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LETTERS OF THE WEEK:
AN ETHNIC ISSUE
Messrs. Focker and Li have a wonderful approach to life: we just click our heels together, Dorothy-style, and our wishes become true. This might work in Kansas, but not here in Richmond.
The reason why the proposed Dotheboys Hall has become an ethnic issue is because it is an ethnic issue ('race' has nothing to do with it, there being only one 'race' - the human race). Egged on by radio talk show host Hanson Lau, it is male authoritarians in the Cantonese-speaking community who have been agitating for a separatist education system for their sons.
If this is not true, the organizers of the back-to-the-dark-ages movement can easily prove it by showing us how many people with non-Chinese-sounding names signed their famous petition. If it is about 50 per cent or so, it will be clear this movement is not ethnic-based.
However, on the night the school board made its fateful decision, there were some eight non-ethnic-Chinese supporters present, out of about 90 (a supporter is defined as someone wearing a sticker proclaiming their support). Notably absent from the opposers' ranks (those not wearing stickers) were any Chinese Canadians.
The authoritarians, having lost the arguments but won the battle, are now urging us to close ranks and deny the ethnic basis of this movement. Whether we do so or not is irrelevant: the vast majority of parents wanting to send their children to this institution will be of Cantonese-speaking origin. If places on the school rolls are allocated fairly, this fact will be immediately apparent when the unfortunate kids muster for their first dose of thrashings, for 90 per cent of them will be ethnic Chinese. If they aren't, there will be a lot of less-than-gruntled parents around.
It will be interesting to see how Trustee Sylvia Gwozd gets herself off this hook. Dotheboys Hall will be either ethnically-balanced, thus unrepresentative of real demand, or it will be a ghetto-style, sink-school for parents who believe their kids can't cut it in the regular system. Whichever option she chooses, she's on a hiding to nothing.
When this fact finally dawns on the trustees who voted for this absurd and hugely divisive proposal, they will find some reason why it is 'technically impractical' to go ahead with it at the present time, and it will die at birth as it rightly should.
Sean O'Connell
Richmond
STOP MIS-LEADING
Subject: the proposed redevelopment of BC Packers Ltd.'s lands.
I am writing in response to Bob Butterworth's letter to the Editor, printed in The Review on July 22.
Firstly, I note that Mr. Butterworth is concerned at the "political" activities of (presumably) Coun. Harold Steves at the Salmon Festival. He is concerned that Mr. Steves advanced his own agenda of "promoting" the industrial (fishing-realted) use of the Packers' site. Mr. Butterworth should know that these lands are currently zoned industrial and that Mr. Steves is supporting the retention of only a portion of that land for continued industrial or commercial use for a future fish market. The balance would be residential or turned into park areas.
However, Mr. Butterworth seems to feel that his own activities relating to the "community building consensus" (CBC) group are justified at the same Salmon Festival. But I can only wonder what community Mr. Butterworth and the CBC is representing if their vision is view-blocking apartments on the riverfront.
The CBC group displayed a high-density plan for the Packers' site at a booth in the tennis building at the Steveston community centre during the Salmon Festival. However, the CBC group somehow neglected to make it clear that this booth and the pamphlets were partially funded by Packers. Seems a little political and a little misleading to me. He should make it clear that Packers is supporting this CBC group and he should stop implying that it is a community group, just because it says so in the name.
Finally, I would like to remind the Packers' group that it was not the millions of dollars in wages that Packers paid into the local economy that developed Steveston. These millions were earned the hard way by the many Packers' employees. It was these ordinary people that established their homes, spent their earnings and supported the local businesses, that built Steveston. The ordinary people are staying while Packers is leaving. So who should decide how Steveston will continue to grow?
Frank Hynes
Richmond
BYLAW WILL HELP
Re: "Time to muzzle dangerous dogs" July 5 letter by Debbie Brodie.
This is in response to your letter expressing grave concern about the incidents when you and your dog(s) endured trauma-type situations.
It is truly regrettable that these happenings occur; and it is for those very reasons and that of safety and reasonable community expectations, that the City of Richmond does have a bylaw which addresses vicious dogs. This bylaw, known as the "pound and dog" bylaw number 4323, does identify a pit bull or pit bull-cross as a "vicious Dog". Due to the potential dangerous aspect of a vicious dog, the bylaw also has a number of fairly stringent requirements. These include: before a dog license is issued by the city, the dog owner must prove that he/she carries liability insurance of at least $500,000; no owner of a vicious dog shall allow the dog onto the streets, unless it is on a leash, is muzzled and under the care and control of the owner; and every owner, while the dog is on the owner's property, must keep the dog either confined indoors or in an enclosure.
When a vicious dog is impounded, the fees to reclaims the dog are substantially larger than for non-vicious dogs, and escalates with each progressive impoundment, from $200 to $500 and $1,000.
Hopefully, you will not encounter any further situations similar to the ones identified in your letter. However, if you do, please contact our local branch of the SPCA as they enforce the bylaw on behalf of the city.
If you require any additional information, please call the SPCA at 277-6212 or Robert Lang, the city's supervisor of property use inspections at 276-4000, Local 4343.
Greg Halsey-Brandt
Mayor
