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Selby serves as a great reminder Pesticide bylaw‘s another cash grab hristmas is just afound the ‘ corner, and many people are in a giving mood lopping the list, however. may be Eimira resident and businessâ€" man Jeff Selby., who was willing to give up a week of his lite â€" and put off his honevmoon â€" to sleep in an old. rickety Mennonite buggy in front of the Sobey‘s grocery store at Columbia Street and Fischerâ€"Hallâ€" man Road. Because of his good deed. Selby‘s mug has been all over the news this week. including on the front page of this edition of the Waterloo Chroniâ€" cle. mug has been all over the news this Why would anyone go through week. including on the front page of _ such a test of strength and intestiâ€" this edition of the Waterloo Chroniâ€" _ nal fortitude? cle. Selby‘s explanation is simple. No one can believe this person, When he was in dire straits last who‘s had littile more than a sleepâ€" _ YeaL, the generosity of others was en examining the region‘s W;rnpnwd pesticide ban, one should take into conâ€" sideration that pesticides will still be a legal product sold in Ontario. His plight is to raise $20.000 tor the Food Bank of Waterioo Region. How exactly does the region plan to stop people from purchasing pesticides and putting them on the lawn themseives? Would that not be more dangerâ€" ous since the lawnâ€"care companies are better trained to do the job than the general public? Thankfully. our society. culture and political systems have pro gressed and these archaic obser vances are now only present in his tory textbooks However, we have not evolved to the point that equal rights reign supreme in Canada In my opmion the government should not. under any crreum stances. have the power to dictate who can marry whom If the goa ernment can say who | can marr\, they might as well tell me what to eat for dinner. what program to tune mto tonight and how to part my hair next week I m not trving to purposely attack the regions ban on pesticides but this is certainly something to think about The whole idea of a petmit to use pesticides if your lawn needs it is just another cash grab tor the region to waste on projects such as nce up a time women were Onnl allowed to vote. black people had to sit at the back of the bus. and homosexuals were kept in the closet Wwith the recent Supreme Court hearing into contentious constitu tonal issues surrounding same sex marriage. I find it impossible to flip through the television channels without being bombarded by over beaning ‘experts‘ forcing their hard line views on me Brady Bunch days are long gone [ am saddened to admit my 2kE‘ t CHRO ing bag and some blankets protectâ€" ing him from winter‘s fury this week, is willing to go to such lengths for his fellow man. The cold air has turned his face bright red. his teeth are constantly chattering, and he could barely lift his hand when the Chronicle offered him a hot chocolate to warm up during his first day at his post. the airport and light rail: projects that benefit only a handful of the population and not the majority. There have been moments. Selby‘s admitted, when shoppers walk by and stare, wondering if he‘s even alive. The region is sending a mixed message in regards to the environâ€" ment. The amount of people in our region consuming our well water is damaging our well water supply, yet the region is still refusing to speed up a pipeline to Lake Huron which is a better source of water than the one we have now. They are also supporting the new Highway 7 expressway, when the some $130 million could go towards improving existing roads on the Kitchenerâ€"Guelph corridor. G(O Transit expansion and upgrades to the Grand River transit system throughout the region. wiews are not that of a vast majority. Recently. I glanced at the Globe and Mail‘s online opinion poll to find that a startling 49 per cent of the 19.117 votes cast were in favour of the institution of marniage heing reserved only for a man and wOman o me, this narrowâ€"minded attrâ€" tude is unacceptable and I am not even a gayâ€" rights advocate. Never theless, if there is one thing 1 strongly betieve in, it is equality | question why the 49 per cent of respondents in the poll voted against same sex marriage. Do they honestly believe that everyone is the same? Do they think because they are heterosexual, everyone else should be too? I dare them to put themselves n the shoes of a homosexual for just one moment and imagine how it would feel to find their soulmate, only to be told by the government their relationship does not meet the standards. therefore, is not warthy of legal recognition Opponents of gay wedlock can be found actoss the country. Cur SIX CHRONICL] his saving grace. Paying it forward. he decided to help make the holiday season a litâ€" tle happier â€" and a lot more filling â€" for hungry folks in the communiâ€" ty. "I know it‘s the right thing to do," Selby said. If the GO train went from the GTA along a corridor through Guelph, Cambridge {Hespeler}, Kitchener, and Waterloo, that could take many commuters off the existâ€" ing Highway 7. Many of us are guilty of walking by the bins at local grocery stores that are set up to collect food for the poor, or passing by the Salvation Army kettles that collect money for the needy at most area malls. For some of us it‘s greed, for others it‘s just plain laziness. We all can surely take a lesson or two from Selby, especially at this time of year. Selby‘s act of kindness serves as a great reminder of our own duties as caring citizens. As ridership increases they could eventually switch to all day GO serâ€" vice which would take the place of the light rail. and would be tied into an upgraded Grand River Transit system. _ The region should stop being twoâ€"faced and actually practise what they preach. But who came up with the definâ€" ition of "family" anyhow? Most of the families I know do not meet the ideal of a mom, dad, son and daughter living together in domestic bliss. Add to those qualifi cations a dog and a white preket fence and no one I know fits the bill. rently, less than half of Canada‘s provinces and territories support sameâ€"sex marriages. And some groups. like the Catholic church. are concerned about the implications for the family if and when sameâ€"sex marriage is accepted natiopwide. In this, the 21st century, it is time for evervone to accept that families are changing. Now dad is seldom the only breadwinner, and mom is not always the bread baker. And who really cares about bread any way? 1 think all anyone can hope for is a supportive family the Brady Bunch is a thing of the past Nicholas Ermeta Cambridge Julie Ormston Waterloo t appears that beginning next vear the city will have a new I(‘hlvl administrative officer at the helm. Simon Farbrother comes to Waterloo via Spruce Grove, Alta., a city of 18000 people outside of Edmonton. Mr. harbrother has spent seven years in Spruce Grove, including the last two years as the CAO, One of his major accomplishments was the successful completion of a multiâ€" use recreational complex. He seems like a solid choice for the city, but he will undoubtedly have some challenges as he adjusts to a much more complex organization than the one he was just running. With hundreds of employees, a budget of $60 million, plus two universities, Mr. Farhrother will have his work cut out for him. 1 suggest one of his first tasks will be to restore the morale of city employees through positive leadership and trust. This will be the building block for all other accomplishments. He will also need to assess his senior management team, recognize the talent in place and find new talent where required. Interestingly enough the City of Toronto just comâ€" pleted this type of exercise and a task force has recommended a complete changing of the guard in the senior ranks of the administration. Toronto is also toying with the idea of comâ€" pletely eliminating the position of CAO and has the top departâ€" mental officials {commissioners) report directly to council. I think for a city our size, a good and competent CAO is still required; and 1 ./ also think that the City of Waterloo has | S [RI([\[ \ y some great people on staff. ladinbk h Hopefully the combination of leadâ€" ership, stability, and a few minor changes will be just the tonic city staff requires. Good luck, Mr. Farbrother. To reâ€"zone or not to reâ€"zone Whenever a city council wants to change the zoning of an undeveloped piece of land within an already develâ€" oped area, you can expect lots of opposition. "Infill" developments are controâ€" versial regardless of what the plans are because the surrounding neighbourâ€" hood has become accustomed to livâ€" ing around and close to open space. Several years ago the local council was faced with a sinmilar situation when the school board wanted to sell a couple of parcels of "surplus" land. These large greenspaces were purchased by the school board years ago for the possible construction of new schools. The school board eventually determined that the land wasn‘t required for a new school and the surrounding neighbourhood was the beneficiary of having a large greenspace for recreation and walking the dog. When the schaol hoard decided to sell the land for a housâ€" ing development and use the money to help build a school in another neighbourhood., the council chambers were packed with people who did not want new houses in "their green space". Eventually the developer and the neighbourhood repreâ€" sentatives were able to work something out that appeased the neighbours and helped preserve their property values. In fact, the addition of the newer homes helped increase the value of the older homes in the same neighbourhood. In the end. some green space was preserved and the development proceeded. Living close to a shopping centre is a little different than having 30 new haomes added to the neighbouthaad. The pace and ambience of the neighbourhood will change dramatically with a large increase in car traffic, truck tratfic, pedestrians and nolse Lrom the city‘s perspective, a new store means more jobs for local residents and more tax revenue. Taking a piece of land that has been vacant for so Jong and converting it into a large commercial enterprise will mean millions of dollars in proper iv taxes over the next 30 years a scenano which is pretiv hard for a cashâ€"strapped municipality to pass up Lither way. city council is in a tough spot with this one and hopefully Loblaws and the neighbours can come to some agreement on site design before it comes back to council next spring Admittedly the neighbours close to Weber and King Streets have different concerns since the proposal calls for a large shopping centre If not. council may have to choose between supparting the developer by saving yes to the project, or support the neigh bourhood by saying no. Whichever way council goes, it is likely that the losing side will take this to the Ontario Municipal Board on appeal. Stay tuned t mail your questions/comments to sean@seanstrick land.com Hail to the new chief