The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 28, 1981, WIIITBY FREE PRESS whitby-r Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor nMe only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whith residents. 1>ublished evetr. % ediieday and 1>hotography Imc. l'Ihoue 669-61 Il The F'ree Press~ Building. 1:11 Brock Strket.%NOrth, P.O>. Bo>x 2016. Whîtby. Ont. MICHAEL J. KNELL Community Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Malling Permit No 480 Member of the Whitby Chamber of Commerce Downtown Whitby deserves support During the course of the last two weeks or so, this publication has made known the views of dif- ferent people concerning the problems being ex- perienced by the downtown core. While their views may be different they all agree that Whitby's downtown is experiencing problems that must be overcome if it is to remain a vital part of this community. A community's downtown is its heart, its character and defines its lifestyle. The relatively new commercial phenomenon known as the shopping plaza has not been able to take on this role despite their more than obvious advantages to the consumer. However, shopping plazas are generally more successful than a downtown core, because the merchants within it are united in terms of marketing strategy and promotion. In other wor- ds, they work together to make their individual en- terprises attractive. It appears to us, that this is certainly not the case with Whitby's downtown core. At this point, this publication should probably declare that it has a vested interest.in this situa- tion. Our owner and publisher is the current chair- man of the Whitby Central Business District Area Improvement Board (D.A.I.B.), we are a downtown Whitby business, and much of our advertising revenue (on which we count to survive) is derived from many of the sources we are talking about. A woeey news nommentary from One of Canadals outatanding news personalities lE!ST OP ANCEOR Äl7OR GLOBAL 2NZlWS I have a recurring nightmare that seems to be activated by tension and overwork. I'm sure that people in every profession have similar job-oriented bad dreans but as an anchorman, mine have to do with newscasts and dead- lines. The clock is moving inexorably towards airtime, and I am sitting at the typewriter, straining to get out a script. But my arms are encased in molasses, panic has set in and I can't think. During the recent coverage of the Supreme Court decision on the Constitution, something very like that nightmare actually happened, live, at 10:30 a.m. as Chief Justice Bora Laskin read the judgements of The Supreme Court on the Constitution. There we were, three of us, Bruce Garvey, executive editor of Global News, Doug Small, our Ottawa Bureau Chief, and me -- trapped by the cameras, live and doomed to comment on some- thing we couldn't hear. Even in the average Canadian liv- ing room the sound was better. But for us, it was filtered through the tiny earpieces known as telexes, and further confused by the studio and newsroom noises coming in the other ear. We, or at least I, got everything Laskin said ex- cept the tiny key phrase "as a matter of law, no". That was one answer to the question which, in effect, asked whether the agreement of the provinces was required constitution- ally to amend the constitution when the provinces were directly affected. The first part of the answer, which I heard, was "yes, as a matter of constitutional convention" The second part of the answer "as a matter of law no", was lost in the static of the Supreme Court's bolloxed sound system, and my wretched ear piece. That was the phrase which eventually gave Trudeau relief in far-off Korea, and it's small comfort that he didnî't hear it live either. The sound over the long distance telephone must have been even worse than in my earpiece. We got everything straightened out before that half-hour telecast was over but it was ghastly business. My only consolation is that at last I would appear to have a new bad .dreami. That's flot news but that too is reality. Despite this, we believe we, can offer some positive criticism on this situation. In general, we concur that if the downtown core is to make itself more attractive to Whitby resi- dents, especially to new ones, it must take a more aggressive approach to marketing and promotion. According to the Management Department of McGill University, the most profit productive ad- vertising expenditures should equal ap- proximately 3.5 per cent of a business' gross sales. This does not seem to us to be an unreasonable figure. We would have to ask how many down- town or other Whitby businesses are doing even this much in the way of promoting their enter- prises? Whitby is a growing community. Our population, unlike many other municipalities in the province, is growing at a healthy rate. Many of these people are coming from Metropolitan Toronto and other major urban areas. They are accustomed to dealing in a market where merchants are aggressive and offering a complete range of goods and services. Whitby's downtown core offers these same goods and services, but is that message being given to these new residents? This publication cannot answer that, only the existing commercial community can do so. We are not trying to sell advertising through this opinion, we are merely trying to help a sector of this town that we have the utmost confidence in. We also want it to survive as a viable and vital part of Whitby. Like Mayor Bob Attersley, we have noticed a lot of "negativeness" expressed not only by some merchants, but by the public at large. We would also like to encourage the residents of this community to pay a visit to the downtown core and judge for themselves as to the quality of goods and services offered. Many of the merchants downtown are the neighbours of our residents, not only do they live and work in Whitby, but they are also members of local churches, service clubs and other worth- while organizations. It is not being held here that the downtown should be supported to the exclusion of other commercial facilities, but that the downtown should be given a fair shake. Another point that should be made is that organizations like the D.A.I.B. can only do so much considering the resources at their disposai. Whitby Town Council can only do so much because it does not have the authority to regulate the manner in which most businesses do business. Therefore, it is up to the merchant to take an aggressive approach to dealing with the public, and it's up to the public to give their local mer- chant a fair and honest chance. The downtown could have and does have so much to offer - especially in the area of per- sonalized service. When a customer deals with a downtown outlet, more often than not he is doing business directly with the owner. Questions and concerns are answered on the spot and the customer can go away satisfied, his needs having been met. We want the downtown to be a place where people are welcome, where the merchants work together to meet the needs of the consumer and a place that really is the heart of this community. This publication wants to encourage this to happen, not only on the part of the merchants, but on the part of the consumers as well. It should also be remembered that money spent in the community stays in the community. Local merchants pay local taxes that support many worthwhile projects and programs. Local merchants employ local people who also spend money in the community and are themselves con- sumers of local goods and services. Money spent outside of this municipality does nothing for this municipality. When money is spent by supporting local merchants, the con- sumer is making a good investment in this com- munity. lýý