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Waterloo Mayor Marjorie Carroll gets ready to try her hand with a jackhamtner during the early stages of the downtown redevelopment construe- tion wdrk. Since she didn't have a hardhat or steel- reinforced boots. the mayor decided to leave that part orthe work to the construction workers at the site. Ontario Minister of Housing Claude Bennr‘tt (left) discusses the downtown revitalization project with Bruce Burns, the chairman of the Downtown Bu- siness Association, Mr. Bennett. in town to assist PC candidate Walter Tteessimiiartotttoaethatiirtedtttestreetinthei8tmand globe-type street lights that were still around in the early 1940s will be installed within the next five weeks. Bruce Bums, the chairman of the Downtown Business Asa _ sociation is optimistic that the beautification plan will at- . 'ir" , tract more shoppers to the King St. stores because of the tf'.." . leisurely atmosphere. However another downtown mer- l. 't. chant, Ed Bergman of Bergman Jewellers Ltd. is not so rt' sure shoppers will be that impressed by “new lights and a <3 ' few potted trees." 'tt f Claude Bennett, the Ontario minister of housing - visit- i, 5-3 ing Waterloo last Thursday to assist in Walter McLean's federal election campaign - disagreed with Mr. Bergman. . _'," e “If the trees and planters aren't going to make people come "i." j': to the area to spend more and stay a little longer, then why " ..; do mall owners spend millions planting full grown trees and IC" .3 installing fountains and waterfalls in, their malls? It all 'ici, 7 comes under the same heading of atmosphere." 'al BytttistimeneortmoetthpartofKingst. wiilhttveattew look that embodies some of the characteristics at earlier years in downtown Waterloo. The minister went on to explain that although he owns the mall where his office is located he still does his shopping in his local community stores because of the personal service he gets there. "And the parking is far worse than what you have here," he added. "You have to find a space on side streets, and the conservationists won't allow anything on their streets more than trees." Mr. Burns explained that as a local improvement the $85,000 project will be paid for jointly by the merchants, the city and the region, with no money coming from the provin- ce at this stage. The province's $3iFmiiiion downtown revitalization pro- gram has been enthusiastically taken up by communities across Ontario. according to Mr. Bennett, to the point where it is overspent. "We anticipate spending another $30- million," he said "but we have to wait until we have the money. There are applications pending from 16 communi- ties for downtown redevelopment funding." During recent budget meetings, Waterloo council passed a resolution to apply to the housing ministry for partial funding of a $20,000 detailed parking study of the downtown core. Mr. Bennett described the purpose of the revitalization program as one of stopping the proliferation of mall deve- lopment on the outskirts of established communities. "We want to give the small community merchants an oppor- tunity to compete on a fair footing» with the big mall chains," he said. . Minister praises , downtown improvement work B) Goo" Hoilo "-, / Chtonlcb mu MM ! McLean (far right) in his federal election campavgn, was joined by other local members of the PC party. The first workers on the site were members of the North Waterloo Hydro removing the street lights and poles. Wat-190 Overrun. t.tdrtmetrr, Mil as. "N ' ho- , ’u