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WATERLOO CHRONICLE nun Banal wan-J tursirirrt Mung" Publisher: ot Bosveld 8841-2830 Fax: 88ti-9383 brmarr wehronicleesentexmet The Waterloo (,hmmtlr wetcomes letters In the Editor They Would be slgned wllh name. address and phone num her and wlll be verified lnr am: racy No unslgned letters will be published Submissions may he coined for length. so please be brief Copyright in letters and when materials submitted lo the Publisher and accepted tor publiuuon remains ~1an author. but the publisher and "is. licensee: may freely reproduce them in Pont. electronic or other forms Our mailing address Is 75 King St ‘o T Suite 20t . Walerlm N2) IPZ. our p, mall address Is Wmuandmu fax number n 80579381 Letters Policy " King St. South, Suite 20t Waterloo. Ontario N21 1P2 (amlyn Artstet (ltculllion Manage- The Waledoo Chromcie n puhllshed every Wednesday by The llama ay Gro up. a leISIOII of Southern thttario Communory Newspapers Inc., a deviston of Southam Publscatrons, a (thesl Company: 'I‘he Views ot our coiumists are the" own and do not necessanly represent those of the newspaper, Inlrmauunal Sundald serial Nurrslrer ISSN O832-34 IO Angie: Barley [.erry Man-cc Rel-II Salts Lal Busveld \ul ma I W. a Advertising (midi-n Puhllallum Matt bales Product Agreerneru Number 136379 Puhliiher Audued ctrculauurr, 26.056 HmHavml Adam-mug“; Inn] t hum"! LUssined Mun-gel ma 'ME 'alt gm ME f.."-' ---.-' [r-," Mung" Deborah L .randall tan or Svlvla tr' I lunnc " hm Alexander Director ol Adm kin; Bob Vrbanac Sports Fditor a." Karges Aenisiettr Aerysum 8. ls there some sort of tax loophole hem? Certainly not for the city This deal was ethical and legal from Watedoo's per- spective. And as those two criteria are met, I don't have a prob- lem with iL This deal is also in the best interests of the taxpar on To put it in terms the average homeowner can relate to, a $100,000 mortgage al 7.25 per cent over 25 years requires monthly payments of $7228 I, and will ultimately (ml Sl 16.842 in interest. A similar mortgage at 4 73 percent will ml those payments to 568.97 and mdure thermal rnlemsl paid to STO,690, SI Why are the mayor and some councillors now saying they are rethinking their decisions? It beats me. All councillors were enthusiastically behind the deal to borrow the money at 4.73 per cent, They had lots of opportunities m question staff members And the vote to go ahead with the plan was unani. mous. Councillors are elected to get things done for the City In the most efficient and mst-effective way. Decisions have to be made without the benefit of hindsight. And when a decision is made, after much thought and deliberation, councillors should have the guts to stick by that decbion Ila decision is subsequently proved wrong, then councillors should admit the mistake, correctwhatcanbeoonectedandmovealong Ultimately, the City of Waterloo is goirg to have the best sports and recreation facility around. We should be proud of this, and overlook the sniping second-guessing and "heada:hes" this huge project generates now, months atterthe votes were counted and the documents signed. Thank goodnas it isnt Record txiuriinists and editorial writes Moan: mspmtsibleforgrtting thingsdona “kid be liv» ing in mud huts, and the roofs would be thatched with consul- 4. How did the city determine how much to spend on the park? l After various studies were pre- pared, a figure of $56 million was set and city staff was told not to exceed that amount Some things had to be scaled back or reduced in scope, but the total costs came in l on target. The city also set a target of$7 million to be raised hom the community This has now been exceeded 5. How did the city calculate the costs of operating the park? The City's sports and facilities staff prepared a business plan, setting out what we could expect to receive in revenues from such things as the golf course and facilities rentals These plans are prepared all the time as pan of the city's normal budgetary procedures so we can set tax rates. The RIM plan showed that property taxes would be needed in the amount of about $13 million annually to subsidize the park's operation. To cover this. $400,000 annually was added to the base budget for each of the next three years, eliminating the need to boost taxes rapidly in the year the park opened. 6. What happens if revenues from the park dont meet pro- iections? lt can happen. A rainy summer can play havoc with golf revenues, for example. Should revenues fail to meet lar- gets, either costs must be reduced or taxes increased, um com- bination of the two, to cover the shortfall. 7. Was a golf course needed? Golf courses make money. pum and simple. And with a growing (and agmg) population, Walerloo region will never have too many to meet the demand. 3 Why didn't the my Issue debentures for the money? We could have issued debentures and --rge- paid about 72rper-cent interest. ‘ V _ .- . i but when a company came along 3 ME lar ll that offered to loan us the moneyat COL” NINIST ‘ 473 per cent, we went for that ‘ ‘ option, Ask any homeowner with a "a i mongige if he or she would mind a“ set : saving 2.5 per cent. * sidhi 1. Was there a need for a new sports facility in Waterioo? There certainly was TWO years ago. a study was done in con- sultation with the City of Kitchener and local sports groups to identify and forecast their various recreation needs and requirements The study conduded that facilities were already inadequate. and if the city ofWatedoo was going to try to meet future needs it had to build NOW. 2. Could the city pay outridtt for those costs? No. The city had to bonow the money, just as it borrows money for other facilities, and just as homeowners take on mortgages to buy their homes. amsorryifChrlstianAagaard'sheadlsadunguvetmeRlM I5,ii5i'iiifi" butlassurehimthatitisaselrint1icted wound that will go away following a liberal application of information. For the benefit oangaard and the Records editorial writers, here are some pertinent questions and answers Mhkh could easilyhavebeenashedandansweredlast year) thashoukiput them at ease. RIM questions and answers VIEWPOINT So he's satisned, but no one has men- tioned yet where the brunt ofthe decision will fall. It's on me, much, How am I supposed to write a weekly column with no region- al struggle to wax whimsical about? Or for you has it already seemed too long? I suppose it depends on your defim ition of eternity To me eternity is the sec- ond hour of a Kitchener Rangers game. Big Shuttle: One senator has quit the Republicans and George Bush is in for a tough time as president. What a switch! One explanation is that Dubya was just too insolem to Senator Jim leftorQs. Yes sir! Dubya has followed the Ten With Hodgson's decree. a lot of amazing things have come to light. For one, Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig, now that a stand-alone city has been ruled out, was after all a big fan ofthe region. Try this on for size; "What we can do now is Mop bring crit- ical of a system that works well _ because we are one of the strongest economic grow- mg areas in the country - and start work on building communities". But here we are, en route to a smgle city and told we'll go nowhere without unanimity In the meantime we'll he overgoverned with the extra expense inherent mllB, therein FT The Tempest over? Whoops! I swal- lowed my bubblegum when Muncipal Affairs Minister Chris Hodgson said that local reform is kaput. or, l0 quote Regional Chairman Ken Selling. the province has abandoned the region, It's hard to use a more flattering word because the region has been led up the garden path. Presumably Queen's Park thickened our when mergers and amal- gamations in other parts gained mostly criticism. oops! Ottawa is probing the Wnancing of RIM Park with an eye on the lease arrangement that's too much for we average mathema- gicians to understand. Let's hope the deal passes muster. Otherwise. next year when each cuuncil- lor gets a copy of the budget. it'll have a tin Exp attached. Let's hope RIM deal passes muster "lurNItll SAN DY BAIRD The accused will sob and vow to go straight, and so the sentence will be min- imal. And once again you wonder what a life is worth these days. Not much, if you leave it to a young hoodlum and his knife to decide. Wrangle Jungle: The Canadian Alliance wrangle goes on with Stockwell Day still front and centre in the continu- ing hey-rube. and the average voter is screaming "Enough already! Enough!" You’H Have to admit thodgh tha/hay is _dtripittely, a loser. He, one: got apamvcut unwrapping a Band-Aid. DY What also gels you IS the RD way youths accused In stab, bings almost always manage to have teary-eyed relatives to attest how fundamentally kind the young thugs really are, Police have to be looking for a coward- ly bunch of creeps Any pack of dun-wil- ted bows, which attacks as a mob while armed with knives, has io he yellower than a field of dandelion; What's got into the younger SCI these days? Back when l was young _ and stupid we always fought Bh% Pd in approxi.miyely even num- _ bers and fists were the TIY ‘ weapons of choice. Commandments all his life, never caught up with we”: _ Police are looking into local gangs which are apparently more common than folks believed. The Slingers, a predomi- nantly white gang with a record of vio- lence, is the focus. Cutting Edge: Police are investigat- ing a gang as responsible for the stabbing death of a Kitchener man. the second K-W man fatally kniled in the last two months. The latest killing, in which a second youth was also knifed. came after dozens of youths mobbed them. The attackers, mostly white youths, then casually walked away. ' mun PHI " " um " to. SIDE!!!” um "tttil - o “If" s A (:le or nut-ans s AN N” F' EH“)! pl K Not that I was involved in that many gang rights. but there were a few. And the idea of packing a knife would have struck us as unreal. Say. you have to wonder where the parents are. Surely they must realize that a blade isn't a fashion accessory even in these informal times, FK