Whitby Free Press, 23 Mar 1972, p. 8

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Page 8, Thursday, March 23, 1972, WHITBY FREE PRESS What this town Continuing with our pollcy of trying to find out what the people of Whitby want i n town, the WHITBY FREE PRESS asked people around town this week, w h a t th ey thought of the present town council; are they doing a good job, and are they making the right decis ions ? We also asked people what the council coul d do to make improvements aroundWhitby. Mhe Anonyvous The few people we talked to who seemed very dissatisfied with the coun- cil asked not to be named. Some of the p e op I e we questioned even suggested we w ou 1 dn't be able to print their re- mark s in the paper anywa y - name or no name. Somle Compl'uientary The greater port ion of peopl e we con- tacted said they did not follow the actions of the town council very closely so they coulidn't comment one way or another. The res t had no beefs with the coun- c i l an d f el1 t the present council was do ing very well. One such person was Mr s. R. Fowler who repiied, "I think theymake mistakes like everybody else but on the whole, i think they are doing verywell!I"Sheadded, "I think Whitby's a pretty nice place, I don't think there's much wrong with it. Road Beef A great number of people complained abouttheroads. Kirk Fieming- "l would say the roads need more fixing and the ditches are getting pretty full of water. There's one spot at the corner of Henry S t r e e t and Ontario Street that reall1y does g e t flooded out quite a bit. When the cars go by they spray water ail over. " Don Wal tham: - "The roads could be fixed up a 1little better couldn' t they?" One lady who asked not to be named w a s obviously fed up with the roads in h e r area. Her street is the worst it's been in years, and she commented, "You should see the roads up around here on Cochrane Street! We're paying high enough taxes here to fix them." Heydenshore A Popular Grievance Heydenshore Pavilion aiso received some criticism or, more to the point, the decision to put the pavilion down at the lake and pretty well out of the reach of those people who do not have readily avail abl e tr anspor tat ion. A no t he r lady who asked to remain a nonymous said, " They builit that pav- illon down there without even a thought ab out h ow p eople were going to get t he re. That was ail cut and dried be- fore anybody knew any thing about i . Joe Ottenbrite - "Councli has a dif- f i c ul t job, but i think as a group they a r e doing a good job. They have made the odd d ec i sion rather hastily, how- ever. l'm referring ta the Heydenshore Pavilion. Therewas a greater need for other things. I think we could have done withoutiHeydenshore. They should have m a de plans for a swimming pool, and I think the children in our community come before the selfish attitude of spen- ding money on the adults. " Mr. R. -VVeatherall - "Our commun- ity would have gotten more use out of a p o o l t h an Heydenshore Pavillion stuck dowvn a t the lake where nobody can get at it!f' Size of Town Hall Mr. Weatherall1 commented on the fact thatourtown hall is too small now, es- pecially for the Police Department and headded, "Theyhave a planning board, but they didn't put any forethought into the Town Hall. Sometimes I think if we had high school kids running the coun- cil we'd get better results. " A few people thought taxes were too h i g h in Whitby, but a lot of them res- igned themselves to the thought that 'taxes are here to stay, high or not. Mr s. Ac ton - "Taxes are pretty high - for senior citizens I think taxes are pretty high! Pensions never get any higher, but council and government can vote themselves higher wages if they wish but it's the rest of us that have to pay it. " Mrs. Sherman - "If the· taxes get any higher we are going to have to move out to the woods!" Cable T. V. On e lady , Mrs. Bain was critical a b o u t the f a c t that Whi tby is without c a b I e T V and said, "The only thing i wish the council would do is get cable TV for the town. " Mrs.63. Reid sai d of council, "i think they are doing a good job!" The Downtown The shabby appearance of the down- town area came under fire from Mrs. J. E. Thorndyke. "I don't think the coun- cil is doing anything to clean up the downtown area. The roads are fine but the buildings are rundown. The stores are all going out of business because of the competition with the shopping plaz- as. I think council should fix up the stores to look more cheerful. It looks likeanold town, depressing, but maybe coun c i I has more important things to do! Il Bus Service Mrs. L. Standish commented on the bus se r vice in Whitby - or rather the I a c k o f i t. "I think the bus service is v e r y inadequate for a town the size of Whitby. in the evening if you want to go a n y w h e r e you are limited unless you have a car. You can't even go to a show 1 dead, 4injured T he Whitby De- t a chm en t of the O n t a r io Provin- c ia l P olice rep- omrt that30 motor vehicle collisions took pl ace in their area for the week o f M amrch l3th ta l9th.- S e ven pemsons w er e injured and one person was killed, witha total Fro in vehicle damage Ab'sa of $18, 000. To date four per- sons have been k i 1 1 ed in t r a fficAb's N mishapswithin the area patrolled by 114 the \Whi tby De- tachmen tof the 728-7780 0. P.P. -by MM luail b e c'au s e the last bus is at 11:00 p. m. People have to arrange their social life tofit the bus service. 1ldon't think coun- cil has done too much about the poor ser- vice in town. l Sldewalks A d r i ve around town would confirm that thi s is probably the worst winter for un c I eared sidewalks. Most sidewalks are either hard-pack snow or glare ice and walking in this situation is a dan- gerous proposition at best. One citizen who made an earnest ef- f o r t t o keep.his sidewalk clear found h i s b iggest foe was not the deluge of snow, but rather the town snow removal crew s. Mr . E. Hardy explained that afterhecleared his sidewalk, the snow pi ow they use for sidewalks and the s n o w f r o m h i s neighbour's sidewalk w oul1 d w ind up on his freshly cleared walk. Mr. Hardy stated, fi cleaned my sidewalks off al1 winter, then the crews came down and brought snow from next door, right down my driveway. I have to go out every darn time and clean it off again, i got fed up with it!!I While most of the citizens in Whitby appear happy with the actions of the Town Council, some people had valid complaints and so we hope some of our readers are councillors. Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation District 17, Ontario County. DO YOU KNOW Most Boards of Education in Ontario are being seriously affected by the Provincial Government's imposed expenditure ceilings. The Ontario County Board of Education has stated that "some" impact will be realized in their budget planning for the coming school year 1972-73. Interim projected staff allotments for schools by the Board officials have indicated that there will be an overall reduction of staff at the secondar" school level of twenty- ei,t teachers. The projected student enrollment indicates an increase in total student numbers, for which we, the teachers, must plan. Therefore, it seems obvious, that a teacher will be coping with more students, and students will be facing the prospect of less individual attention in a student oriented programme. What will the 1973-74 school year hold in store for the students and teachers? We believe, from our analysis, that even more harmful affects regarding budget and quality education will be felt at that time. Even with this as common knowledge, our Board has not seen fit to protest strongly against these restricted educat- ional expenditures. We, the secondary school teachers of Ontario County, wish the public to know that we will supp- ort any positive action by the Board and its officials to counteract this situation. IONDA only way togo MINI B!KES "now in stock" at Special Pre-Season Prices! needs m $299 to $425 nd Honda - Partners in Perfection. blished in Oshawa for over 15 years" lotorcycle Shop Ltd. Stevenson Rd. S aunton VilI!ge 576-3150

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