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~~pWstLrd by Norm Mealinig This column deals exclusively with the high-rise issue. It deals with that issue partly because the colurnn is being written immediately upon my return fromi the public mecet- ing held on Thursday, May iSili, partly because 1 attended two rnèetings this past week which deait primarily with that issue, but mostly *because the high-rise issue is the single, most important issue facing Whitby now, both in present and future terms. At the Counicil meeting on Monday, May l2th, a small group of people attended in order to hear Council debate a letter they had received from Wayne King of Heda Court. This letter, briely stated, indicated that the provincial Minister of the Environmient hiad absolved his Ministry from any involvement or concern over the onvironmental aspects associated with the high-rises. Taking refuge in the Planning Act which placed prime responsibility upon the Councl, the Minister hiad deftly passed the buck in Coun- cil's direction. The letter fromi Mr. King was passed to dhe Administration Comniitteo of Council, but, even being denied the debate, Council meeting proved nîost interesting. Ih seemns that Council hiad asked thec Housing Minister to explain his actions ini relation to the highi-rise development and Mr. Irvine hiad sent Messrs. Barrett and Hickery of O.H.C. to calmi everyone's fears. No sooner hiad Mr. Bar- rett begun his dissertation than hoe vas iimediatcly ques- tioned with somoe severity by all mnibers of Council. The ny th of prior approval of' and consultation with . Council wvas put to rest, the nîyth of province simiply reacting to Council resolutions wvas put to rest, and ail in ail Counicil dispîcasure at this incursion of the province into their territorv with an ilI -conceived, ill-planned, and ill-Uî ough t ou t projeci vas very lorcetully put by aIl Couincillors pro- sen t. Jimi Gartshore. wlîo %vas in the chair for this discus- sion indicated ini closing the debate that Counicil lîad stated thoir airns in the area of public hoiising, that the provincial plans were flot consistent withi these afims, and concludcd by saying that "the people deservo in put into the plans". As Uhc iesult of a request Ironi BilIliHoffmnan. Mr. Gartshore invited the two O.H.C. officials to the- Thursday niigit public meeting. The stage having been thusly sot. arounid four hiundred Whitbyites turned out on the i Si th Ilenry Street Hlighi School. The panel guosts included Mayor Newman, Couincillors Emin, Gartshore, Lovelock, Edwards, and Thompsoni along with niembers of the cornifitteo formied tfight the high-rise, Ed Dawson and Wayne King, the aforernentioned Messrs. Barrett and Hickory, and the panel caraBill Hoffman. Mr. Barrett's opening statement was a repetition of the od "tru ths" heard by many of us many tinies before. The O.H.C. was only funding thîs project so, therefore, it is noi an O.H.C. project, the project was in response to nced, the project responded to the 1972 and 1974 resolutions of Council and so forth, ad nauseum. The dam broke, and the flood gates opened, however, when His Worship the Mayor responded to Mr. Barrett. Counicil, said the Mayor, had flot asked for, nor does it support, the developruent as a low-rental projoct. Th e Council's projection of need, made in 1972 and acted upon, inexplicably, by O.H.C. in 1975, was an answor to a pro- vincial request for a, in Mr. Newman's terms, "a quick and dirty" report on needs. They could not be used by 0.H.C. as justification of need, nor could the 1974 resolu- New Bowling Green s ecretary Mrs. Pearl MacDonald was elected by the Bowling Green Senior Citizens Association on May 5 as correspond ing secretary because of the sud- den deabli of Mrs. Gwen Smnyth, former holder of the post. Editors Quote Book Be not forward, but friendly and courteous; the first to salute, hear and answer; and be not pensive when it is time to converse. George Washington1 MUNICIPALITY tîtere. Only wlie n lic was con f r-oiited by a i qi fr froni O.H.C.'s Mr. I lickoî-y wlî iclh indica ted only a small numhcer of' fai ilios residen i in Wh iiby ncoded tlii s accommnodat ion, did hoe adnl t tfle 0.1-l.C. Assurinît ion th a t once the building was up (liat thon hihe nccd would ho known. î-le said (lit the cou trac tor lîad staiod ftuaItiio sli ools wcre adlequa te, so, lîoî-eforc, thcy must ho, and, in doing so, doînonstratod an abysinal lack of' knowtcdge of' flic schools in tlîo aroa. So ovasive and inconsistent woro his answers to thiese, and otiior questions, liat 0110 participant exprosscd the opinion tliat Ulic whiolc idoa iade no setîse, a sentiment Wvh ich soenîed to ho shared in total by aifl Whiitbyites in the auLd ionce. In relation to the O.H.C. aspect of the project, it was agreeçi by Couincil that they would oppose it comrpletely. They agreed to indicate to both the Premier and tlîe Mini- ster of Housing that they were opposed to the project. Certain memibers of Council agreed to attend a mneeting with the provincial Ministers concernied arranged for by the W.L.C.A., and they indicated that they wero not willing to pay the usuial subsidy paid by municipal ities for rent-geared- to-incom-e units. Tlhe highi-rise aspect of the discussion was not quite as satisfactorily resolved. The Mayor pointed out that, in lus best opinion, the developer could not ho prevented tromi developing luis property in accordance with tdie zoning and approved plan of subdivision. As you can approciate, this particular piece of news was flot well received because tlue figlut is over highi-rise and lias been precipitated by the O.H.C. loan and involvement. A groat doal was said about dic lack of' foresight on tlîo part of Counci]. wlien they appreved the by-law sonie flive years ugo. Certain questions were put 10 Uic council coîîcerning the so-called liciglît by-law wlîiclî, in miy humble opinion, wero îlot adcquately answerod, and, generally speaking, 1 got tlhe imiprossion that the people were not very hiappy wvithi tho mnccting's acceni- piishinents ini luis arca. Whiat deos it ail mnean? Wcll , I, for one, ani niuch imore optiniiistic about tliiis issue tlian 1I have evor bccîî before. On tie positive side. and dealing only- witli die 0.11-C. aspect, Counclil. and UIeciions of Wli itly, arc uinited in thleir. opposition 1o tlhc project. Tii is unity wvas there for all 10 sec, and desp)ite 'Mr. Barrctt's cenimnent tlîat the feelings of thie towii are not reaily thiat importun t, I fail to sec Iiow this uliited opposition can ho disregarded bv die I lonour- able M r. i rvine \vieiî it is broli t le h is attent ion 011 tiie 22nd cf' tiis nion tii. St ili on the oesitive side and relat ing t o dic niuclî grea îer issue cf h igli-risc - the tui fl-ed opposi. t ion is thiere as wvell. 'l'le Mayor adinîit ted ini retrospect tiat tiie carl ier ap)proval was p robably a iniistake . The Cou ncil. ini total, is epîî)losed te h igh -risc, as aIl Wh itbyi tes wvere in seeing it stopped. TFlîey indicatcd a desire to pursue alternative approaclies wliiuc say ing ut tlîc sanie tlie l aI tliey \vould place nîotunireasonable stumibling blocks in the way - 'Flio crucial stop iii the wlîole process is toiiiorrow\'s nmeeting. If the province decides, as it sliould, 10 rîut a stop Fire poster winn crs honoured Tlîe winnors cf thie annual rire prevention poster con- test, sponsored by tic Wiit- by Firo Dcpartment, were honoured ut the miost rogular council nmeeting. Paul1 Vanderkolff and Janice Cook, hoth studenîs at St. Johns Scliool, slîared first place honours. Darryn Reay cf E.A. Fair- nman School and Cainilla Cockerton cf Dr. R. Thorn- ton School sh ared second place. James Wiggers of St. Bornards Sclîool and Monica Kolarek of Palmerston School were third place winners. A total of 154 students, 63 boys and 91I girls, partici- pated. NOTICE Effective with ail buis issued on Average 12.6% 0F DURHAM VIHITBV FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAV, MAY 21, 1975, PAGE 7 to thoeir iiivolvonion t, tIi on (lie way will tliii nch open «te satisfiactorily resolvo due situation. If thoy cllooso to tly ini tuie f4ace of lli rason, and prioeooed witli flic projoct, thoen Wlitby, as wo kniow it, will ho no nir. Bof'ore 1 concludo buiis opus, 1 niust say somoething about flic a-ttondanice at Itho miccling. All of Wh itby wias ropre- son ted, and not just-West Lynde. Somne of the most vocal participants wcre fronii Uic "Oid Town", and each tinie tliey did se witlî a conviction tîat had to ho hourd te ho approciatcd. Whitby lias corne together on tlîis issue from die Council clown. Woll, that's it for anothor week! Bye for now, and keep the faith. Romemnber the Spadinu Expressway, and lot's koep on fighting this "Whitby Nightmare". C redit statis tics Only one aseect At the recent annual general meeting of the Oshawa and District Credit Counselling Service, Nancy Chiamberlain, Executive Dir- octor, said that statistics show only one aspect of the service provided. They tako out the person- ai elemoint tlîat ropresents the painful stories oif real people in desperate situations facig stress froni personal, faniily or financial problems. lIn 1974 thie service was abule te îîoîp niany distrauigh t fainilies fiîîd a solution to their financial problemns, 250 new cases were opencd, 97 of which were assisted by counselling only. Tiiose seek- ing help lîad a substantially higher debt load tlîan in 1973 but the service was stiil suc- cessful in returning $ 175,000 to the credit and business conîrnunity of Durham Region. Mr. Martin Shuaw, in accepting the office of Presi- dent paid tribute te th e excellent work o f lis luredecesser Mr. Gordon Ward. The free service continues to operate froni its office at 1 72 King Street East, Oshîawa, wlîere the nunîber 'o caîl is 579-195 1. THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION 0F THE TOWN 0F WHITBY NOTICE RE: RATE ADJUSTMENT Application has been following rate increases. made to Ontario Hydro for the GENERAL-SERVICE CUSTOMERS or after August lst, 1975. These increases are necessary becausel of the rise in the cost of power from Ontario Hydro in January 1975 together with increased costs of operation. On receipt of approval from Ontario Hydro actual rate schedu les will be published. R. W. Cawker CHAIRMAN H. C. Simpson SECR ETARY-MANAG ER THE REGIONAL Effective with ail bis issued on or after July lst, 1975. Average 11.4% LARGE USER CLASS Effective with ail bis issued on or after July lst, 1975. Average 10.6% RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS EFFECTIVE JUNE 2, 1975, THE RATE FOR SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL AT THE OSHAWA, WHITBY AND DARLINGTON LANDFILL SITES WILL BE $5.30 PER TON. R.F. Richardson, P. Eng., Commissioner of works.