WV Outlook September 1, 2011

GOLDSMITH-JONES GONETwo-term mayor announces she won’t be seeking re-election

>>PAGE 3

A RARE BUSINESSNorth Shore’s RX Autoworks specializes in restoring 1930s European vintage cars

>>PAGE 6>>>> INSIDE

N O R T H S H O R E

WeeklyReal Estate

STARTS ON PAGE 17

WEST VANCOUVER

T H U R S D AY S E P T E M B E R 1 2 0 1 1 W W W. N O RT H S H O R E O U T L O O K . C O M24

pagesWatch for breaking news at:

SWIMSink &

The planned sinking of a former navy vessel in Howe Sound continues to make waves

>> PAGES 10-11

2 Thursday, September 1, 2011 www.northshoreoutlook.com

141 West 14th Street, North Vancouver BC V7M 1H9 | Tel: 604.985.7761 | Fax: 604.985.9417 | [email protected]

CityView Find the City on Facebook | www.cnv.org/Facebook

Be Bear Aware This Summer To you, garbage stinks but to a bear it means dinner! During the summer months, bears often move into neighbourhoods in search of food. Here are some simple, but effective steps to help reduce interactions with bears: - Store your garbage in a secure building - Freeze your smelly garbage (like chicken and fish) - Place garbage cans at the curb only on the morning of your pick-up day - Remove bird feeders between April and November - Keep your barbeque clean - Feed pets indoors - Pick fruit as it ripens - Compost responsibly - Learn more at www.cnv.org. First Annual MidLo Block Party Saturday, September 10 from 11am - 2pm at Civic Plaza, 14th Street & Lonsdale Mid-Lonsdale businesses are hosting a fun community event for everyone that lives and works in the area. This is a great opportunity to meet your neighbours. Bring your friends and family! Visit www.midlo.webs.com for more information and participation details.

Find us on Facebook www.cnv.org/Facebook

Lower Lonsdale Fall Festival Sunday, September 18 from 11am - 4pmat the Shipyards (foot of Lonsdale) The Lower Lonsdale Business Association is hosting the 7th Annual Lower Lonsdale Fall Festival. Join friends and neighbours at this unique community celebration for a day of non-stop family fun! The event features a wide variety of award-winning musical guests, cooking and garden demonstrations, dance performances, free train rides through the pumpkin patch, face painting, balloon creations, plus lots of displays and activities from local merchants. Take advantage of the free bike valet and leave the car at home.

Back this year is the popular pie baking contest and prizes for home grown produce. So bring down that perfect zucchini and show off your favourite pumpkin pie recipe. Details at www.cnv.org.

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‘I’m never not going to be passionate about West Vancouver’: Goldsmith-Jones

Popular two-term mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones

decides not to seek re-election

MARIA SPITALE-LEISK C O N T R I B U T O R

She gave West Vancouver a voice in regional and provincial politics, helped restore the community’s confidence

in the police department and laid down the groundwork for an Ambleside facelift. And now Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones says it’s time to pass on the torch.

On Monday Goldsmith-Jones confirmed to The Outlook that she would not be seeking re-election in West Vancouver in November’s municipal election.

“I think two terms suits West Vancouver,” she said. “I believe in healthy turnover. I think that you build as you include more people. It’s never about just one person.”

After taking the summer to contemplate her next career move, Goldsmith-Jones is now looking at opportunities in the private sector.

“Those are more private plans; I’m moving out of public life for awhile,” she said. And despite public speculation, her foray into provincial politics isn’t happening — for now, at least.

Three crucial months still remain in Goldsmith-Jones’ term as mayor. It’s an opportunity for her to build on the legacy that she is leaving behind.

AmblesideNow, a revitalization project slated for the beachside community near Marine Drive, is the reason Goldsmith-Jones ran for mayor in 2006.

“You can just see, I think, the optimism and the belief that with change [Ambleside] is going to be better, it’s going to be nicer, it’s going to be contemporary but it’s going to still be based on the same values of West Vancouver,” said Goldsmith-Jones.

While still in the conceptual stage, she would like to be able to make a decision or two in the fall on AmblesideNow, but doesn’t feel pressure to fast-track any redevelopment.

The project will need to be sustained by many future councils, she says.

The outgoing mayor will also provide some focus to the arts facilities in West Vancouver, which she says are in dire need, and try to establish the scope of the new public safety building that will house the police and fire departments.

Reflecting on the past six years is bitter-sweet for Goldsmith-Jones.

She has secured seats on Metro Vancouver’s waste, housing and mayors’ committees, heads the governance committee for the EComm board and is vice-chair of the TransLink may-ors’ council.

“And I’ve really tried to show that West Vancouver steps up and contributes region-ally and provincially,” said Goldsmith-Jones. “And I sure hope whoever the next mayor is maintains those relationships that I have worked really hard to build.”

West Vancouver won’t have seen the last of Goldsmith-Jones come November, though. She will look at serving on some boards and prom-ises to continue engaging citizens to discuss the community’s future.

“I’m never going to not to be passionate about West Vancouver,” she says.

[email protected]/nsoutlook

Pamela Goldsmith-Jones outside the Ferry Building Gallery. Peter Taylor photo

www.northshoreoutlook.com Thursday, September 1, 2011 3

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HST... and the ShoreN. Shore views on HST prove extinguished tax as divisive as when implemented

FINAL SCENE - North Shore Studios president Peter Leitch, an outspoken supporter of the HST, says he hopes the government can make the PST ‘conducive to creating jobs in B.C.’ Rob Newell photo

BRUCE WALKINSHAWC O N T R I B U T O R

As the provincial government begins a roughly 18-month process to return B.C. to a two-sales-tax regime, local reactions

to the Harmonized Sales Tax’s 54.73-per-cent rejection by voters in last month’s mail-in refer-endum have been as diverse and divisive as the debate regarding the levy was leading up to the vote.

For instance, North Shore Studios president and HST advocate Peter Leitch said he is disap-pointed the province will be reverting to the pro-vincial sales tax and (federal) goods and services tax systems.

“The PST was brought in in the 1940s. Since then there is a whole bunch of changes that hap-pened to it to try and make it more fair and to work better for the province but it ended up being a fairly complex piece of legislation,” said Leitch.

One consequence, he said, was that many goods in B.C. carrying a “fair amount” of hidden PST in their prices.

Leitch said he preferred the HST because as a value-added tax businesses are able to remove the hidden taxes from their costs. The HST sys-tem also removes the need for two sets of sales-tax accounting.

“Hopefully we can get together and talk about ways to improve the PST so it is a bit more conducive to creating jobs in B.C.,” said Leitch, whose studios employ thousands working on TV shows and movies. “I think with the state of the world economy, we want to be as competitive as possible and continue to have a strong economy so that we can support the increasing costs of our healthcare and education systems.

“We just want to make sure we have a consis-tent and competitive tax policy here so that we can continue to attract the type of business that has been so good for the province.”

Like most of his colleagues in the provincial wing of the New Democratic Party, newly-mint-ed North Vancouver-Lonsdale NDP candidate Craig Keating said he believes B.C. was better off under the PST-GST regime.

The referendum’s results, he said, demonstrate that the BC Liberals were out of line with voters when they announced that they were going to adopt the HST system so soon after the last pro-vincial election without consulting the public.

“I think the government of B.C. has reaped what it has sown,” said Keating. “It brought the tax in in a highly deceptive and undemocratic way without public discussion and without a high degree of honesty, and I think the people of

B.C. have pretty conclusively spoken that that is not how tax policy should be made in this prov-ince.

“I am pleased to the extent that we are going to now have the opportunity to have a public discussion, which has not gone on at any time in the last 10 years, about fair and effective taxation in our province.”

With the B.C. government now owing the feds $1.6 billion in transition money — not to mention the costs of re-establishing a sales tax admin-istration and audit department — Keating said Finance Minister Kevin Falcon has a difficult job ahead of him. However, he said, the federal gov-ernment should be contributing to the solution.

“When the federal government was paying us the $1.6 billion nobody lit their hair on fire and said, ‘Oh my God, the federal government has to give up $1.6 billion,” said Keating.

“I think it is only fair that the province is going to have to figure out a way to pay that back (but) I really think the federal government, as Jack Layton said in the last campaign, is complicit in this whole HST debacle in B.C. and they should probably be forgiving it.”

Locally, the majority of voters in all three rid-ings produced results out of step with all but 21 other ridings in the province. West Vancouver-Capilano voters supported the HST by 64.52 per cent while North Vancouver-Seymour had 60.59 per cent of its voters support the tax. North Vancouver-Lonsdale saw a closer vote with only 51.84 per cent of voters casting ballots not to extinguish the HST.

The result is, of course, little consolation to the latter’s MLA, BC Liberal Cabinet Minster Naomi Yamamoto, who has been a proponent of switch-ing to a HST system long before her own party changed its policy towards the idea.

“I have actually supported it since I started my small business over 20 years ago and I remember lobbying Paul Martin, as Minister of Finance at the time, saying that a harmonized sales tax would be much more efficient,” said Yamamoto. “So, I am really disappointed for British Columbians but at the end of the day British Columbians have spoken overwhelmingly to eliminate the tax.”

Yamamoto said she was surprised that the vote was not closer, conceding that the manner in which the Liberals rolled out the HST contrib-uted to its early 80 percent disapproval polling numbers, an unpopularity it never surmounted.

“We didn’t do it well but I can tell you hon-estly that it wasn’t something that we change our minds about,” she said.

continued, PAGE 15


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CHAMBER MEMBERSINCE 2007

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Gear up for Fall and Join the West Vancouver Chamber of CommerceLet us help you grow your business!

The West Vancouver Chamber of Com-merce is an organization dedicated to promoting, enhancing and facilitating business in our community and the bet-terment of the West Vancouver Com-munity at large.

For less than $19.00 a month members receive:• On-going networking and educational opportunities with topical keynote speakers• Weekly networking breakfast meetings, free for members• Sold out Christmas and President Dinner Gala’s• West Vancouver Business of Excellence Awards• Weekly e-updates. Sent to over 1000 individuals, consisting of member profiles and time sensitive information• Member Benefi t discount programs on merchant services, insurance, gas and more• Member to Member (M2M) discounts, offering signifi cant savings on a wide variety of services and products• A referral service, directing enquiries to member businesses and

encouraging consumers to shop, eat and play in West Vancouver• Publicizing, promoting and counselling the business community• Advocating on behalf of our members to various levels of Government• Monitoring local and provincial government issues of importance to our membership • Promoting of West Vancouver by sponsoring and supporting community events • Tourism Information offi ce for West Vancouver• Sponsorship opportunities• Social Media contests and more…

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Park Royal Block Party in the VillageThursday, September 8th – 4:00pm to 7:00pmThis fun annual event is hosted by The Village at Park Royal in partnership with the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. It is free for everyone to attend the Chamber Business Fair, Live Music, Entertainment, Kids’ Corner, Bike Parade, Sidewalk Sale and Fashion Show starring Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones and other community members. If you would like to take part in the Chamber Business Fair, tables are available for purchase:Member - 200.00Non-member - 250.00Non-profi t - 100.00

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Our MIssion:The West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to promoting, enhancing and facilitating business in our community.

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West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce AGMTuesday, September 13th – 5:00pmLocation: West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Drive, West VancouverElizabeth Musto Room

Vintage restoration autoshop driven by passion

North Shore’s RX Autoworks has won several accolades for

its work on rare cars


Rob Fram’s parents, a doctor and a nurse, hoped he’d pursue a career in medicine. But instead he followed his real passion:

cars. “I love the sound of them; the feel of them; using

them; driving them; working on them,” he will tell you. “I love everything about them.”

It is a true blessing to be able to work at a job that’s no work at all. And so the 43-year-old con-siders himself very fortunate to not only be work-ing in the industry, but to be working at a world-class automotive shop — one of only a handful like it in the country — restoring some of the most rare, valuable and luxurious cars in the world.

Specializing in 1930s European vintage cars, North Vancouver’s RX Autoworks has won several awards at competitions throughout the years for some of the cars Fram — along with his colleagues Ian Davey, Mike Taylor and Adriano Scaldeferian — has worked on.

“We do pretty much everything in-house, except for the chrome and some machine work,” explained Fram. “We do all the woodwork, metalwork, paint, prep, mechanical and assembly — everything.”

Each member of the RX Autoworks is respon-sible for a different aspect of the car but in the end, car restoration takes team work.

“We help each other with everything and critique each other as well,” he said. “It isn’t personal, of course. It is just all about finding the best way to do things and step up our game every time we do a new car.”

A member of the RX Autoworks’ team since 1997, Fram said they built up their clientele base of about roughly 30 Canadian and American custom-ers after a local customer took a chance on them to fix up his mid-century Jaguar XK120.

“It wasn’t a crazy big job. It was just a guy out of the blue who thought we had potential,” he said. “We produced a car that he was absolutely thrilled with and it generated a lot of work from there by word-of-mouth.”

Today, with each vehicle receiving roughly 3,000 to 5,000 hours of attention over a two- or three- year process, the crew is booked up well into late 2012. Their services do not come cheap.

“It depends on how badly off the vehicle is to start with, but most job are typically in the $300,000 to $400,000 range,” he said, explaining that most of the cars they work on are valued at about $1 million, with some worth much more. “We are pretty high up the food chain.”

The single biggest jobs they have ever done also turned out to be not only their most celebrated but, more importantly, a game-changer in the way in which they work.

The project began when a Florida collector with over 100 cars had his curator send them a vehicle with no discussion about how much it would cost

or how long it would take.“It was a 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900,” said Fram.

“The only thing he wanted was for it to be as accu-rate as possible. He said, ‘Don’t make it shiny; make it right. If right is shiny then great. But if not, just make it like it would have been built in 1937 or 1938.’”

After carefully disassembling the car, trying all the while to determine what was an original or cor-rect piece and what was not, the crew began an intensely detailed investigation into the history of the vehicle’s make and model.

“We were lucky to find an unrestored car in Kentucky that had not been messed around with too much and flew down there to take detailed notes on it,” he said. “We also had access to (the Alfa AC 2900’s) sister car locally. So, we had that a car as a reference for some of the parts that were incorrect due to past restorations. Part of it too was just using an artistic eye and intelligently looking at how it would have been made and trying to recre-ate that.

“Then it was just a matter of breaking it down into subcategories and building it back up again.”

The vehicle ended up placing runner-up to Best in Show at the world-renowned 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d’Eleganc, winning six awards in total.

“That car was a real eye-opener in terms of how to restore a car properly,” Fram said. “Since then we have really shifted in how we do things. Now, we restore cars to how they would have been built instead of what we think looks best.

“It is a piece of history so treat it like one.”Pebble Beach judge and Alfa Romeo world-

authority Nigel Matthews said RX Autoworks prominence comes not only from their passion for detail but also because, by doing almost everything in-house, they are able to keep the different aspects of a cars’ restoration highly consistent.

“Everybody is working in harmony,” Matthews said. “They are also mostly self-taught. They make a lot of their own equipment and they do all the time honoured skills of forming, bending and shap-ing sheet metal.

“They are very well-known in the collector car community.”

Matthews will once again be judging some of their work at the Vancouver Luxury + Supercar Weekend — Sept. 9-12 at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver — although Fram said it has not yet been finalized which cars will be there. According to Matthews, event organizers are hop-ing to turn the weekend into an annual world-class affair, complete with a car contest, similar to Pebble Beach.

For Fram, the shows are fun and winning awards at them is great, but the best part of his job remains working in the shop with his friends and col-leagues.

“We are all car guys obviously,” he said. “We would do it, even if we weren’t getting paid for it. This is what we are into, so it is easy to keep chal-lenging yourself and find ways to make it better. I feel just incredibly lucky.”


Rob Fram in the engine compartment of a 1937 Lagona LG45 Rapide. Peter Taylor photo


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Staying in tuneRoy Forbes embarks on his 40th year in music with two shows at

Deep Cove Shaw Theatre

Roy Forbes didn’t reach the Charlie Patton T-shirt-wearing stage of his life right away. Called the “Father of the Delta Blues,” Patton

was a bit of a mysterious figure to most. Stories of his wild juke-joint performances dot

southern blues literature and collections of his raspy voiced recordings have been packaged over the years, but little is known about the man.

Now having spent 40 years in the music busi-ness, North Vancouver’s Roy Forbes is well into his Patton period, T-shirt and all. But when reflecting on his career, Forbes, like many artists of his generation, doesn’t start with the legendary Mississippi bluesman. He gets there eventually, but the journey starts with the lads from Liverpool.

“I wasn’t listening to Charlie Patton at 14,” says Forbes, with a laugh.

“My parents were into country music, the gold old stuff like Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb. There was a lot of that growing up. My older sisters listened to Elvis. The first song of his I remember hearing was Blue Suede Shoes. But then the Beatles came along and took the top of my head off.”

In 1967, Forbes got his first guitar; learnt a few chords; hurt a few fingers; and eventually got a band together. They started playing dances around Dawson Creek, Forbes’ hometown, and quickly started writing songs. He was always drawn to composing his own material, Forbes adds, and when you’re playing four- hour-long dances, a healthy mix of originals and cov-ers is a necessity.

In January 1971, then a Grade 12 student, Forbes headed south to Vancouver for a couple days. He had been a Neil Young fan for sometime by that point — the Beatles had opened the door to the likes of Dylan, the Stones and Young to Forbes — but after seeing him perform at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, nothing would ever be the same again.

How could one man with one guitar and a har-monica rack, sitting down nonetheless, hold an audi-ence so captive?

“It was earthshaking for me. A defining moment,” says Forbes.

“I realized you could hold a stage on your own and tell stories. I didn’t realize Neil was in a back brace for those shows and that’s why he sat down. But I started sitting down too.”

Not long after Forbes returned to Dawson Creek, a red-hot band of session players, called Spring, blew into town and asked Forbes if he would open for them. He did. The next day, Spring picked Forbes up from school and took him to Fort St. John where he opened that night’s show.

After relocating to Vancouver shortly after school wrapped up, Forbes found himself about to step on stage and sing at the Queen E, not 10 months since he breath-lessly watched Neil Young per-form there. And the big-time gigs

didn’t stop. Tours with John Lee Hooker and open-ing for the likes of Supertramp, Santana and the Earl Scruggs Review soon followed.

He then started playing the folk circuit in Western Canada, to rave reviews, and recorded albums for tiny labels such as Casino Records before heading to Los Angeles to do the big-production thing. He quickly realized he didn’t fit the over-the-top LA scene and headed back to Vancouver.

He worked with a band again upon his return, after remembering his love of rock ’n’ roll at a Bruce Springsteen show. He burnt out, however, soon there-after and took some time for himself.

By the summer of 1980, Forbes emerged once again as a solo act and rejoined the folk festivals for the bet-ter part of the next two decades. But when his daughter Suzannah was born in 1989, things changed yet again.

“By that time I had been doing it for nearly 20 years,” he says. “I didn’t make a conscious decision to slow down but I didn’t want to miss out on her.”

To fill the professional hours, he began to produce other artists, write music for documentaries and cut a few tunes for Sesame Street. Ever the record col-lector, Forbes has also hosted radio shows inspired by his collection of 45s, chock full of those old Mississippi greats a 14-year-old Forbes wasn’t quite ready for, on CBC and CKUN in Calgary.

There’s no real magic to the radio thing, he says, he just does it and “people like it.” But after successfully navigating a career as long as his, requisite highs and lows notwithstanding, Forbes has learnt a thing or two about what people like. And he has also gained some insight about the thing he’s loved all his life — music.

“It’s what I wanted to do since I was a kid and I’m still doing it,” he says, smiling.

“I’ve never had another job. That’s a lot of trench time. But you have to be in it for the long haul. If you keep that

in mind, you’ll be okay.”

Roy Forbes will be celebrat-ing his career with two concerts on Sept. 8 & 9 at the Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. Showtime is 8 p.m., tickets are $30. For more information on the shows visit www.firstimpressionsthe-atre.com.

[email protected]

Sean Kolenko

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Musician Roy ForbesPeter Taylor photo


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Editor, There may be a big tax bill

coming to all homes on the North Shore. As you may know, the Lions Gate Waste Water Treatment plant, which currently processes liquid waste is targeted to be replaced by 2020. The business as usual proposal is to replace it with a treatment plant that could cost each taxpaying household on the North Shore

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The Write Stuff.The Outlook encourages reader participation in your community

newspaper. You must include your full name and a daytime

phone number (for verification only). The editor reserves the

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self-regulatory body governing the province’s newspaper industry. The

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complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact

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— OPINION —

— LETTER OF THE WEEK—

What’s in a name?Port Metro Vancouver drops

‘improvement’ from the Low Level Road Project title, but is it enough?

Until it’s either rejected or endorsed by city council this spring, the much-maligned, oft-troubled “Low Level Road

Improvement Project” will officially be referred to as the “Low Level Road Project” by Port Metro Vancouver staff.

The development’s new, sleek name can be attributed to a series of less-than-well-attended public input sessions, of which I attended two, at the Café for Contemporary Art last month.

Hosted by PMV, the meetings were intended to be a forum in which residents could discuss their concerns regarding the large-scale job — which includes raising the road and constructing two overpasses at St. Andrew’s Avenue and the Neptune / Cargill terminals — and how the port is best to com-municate the project’s design progress before it heads back to council chambers next year.

On Aug. 25, PMV released an “informal feedback sessions summary report” of the meetings, detailing discussions of a potential online forum, an open-once-a-week Low Road office and a liaison group comprised of residents and city and PMV staff.

On the final page of the nine-page document, the port acknowledges the name change saying “although Port Metro Vancouver believes the new road will be a significant improvement for the Port and the community, we have dropped the word ‘improvement’ and have changed the name of the project to the Low Level Road Project.”

PMV should be applauded for the moniker switch, as the “improvement” label never really seemed to be an accurate description of this proj-ect. Sure, the terminals will get a dedicated over-

pass, eliminating those long, potentially dangerous rail crossings for staff heading in and out of the area. On July 18, the same night council approved a $1-million investment in a slope stabilization report to be completed by PMV, a semi-trailer crossing the tracks on the Low Level Road was struck by a train. Without question, eliminating another such situation would be a positive move.

But the interest in the improvement of the Low Level Road isn’t solely based on commuter safety. Neptune Terminals is coughing up the $41.6 mil-lion, nearly half the redesign’s total price tag, for the dedicated overpass and the city approved only that portion of the job earlier this summer.

PMV wants the entire project to get the green light because that will mean the instillation of two new train lines beneath the raised road. The new

tracks will, logically, allow more products to be moved out of the port and productiv-ity and profits will rise. Last year, with the current rail configuration, PMV enjoyed a record-setting year for con-tainer traffic, with 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units passing through its gates. That represents a 17 per cent

increase from 2009. So, maybe the “Low Level Road Project” should

really be called the “Port Expansion Project That Requires a Redesign of The Low Level Road.” Call it what it is. It may not, of course, mean greater support from residents. Some stand to suffer sig-nificant changes to their neighbourhood and their property values. That will remain a challenge to accept for all on that side of the equation.

But, at the very least, the discourse that will fol-low will remain properly framed. And that can take community engagement a long way — and it should have been done from day one.

[email protected] twitter.com/seankolenko

[email protected]

Sean Kolenko

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As we say goodbye to August, it’s time for a quick look back at some events that helped make the month memorable. First, North Vancouver’s Regency Auto Group

/ Regency Infiniti held the F1 Vancouver Reign event. Featuring the Red Bull F1 show car, and a selection of other rare Nissan / Infiniti built vehicles, the night included music and munchies all in support of Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Next, a Vancouver icon reopened its doors with a splashy and stylish reception. The new Rosewood Hotel Georgia is showing off its stripes and among its new additions is a 4th floor rooftop courtyard ultra lounge called “Reflections.”Complete with lounge chairs, couches and water fountain river features built right into the floor, the

space is bound to attract a lot of attention from the after work cocktail crowd. Save me a seat! And lastly, Vancouver rock-n-roll legend Red Robinson, after an abrupt format change by Fun FM radio, announced this week that he is back on the airwaves again, this time with a four-hour Sunday segment on AM650 Radio.

B He’s baaack! At 74, Vancouver’s Red Robinson is still going strong. Seen here at an August concert with 80s rock star Pat Benatar and hubby Neil Giraldo, Robinson is taking over the Sunday slot on AM650 Radio. C Now with the LA Kings, former Canucks star Willie Mitchell and wife Megan take in the opening reception at Hotel Georgia’s Reflections lounge. D Socialite Carmen Ruiz y Laza cuddles up to Hotel Georgia / Delta Group developer Bruce Langereis to toast the occasion at Reflections opening. E Rosewood Hotel Georgia managing director Steve Halliday and his lovely wife Pauline are among the VIPs on hand at the opening of Reflections at Hotel Georgia. F West Vancouver’s Stefan Zalesky, aka DJ BrownJoe, spins the tunes for the Regency F1 Vancouver Reign event. G Regency Auto owners Amir and Yasmin Ahamed join AllWest Insurance’s Paul Zalesky to check out the racing cars at the Regency Reign event. H It’s fast, furious and Formula 1 all the way. Regency Auto’s Izzam Ahamed poses beside the 2009 RedBull show car which was actually built using Infiniti/Renault technology.

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X Marks the Spot “Halkett Bay was not our first choice,

in fact, it wasn’t high on our list at all,” says Howie Robins, president of the ARSBC. “Because it’s a fjord it’s difficult to find a place in Howe Sound to sink a ship. No sooner do you think you’ve found a place that you learn of a terrain change, either a precipitous drop or pre-cipitous rise. We needed a consistency in depth, suitable for a ship this size.”

The society’s initial location, says Robins, was Pasley Island, located between Bowen Island and Gibsons. That site had a great deal of flat ground on which to land the ship but the idea was met with such resistance from residents that the society decided to entertain other locales.

Enter Halkett Bay. Using SONAR equipment, says Robins, his team mea-

sured and examined the area for six weeks, ensuring it would have enough flat ground to land the large ship. And after finding a plot 1,470 square metres in size, they have just enough room to pull it off.

The seabed found in Halkett Bay has long been damaged from the area’s log-booming past, according to the ARSBC. Over the years, bark and other fibrous materials from lumber-booms found their way to the bottom of the bay, smothering the area. By sinking the Annapolis on top of the debris, says Robins, the ship cre-ates a new environment for sea-life that hasn’t been able to exist with the current sediment.

But what of the supposed toxins from the ship’s lead paint and the explosives that will be used to sink the vessel? Do residents and environmentalists have a reason to be concerned?

Robins claims the Annapolis will be the cleanest ship “ever put down” and will set the standard by which all future ARSBC projects will be measured.

“This will be a defining moment for us,” says Robins. “The Annapolis will become a living laboratory, perfectly suitable for all divers. If the ship isn’t clean, it won’t go down. We play by the rules.”

The rules The agency in charge of ship sinking is

Environment Canada, with consultation from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada.

In the early 1990s, the ARSBC, under then-president and West Vancouver-based lawyer Jay Straith, helped the federal departments write the rule book for these projects.

All vessels earmarked for sinking must be stripped of all floatable objects and cleaned of toxins and hydrocarbons, to name but a few of the expectations.

The ship must also be free of all PCBs. Because the ARSBC is a non-profit orga-nization, the navy removed all such sub-stances to assist the society before hand-ing the vessel over, according to Robins.

Canadian Artificial Reef Consulting, an international artificial reef firm estab-

lished by Straith after he broke away from the ARSBC, adheres to the same set of Canadian-established guidelines when working on reef projects abroad. The International Maritime Organization, an agency within the United Nations, has copied those expectations, as has the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Thus far Robins’ group hasn’t had the best of luck getting federal approval. In late 2009 and 2010 respectively, reports from the DFO and BC Parks recommend-ed the project move to a new location because of the ship’s size and potential disruption to the area.

March 2011, however, marked a change in attitude towards the Annapolis when for-mer Minster of Environment Murray Coell promised the provincial government would assume possession of the ship after the feds had signed off and the vessel was sunk. The ARSBC immediately approached Ottawa again for permission to sink the Annapolis, but problems on the ship prevented their request from getting the go-ahead. Another inspection is expected soon, as the optimal time for sinking a ship is before the cold-weather season.

Save Halkett Bay “We know the ARSBC wanted to sink

Not sunk yet

Theses days much of the dialogue surrounding the trou-bled HMCS Annapolis, a 113-metre former Canadian navy destroyer currently being prepped for sinking by the

Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia, is focused on the warship’s uncertain future. Since 2009, the vessel has sat off Gambier Island waiting for its descent into the waters of Howe Sound, fulfilling the ARSBC’s plans of sinking the ship in near-by Halkett Bay and establishing a readily accessible place for Vancouver-based scuba-enthusiasts to dive. Environmentalists, on the other hand, have argued toxins from a sunken ship would contaminate the waters and bay residents are worried their secluded hamlet will become a popular dive-tourism des-tination. But after nearly three years of playing the waiting the game, the longest such period of limbo for any of the ARSBC’s seven projects to date, the Annapolis doesn’t just represent a tale of what’s next, but a story of what happened to produce this drawn-out saga in the first place.

After three years of stormy seas, the Artificial Reef Society of BC’s plan to sink the HMCS Annapolis in Halkett Bay may soon be taking on water

By Sean Kolenko

DIVER DOWN - John Webb of North Van's Edge Diving Centre. Peter Taylor photo


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the Annapolis in Pasely Island but the people said ‘hell no’,” says Gary McDonald, spokesman for Save Halkett Bay, a group comprised of area residents fighting the Annapolis project.

“And the next thing we knew a guy who was doing some work in Halkett Bay tells us of their plans to sink here. So, this is not the first one to meet with community push back. It’s not as if these plans are uniformly welcome.”

The concerns of McDonald and his group are twofold: the potential damage to the waters and the assumed increase in visitors to the normally quiet bay. The root of their environmental con-cerns, he said, has been getting assurance the ship will be thoroughly cleaned.

He understands the vessel will be examined but he claims he has asked for the results of previous cleaning inspections, just to see what was found on the ship, and hasn’t received any information. Data on the current state of the Annapolis, he feels, isn’t too much to ask consid-ering his community is the proposed site.

In the past, the ARSBC has held open houses onboard various vessels to educate community on its plans and to let residents get a look at the condition of a particular ship.

The HMCS Mackenzie, sunk in 1996, hosted two open houses, as did the Saskatchewan project in 1997 and the Cape Breton in 2001. Thus far, no open house on board the Annapolis has been held.

A jump in traffic, adds McDonald, is also wor-risome. Halkett Bay is different than a place like Porteau Cove, for instance. The bay is small and quiet, he says, and will not handle significant increases in traffic without disruptions to residents.

“He [Robins] says we’re out to lunch, just a bunchy of rich, NIMBY land owners, but we’re not,” says McDonald. “We have real environmen-tal concerns. Can they get it clean? We funda-mentally believe that Halkett Bay is not the right place for this to happen.”

A new life For the past two years, North Vancouver’s

John Webb has volunteered his time getting the Annapolis ready for its descent. He’s broken down parts of the ship so nothing will be swept away once it meets the seabed and wiped count-less surfaces onboard.

Pipes, in particular, always have some “residual stuff” on them, he says, so every one is cleaned thoroughly. Those that have been bent or dam-aged are removed and those in good condition are opened up for inspection.

The Annapolis, he stresses, isn’t going to be sent off and made into razorblades. It’s a part of

Canadian history and all the work the dozens of volunteers have put in is to ensure the ship is able to again serve its country, albeit in a slightly different way.

“We’re fulfilling all the required standards,” says Webb, who guesses he’s spent about 60

days on the Annapolis since he began volunteer-ing. “But it’s a real boon for the Vancouver dive industry. The site is 20 minutes from Horseshoe Bay. If Vancouver gets on the map more and more for diving, it will be a major plus for us. It can really be one of those beautiful B.C. things.”

Webb, an employee at North Van’s Edge Diving Centre, is quick to admit that sinking a ship does do some damage, such as killing the species it lands on, but says the life that grows on the reef afterwards outweighs the hurt it causes initially. And the Annapolis, he adds, has a land-ing pad that will “provide more surface area for habitat.”

Like Robins, Webb cites the damaged Halkett Bay seabed as a reason for the site’s selection. He’s dove in Howe Sound numerous times and says bark has “smothered” the bottom of Halkett Bay. The opportunity to change that should not be missed.

Divers from across the Lower Mainland are excited to see this job come to an end and even after more than 200 career dives, so is Webb.

“You’re always seeing new things. You can go to the same site and see different stuff each time,” he says. “It’s the array of life and the personal challenge of learning something we as humans are not supposed to do. Through technology and trail and error we’ve figured diving out. That’s what keeps me coming back.”

[email protected] twitter.com/seankolenko

Howie Robins, president of the Artificial Reef Society of BC. Sean Kolenko photo

BBQ food business trucking along North Van husband and wife team

deliver mouth-watering taste of western North Carolina barbecue


Wayne and Marsia Hunter never planned on becoming food-carteurs. But here they are, selling pulled pork and chicken

sandwiches and wraps from their Blue Smoke BBQ food truck throughout the North Shore and Lower Mainland all summer long.

Sitting by their already-setup food truck on a sunny Friday afternoon at Shipbuilders’ Square, waiting for the North Shore Night Market to bring the area alive with hungry visitors, it quickly becomes evident the couple has found a recipe for success: recognizing a good opportunity and mak-ing the most of it by working hard, effectively and with a positive can-do attitude.

“We got the idea at Christmas time when we were watching The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network,” recalls Wayne, as friends, pier vendors and labourers setting up the market stop by the truck to say hello. Even competing food cart operators come by to ask for advice or perhaps to borrow their dolly.

“Marsia said, ‘I would like to do that and I said, ‘Well, why don’t you?’”

Marsia wasn’t completely sold at first that she could; but, after some pushing and some equip-ment purchasing commitments from Wayne, she said she would give it a try as long as Wayne prom-ised to give her one more thing.

“I said, ‘I want you,’” says Marsia, chuckling as Wayne, a developer and entrepreneur, proceeds to list the activities he committed to giving up for one year to get the business going: fishing, golfing, playing cards with his buddies and attending to his other ventures.

Soon, the trailer was purchased on Craigslist and the truck bought in Chicago, while the logo was made in Argentina and the website designed in India. The development of the menu, however, took a little longer. Like any barbecuer of merit, Wayne can talk at length about the flavourology of his product — and in Blue Smoke BBQ’s case, the origin is the western side of North Carolina. His Thunder Sauce, he says, is tomato-based as opposed to vinegar and mustard, with deep ruby colouring and a thick luscious consistency which took many batches to perfect.

Settling on a brioche roll for the right bun was also a tough task, Marsia explains, as she wanted to find a bun that “could hold lots of stuff without it being too chewy like a pretzel or too soft like a McDonald’s bun.”

The pork, they say, is dry-rubbed overnight with a homemade spice blend before it is slowed cooked for 16 hours in a smoker oven; the spices are mixed to spec by a spice-master in Seattle and the coleslaw — a secret recipe Marsia developed over the years volunteering at the Seniors’ Centre at Parkgate Community Centre — is made with ingre-dients grown right in her garden.

All the food is locally produced, with the two shopping at local farms and farmers markets,

including sellers at the Lonsdale Quay. “The more local the better,” says Marsia. “We

don’t need to know the pig’s name but we at least want to know from where it came from and what itwas fed; that it was free from drugs.”

“It is important,” says Wayne, not only because it is more sustainable for the earth and healthier for the body but also because “it just tastes better.”

The proof is in the product, they say, and many seem to agree as the Hunters estimate about 60 to 70 per cent of their business is repeat customers. Their first paying-customer of the night is a third-timer named Margaret Carroll who made a special visit down to the pier to buy a Blue Smoke BBQ sandwich. “We love it,” says Carroll, referring to herself, neighbours and friends. “The sauce is really good and it is all really fresh. You can’t beat it.”

With Vancouver’s food cart industry blossoming and the North Van municipalities seemingly following its lead with the creation of four new markets, Wayne believes Blue Smoke BBQ is ahead of the curve.

“The night markets were a bit of a test by the dis-trict and the city to see how they would be receivedand I think it has been an overwhelming success,” he says.

“It almost feels like we are part of a gypsy tribe, here,” agrees Marsia. “If we need anything or need help with anything, we know we can ask people here. And the same goes for them to us.”

Ever the entrepreneur, Wayne already sees room for improvement and expansion. There are three types of food carts, he explains: the “corporate” carts; carts affiliated with a restaurant or a retired chef; and the mom-’n’-pop carts, like theirs, which he says makes up the majority of the industry.

“There is a tremendous need for carts like us to have a place we can park our trucks and prepare our food,” says Wayne. “It is too impractical for us to cook out of our house so we are using extra space at a caterer’s. But for many it is really hard to find a restaurant or caterer willing to let you use their kitchen.”

He says by next season, he would like to open a fully-licensed commissary with proper cooking infrastructure, fridges, storage space and park-ing spots where food-carteurs can prepare their food. In addition, Wayne would also like to fran-chise Blue Smoke BBQ in Australia, as the City of Sydney is currently running food-carteurs trials.

“It is just such a fun business to be in, serving people up tasty food,” concludes Marsia. “And it has been great doing it along side him.”

For more info on Blue Smoke BBQ or to checkout their schedule visit: www.bluesmokebbq.ca.

STREET EATS - Wayne and Marsia Hunter serve up BBQ sandwiches. Peter Taylor photo


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disease and while not paralyzed, he can’t walk.In the aquatic centre change room, Riley’s

dad, Peter, struggles to lift his teenage son into a sling attached to a motorized lift hanging from the ceiling.

Once fastened in, Riley can travel across the changeroom from his wheelchair to the shower with ease.

The simplicity of the state-of-the-art lift moti-vates Peter to bring Riley to the pool as often as he can.

“It just makes swimming a little more possible for Riley,” says Peter. “He doesn’t really get exer-cise anywhere else.”

There are instances, however, when the lift is already in use. Peter estimates that to be the case one-third of the time.

Facilitating access to exercise for disabled people is one of the priorities of the West Vancouver Community Centres Society.

In March 2007, the District of West Vancouver Council directed the establishment of a com-munity governance model for the new commu-nity centre, ensuring that values of community leadership, empowerment and ownership were incorporated into community services.

Today, the West Vancouver Community Centres Society (WVCCS) is a not-for-profit society that is governed by community members. The society provides oversight and management to the community centre and aquatic centre through a joint operating agreement with the district.

The board of directors are residents who are passionate about residents access to community services.

WVCCS chair Barbara Brink says one of the benefits of the governance model is the ability of the society to apply for grants.

Current projects that have been funded by the society are: the purchase of a large screen and projector in the community centre atrium, and finan-cial support of last summer’s Youth Leadership Program.

Monies raised by the WVCCS signature fundraising event, October’s PumpkinFest, will benefit five top priority areas including:

■ Children and youth (such as playground equipment and computers for youth lounge);

■ Seniors (increase accessibility such as lift for aquatic centre);

■ Performing arts and music (recording studio equip-

ment)■ Health and wellness (Cardio Metabolic Program

access and inclusion); and■ Aquatic Centre (more attractions for lap pool and fea-

tures for leisure pool). More information about this volunteer-driven, commu-

nity event can be found at www.pumpkinfest2011.org.

—The Outlook

One of the WVCC’s top priorities is facility access to exercise for disabled people. Submitted photo


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2011

thearts 3-D CORPSE - THE GAME: another take on the exquisite corpse, features collaborative art pieces on display now at the Seymour Art Gallery. Each of the pices on diplay feature techniques of surface design, creating intricate, layered works. The show is scheduled to run until Sept. 5.Submitted photo

Beautiful cadavers Seymour Art Gallery hosts new Surrealist-inspired show

SEAN KOLENKOS T A F F R E P O R T E R

In the Parisian parlours of the mid-1920s, proponents of the still-influ-ential Surrealist movement enjoyed playing a collective game of chance called the Exquisite Corpse meant to reveal the “unconscious reality in

the personality of the group.”Participants — now-renowned artists Andre Breton, Tristan Tzara and

Marcel Duchamp among them — would take turns writing a phrase on a piece of paper, making sure to fold the sheet so the next-in-line couldn’t see the words that preceded their contribution.

When everyone had written something, the complete phrase was revealed, discussed and dissected by the assembly. The initial playing yield-ed the phrase “the exquisite corpse will drink the young wine,” giving the game its name.

This week, at the Seymour Art Gallery, the Surface Design Association in British Columbia is offering its take on the fabled Surrealist pastime with an exhibition called THE GAME: another take on the exquisite corpse.

“My sister, Karen Love, was the former director of the Presentation House Gallery. She did two exhibitions where she invited an artists who then had to invite two others,” says Jennifer Love, coordinator of the Surface Design Association and contributor to the show.

“They did their version of the exquisite corpse and loved it. Ever since then I was thinking it would be fun to do this.”

The show features both 2- and 3-D pieces, assembled by a team of col-laborators. Love says participants chose who they worked with — not all who contributed had to be association members — and employ “techniques used in surface design” to create either a head, torso or feet. Surface design techniques include, amongst others, the patterning, colouring and structur-ing of fibre and fabric. Once completed, each group would assemble the works and create a piece.

The results are striking. The work Shall We Dance, for instance, was composed of found objects and intricate thread work. The work features a bold two-headed-top and a soft coloured-torso reminiscent of a wedding ring pillow.

In contrast, the Ancient Dance was composed of paper, cotton, linens, feathers and digital printing segments that created a rustic, muted work. An earth-toned top, made of various pieces of sewn-together fabrics, features a dark face in the centre, followed by a green and red naked torso and bird’s feet.

Initially, the essence of the game appears rather free-flowing, almost without any rules or structure. But this version, says gallery curator Sarah Cavanaugh, actually comes with some stringent restrictions by forcing art-ists to create only a part of what will eventually become one whole work.

“With this project in particular, when you give really talented people parameters, exciting things happen,” says Cavanaugh.

“Now that we have it on the walls, you can experience it from afar. But when you get up close you can see the beadwork, embroidery and layers of the work.”

THE GAME: another take on the surrealist corpse will be on at the Seymour Art Gallery until Sept. 5. The Seymour Art Gallery is located at 4360 Gallant Ave in Deep Cove. For more information visit www.sur-facedesignbc.org or call 604-924-1378.

[email protected]/seankolenko


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“It was a situation where one day we found out that we were going to be $1 billion in the hole from reduced corpo-rate taxes and of course the economy was taking a dive.”

And when the Province of Ontario, gaining concessions from Ottawa, decided to adopt a HST, Yamamoto said, the B.C. government decided it needed to do so quickly as well to remain competitive — an advantage now squandered, she suggested.

“I am not a fan of the PST,” Yamamoto concluded. “I have been in small business long enough to know that it is an archaic hidden tax. It is quite insidious and to go back to the old system is disappointing but we will do it.

“I don’t know what the finance minister is planning ... There will be some tweaks but more administrative, I think.”

One point of discussion is whether the government will reinstate the same PST exemptions that existed before the HST, including restaurant meals, haircuts and services such as junk removal.

Salmon House restaurant general manager Ann Bentley would be happy to see the exemptions return but she is skeptical that they will.

Bentley said the West Vancouver restaurant took a hit when the HST was brought in, adding an extra seven per cent tax to its customers’ food bills — although that was slightly mitigated by a reduction in overall liquor tax from 15 to 12 per cent.

“(The HST) really affected our corporate and tour busi-ness quite heavily because we do a lot of group functions and then when you’re all of a sudden saying all food and beverages are subject to 12 per cent HST that is a lot of money,” Bentley said. “It is hard to say by how much because there’s so much going on with tourism and the economy since the recession but it definitely affected large group (bookings).

“It was one more hit the industry certainly didn’t need.”However, Bentley said once she had resigned herself to

losing the PST exemption and the HST was initiated, she felt voters should have opted to keep the harmonized sys-tem.

“To go back and now administer two taxes seems a bit ridiculous in the sense that there are huge costs in adminis-trating this,” she said. “Plus, the provincial government has to pay back $1.6 billion to the federal government for back-ing out of the deal and there is a huge cost again for setting

up the administration. So, this is going to cost us money no matter how we cut it.

“In the long run it is a very shortsighted venture for vot-ers who are angry with Gordon Campbell because he did not properly outline his intent. I understand it but to have this sort of backlash is not productive; it is not efficient; and it is going to cost jobs and money.”


from PAGE 4

TAX TALK - Naomi Yamamoto, Liberal MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale, talks to constituents in advance of last week’s monumental HST referendum.

New reality TV show features hoodie king Jason Dussault, wife Mashiah Vaughn of Open Sundaes,

their two kids and plenty of drama

MARIA SPITALE-LEISKC O N T R I B U T O R

The caller display reads Beverly Hills, California — and the woman on the other end nonchalantly mentions that George Clooney just held the door open for her at a local

coffee shop. Vancouver-born model, actress and entrepreneur Mashiah

Vaughn is living the LA dream: the weather is almost always agreeable and the pool inviting at her Tuscan-style home.

Catching a movie with Marisa Tomei and friends or attending catered barbecues in the Hollywood Hills is the norm for this 35-year-old, blue-eyed blond with classic pinup looks.

At the moment, she is rushing to the set of Gene Simmons Family Jewels to film an episode with close friend and fellow Canadian, Shannon Tweed.

A few minutes later, Vaughn arranges a call for a second-ary interview with her long-time partner, celebrity streetwear designer, Jason Dussault. The background noise on his end is refreshing: a youngster running around outside his property in Lynn Valley.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to call you back,” says the distracted, doting father.

Dussault has already had his taste of Hollywood, opening a million-dollar flagship Dussault Apparel store on Melrose Avenue in 2006. Inspired by Rob Zombie horror flicks, the store was painstakingly designed by Dussault as a “1970s roadside motel.”

Celebrities like Nicole Ritchie, Criss Angel and Kid Rock endorsed his brand. Gene Simmons became one of his closest friends.

Then the recession hit and Dussault was forced to consoli-date. He decamped to North Vancouver.

“It breaks my heart that I had to close that store,” he says.That’s when the cameras starting rolling on “an edgy docu-

sitcom” called Dussault Inc., airing this fall on CityTV, which showcases the couple’s struggle to keep their businesses and their relationship afloat.

In the premiere episode, “New Showroom,” Dussault opens a Dussault Apparel showroom in Vancouver; meanwhile,

Vaughn needs him to watch the kids, 15-year-old Ayden and 24-month-old Ronin, so she can close a deal for her bath product line, Open Sundaes.

She is met with resistance from Jason who has made plans, himself, to hang out with his friends from Nickelback.

“It’s not uncommon to see us argue,” promises Dussault. “Mashiah and I have, in a lot of ways, opposite views on life. And I would say the majority of our arguments centre around the way I promote my brand.”

Dussault characterizes Vaughn as being extremely old fash-ioned. He says using sex appeal is necessary to promote his cutting edge brand and he admits to spending a lot of time with beautiful women.

And Vaughn doesn’t refute being labeled old-fashioned. She was raised in a strict Christian household. Calling herself a private person, she was initially hesitant to do the show. In the end she resolved that it would bring exposure to her char-ity work.

Differences aside, the couple does have mutual respect for each other.

“I think Jason’s an extremely talented artist,” says Vaughn. “He’s always had a kind, sweet heart.”

And Vaughn has the whole package — intelligence and beauty, says Dussault. “I tell her constantly that I think she is the most beautiful girl on the planet.”

Both Dussault and Vaughn are passionate about fundrais-ing for children’s charities. For instance, Dussault designed the world’s most expensive pair of jeans, adorned with gold, diamond and ruby embellishments, for a charity in Red Deer, Alberta and he does a lot of work for Canuck Place. Vaughn, meanwhile, is on the board of director for Children’s Wish in Vancouver and has travelled to Africa to work with organiza-tions that empower women.

Dussault Inc. premieres on Sept. 24 at 8:30 p.m. on CityTV.

Meet the Dussaults Mashiah, Ronin, Jason and Ayden


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Most hearing aid manufactur-ers are located in EasternCanada or the United States, meaning that consumers often fi nd lon-ger wait times for delivery and repair of hearing instruments.

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The Acoustica Hearing Difference. Acous-tica Hearing, in partnership with Siemens, one of the world’s leading hearing aid man-ufacturers, has been making and servicing hearing aids for over a decade in the Lower Mainland.Most hearing aid manufacturers are located in Eastern Canada or the United States, meaning that consumers often fi nd longer wait times for delivery and repair of hearing instruments. Acoustica Hearing is unique in Western Canada. They sell hearing aid products that are made local-ly, right on site, allowing delivery times to be dramatically shorter than their competitors. In fact, de-livery may take as little as 2 days in some cases, thus helping their customers get on with enjoying their lives sooner. Shop Local, Buy Local. Our clinics, located in West Vancouver, White Rock and Burnaby, are unique in that we do everything locally and have proudly served the Sunshine Coast and the Lower Mainland for over 12 years. Cost Savings to Our Customers. Acoustica Hearing markets and repairs its own hear-ing aid products, managing to dramatically reduce the cost of manufacturing and cut down wait times, allowing those savings to be passed on to YOU the customer. Exceptional Service. We offer unbeatable value! Satisfaction guaranteed or your money will be refunded! Visit any of our clinics and experienced licensed Hearing

Instruments Practitioners will help you se-lect from a wide range of the latest hearing aid technology best suited for you and your

lifestyle.Recently Acoustica Hearing Aid Clinic & Manufacturing, in partner-ship with SIEMENS Hearing gave a presentation at a local Seniors Centre. Theresa Lee of Siemens spoke about Bluetooth Technol-ogy and Rechargeable Hearing Aids. She discussed the benefi ts of Siemens Tek and Mini Tek. This bluetooth technology allows the use of cell phones, landlines and TVs with hearing aids. She also discussed how to use FM systems and reviewed the added capabil-ity of T-Coil with smaller hearing aids. Rechargeable Hearing Aids were also discussed, covering the en-vironmentally friendly products used, the convenience of recharg-ing every night and not changing

your hearing aid batteries and the ease of use for people with dexterity issues, includ-ing arthritis and the visually challenged. Due to the popularity of this presentation, Acoustica is planning another presentation in the near future. To request that Acoustica Hearing do a presentation in your area or for further information about future talks with Theresa Lee of Siemens, please call John or Reza Jahanshahi of Acoustica at 1-604-294-1080 and stay tuned for another great op-portunity to hear the experts and get your questions answered.

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A: REALTORS® suggest that staged homes spend less time on the market and sell for more than their un-staged counterparts. Staging is more than just cleaning up: it is what you do after you’ve cleaned, painted and repaired. When you think of staging think theatre: presentation, impressions, engagement.

“Staging for resale gives your property a huge competitive edge, a marketing boost that shows your home in a positive way that buyers can relate to”, says Toni Lindsay of RE/MAX Masters Realty. With your REALTOR®, Toni advises, fi rst decide what segment of the market to appeal to and then work to towards “wowing” the largest possible segment of that market.

The basic effort means that your home inside and out should be spotless and I mean toothbrush-in-the-corners spotless. Paint should be fresh and simple, windows sparkling clean. Remove torn or worn furniture, junk in the yard, personal photos and busy nickknacks on bookcases – de-clutter. Remove items that will distract from the space: that giant collection of Star Wars fi gurines in the living room, for example. Be creative with furnishings, art, fresh unused towels, and even iron the bedding and empty the garage - keeping the spaces simple yet inviting makes a huge impression.

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The ultimate in luxury. This gor-geous Penthouse is being offered for the fi rst time on the market. The private elevator will lead you into the foyer and into the lap of 3300+ square feet of luxury. You wont believe your eyes as you gaze upon the best view in West Vancouver from every room. Step onto a 1500 square foot veranda to breath in the fresh mountain air. It almost goes without saying that only the best quality fi nishes and fi ttings are featured in this home as every upgrade imagin-able was ordered.

Prime West Vancouver location only a short walk to Dundarave vil-lage with all the trendy shops, beach and sea-walk with almost 8500 sqf lot with beautiful water view and older 2 level livable house with 4 bedrooms and 3 bath-rooms and 2 kitchens, easy to view any time.

Enjoy unobstructed 180 de-gree view of City,Ocean,Lions gate and Island from this S/E corner of Stonecliff com-plex next to Provincial park with over 2000 sqf,2bdrm, 2 bathrm,Family room and of-fi ce, high-end fi nishing, hard wood fl ooing, granite coun-ters, S/S appliances & designer window coverings A/C system, Gym,Spa, Fireside Lounge with full size kitchen comes with 2 secured parking.

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111-216 E 6TH, N.V.$615,700

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3636 FROMME RD., N.V. $718,800

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3883 HOSKINS RD., N.V.$809,000

Located in sought after McCartney Lane, this 2,000+ townhouse offers 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and plenty of space for today’s fam-ily. One bedrm below with full bathrm together with the rec room make this space ideal for youngsters.

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$596,9002992 MT SEYMOUR PARKWAY

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For 50 years, BC Hydro has been providing clean, reliable electricity to you. Today we are planning for the next 50 years by investing in new projects, upgrading existing facilities and working with you to conserve energy through Power Smart.

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66

Bragging rights between the Graham sisters are at stake Monday in Boston

The sibling rivalry between two ultra-competitive North Shore sisters will be settled once and for all in a university field hockey game on Monday in Boston, some 4,050 kilo-

metres from home. For the metrically challenged, that’s 2,512 miles away as the

crow – or better still, the Canada goose – flies.That’s when Nicky Graham, a 5’8”, third-year forward for

Northeastern University, and “little” sister Michelle Graham, a 5’8”, first-year forward for Michigan State University, meet on Northeastern’s Sweeney Field in historic Boston.

The field is less than a mile from Fenway Park and, oddly enough, sits just a couple of blocks from a road named Vancouver Street. (I wonder what they called it during the Stanley Cup final?)

The game is not just the home opener for Northeastern, ranked 28th in NCAA Div. 1 field hockey. And it’s not just an opportunity for Michigan State, losers of their first three games, to get on the win-ning track and show why they have been ranked 13th going into the season. Plus it’s not just that this will be the first time that Nicky, 20, and Michelle, 18, who graduated from West Van Secondary in 2009 and 2011 respectively, have squared off against each other in a game, as noteworthy as that will be for the family scrapbook.

Forget all that because the game is the tiebreaker in a little contest the sisters began in May.“We are sooooo competitive,” Michelle tells me, while Nicky smiles to acknowledge her agreement,

as we met at William Griffin Field to take the photo shown here before they left for their respective campuses.

They then proceed to explain.On the Victoria Day weekend, they played together in the Vancouver Invitational Tournament in

Burnaby on a team called the Blitz, organized by their older sister Kira who played at UBC.Nicky and Michelle – who Nicky jokes are “Kira’s immature younger sisters” – decided they should

conduct a little scoring competition between the two of them during the tournament.“Originally it started as a friendly little competition,” notes Nicky. “It wasn’t until the final that we

realized we were tied 4-4.”Then the fun began. Nicky scored twice as the Blitz built up a lead during the championship game

their team would eventually win 7-0. “That left me two goals down with 10 minutes left in the game,” Michelle offers.

But, while Nicky was on the sidelines, Michelle scored with five minutes to go to narrow their individual competition to 6-5. Nicky admits, “I was freaking out and ran and subbed in for her so there was no way she could score again.”

However, Michelle saw her tactics and subbed in for someone else as time ran down.

“Our team got a short corner right before the final whistle,” continues Michelle, “and Nicky was up to take the shot. It was my last chance to tie her in goals so I ran in as a tipper and ended up getting a touch [on the ball that Nicky shot] and scored. She was not too impressed.”

“I was the hitter from the top,” concurs Nicky. “Michelle tipped my shot up into the netting. I was so upset. I was like, ‘NOOO!’ as soon as she scored.”

Michelle adds, “We aren’t too sure if Nicky’s shot would have gone in because the goalie might have saved it, but there was the possibility of it going in. She likes to think it was. Ha, ha.”

So they’ve agreed the tiebreaker will be the winner of the Northeastern-Michigan State game.

No doubt the game will be a highlight in the Graham family’s field hockey annals that began at least as far back as the girls’ grandparents, Andy and Sheila Graham, who both played for Kenya many years ago.

Despite living in Lynn Valley, all three Graham sisters went to Little Flower Academy in Vancouver where their mom was teaching. When she left to teach at St. Thomas Aquinas and eventually open Footprints on the Shore, a Christian books and gifts shop just off Marine Drive, Nicky enrolled in Grade 11 at West Van Secondary. She applied to four schools and West Van – much to the chagrin of the coaches at Argyle – was the first to respond with space. Michelle joined her a year later.

West Van won the B.C. “AAA” field hockey championships in both the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Nicky’s Grade 11 and 12 years. Michelle was on the 2008 winner as a Grade 10 as well as the school’s B.C. runners-up in 2009 and 2010.

Amazingly, Northeastern of the Colonial Athletic Association and Michigan State of the Big Ten Conference each play seven games this sea-son against teams that have at least one or two, and as many as three, North Shore players on their roster.

As well, former Sutherland standouts, fourth-year Kaela Barker and third-year Lizzie Priest are the captain-midfielder and goalkeeper respectively on Nicky’s team. One of Michelle’s teammates is Holly Sherman, a fourth-year back who played with Nicky on West Van’s unbeaten ’07 provincial champs.

The sisters’ parents, Ian and Linda Graham, are flying to Boston to see the game. So will they cheer for the underdog Huskies of Northeastern? After all, Nicky is the older of the two. Or will they root for the visiting Spartans of Michigan State? As a rookie, Michelle could use the support.

The problem has already been solved. Ian will wear a Northeastern shirt while Linda wears one from Michigan State. Then they’ll switch shirts at halftime. Parents are so smart, aren’t they?

This is episode 431 from Len Corben’s treasure chest of stories – the great events and the quirky – that bring to life the North Shore’s rich sports his-tory.

The game within the game

SETTLING THE SCORE - Nicky Graham (left) of Northeastern University and sister Michelle Graham of Michigan State, who grew up in Lynn Valley but played field hockey and graduated from West Vancouver secondary, will square off against each other in Beantown on Monday with more on the line than just a win for their university.Len Corben photo

[email protected] Corben

INSTANTREPLAY
