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886â€"2830 Fax: 886â€"9383 editorial@waterloochronicle.ca sales@waterloochronicle.ca composing@waterloochronicle.ca WATERLOO CHRONICLE The Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by the Fairway Group, owned by TDNG Inc., a subsidiary of Torstar Corp. other forms. Our mailing addresy is 75 King St S.. Suite 201. Waterloo N2J 1P2, out eâ€"mail address is editorial@waterloochronicle ca. and our fax number is 886â€"9383 The Watertoo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name. address and phone number and will be verified for accuracy No unsigned letters will be published Submissions may be edited for length. so please be brief Copyright in letters and other mateâ€" rials submitted to the Publisher and accepted for publication remains with the author. but the publisher and its licensees may freety repro duce them in print. electronic or The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper. Deb Duffield Gerry Mattice Girculation Retail Sales Manager, Manager, Ext. 225 Ext. 230 75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario N2J 1P2 Andrea Bailey _ Jean Van Volkenburg Reporter, Ext. 227 Circulation International Standard Senal Number Deborah Crandall Bob Vrbanac Editor, Ext. 215 _ Sports, Ext. 229 Sales, Ext. 223 Sales, Ext. 222 Norma (yea Fabienne Viemmix Letters Policy Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement Number 40050478 vmin Bartol Manager Sales, 6236617 circulation: 27.538 l)vuyfie Weidendorf Associate Publisher/ Group Sales Director ISSN 0832â€"3410 Audited Laurie Ridgway How many riders would it attract? Would it be packed at rush hours and empty through the day? How many stops would it have? If there are too many stops, it will be slow. If there aren‘t enough stops, it won‘t be convenient. If it‘s slow, it won‘t be used. If it‘s not convenient, it won‘t be used. The bus system isn‘t perfect. It needs more buses on the main runs and smaller (cheaper) buses on the feeder lines. It would be faster if there were special bus lanes. If it were faster it would be better used. I think the proposed rail system, which would "only" cost the region (us) about $90 million, owes more to the recent moves to decriminalize mariâ€" juana than to sensible transportation planning. When the province l CONNOLLY *I effectively walked away from being responsible for many Ontario highways, the responsibility for them devolved to municipalities and, fortunately, many organizations volunteered to "adopt" a stretch of road and pick up the trash. The answer? Education in the schools (which doesn‘t cost anything) is a good start, and charge litterbugs. And force contractors to do their jobs: a highway littered with garbage encourages other people to add their own. So much for litter. Eighty thousand is just a gum wrapper in the wind compared to the idea of a $270â€"million rail transit system between Fairview Park Mall and Conestoga Mall... a distance of 14 kilometres. We already have a convenient, although slow, system that connects malls. It‘s called a bus system. The region says the bylaw isn‘t used because it‘s difficult to enforce. So why have it on the books? Laws that are never enforced only encourage peoâ€" ple to scoff at all laws. If the bylaw was changed to make it easier to enforce, and a couple of dozen people were charged and forced to pay fines, word would get out and maybe litterbugs would change their evil ways. _ As for educating school children, it is not unheard of for pupils to pick up trash around their schools. Some recess, get all the kids to line up and do a litter pickâ€"up across the school yards. Educaâ€" tion that works! What the kids learn at school would spread, eventually, into the rest of _ _________________ the community, and peoâ€" | J ple who won‘t learn | GUEST would litter at their peril. ~ f ud For example, it would also COLUMNIST \| be nice if fast food outlets |f ® would clean up the trash | 2i around their properties, 6 tss | but the problem isn‘t the m * restaurants: it‘s the cusâ€" J tomers who litter. Fine _ |f | them! t | Another problem is our rural highway system, from Highway 401 to Highway 8 or 85 or whatâ€" ever they‘re called tg_d*y It seems to me, however, that the novelty of volâ€" unteering to pick up trash has worn off. Likewise, municipalities don‘t seem to be enthused about paying private contractors to keep things clean, or if they are, they aren‘t making sure theâ€"contractors are doing a good job. For one reason or another, trash isn‘t being picked up along highways. Weeds aren‘t being cut. Our highway system, which was once efficient and wellâ€"maintained, is beginning to look junky. The region, for example, wants to spend $80,000 to educate our youngsters about the evils of litterâ€" ing and to set up a task force to combat litterbugs. Now 1 don‘t often agree with The Record‘s Frank Etherington, and if I did start agreeing with him he‘d probably have to resign, but Etherington points out that we already have a littering bylaw under which litterbugs can be prosecuted. he more 1 read the newspapers, the more it I seems people are in an awful hurry to spend money. Not their money, of course. Our money. It‘s only money Continued on page 9 OuaFl COLUMNIST & . MIKE CONNOLLY > VIEWPOINT Wow! Pow! Holy Cow! You should have heard how the room erupted in cheers. The Freeport Bridge shut! Another bridge not to be Road‘s Scholar: Most of the community‘s motoring public are moaning that > this summer is the worst ever for detours that lead on endlessly, O NC roads ripped up, and workmen LIG chatting on street comers. J The most dramatic moment came just as minute before adjournment when a quiet voice announced that the Freeport Bridge would shut from now until at least then. And when you see the chaos on every fender you know how well the planning has The fourâ€"month old council with represenâ€" tatives of 20 neighbourhood associations could_play a worthwhile role in city operaâ€" tions. It could also play a damaging role by merely sniping at Waterloo council and offerâ€" ing nothing constructive. Above all, its memâ€" bers should remember that councillors will have a recent mandate from taxpayers. That is more than community council reps will have. Say, incidentally, isn‘t it about time we elected a plumber to Waterloo council? We have to do something about the money going down the drain. Roughly calculated, the disâ€" ruptions add a Ralfâ€"hour to the average 10â€"minute errand across town. Or more if the lights are against you. But traffic foulâ€"ups like those in Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo don‘t just happen. It takes planning, planâ€" ning, planning. Thus in a topâ€"secret lecture SA room in Toronto, the nonâ€"movers in the Kâ€"W traffic hash convened BA a month or so ago to see what ill they could do. Works and traffic department people were there, as the water, gas, sewer, phone and cable TV folks strutted their plans to make Kitchenerâ€"Waterioo impassable and impossible. _ Anyhow, you should have a look at the brighter side of things: Whenever a car is he dear old Canadian dollar has I slipped after hitting 75 cents at one point in a spectacular runâ€"up. Andae exporters can rub their hands in expectation of a further decline. X Marks the Spot: It‘s going to be quite a year for Waterloo politics what with the Sills report, the municipal election and the Waterâ€" loo community council. « Up until now they‘ve been tightening the cinches on their polo ponies. 20057 Kâ€"W is impassable and impossible IRONICLE | SANDY with any hankyâ€"panky. They had a retired judge to ride herd on bid mechanism. There are no complaints from the public, and such trivial things as a If the controls prove effective through the Olympics, it bodes well for a pureâ€"asâ€"pure muscles fiesta. And 1 love sports. Given the number of pros taking part, where else do you get the chance to boo a whole slew of millionaires to their faces? But Canadians, clearâ€"minded to the end, show how much they care for the UN and its lahâ€"deeâ€"dah rulings. . In a new survey an overwhelming majority of Canadians believe their quality of life is betâ€" ter than that of Americans. That runs contrary to the UN qualityâ€"ofâ€"life index which ranked the United States ahead of Canada. Take examples from our last two Olympics: In Montreal an administrator accepted a counâ€" try home from a contractor who DY poured concrete for the big RD show. In Calgary a ticket managâ€" er was convicted of fraud and theft for a scheme that could have netted him more than $2 million. And so it went for Canada‘s first two Olympics, but from the Left Coast comes word that the folks in charge aren‘t putting up plaintive query from the committee asking if it could use Telus phone service. _ Egad, we thought, it must have happened for some good reason. Maybe it was a shortage of good burgundy or a bad year for mushrooms. A thumping 89 per cent thinks Canada maintains a better quality of life than the United States. Eightyâ€"nine per cent! That‘s a percentage plus. So the UN can keep its fancyâ€"schmancy ratings. We‘ll make our own assessments. After all, a democâ€" IVER racy is a country in which everyâ€" NDRY one has an equal right to feel * superior to the citizens of any other nation. s Truth to tell, a lot of us thought it was a crock previously when this fair dominion was acclaimed as the best or second best. So we cared not a whit when it slipped to stolen it creates anodlé_r parking space. The Envelope, Please: So Canada has slipped to eighth place among the world‘s best places to live. So who cares? Not on the Take: Lately I voiced the hope that the 2010 Vancouver Olympics could be undertaken without a parade of scandals.