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itizens frustrated with the answers coming out of the RIM Park inquiry, which resumes this week, can have their own questions asked by members of a citizen's coalition which has taken up their cause. Robert Fleming, a member of that coalition, said he's heard a lot of frustration from local citizens since the inquiry started in Sep- tember. and one of the biggest gripes is the inability to get their questions answered. Fleming said they feel the lawyers of the various parties involved are dominating the pro- ceedings, and protecting their clients' interests, versus trying to get at the truth of what happened in the deal gone wrong. Coalition ask questions at RIM Park inquiry on citizens' behalf [l "n2NN2fh'r',"frrTTh Mi?)' 'L","-"] I c LTj_orFt'i', www dllllit'ii com PAGE ti, _ MIN) Waterlo,o, _., He’s checking his list _ __" . '," "pt 'e tllrC,,C__,)alll,1 MNttatr-arG!Etrnr.Se resrdents were treated to a host of r ' o _ '.r, " "., - A - 'gr.T.tr! and bands before the guest of honour himself . _ F ' 1. _ Santa NE.tK made ID. grand entrance during the annual q f f Twm "air, Jaycees Santa Claus Parade Saturday morning . a ' I V 'illillltlllll "e-, _- ' 'cetrt N c-------, ------- V -r----- d "r - _ = .3 , / ' ft I Irei It "s, .3 T T , ' I _ A _ ,i'\ “3‘7". () JAYCEES * a "J. ., "N » ___..).,., 'to tt.iaiiiit a». til Li' ' " T 3‘ u. » 'iigllGliliiaii Tlaal I A . _ t 5 " , Lr-Ar Cl J-" l " 'ttlt l . . lllllllllleiSallll gil" .. llltULall . . .. _"""' ‘ " _ - c-At" _ a“, F91 , L" ' _ "sts' _ kh _ 'g" ' _ [ (e-. yr J H Z l T" ‘ a PF ¥ ' r “~41 .2 l 'ic, _ T "r, tri' a: a: w "r.- ~ 'll " . t "s" C i " ‘Q. " _ . _ a: ,1 Ci a ' a 'ji?" g, y Ce . " a ,5 x tr, ' . 'd (x " ' ,4». 5,': _ _ 'Nr" "NI! ' - w fir" 's% . 1rti.q C, a " "N . " ' t I; a - e", w: - t A' ( ' I it . ii. ' . "csc-"' ' - \ I Kitchener-Waterloo residents were tr'eated to a host of floats and bands before the guest of honour himself Santa Claus made his grand entrance, during the annual Twin City Jaycees Santa Claus Parade Saturday morning. Br Boa VllBANAC Chronicle Staff Fleming wants local citizens to know they have standing at the inquiry through the citizen's coali- tion, and the public can submit their questions to the coalition that also includes Paul Berger and Barry Macowmack. "The public should be up there, they have a right to be up there and they can be up there." said Fleming "lust because you havent been called to the bar doesn't mean you can't think "That will really empower the community. So many people think that you have to be a lawyer to be good at this - you don't." The three members of the coalition in fact have no special legal training -- two are indepen- dent business owners and one is an employee of the federal govem- ment. They just have been closely following the paper trail that went into to the deal that saw the financing costs balloon up to $227 million before the city negotiated a settlement for $145 million to be paid out over the next 31 years "You don't need to be a lawyer to get into this inquiry room," said Fleming, a local renovator when not sitting in on the inquiry. "It would be pretty hypocritical if it was the only way." "You don't need to be a lawyer to get into this inquiry room. It would be pretty w' hypocriticatifit was the only way. " - Ruben Reining Citizens coalition member The coalition pushed hard to get public representation at the inquiry to ensure there was some public accountability in the process, and that citizens had a voice in finding out what went wrong. Fleming said the group's motivation is not to affix blame so much as it to make sure that something like the RIM Park financing problems can't happen "We want the inquiry to come up with recommendations to put whatever is necessary in place to ensure that the citizens arent let down like this again," he said. "That's what this is about, and that's what the citizens who want questions answered have to understand. "This inquiry is not set to affix blame. it is to discern what hap- pened. And once they understand that they can put questions to the witnesses, they can help get to the crux of that," Fleming said the biggest mis- conception the coalition has had to fight since gaining standing at the inquiry is that it's looking for the heads of the people involved in adding $33 million more to the city's debt load. "There are people who believe that as a result of this inquiry peo- ple can and may be fired - that's absolutely false," he said. "You can't have any negative repercus- sions to someone's employment with the city as a result of the inquiry. "The kind of questions we ask are not to demean someone or tale them to the ground - they are questions of merit or discovery. We have to listen to what they say before we can draw an opinion."