2 THE DAILY VOICE, TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012 EDITOR DEVON MACKENZIE ews & features Marine thefts up The Lower Mainland sees a huge spike in marine theft in three months By CLAYTON PATERSON in the first three months of 2012, boat owners in the Lower Main- land are being urged by police to take extra precautions in securing their property. On Jan. 5, Vancouver police arrested 43-year-old Frank Cutajar for allegedly stealing over $10,000 in marine and fishing equipment from marinas in the Lower Mainland. The arrest happened as Cutajar was caught leaving a marina with stolen equipment. The arrest eventually lead police to a property in Richmond where they discovered 10 outboard motors and a generator that Cutajar allegedly sold on Craigslist. Cutajar is a marine mechanic by trade, formerly working out of M&P Mercury in Burnaby, and is alleged to have used these credentials to con- vince online buyers that he was a repu- table seller. “[Cutajar] conned the people by say- ing he had fixed the engines himself and that’s why it was such a good deal,” said Vancouver Police Det. Phil Ens. The investigation into the marine thefts is being conducted by a joint taskforce of the VPD auto crime en- forcement unit, the Vancouver police marine unit, the North Vancouver RCMP and the West Vancouver police special operations team. According to Ens, it is one of their biggest investigations in some time. Local boat owners agree marine theft plagues the Lower Mainland’s marinas. “Marine theft is a problem that’s been an issue for a long time,” said Benjamin Rummen, a local boat owner. “Most marinas have posters of people who are banned because they’ve been caught stealing before.” Many marinas in the Lower Main- land are now stressing the importance of protecting personal property to boaters. “The best thing to do is have an alarm system on your boat,” said John Short, president of Vancouver Marina. Short also recommended that any valuables left onboard be either locked up or kept out of sight. Police are urging any prospective buyers of used marine equipment to check serial numbers against the data- base at www.stolenboats.ca to see if it has been reported missing. “Anyone who might have purchased equipment from [Cutajar] can also con- tact me at (604) 717-2842,” said Ens. “We can check the serial numbers and try to get your money back through retribution.” A« marine thefts rose to $300,000 DANA BOWEN photo Mayor Gregor Robertson samples some of the fare from the Soho Road food truck located outside of Vancouver City Hall. On Monday, Robertson announced the 12 new food carts that will grace Vancouver’s streets starting May 1. Food carts take off 12 new food carts will hit downtown streets on May I By DANA BOWEN e top picks for the 12 new food carts that will grace Vancouver’s streets were announced by May- or Gregor Robertson Monday. Robertson announced the new addi- tions to the city’s street vendor fleet, which will join the existing 91 carts in Vancouver, during a press conference at city hall. The new carts will include flavours from the Ukraine, Thailand and India. Existing street vendors say the com- petitive food cart selection program is a hit, and that the prescence of high- quality food carts attract visitors to the city. “TThe program] already has a lot of excitement,” said Leila Harris of Ka- boom Box. “People come here from out of town just to experience this.” The city is also starting a one-year pilot program in three parks — Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park and the Burrard marina at Vanier Park — to see how park-goers react to having food vendors in green spaces. “Tm excited to see what creative and innovative food and cart ideas will come forward,” said Vancouver Park Board Chair, Constance Barnes. “I’m looking forward to having them on our green space.” However, there have been concerns voiced that the increased number of food carts will affect restaurants. Ian Tostenson, president of the Brit- ish Columbia Restaurant and Foodser- vices Association, said he feels there are too many carts now that there will be over 100. “Imagine if you just kept licensing taxi cabs. At some point, nobody’s go- ing to make any economic return,” Tostenson told CTV News. Robertson said that the vendors will be placed around the city in a way so as not to affect restaurants’ business. “What we found is most people real- ly enjoy being able to eat quickly on the street, and it is a very different con- sumer from those who are eating at the restaurants and cafés,» he said. The mayor also announced that over the next two years a total of 30 more vendors will go out on the streets. Af- ter that, the program’s popularity will be assessed. The 12 new food vendors will roll out downtown starting May 1. Tips for keeping tips A complaint to the B.C. Employment Standards Branch warns servers about the rules of tipping By MICHELLE GAMAGE recent complaint filed with B.C.’s PR eenesmen Standards Branch as brought attention to the fact that restaurant servers may not be keeping all their hard-earned tips. According to a story released by CBC on Monday, Charlotte Zesati, who briefly worked for Black & Blue Steak- house owned by the Glowbal Group, is filing the complaint because she says she didn’t receive the full amount of her tips earned on a busy night. So what do students looking for a summer job in the service industry need to know about tipping proce- dures? The reality is that managers in the service industry break no laws if they force servers to share 10 per cent of their tips. This is because there is only one law in B.C. that regulates tips, which states tips cannot go towards business costs. This rule means customers who leave without paying or dishes that get accidentally broken are not the finan- cial responsibility of the server. However, tip pools can be set up in an establishment where a set amount of a server’s tips get pooled and then distributed to other staff members such as cooks, dishwashers and man- agers. When managers get involved in the gratuity process, federal taxes are acti- vated and CPP and EI are collected from the income. But if a head server organizes the pool, taxes can be avoid- ed. Baristas at Turk’s on the Drive, a cof- fee house on Commercial Drive, keep all of the bonus cash they earn or split it evenly if more than one person is working. “In the service industry not all serv- ers or bartenders or baristas have the same skills or put in the same amount of effort,” said barista Justin Barrett. “It’s a pretty simple relationship I have with the customer. If they think I have done a good job then they give mea tip. It doesn’t need any meddling.” Brendan Wooldridge, the first cook at the Hurricane Grill in Yaletown, dis- agrees. He said tip pools are necessary when you work in a restaurant. “People tip based on service, but they also do it based on the quality of food,” said Wooldridge. “So if the food is high quality then people tip better, the servers get tipped better. This is why cooks deserve a cut of the pool.” Avoiding surprise tip sharing is sim- ple, said Jessie Uppal, director of the B.C. Federation of Labour, who recom- mends simply getting it all in writing. “Ask specifically if there is a tip out agreement and make sure to reconfirm all information when being hired. Get your wage in writing, even if it is just in an email,” urged Uppal. TIP info WHAT IS ILLEGAL? Servers cannot be asked to cover business expenses and/or costs WHAT YOU SHOULD DO Make sure to get all the information about what the company’s tipping procedures are in writing, Source: Jessie Uppal, B.C. Federation of Labour