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

Citizens find you _can fight city hall Both the George St. and Fountain St. resâ€" idents left Monday‘s meeting believing citizen participation does succeed at city hall John McMenemy of 91 Fountain St. preâ€" sented a modified proposal drawn up by the residents that showed four foot sidewalks and a two foot boulevard on the one side and a fourâ€"andâ€"aâ€"half foot sidewalk on the other. Council accepted this proposal but asked Mr. McMenemy to circulate a petiâ€" tion favoring the modification. He brought the petition back to council Monday and council agreed to proceed with the modifiâ€" cations subject to Ontario Municipal Board approval Residents of Fountain St.. another treeâ€" lined avenue in an older section of the city, also won their case for a modified street improvement Monday. The residents oriâ€" ginally came to council a week ago, requestâ€" ing that sidewalks on their street not be widened to five feet and that street widths remain at 25 feet. However, after walking the quiet street, city council voted Monday in committee to delete the project from this year‘s list of road improvements. A motion by Ald. Mary Jane Mewhinney asking the engineer The engineer had originally proposed new sidewalks, road base and curbs for the narrow, treeâ€"lined street that dates back to 1875. to determine how much sidewalks alone would cost was defeated. George St. residents living between Herâ€" bert St. and Willow St. told council Monday that progress, in the form of new sidewalks and pavement for their street, would not substantially improve it in their opinion. **We feel that basically we don‘t want a new street from our point of view and we don‘t need it. We like the crickety curbs," said Robert Irving, the group‘s spokesman. ~««â€"~ _ ~By Mary Stupart_ You can fight city hall. What‘s more, you can win the battle if you‘re properly prepared, take a calm and reasonable attitude and show your stance has a solid base of citizen support. Adherence to these guidelines has spelled success for two community groups in reâ€" cent weeks who sought to have road imâ€" provements dropped from the city‘s plans in one case and modified in another. The fact that Waterloo has no fire bylaw incorporating the National Fire Code first emerged publicly in March when a series of Chronicle articles showed the city‘s fire department had been asking for one for 10 years. The words were the fire chief‘s but they seemed to sum up council‘s attitude towards the bylaw. The motion to adopt it failed to elicit any discussion and only a few general quesâ€" tions were directed at the fire chief. Mayor Herb Epp, an outspoken critic who has questioned the need for a bylaw, was absent Monday because he was attending a conference. Another councillor who has privately expressed doubts about the need for the bylaw was silent during Monday‘s meeting when the bylaw was unanimously adopted. â€" However, before the bylaw becomes law, it must still clear the hurdle of winning majority support next week during third reading. By Mary Stupart Like a man feeling uncomfortable in a new suit of clothes, council committee Monday agreed, to "try a fire bylaw incorporating the National Fire Code on for size and see how it works." bues in Cenit. Waterloo Historical Society i 2£7, 1977 Waterloo, Onta Museum comp, Mn weunesday, Ap « Kitchener Public Library, ies tatinhentiiee ts ts 1e hi h MBA A . Queen Street North, 4 KITCHENER, Ont, , Fire bylaw wins first app W»os wA c rva s % 122nd Year No. 17 waterioo chronicle ; Waterloo city hall and council chambers seem to be under the influence of a giant pyramid in this photograph of Marsland Centre. Howeve:, this affect won‘t last long. The metal pyramid will disappear when the Waterloo Square expansion is completed sometime this summer. PYRAMID POWER? Wednesday, April 27, 1977 Without a bylaw incorporating the code, trying to enforce standards in existing buildings ‘‘is a hatâ€"inâ€"hand policy," said Guelph‘s Fire Prevention Chief Harry Greene in an interview in March. And Kitchener‘s Fire Prevention Chief Gerry Beckner said then that Kitchener‘s enforcement of standards for existing buildings through a fire bylaw made that city a safer place to live than Waterloo. All fire prevention officers in the cities that had the byâ€" law agreed it was necessary to quickly enforce minimum fire safety standards in existing buildings. At the present time Waterloo has only the Ontario Building Code which sets down standards in new buildings and several fire houseâ€" keeping bylaws. Interviews with Waterloo‘s Fire Chief John Staller and Ontario Fire Marshal John Bateman in March showed that both men recommended having a fire bylaw on the books. And a survey of Southâ€"Western Ontario cities showed that Kitchener adopted the bylaw in 1963, Guelph in 1967, Scarâ€" borough in 1970 and Cambridge before amalgamation. Few councillors asked any questions about the fire bylaw The bylaw presented Monday sets down standards and regulations for existing and future townhouses, row house units, lowrise apartments and commercial and industrial buildings. It gives the fire prevention department the auâ€" thority to order all existing buildings containing residential occupancy to have product of combustion smoke detectors instailed except for single family dwellings and apartments over three stories with fire alarm systems. Under the bylaw‘s authority, fire prevention officers can also force installation of a second means of exit from any floor in buildings where sleeping accommodations are proâ€" vided. This does not apply to single family units. Second (Continued on page 7) In response to a question from Ald. Mary Jane Mewhinney Monday about the retroactiveness of the bylaw, Chief John Staller said the bylaw would apply to all existing buildings in the city except single family units. ‘‘This bylaw will strengthen anything we have with existâ€" ing_ buildings and hopefully things will be better," he said. Monday but all had received copies of the National Fire Code to read prior to the meeting. she said she will probably vote to petition the province for regional authority to fluoriâ€" date water. Ald. Carroll said she is torn between voting for fluoridation for the Region, something she believes strongly in because of her nursing training, and voting to proâ€" tect Waterloo‘s best interests. However. Waterloo council generally agreed Monâ€" day to support fluoridation of the Region‘s water but not at the expense of Waterloo. However, Ald. Carroll expressed grave fears that a ‘"no‘‘ vote in a plebiscite could deprive Waterloo citizens of fluoridated water, something they have enjoyed for about 10 years. thority â€"to: flupridateâ€"water â€"for the ~whole region. If the province grants this request, fluoridation for the whole region could be achieved either by a regional council vote or a regionâ€"wide plebiscite. She doesn‘t think a plebiscite should be held for a healthâ€"related issue because most voters aren‘t adequately informed about the issues. However, she says about oneâ€" third of regional councillors have said they favor a plebiscite. However, a further catch is that to fluoriâ€" date water for the whole Region, the Reâ€" gion of Waterloo has to gain provincial permission to be designated a municipality under the fluoridation act. It can‘t fluoridate water on its own beâ€" cause under the act which set up regional government, all authority over water now belongs to the Region. § We could lose our fluoride A move by the Region to gain authority to fluoridate water could inadvertently jJeopardize Waterloo‘s right to keep fluoriâ€" dated water council learned Monday. Regional councillior Marjorie Carroll said the Region will vote Thursday on yhefixe_r to ask the province to grant it auâ€" The fluoridation issue first surfaced when Kitchener councillors expressed an interest to fluoridate that city‘s water. Chatter Box, a column about people and places, takes a look at promising young gymâ€" nast Patti Jo Knorr on page 4. WCI wins the CWOSSA gym title again. For a story and picture turn to page 16.