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Thrrv told m:- that thvv couldn't do anything about " hm auw " is within the rights of pnlpl'rtv (Minors Weeks ago I called the city and the regional staff to protest against the cutting of mature olm trees; at the boarder between the Lutheran Retirement Facility at I00 Allen fit F. . in Waterloo. and the railroad tracks Further in the article. Mr. Amos said, "They as owners have the right to do what they're doing." Scott Amos. the city's interim director of development services. said that the city sent a no'ice to WCFAC members that close In 500 trees will he cut down from a wood- lot in Waterloo to make way for a parking lot for Research In Motion (RIM) on their Bearinger Road property, but WHEN. did not respond. s a member of the Waterloo ACilm-ns Environmental Advi, sory committee [WCEALJ I would like to respond lo the article in the Record on Saturday. Nov 20. 2004, titled "Few object as 500 trees come down for parking IN." Here's another Waterloo kill" ttt deal I am stupefied that once again. we are not in control of the employ- ment contract enough to insist that that is a "condition of hire". not an option that one can decline. that a probation period will he In place. od Why bother to Itptttttttt nowadays? Yet it was passion with reason, respecting the contributions all of the candidates. from Freder Canadian passion for the finalists was equal tty any of those other coun- tries â€" you could tell by the numbers who tuned in and talked about in at the water cooler. Or by the passionate defence mounted hy the advo- tales chosen on the nom- inees' behalfs. Or more likely, ifs only Canada that could hold such a contest and came up with a candidate after similar competitions in England and other C0trn- tries inspired the threat of real violence if they didn't pull the plug. Just who is the greatest Canadian? vrhaps mil} the (Bl Pctluld launch a UOI1- test trying In figure out who is the greatest Canadian and still draw a national audience In answer this cultural conundrum. " we have a new (N) in Water. 'loo, without a probationary peri- I thought only poiiticiiins were lt also proves Canadi- ans can have their moments of whimsy when Don Cherry can make the top IO, with a passionate plea mounted by wrestler Bret "The Hit- And a one-legged run- ner from Vancouver named Terry Fox, who started a Marathon oi Hope to beat cancer. can finish a close second. What a pity, you say? It proves that Canadi- ans can be inspired by grand vision and grand visionaries like Pierre Trudeau and Lester B. Pearson. who also fin- ished in the top six, ick Bunting IU Wayne Gretzky. made to our col- lective psyche. But only inCanada. yuru say. can a social reformer who pioneered our modern health-care s) Mem. lommy Douglas. win the competition. LETTER Sure. that left the Only now we are running out of woodan and at the same time WP are experiencing more and more had an days awry wan The Iaxpaying citizens expect lo, al gowrnments In be able and willing to make the Iogjral runner mm hetween these trends and to It is true that in our present socioeconomic system parking lots fetch a much higher financial value than woodlots. It seems that more often than nm municipal administrators and politicians like to apply the Pontius Pilate strategy washing their hands of any "spomsibitity related to (midi ronmental degradation, meanwhile the public does no! protest. A couple of years ago. I made a presentation at the regional council against the cutting of old-growth trees in the Westmount Golf Club. Surely enough. councillors unani- mously approved the cutting In our region there is no Protec- non for mature trees, even for the cndangered elm tree. within a pri- vale property. We can't afford to change our mind again, but taking a test drive. is not too high of a bar to have in place, even a three-12 month test hired so succinctly that we are stuck with them after an election, not city employees. no matter what their position. Another Waterloo kind of deal. is what comes to mind, m an any tree they like. COMMENT We all talk about how hockey is a unifying force. But in the end, the candidates represented the diversity of Canada, and the different interests we share. And as with all things done over the Internet these days. there was the potential for abuse when a disc jockey from Win- nipeg made the top Mk ln Cherry?, defence. he encouraged everyone who was thinking about voting for him to throw all their support behind Sir. John A. MacDonald. Canada‘s founding father, Or the fact that no women made it to the top 10 in place of Cherry and others. even though pea ple like Nellie McClung were just as deserving. whole exercise open to criticism. especially since David Suzuki. who fin, ished fifth, was the only Canadian minority repre- sented. DITORLM RONICL] People do nm have many ilhr sions nowadays, the city staff in Watedoo did no! intend to stop the clear cutting of the RIM woodlm regardless of any objection from anybody outside the sorinrrnr nnmlr estattlishment Therefore why bother In protest? The proponents and beneticiar ries of this kind of development have huge advantages over ordinary people, including access, lobbying and financial power in the realm of local government. They should not expect from some "usual suspects" within our communities to keep banging their heads against the walls of business - as usual municipal fortress It takes a lot of time. energy and emotional stress for a citizen to challenge or protest against the proliferation of environmentally destructive projects act accordingly in order to protect their titizms' health. drive in the case of a senior posi- tion, to ensure the fit and then worry about the raises It is not the CAO's problem. it seems to be Waterloo's idea of a That's because, in Canada. we spend a lot of time talking about who we should be, instead of who we are. And it's only fitting the top two winners appealed to the better angels in all of us. It also recovered the lost stature of some, like MacDonald and the way he started this country on its distinct journey. While it was a made- for-TN event. the contest got enough of us talking about these historical fig- ures and their place of honour in the annals of this country Or that science and progress was represented by the likes of Banting. Alexander Graham Bell and Suzuki. Nevermind the nation- building done by Trudeau and Pearson so was it a surprise to tiod two hockey people in the top 10? IudyGwenwood-Speels Wattrino Waterloo F. mail your seao0.searstricuand.rom Ok. I stand corrected this isn't really privatizing the park. hut it comes pretty close. In some ways if this goes ahead. it is even worse. Ptunk some people at the top of an organizational chart. who malty operate outside of the organization but give direr, tion to people within the organization. and you are asking for trouble. Also. why would the city hire more people to manage the park and increase the operating cost of the park at the same time? Much better to work with the team you have in place, and already budgeted for. change their focus. give them some leadership and go out and get the job done, Hopefully Greg Romanirk, interim director of recreation and leisure services. will he given the authority by council to sttrcessfully market and manage RIM Part on his terms. as directed by council Ihrs is the wav it shotdd he What the committee did recommend is spending money to form a team of 3.5 people to manage and promote the park. Essentially a dedicated marketing team, which. incidentally. would circumnavigate regular staff and report directly to Court- cil. These salaried personnel would also work on a sales com- mixsion basis. In their model this would generate a net "profit" of 314.000 in 20t6 and 30711)!) in 2006. Aroseisarose,isarose A couple of weeks back, I commented on the proposal from the RIM Park advisory committee to privatize RIM Park Thanks to Donn. Ian Maclean. who pointed out privatizing the park wasnt really an option, the committee did not make this rer- ommendation. City staff did yeoman service recently when a watermain broke and boil water advisory was issued for the west side of Waterloo Staff members worked after hours and on the week. end to deliver the notices and deserve a vote of thanks The communication system. however. was imperfect since many people don't check their mailboxes on the weekend and unless they caught a local media report remained unaware of the advisory. Maybe in the future the city and the region can pur- chase a software program that will send out a voicemail mes- sage to households who need to boil their water. This would be a small investment which would improve the public's aware- ness when their health may be at risk. mg. "Ptease come to visit us. our city is a drive-thm free community". People will drive there in droves Boil-water advisory Besides we all know it is healthier to get out of our car and walk into the coffee shop. and my own experience tells me that this method is quicker sometimes. Hopefully common sense will carry the day on this one. For more enthusi, astic 9ties I can picture their market, Going forward. area councils would be wise to consider limiting the num- ber of drive-thrus and paying more attention to site design so that when a new drive-mm is constructed it fits in with the neighbourhood and does not unnecessarily impede pedestrians, I can see myself turning my car off and on six to eight times in a drive-thru line waiting for a coffee as a transport truck goes flying by, billowing reams of black smoke into the air, Suggest- ing that we ban all drive-thrus as a way to combat air pollution is ludicrous, air pollution needs to be dealt with in a much broader and meaningful context (ex. closing or converting our coal fired electricity generators is a start. it is only a short 45- minute drive south to Nanticoke on lake Erie which is one of the worst -i_-t polluters in North America.) That's why. from both an environmental and tramc safety perspective. it makes sense for area municipalities to consider limiting the number of drive-thrus that are allowed to be con- structed, If, as some have suggested. we force cars to turn their ignitions off and on in the drive-thru lane, area politicians will have their council chambers packed with delegations of drive- thru enthusiasts who will in short order show how ridiculous the idea is. am a strong proponent of progressive legislation that pro- Items our environment and reduces our exposure to environ mental hazards Smoking bylaws. pesticide byiaws. pollution controls. and recycling initiatives all make good sense if they are drafted and implemented in a reasonable fashion. one green tea, and turn your car all please ques"onslt ammonia In