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| LETTERS TO THE CHRONICLE egional council blinked last R:,\’ednesday by deferring a ecision to put an express bus route through an at risk uptown neighbourhood. And although regional councilâ€" lors chided their Waterloo counterâ€" parts for calling the Albert Street and Central Street neighbourhoods "at risk," perhaps they wouldn‘t be so quick to judge if they lived, drove or walked in those affected neighâ€" bourhoods during peak traffic times. Ramming a fully stuffed Grand River Transit bus right down the throats of staff and students of Macâ€" Gregor senior public school would have made an already dicey traffic Green Acre Park worries are still real ur local papers have quieted Odown about this matter for the last few months, but conâ€" cern, worry and stress for those directly involved is constantly very real. The way Jim Bolger, Jan d‘Ailly, Mark Whaley and others on Waterâ€" loo city council are intimidating these Park residents makes my blood boil. This is just another prime examâ€" ple of bureaucrats flexing their political muscles on a vulnerable group of our society in order to enforce a few flimsy bylaws that have been ignored for years. I have discussed this subject with several acquaintances for months, and all but one feel the same way. Here is a small group of elderly folks with limited means nestled by the outskirts of the city, living comâ€" fortably, disturbing no one, doing no harm, living quietly, tidily, and ecently, Prime Minister Paul Rzlanin expressed clearly the eed to make a fundamental change for those subsisting on less than a dollar a day. Speaking on the issue he remarked: "I‘m going to tell you I am not going to leave that to my children â€" nor to yours," according to Marcus Gee‘s article of Jan. 26, 2005 in the Globe and Mail. Halving global poverty was a goal (to be reached by 2015) set by the United Nations and the world‘s richest countries five years ago. In addition, a commitment was made to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.7 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP}. Sadly, Canada has not conâ€" tributed at this level since 1950. The closest Canada came was in 1993 when the Liberal government set foreign aid dollars at 0.44 per cent of the GDP. Bus service has to respect neighbours Canada could do more for global poverty Canada currently contributes a meager 0.29 per cent (only 29 cents on every $100 of GDP}. The current minister of International Cooperaâ€" tion. Aileen Carroll, has said that CHRONICLE EDIT( The proposed bus plan will also work contrary to traffic calming measures that already exist on Albert Street, as well as future meaâ€" sures Waterloo city council might look at. The ability to cross the already too busy Albert Street would become even more dangerous for the kids at MacGregor, and the bigâ€" ger kids down the road at Wilfrid Laurier University. * Leave empty garbage pails and blue boxes at the curb for days? situation all the more difficult It would also work against the work the city is doing in terms of student accommodation in this already hardâ€"hit neighbourhood, and cause long time residents to throw up their hands in their conâ€" * Stagger down streets after bar hours, hollering and screaming, pushing over mailboxes, breaking trees, signs and phone boxes? * Leave lawns and weeds uncut, leaves unraked? * Leave sidewalks unshoveled in winter? __* Discard huge piles of broken furniture and mounds of garbage? * Litter the streets with unbunâ€" dled, recyclable material? * Drive noisy sport cars at excesâ€" sive speeds in residential areas? * Clog streets and sidewalks with parked cars? Canada is unlikely to meet any of the stated Millennium Developâ€" ment Goals (MDGs)} until 2200, nearly two centuries after the initial goal. Paul Martin says he will not ignore the poorest of the world‘s poor â€" I for one hope that Mr. Marâ€" tin has something concrete in mind.* respectfully. Do these park residents conduct themselves in the following manâ€" ner: * Steal lawn furniture, hanging plants, lights, etc.? _ o *« Hold very noisy, all night, neighbourhood drinking parties? Prime Minister Martin says he cares. His campaign team selected U2‘s front man, Bono, for 2003 Libâ€" eral leadership convention. Bono spoke of HIVâ€"AIDS in Africa. He spoke of developing nations strugâ€" gling under the burden of enorâ€" mous debts and interest payments to first world nations. Bono then asked Mr. Martin to lead Canada in meeting our obligations as the "lucky few". A year later, nothing has changed. When will Prime Minister Martin and his government begin working to meet the Millennium Developâ€" ment goals by the original target date of 2015? In a recent letter to Mr. Martin, 1 asked if he is ready to lead the COMMENT UNHNEBI WA ERLOO CHRONICLE That‘s why regional staff have to listen to concerns raised by the Waterloo Region District school board, Waterloo council and the citâ€" izens affected. Any homeowners living within a large radius of our universities know the group of our society I am describing here. Lots of them are living below city codes, and breakâ€" ing noise laws and speed limits. If council is concerned about our resâ€" idential areas being invaded, it has done nothing to correct this mess. Where is your big strong arm here? Mayor (Herb) Epp and council, shake your heads several times, look beyond the park and get on with serious business. tinuing fight to preserve their areas from encroaching student housing and problems with vandalism and public drunkeness. There‘s always been a concern that regional government isn‘t as responsive to neighbourhood issues as the lower tier. It‘s great to have a bigâ€"picture approach to planning in Waterloo Region, but it shouldn‘t come at the cost of the neighbourhoods. * Trash their living quarters just to be macho? What‘s the difference if these people must leave their park homes for two months? The structures are still there with all their belongings unattended, uncared for and unprotected! Would you? There are better options out there which will have less impact. nation in meeting our goals and obligations as a rich and prosperâ€" ous nation. Now I ask Mr. Martin and his government to prove to Canadians that Canada is indeed home to the 0.7 per cent solution to eradicating extreme poverty set by Lester Pearson in the 1960s. Millions of people in our global community suffer chronic disease and starvation every day. The prime minister has said that he is ready. Under his leadership, Canada must be steadfast in fightâ€" ing global poverty â€" it is not about keeping a promise only to ourselves but it is about keeping a promise to the poorest people on our shared Earth. If we as a nation value equality and global justice, we must work to achieve the Millennium Developâ€" ment goals. Harold Shantz Waterloo Paul Cescon Waterloo Imusl contfess, 1 am not too surprised the local library board and Waterloo city council recently endorsed a plan that rules out sharing a new main facility with the City of Kitchener. The library will instead focus on improving services at the main branch, and building an improved branch system to include branches on the east and west side of the city. The recent report was silent of its future, but 1 sincerely hope the library board and council don‘t close down an existâ€" ing resource in an established neighbourhood because they want to meet the demands of the suburbs. Overall, an improved branch system makes sense; but I can‘t help but wonder if our municipalities in the Region of Waterloo will ever find the wisdom to collaborate in meaningful ways when the opportunity arises. The chance to cooperate with Kitchener and build a brand new shared facility won‘t come along again for probably another 40 or 50 years. Regional councillors and regional staff made the right move and deferred a decision on the routing of an express bus through uptown Waterloo. All sarcasm aside, Toronto is the principal economic engine of the province and the country, and because of its size and demographics, it certainly has some unique challenges. Incidentally, I thought the library board and Waterloo counâ€" cil made an error last term when they had a chance to add a branch onto the new Sir John A. MacDonald high school at Erbsville Road and Laurelwood Drive. The school board actually invited the partnership, and for some strange reason the council of the day turned it down. Similarly 1 hope another error is not made with respect to the future of the Lakeshore branch at Albert McCormick Comâ€" munity Centre. Any money spent on an improved branch system should, and indeed must, include improving the branch facility in Lakeshore. Hopefully by then the library will be one system across both citiesâ€" dare I say region â€" and the sharing of facilities will be a moot point. Express bus hits a speed bump The issue will come back to regionâ€" al council on March 23, and hopefully between now and then staff will have a chance to reconsider their position and put the bus back onto the arterial routes of University Avenue and King Based on the number of eâ€"mails and comments I have received on this one, it seems uptown residents, and residents in general, are struggling to understand the rationale of putting an express bus on Central and Albert Streets; especially when you consider the amount of money the region just spent to widen and improve King Street and University Avenue, and also widen and improve Columbia Street. Regional staff and councillors are to be commended for being flexible enough to give the route another look. But what is lost in all of this hubris is the fact that Toronto‘s approximately $85 million shortfall in their budget is because they refuse to raise their taxes more than three per cent. If municipalities across the province have to raise taxes more than three per cent to balance their budget, why not Toronto? Uptown residents and others are also to be commended for approaching the issue in a reasonable and wellâ€"articulated fashion. Hogtown blues Year after year, before amalgamation and post amalgamaâ€" tion, the City of Toronto cries the blues all the way to Queen‘s Park and beyond. They complain about how much money they generate in income taxes for the province and the country, and â€" do you hear me sobbing â€" how little they get in return. Cry me a river when property taxes in Waterloo are going up by 6.88 per cent and regional taxes over seven per cent (with transit equalization}. Hopefully a politician somewhere will stop unfairly subsiâ€" dizing them with money from people outside of Toronto â€" like the citizens of Waterloo, who are facing tax increases much greater than the rate of inflation. Don‘t be surprised if staff present council with an option that does not include uptown streets when it comes back on March 23. But then again, "it ain‘t over till it‘s over". Stay tuned. Eâ€"mail your questions/comments to sean@seanstrickâ€" land.com Library turns the page