The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 6 West Vancouver Historical Society November 2001 FEATURE PRESENTATION REPORT By: Anne Vemon Out of the Past and Into the Present: The Historian's Roie in the Community Recently retired SFU Historian, Professor Rod Day, has a long record of service in the West Vancouver community. Planning, design, the preservation of our parks and green spaces are some of the sections of the community which have received dedicated input from Rod. The following article can only give a taste of what was a most interesting talk to our members. "Why bother with the study of history?" was the question asked by Prof. Emer. Rod Day when he addressed his audience at the September meeting. Well there are many reasons. The first, and probably the most important one, is to learn from past mistakes, although Hegel said "The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn anything from history." (Think of Hitler invading Russia although he must have been familiar with Napoleon's Russian experience.) So why study history? Firstly, past happenings should alert us on how to deal with the present under similar circumstances. Secondly, the past can help us recognise an up-to-date situation which may be a repetition of past history. Thirdly, the past can help identify the habits of various racial groups and lead to greater understanding of human nature. In an ideal world this should help humanity progress in its stmggle for pafection. Twentieth and twenty-first century modem tools enable historians to produce deeper, more finely drawn pictures of the past from all parts of the globe. This knowledge has been used to distinguish long-held beliefs in myths and legends tfom actual history and it seems that we now have more accurate pictures of past world civilisations and their development than before. On a personal note. Rod Day then spoke of his experiences in municipal public service. He found that his training as a historian helped to clarity West Vancouver's needs in some ways, but not in others. His training had taught him to listen to all sides of an argument, to respect evidence instead of hearsay, to work hard, and above all, to be reasonable and fair to all parties concerned in whatever issue was placed before him. Rod has served as a WV councillor and as acting mayor and during his time has been deeply involved in a Growth Study for West Vancouver and in both the Parks Board and the Planning Commission. During this period he and his colleagues faced many challenges. At Taylor Way and Park Royal South the municipality owned a fairly large piece of land which seemed to have a limited value to the community. A competition was held and development plans for an apartment block (now in place) seemed to be the best offer, but there was a memendous groundswell of opposition which was a surprise to those on Council at the time. However, Council prevailed and the land was leased for 99 years for the sum of 8.5 million dollars (1988). An endowment fund was created, which had grown to 30 million by 2001 and a floor of 17 million dollars has always to be retained. Monies from the fund will pay for a good part of the western Recreation Centre, for renovations to the skating rink and the aquatic renovation of the community centre, new washrooms in Dundarave and Lawson Parks and renovations to the community centre on 22nd Street. Caulfeild Heritage Conservation Area, the Seaview Walk from Nelson Creek to the Gleneagles Corridor, the expansion of WV Public Library, the acquisition of Lawson House and setting up of the Museum & Archives and planning, planning and more planning have all flourished under Rod's attention and West Vancouvo" looks the better for it A/Mayor Rod Day with Gertrude Lawson. June 1987 PHOTO:Rod Day's archives West Vancouver was founded in 1912, which is not very long in the wider scheme of things, but we do have a history and it is worth preserving. We should always endeavour to preserve what is best in the past. West Vancouver Historical Society members care about the community's past, its present and its future. We are a community of volunteers and our volunteers have made all the difference to what happens to our community and neighbourhoods. If it had not been for so many of these hard-working people, this "beautiful place" would have been destroyed long ago. Rod ended by telling us that many interests want to "improve" our community, but although we must not oppose all change, we should work ceaselessly to preserve the beauty that is West Vancouver, its mountains and waterfront, its pedestrian orientation, and its village character. That is the heritage we want to preserve, that is our dream.