#ulf Mwxhi Brtfttooob - Salt Spring Island Archives

Wednesday, July 5,1989 GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD Page B11CongratulationsOn behalf of the CanadianUnion of Public Employees, Local788, the support staff of SchoolDistrict 64 (Gulf Islands), we wishto congratulate the recipient of the$500 C.U.P.E. bursary from thisyear's graduating class, RoderickShoolbraid.We take this opportunity ofwishing all the graduates our verybest wishes for their future.DOROTHY KYLE,President.ConcernsWe would like to thank Dr.Borsman for his public recognitionof the work done by Parentsfor Playgrounds.And, yes, we have some concernsregarding the fencing for theSeawalk. We have sent the followinglist to both the Parks andRecreation Commission and thedesign committee for the Seawalkvia Mr. Stepaniuk. We agree thatthe Seawalk is not a playground,but note that it still will be apublic "park" which must identifysafety needs of all its users.The following points identifyour concerns:* The fencing structure choseninvites children of the youngestwalking age to climb on the bottomrung;* Li case of an accident, thereis no accessible route for anyoneto rescue a fallen child;* The rocks below thewalkway multiply the dangers ofsomeone falling;* Especially in wet weather,and with age, the wood walkwaybecomes increasingly slippery,* If the walkway is to be considereda "park," we feel theRecreation Commission hasdemonstrated similar concern forthe Centennial Park walkway,which we commend and appreciate;* Although parents must takeresponsibility for their children atall times, we feel that:a) an "accident" means thatdue care is being taken. What wewould like to see reduced is thelikelihood of an accident takingplace.b) if the walk is a park, littleenjoyment will be affordedparents who must nervously hangon to their child to preventmishap.c) the walkway is in a publicshopping area where precautionarymeasures (such as on a wharfwhere children often wearlifejackets) would not be practical.d) visiting families to the islandwill not anticipate the danger.According to Dr. Borsman'sletter, the CRD might be assumingresponsibility for Seawalk liabilityat a future date. In case of an accident,we wonder who is responsiblein the interim? We alsonoticed that other letters in lastweek's paper expressed a similarmessage to those listed above. Wehope that these messages help leadto safety decisions for our childrenand not get sidetracked due to"costs."DEBBIE MAGNUSSON,\ orYarente ^oT"P\aygTovmAs.Sitting duckThere are those who believethat governments, no matter whattheir political shade, are becomingincapable of meeting the expecta­more letterstions of the people and protectingthe limited resources upon whichall life is dependent.It seems that too many people,too many demands for food,water, and shelter, too much wasteand destruction, have combined tobring Nature to its knees and toconfound traditional politicalstructures designed to servehuman needs.One could question whether"good government" could copewith the changes taking place,even if it did exist. Unfortunately,there have been notable failures ingovernments' ability to serve us,for a multitude of reasons. Noneed to recount the many lacks;foresight, integrity, honesty, intelligence,and plain old ability. It'san endless list.I wonder, too, if the rate ofchange for the worse is simplybeyond the capability of governmentsto anticipate, respond andreact. Increasingly, governmenttends to turn responsibility forproblems back to the people,pleading something akin to insolvency.As students, we were told thatone of the important aspects of thedemocratic process was its unhurriedapproach to dealing withmajor issues. There was time, itwas said, for all points of view tobe heard and evaluated. Well, thatmay be theoretically true, but howeffective and appropriate is such aprocess, now, in times when theworld, aided and abetted by misdirected,special-interestdevelopers and multinationals, isheaded down a very slippery slopeto ecological and environmentaldestruction, with unheard ofspeed.Whether it be in the Amazonrain forests, the cities, or on smallislands such as Salt Spring, thegrey eminence of the developerand multinational is a part of theoverall scenario. Despite the adverseeffects of many so-called"developments," developers haveconsistently fine-tuned their lessthan-noblemethods, for increasingtheir monetary eain. toextremely high levels of ingenuity.The limits of legality,morality and ethics are stretched,in this arena, as perhaps nowhereelse.As for Salt Spring Island, itmay well be that we cannot ultimatelyavoid what is clearly aworldwide phenomenon. For example,our fresh water drinkingsupplies — lakes, watersheds,aquifers — are not unlimited, andare in clear danger of extensivepollution. We are, presently, evenunable to safely dispose of ourtoxic and household waste, in acceptableways.Forest clear-cutting continuesat a relentless rate. Dollar-hungrymultinationals still control muchof our island's forest and mineralresources. We still lack adequate,effective, political means, provinciallyand island-wide, to protectus from developmental and environmentaldesecration.Surely, when developers,tourist operators, speculators, andgovernments send out veiled messages,we should, as individuals,mote crceiwiVsj ^e\^J\.\iv