Wednesday, September 2, 1992 @ OurWiEWS Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren Chernoff Accountant Mary Ann Fullerton Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 The books are open With its catalogue of substandard service and its withering assessment of attitudes, the 1990 Price Water- house report is a scathing indictment of Castlegar’s leadership. As a report card, it ranks right up there with the one little Johnny brought home that time he went Adrian RAESIDE OK:.. WERES THE PLAN... WE SELL “THE CAR, RE-TMOBTGNGE THE HOUSE, Hoe EI LNNORY. Rib ves BEABLETO fishing during the arithmetic test. Sorry, folks, this pupil has failed — miserably. And just like little Johnny, Mayor Audrey Moore wasn’t eager to show the report card to the folks back home. So she buried it in a pile, hoping that it might be forgotten. But two years later, by accident, the secret slipped out, and before long the hidden document attracted so much attention that city council felt compelled to reveal its contents. Now that they’ve done so, we assume they will spend much of the time remaining in their mandate attempting to prove toa skeptical citizenry that things have changed. And so they should. That’s a fitting response to democracy’s challenge. allowed to fall into disarray again. Who cares? opening the doors, we vanquish them The good news is that council, pushed by the media and Ald. Kirk Duff, saw fit to release this report. The public, properly informed, can ensure that city management is not The bad news is that some members of council still don't get it. The report’s old news, they think. We do. Tyranny and incompetence secure their foothold behind closed doors and at in camera meetings. By Retro recycler seeks help Call me lazy, but I’m having a hard time jumping on the recycling bandwagon. Sure, I read Martin Meyer’s “Recycling and You” columns each week in The News, but that’s about as far as it goes. Why, if I want to be perfectly honest, my only contribution to the recycling cause is eating leftovers, buying non-aerosol sprays’ the checkout stand. Harrison and declining paper bags at w Comparison of a pair of environmen- tally conscience friends to stir up enough guilt to make me act, but better late than never. . My recycling campaign began Monday, as carefully sorted through the volumes of mail I get everyday. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was a neophyte on th: subj r coiek phone call to I’ve always meant to do more, but the time and energy it takes to sort this ; from that and that from this seemed pointless to me. Besides, it was always easier to throw all my junk mail — and there’s lots of it — into the waste paper basket in my office. . ; With apologies to the Recycling Advisory Group, I’m an environmental flunkey. Sad, but true. : . Confessions aside, I’ve decided to give this recycling thing a try. Okay, so it took one friend steered me in the right direction, as I established piles for old newspapers, white paper, colored paper and faxes. Good enough, right? Wrong. I got stumped with those glossy } publications that P'd normally toss over my = shoulder before the bulldozer swept my / office clean. I asked around the newsroom, | only to discover that I wasn't the only fool- hardy individual who knew nothing. please see HARRISON page 74 the continuous badgering : Street WALK Question: How do you feel about Art Charbonneau’s announcement of a bridge to Robson? Aubrey Leveridge Castlegar “['m quite pleased to hear it’s going ahead.” Bill Woikin Nelson “| think it’s a idea. It will get rid of We've been waiting so the traffic.” Flora Zaitsoff Robson “lm so happy. long. Jon Sweeney Fredericton, N.B. “It’s a great idea. Greater,access for Maria Duarte Castlegar “] don’t really th that it’s necessary. 9: people.” million is a lot.” @ Wednesday, September 2, 1992 The News OtherVIEWS Please address all letters to: Letters to the itor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C. V1N 3H4 or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not longer than 300 words. Letters MUST be signed and include the writer's first and last names, address and a telephone number at which the writer can be reached between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The writer’s name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. Letters toWHE EDITOR Matheson thanked for a job well done An open letter to Councillor Marilyn Mathieson, who is leaving Castlegar: This letter is written to you on behalf of all the men and women who served with you on council as well as all the citizens, individual and groups, that you have worked with during your seven years on council. The projects and initiatives munity Award Committee. During 1991, it was you who chaired the Planning and Development Committee of council and oversaw the development of the Comprehensive Development Plan for this city, an important and time-consuming process. In 1990, you became involved with our lic works building is nearing completion, the Cone Hill Park equipment has been installed and the water pressure problems are being suc- cessfully resolved thanks to your ability to en- courage people to work together. Among the other organizations that you have served with are the Hospital Board and the Tri-City Health that you have been involved with are too numerous to de- tail in one letter, but I would like to touch on some of your accomplishments. Your outstanding contribu- tion to our parks and recre- As a member of council you have been a positive contributor to our discussions and all decisions, an outstanding team player. You leave a legacy of good works and fine accomplishments in Castlegar. Plan Advisory Board, and we thank you for your excellent contri- butions to these orga- nizations. As a member of Audrey M sracieens council you have been a ation facilities will long be re- membered. The ball players of Castlegar thank you for your initiative concerning the Complex ball field. Without your drive and determina- tion that field might still be only an idea. The Abilities Awareness Advisory Commit- tee thanks you for your faithful attendance during its formative years. You were most help- ful in assisting the Committee to qualify for a Five Star Community Award. I thank you for serving so ably on the National Five Star Com- downtown business community and worked long hours with the consultants and the Down- town Revitalization Committee to put together an acceptable plan that will significantly change the image and focus of the City of Castlegar well into the future. We all thank you for facilitating this project. This year you chaired the Works and Ser- vices/Parks Committee of council. Once again your work has been outstanding. The new pub- positive contributor to our discussions and all decisions, an outstand- ing team player. You leave a legacy of good works and fine accomplishments in Castlegar. All your friendg.and associates and all whom you have helped sincerely thank you. Enjoy Vancouver and return to the Koote- nays soon. Audrey Moore Mayor Canada should learn from collapse of communism Wi People who believe we can create wealth by making government bigger, or expanding its role in the economy, haven't been paying attention For 70 years central economic planning in- flicted nothing but misery and poverty on the peoples of Eastern Europe, and under central economic planning, vitually everything was in short supply. Today, Russians, Hungarians and millions of other Eastern Europeans are turning away from government ownership at breakneck speeds; Government businesses both commer- cial and industrial, service sector businesses such as hotels and restaurants, and even farms, are being privatized at unprecedented rates. For these nations, the road back from serf- dom has not, and will not, be an easy one. In- dividual initiative has been all but stamped out over the past 70 years, and this lack of individ- ual initiative, combined with the fact that there is a very poor understanding of how wealth is created, pose two major obstacles for the for- mer Soviet Union. According to several senior analysts who’ve sifted through the economic rubble of eastern Europe and the USSR, there are several very important lessons that Canadian politicians and taxpayers can learn from this situation. They cite the first lesson as being that gov- ernment run businesses are inefficient. This does not mean to say that people who run gov- ernment-owned businesses are inefficient. Instead, they say that government busi- nesses are inefficient because they’re not moti- vated by the same things that motivate a pri- vate business. In the case of a private business, the conse- quence of inefficiency is bankruptcy and ruin. In the case of a government run business, there’s no such thing as bankruptcy because the bottomless purse of the taxpayer is always waiting to be reached into. They also say that wage demands by the em- ployees of a private company are restrained by the profitability and efficiency of the business, but when it comes to government run busi- nesses, there is no such connection. Secondly, analysts say that government businesses are overpriced. They say they’re overpriced because government agencies and businesses do not have to be competitive. In the overall scheme of things the longevi- ty, success or failure of a government business doesn’t have anything to do with its profitabil- ity, or its efficiency. And, in addition to the fact that government businesses don’t pay tax, in many cases, they don’t even pay for such things as the cost of cap- ital. This, they say, has a detrimental effect on the entire market place, as efficient businesses and efficient investment are crowded out by government. Thirdly, they say that government busi- nesses are unresponsive. A privately owned business must respond to the needs, wishes and demands of customers. Service has to be a priority because service, combined with price and quality, is what keeps customers coming back. Such is not the case in government-run busi please see GOVERNMENT page 8 Harrison continued from page 6 My initial reaction was to laugh — after all, here were four educat- ed people at a loss to explain what goes where and why. “Just throw it there and let Sta- cy do it,” Ithought to myself, quick to download any responsi- bility to a friend who has already taken on the thankless task of transporting our recyclables to the Nelson Recycling Depot. Guilt got the better of me, how- ever, as I tried to keep everything in its respective pile. One healthy-sized box later, it became apparent that I knew sur- prisingly little about recycling. Heck, against my better judge- ment, I’ll admit that I’m not whol- ly convinced that the extra 30 minutes it took me to get through the morning mail was worth it. Needless to say, I’m having trou- ble grasping the recycling theme. How is one piece of paper going to ruin the ecosystem? If that presents a problem to you, it should. After all, it’s a pret- ty lazy statement from someone who should know better. Because of that, I issue the fol- lowing challenge to other recy- cling know-nothings. Give me a call--IfI can find four people who are willing to join me in a month-long recycling cam- paign, I'll do everything within my power to get on the good side of the ecosystem. I'll have a box for colored, white, glossy and fax pa- per, as well as newspapers. For one month I'll sort, stack and pile my way into the good graces of the Recycling Advisory Group. I'll do anything asked of me in the month, in the hopes of gaining the environmental educa- tion I am sadly lacking. So, driven by guilt, I’m pre- pared to give recycling a shot. I won't pretend that this will be easy for me, because I’m as waste- ful as they come. And let’s be honest, this issue is easy to waffle around. There are no checks in place to make sure we are recycling. There are no ‘garbage police.’ I even wonder how folks would react if the garbage collectors just threw recyclable material back on residents’ property. Help me avoid that fate. Join me in a new venture: Recyclers’ Anonymous, perhaps. I can see it all now ... standing up in a dimly lit meeting room, coffee sloshing over the edge of my cup, saying, "My name is Scott and I am an environmental nean- derthal.”