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4 4 _ Waterioo Chronicle, Wednesday, July 25, 1973 Had he stayed on we would have been able to tell just how much effect the new commussioner post would have on his department. The effect would have been evident in his reports to council. Dear Editor :\ The ratepayers in the City of Waterloo have lost an excellent employee and Don Scott will be leaving behind a formidable history of coâ€"operation and assistâ€" ance in his capacity as Chief Planner. . He was always willing to try to find viable answers to difficult quesâ€" tions. He gave straight, imâ€" partial answers even if these were unpopular to Mr. Scott, chief planner of Waterloo for the past year and a half resigned July 16 followâ€" ing the announcement of the establishing of a commissioner of planning and works. one or more of the City Administration, the Deâ€" velopers or the Ratepayers. The only guide residents had to éstablish wheâ€" ther or not the new position would change things in the city was in the form of Don Scott. Members of the Downtown Residents Association began to realize just how unimportant planning is in the eyes of the aldermen at a public meeting this spring, when we learnâ€" ed of the wideâ€"open zoning situation that prevails in much of the area surrounding the downtown business section: a true friend of the people in the resignation of Mr. Don Scott. There has already been dissatisfaction exâ€" pressed by some residents that the city has been treating the planning department as a junâ€" ior one. The reâ€"organization of the engineering department to swallow the planning department was obviously only the last straw for the planner, and if some aldermen were surâ€" prised at that, they obviously are totally oblivious to their job and its responsibilities. â€" The move to place the planning department under the engineering department is another indication that this present council places little importance on the planning function. (We should add that nothing said here should be taken as criticism of the new city engineer, Jim Willis. The criticism is directed at council). The residents of Waterloo may never know what the actual effect of the recently estabâ€" lished post of commissioner of planning and works will have on the planning department. Whether in practice this is actually the case, will never be known. Civil servants must live a frustrated life. Despite their knowledge in the field they are trained for they must accept the decisions of politicians â€" the people‘s representatives often have little background in the field of engineering or planning. * The recent appointment has only seemed to amplify the fact that planning is not one of the top ranking departments on the priority list of the city. In principle, the new commissioner will only be acting as an overseer of planning, leavâ€" ing the function of the department unaffected. The Downtowners The resignation of Don Scott as the city‘s planner came as no surprise to members of the‘Downtown Residents Association, who have witnessed firstâ€"hand the frustraâ€" tions resulting from City Council‘s attitude toward the planning department. How will we know effect? _ The surprising thing, perhaps, was the surprise professed by some aldermen when Scott‘s resignation was received. But the work of the city continues. Waterloo will continue to grow and civil servants who reâ€" fuse to become political puppets will come and go. Why the Scott resignation? SCATTERING THOUGHTS The fact that dozens of acres of land occupied by wellâ€" Planning is very important His approach was not poâ€" litical and he did not give the citizens. the *‘‘*Royal Shuffle" which unfortunâ€" ately so often occurs in matâ€" ters of planning and muâ€" nicipal development. Why did Don Scott leave? Did he object to the quesâ€" tionable reâ€"organization of the Planning Department under the City Engineer? Has council placed planâ€" ning high enough on its list of priorities? _ (Does one Plan then Engineer or Engineer then Plan? ) He always provided satisâ€" factory answers and stood behind his convictions. Most of all, let us hope that City Council takes a second look at their attitude toward planning in general, listens to what citizens are saying about their community and acts accordingly instead of succumbing to the blandishments of developers. Let us also hope that City Council gives him the tools to work withâ€"an adequate staff that can devote a significant amount of time to preserving and improving the character of the city and not just to processing subdivisions. Is there an element of proâ€" tectionism and/or power building within our Municiâ€" pal Administration? _ Did this resignationh have birth from â€" frustration in his abortive attempts to reâ€" solve with council the green and park areas of Lakeâ€" shore Village not to menâ€" tion other matters of conâ€" cern? As soon as my Dad reâ€" ceived his hometown weekâ€" It should be one of the highest priorities of the new planâ€" ner which the city intends to hire, instead of devoting his time to bending over backwards to developers of shopping centres and other manifestations of ‘""progress." While we regret the departure of Don Scottâ€"and wish him well in his new jobâ€"we should turn our attention to his successor. Let us hope that City Council hires a planner of some stature and experience, someone capable of looking at the longâ€"term effects of growth on the city and someone who will listen to the people who presently live in Waterloo and feel strongly about its future. When I was young and igâ€" norant and life was forever, nothing bored me more than ‘"‘old people" talking so much about death. It is the opinion of the writ er _ that an independent. maintained houses on quiet streets can be transformed inâ€" to high rise apartments and other forms of multiple housâ€" ing is appalling and should be corrected as soon as possible. But then again is Don Scott simply moving to greener pastures?® Only Don Scott knows the real reaâ€" Bill Smiley BOY!.. . THERE‘S NOTING LIKE ROUGHING !1 ! Intimations 11 Smiley e of morality ly paper, he would flip to the obituaries and read them to my mother, interspersâ€" ing the printed word with comments about the deâ€" qualified, â€" and~ effective Planning â€" Department is essential to sound municipal planning and development. Time will tell if this counâ€" cil made a mistake. In conclusion the writer wishes to express his sinâ€" cere regrets at the loss of Don Scott to this comâ€" munity. _ I am confident, however that his fine perâ€" formance will be carried forward into his new posiâ€" tion in the fortunate comâ€" munity that has recently enâ€" gaged his services. Often the latter was a disâ€" miley , Yours truly. Robert Beausoleil Published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a division of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Record Ltd. 225 Fairway Rd., S., Kitâ€" chener. Ontario. Address correspondence to Waterloo Square, Waterloo, Ont. Telephone 744â€"6364. Joe E. Brown. The name means nothing to young people today.. But it recallâ€" ed for me Saturday afterâ€" noon at the matinee, almost falling out of my seat from laughing at the antics of this great clown. Betty Grable. She was never much of an actress, but she was a great Hollyâ€" I am not about to start reading obituaries as a regâ€" ular preâ€"dinner treat, but I did read three lately, with a sense of almost personal loss, though I didn‘t know any of the three ‘"involved"‘, if that‘s the word. Now that I am old and not quite so ignorant and realize the brevity of our stay, I can understand. It wasn‘t a morbidity on my father‘s part. It was an interest in. and awareness of, the fact that death comes for us all, even for the archbishop. He knew it was closing in on his generation, quietly but reâ€" lentlessly. I couldn‘t imagine why my mother could be bothered listening. _ She didn‘t, of course. She was much too busy bustling around, cookâ€" ing or sewing or doing a wash. But she pretended to, and would drop in the occaâ€" sional comment or correct him on a date. tant cousin, or someone father had gone to school with or someone he‘d work: ed for as a boy. He‘d recall where the dead person had lived, what he‘d done and some of his peculiarities. In Canada: one year $8; in United States and Foreign countries: one year $10 SUBSCRIPTION RATES ESTABLISHED 1854 Wendy Herman, editor No, I don‘t want to be young again. It‘s too hard on a chap. I‘m saving what‘s left for my grandchildren. We‘ll walk on the beach, and in the woods. And I‘ll answer, from my pinnacle of ignorance, all those imâ€" possible questions kids a And when I‘m stuck, , say. "Go and ask your graif nie." Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory? It‘s great to be getâ€" ting old. Well, . anyway. older. i wood personality, in the days when there were such creatures. Pinâ€"up girl of the western world before the centreâ€"page, allâ€"nude foldâ€" out was dreamed of. Veronica Lake. Fell half in love with her when I saw her first movie. She conâ€" trived to look sexy and sinâ€" ful in the days before biâ€" kinis and braâ€"less bosoms. Brown was an old man. But Grable and Lake were in their fifties, forgotten by the world but not exactly doddering. Each had a disâ€" tinguishing specialty. Joe E. Brown had a mouth about the size of half a waâ€" ter melon. Gable had legs that inspired an innocent sort of lust at a time when an ugly, exposed navel would have been just that. Lake wore long, blonde hair over one eye. Half the girls in town went around halfâ€" blind trying to emulate her hairâ€"do.