Dear Editor:
Thank you for your Dec. 1 story highlighting the fate of the Flamborough Head stern at the North Vancouver waterfront, following city council's decision in secret to dismantle and dispose of that asset.
We also applaud your editorial, Rust in Peace, calling for more effort by council to preserve this "piece of history" and for public input on the matter. We firmly believe that decisions by elected officials on a community's heritage assets should involve public consultation and a transparent process, especially when large sums of taxpayer money are at stake. This is simply a matter of good governance.
What other options were available? Was it really cheaper to spend $250,000 destroying the stern? Who wanted the stern removed? What does the community want? What did councillors think of the plan? These and many other legitimate questions are brushed aside when decisions are made "in camera."
Plans to make the shipyards area a testament to North Vancouver's maritime heritage have been steadily eroded over the years. Five years ago, council hastily decided to overturn its own heritage protection and allow the demolition of three heritage shipyard buildings, as part of a "sacrifice" that would allow the proposed National Maritime Centre to proceed. That centre, of course, was never built.
Our society believes council must adopt a more coherent approach to this issue, instead of making a series of ad hoc decisions. That approach could start with a clear, public commitment to retaining two other heritage assets as a permanent feature of the waterfront: the restored yellow crane and the PGE railway station building.
We believe that such heritage artifacts are an important cultural and historical asset that should be integrated into future development of the area. Their retention and integration into the development of the Lower Lonsdale area would have many positive consequences: leveraging additional reinvestment in the Lower Lonsdale community and economy, attracting more local visitors and tourists, and creating an area with real identity and "sense of place."
The community has been assured on a number of occasions that the North Vancouver waterfront would embody a maritime theme encompassing the remaining heritage structures. Council should honour that commitment.
Peter Miller, president,
North Shore Heritage Preservation Society
