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Bettering seniors‘ rental situation That‘s what you may think, sir. I don‘t sigh; I groan. But it‘s the only game in town, and it‘s controlled by the politicians. My only available response is to cut back on my use of electricity. Mr. Carrothers, P.Eng., goes on. His figures are based on Statsâ€"Can: Price increases in per cent increases. Electricity Fruit and A reader, W. Ross Carrothers of Waterâ€" loo, Ont., takes me to task for a recent column in which I expressed my unhappiâ€" ness, and that of thousands of others, I‘m sure, with The Bell‘s ubiquitous requests for rate increases. He says, in part: ‘"Your article certainly showed you didn‘t do your homework on that one. Perhaps you‘ll be good enough to write an article on the Hydro rates next. They seem to slip by you with nary a (Canada) . :...:...............~ $4.0 O.K. Let‘s take them one at a time, A sampting of rentail accommodaâ€" tion in Waterioo shows that there are still some medium high rise buildings with elevators and good facilities in which rents for one bedroom apartments range from $240 to $260 per month. ~ Mr. Thompson, the housing manâ€" ager, (578â€"2860), stated that at this time only four applications remain on file. There may be many who qualify for this help who are either unaware of it or pride may deter them from seeking such assistance. Parkwood Manor, a United Church project, is a private senior citizen‘s residence. A flat rate is charged whether one is entirely independent or requires partial , care. Private resources would be necessary to afford this wellâ€"run home. The across the board $500 Ontaria~ property tax rebate seems to have created more problems than it solved. Blanket handâ€"outs merely send the affluent laughing to the bank and do little or nothing to aid those in real need, besides putting COMMENTARY These usually have a waiting list and are still too expensive for single seniors with no private income. In the walkâ€"up type of apartment with few or no facilities, rents for one bedroom apartments range from $194 to $240 a month Again the vacancy rate is small. and 20 units in privately owned dwellings where the rental suppleâ€" ment programme is in effect. From the GAINS as of April 1 for a single pensioner without other resources, the monthly rent under Ontario Housing would be $93 with a sliding scale in effect of up to 25 percent of a resident‘s income. The residential qualification is one year anywhere in Ontario. For those who require subsidized housing, there are 61 units in the Regina Street apartment building The\ following is a BILL SMILEY increases, 124 3) housing coâ€"operatives using the skills of retirees or near retirees to remodel centrally located homes for group homes which would provide private rooms with shared living faâ€" cilities. 2) public housing with rents geared to need â€" a system which goes against free enterprise and is open to abuse as evidenced in Great Britain. 4) planned communities for all ages â€" small communities of homes with two to four bedrooms with selfâ€"contained units for seniors inâ€" terspersed, and with some central facilities such as a preâ€"school centre where grandmothers and nonâ€"workâ€" ing mothers could share partâ€"time babysitting to augment their inâ€" comes and keep in touch with the living future. Segregation of seniors in large high rise buildings is unnatural and unhealthy. Life is a continuum. Everyone can be of use and have a place in a good community. It has been suggested recently that those spending more than 30 percent of their income for ghelter may be afforded some reliel. Perâ€" centage solutions are rarely equitaâ€" ble. Increases in staple foods, enâ€" ergy, transport, telephone, etc. are in absolute terms not percentages. The cost of a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a litre of heating fuel rises alike for rich and poor. Any reasonable system must take into account what is left after shelter costs. Surely in this comâ€" puter age a sliding scale can be calculated which will enable all to live adequately in a country with such abundant resources? Amelioration of the burden of accommodation costs might be posâ€" sible through: an unnecessary burden on taxpayâ€" 1) negative taxation based on the above premise of a minimum need beyond shelter costs. though it seems my correspondent is using the argument that two wrongs make a right, or two blacks a white. Electricity increases are the result of the usual bungling when a utility is controlled by government. During the ten years mentioned, Hydro spent millions of dollars in advertising, trying to persuade us to use "cheap" electricfi' for everyâ€" thing from heating homes to buying new appliances to using an electric toothbrush. They were practically flegging this cheap energy. Bum guesses and faulty prognosticaâ€" tions tell us one minute that electricity is practically free, it‘s so plentiful, and the next that we might start having ‘"brownâ€" outs"" because of shortages. And all the while jacking up the rates to cover the boo boos of previous prophets on everything from nuclear power plants to projected usage of power, often away out of whack. But man, it‘s a comfortable way to operate, with no competition, and always the government shoulder to cry on, taxpayers‘ â€"money to subsidize, if necesâ€" sary, and politicians to cover up and explain away. _ â€" We could go back to the oil lamp, the wood stove, and a chunk of ice in the Inflation‘s a household word I woke up, still bamboozled as to the outcome and so I‘m afraid I can‘t predict the outcome of the June 8 plebiscite by way of somnolent preâ€" monition. Then the Waterloo Project committee â€" as it calls itself â€" will begin a fundâ€"raising drive to collect something in the order of $100,000. After that, proposals for the contraption â€" to be erected in front of Labatt‘s on King St. â€" will be sent to a technical committee for final adjudication on June 4. You know, that sounds like a heck of a lot of money to build a glorified cuckoo clock, or whatever it will be. And, in the meantime, I‘ll keep practising. Now ... yes means, ah... no, no means... (etc.). Selection of a winning entry for design of a steam clockâ€"timeteller â€" or watchamadinger â€" begins in earnest this Monday as officials meet to class the entries into ‘"good, and not so In any event, my curiosity to know the outcome was stymied as this wave of confusion suddfinly overcame me. Did he say 200 votes for the yes side, or was it no side? ,‘?B;nd, hold it ... doés no mean yes or does yes mean no? I mean, who‘s won? 1 set my mind to work, clarifying the matâ€" ter. Let‘s see now ... yes means no, I‘m not in favor of fluoridation and no means yes, I‘m in favor of it. is that right? Just a minute ... what was the question again? 1 had a dream the other night about, of all things, the fluoridation plebiscite. It was one of the few humorous interludes in this otherwise serious affair. 1 was in this hall and somebody was announcing the final vote tally as alH eagerly awaited the referendum result. The announcer had something like 200 people voting one way and about 30 voting another. (Not many people voted in my dream). What does it all mean? Somebody must be feeling a bit silly about difference. But I can still buy a quart of strawberries for 50 cents, if I pick them myself. Next, fruit and vegetables. That‘s easy. We had them at bargain rates for years because their producers used the nearest thing. to slave labor: foreign workers, migrants, the very poor. Now these people, with some organization and help from genuine liberals, are making something approaching a decent wage. We pay the We are hooked into an electrical circuit that heats us, lights us, cooks for us, and entertains us, audially and visually. It‘s our own fault. But, even accounting for inflation, hydro prices have risen ridiâ€" culously, and really hurt people on fixed incomes and those in rural areas. I‘d guess that half of that 10â€"year increase is due to bungling and botching. â€" Once again, I must be fair, as I was with Bell. Our hydro is remarkably efficient, still cheap according to world standards, but expensive considering our resources. iceâ€"box. But with the price of oil and wood, and the unavailability of coal and ice (because hydro practically forced their purveyors out of business) there doesn‘t seem much point. Gasoline? We are hogs, burning it as WA TERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY . MAY 20, 1981 â€" PAGE 7 PHILIP JALSEVAC For my part, l can‘t get too excited about putting a clock in the downtown city park, even: if it is steamâ€"powered. I know it‘s somewhat of a sacred cow in these parts, but Oktoberfest has never been my cup of tea, or stein of beer, if you‘ll accept the exâ€" pression. And now the driving forces behind this great cultural affair want to foist a $100,000 cuckoo clock or thingamajig on us. I‘ve another gripe and I can‘t think of any good reason for writing about this, other than that the fancy strikes me and I‘ve run out of other column ideas at this point. I was watching the boob tube the other day and noticed a commercial about how a national company is getting more into sponsoring minor sports teams. the whole exercise That‘s cute, but 100 grand can buy a lot more than hot air and the same information I can get by looking at my wristwatch. Perhaps my feelings stem from my attitude towards Oktoberfest, one of the prime instigaâ€" tors of the whatchamadinger movement. Some inventor out there had better have a pretty imaginative mind to make it all worthâ€" while. You‘d think they‘d give the kids a break. There must be some way of getting the corporate plug without having to plaster it all over the team uniforms and using it in the name. The young hockey players on the telly had the company name emblazoned all over the front of their shirts. And I thought of how crass this whole business of sponsoring teams is, when the team has to be known by the name of the company that sponsors it. You know, the Frank‘s Meat Shop Cutâ€"ups versus the Friendly Auto Body Bangers. Or Superior Appliances versus Joe‘s Used Cars. Sure, it‘s a lot of fun, but 1 can only take so much beer, pretzels, yodelling and polkas. 1 mean, how would you like to play for Murphy‘s Muffiers? though it were going out of style. Which it is. We‘ve been warned by experts that it is a nonâ€"renewable form of energy, then told by politicians that there was no foreseeâ€" able shortage, then panicked by other politicians. But don‘t try to tie me and the Arabs and Ma Bell into one neat package. Rail? Sure. More government bungling and botching and patching over the years, and now a desperate attempt to recoup some of the billions of our money used as subsidies for the CN. CP was smart enough to get into other things and make money. ,But don‘t forget where they got all that free land in the first place. > Canada. Don‘t hold your breath, sir. Not a pretty picture, but I didn‘t start out, in that other column, to analyze the economy. J merely pointed out that as a good corporate citizen which has a nearâ€" monopoly, Bell could show a little reâ€" straint, and not be running to the Transâ€" port Commission every couple of years for an increase, which it was doing long before inflation became a household word. apology to the telephone companies of As for the etc‘s, they could be anything. I know for damsure that my salary hasn‘t gone up 120 or 140 per cent in 10 years. Mr. Carrothers is waiting to read my