front page story in reference to that in the July 5th North Shore News, Walton says, " has not had virtually a nickel put into it", but Thornthwaite in a letter to the North Shore News on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 claims that that she has pushed for improvements and that the total contribution ffom the Province on the local highway is $56.7 million. That's quite a disparity from "not virtually a nickel".  One would expect a rebuttal letter from Mayor Walton in the days ahead.