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WITBY FREIE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1986, PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mir d of man." - Thomas Jefferson Advseand. Di[ssent THE CROW'S NEST 4lrl CEliroze * by Michael Knell *We ail know that a journey must have a beginning. It does not alwaya have an end. And, If fortune amuies, that journey wiil have not only a destination but a purpase. And iL does not partlcularly matter whether that journey la under- o:taken by a single individual or a cammunity. As somne af you know, I have the pleasure and honar of serving as chairman of the Local Architectural Conservation Adviaory Committee of the Town of Whit- by. This committee strives ta advlae Whltby Town Council on how best ta preserve the architectural hlstory of this community. The moat common means of preservatlonnla designation under the provisions of the Ontario Heritage Act. Havlng served on'this commlttee for 18 months now, I have become in- .'creasingly aware of the richness and the diversity of Whitby's history. There are a great many tonies to be told and lessons ta be learned frons the histary of this community. Most of us have an interest ln the history of aur country wthout reallzing that the history of thia town, and of its people, are an integral part of the history of aur nation. Another thing I have learned la that the character af Whitby is slowýly changlng as we move from being a citadel of early Canadiana into! a cosmopolitan community ta the late 2th century. And, sometimes, I have ta pause and question whether or nat we are disinheriting ourselves fram aur roots by charging headlong into the next décade in the loving arma of the residential, commercial and industrial land developers. Durlng the paat six or seven years, this communty has enjoyed growth un- paralelled in its 131 year history. Our population has practically doubled. Stokly VanfCamp (now cailed Cobi Foods) used to ha at the edge of tawn - not it's in the heart of the downtown core. New People bring new ideas, new hope, new enthusiasm. I'm not saying that growth and development is wrong. 1I'm not saying that new jobs, new assesament la unwanted and unneeded. But sometimes it is unmeasured, ton haatily approved and lmplemented. The motivations of those who make the decisions aren't questioned. But the circumstances in which they find them- aelves maklng those decisions should ha. This community grows, buildings are erected, streets paved and sewers in- stalled because of a mammath piece of legalese called the Ontario Planning Act that paradaxlcaily restrains and pratects property rights. The act, as I - a sim- ple layman - understands it, basically states haw land can ha used in the Province of Ontario. I have seen ail sorts of actions under this act, everything from the simplest of re-zoning applications ta the most complex *development and subdivision proposais knawn ta planner, lawyer, investor or coat accaun- tant. But tbroughout thia praceas of legal niceties and established principles of ur- ban planning, somethlng haa been left out. I cail it the human touch. Planning la' suppased ta ha about people - how they live, how they work, how they play and where they do ail of these thinga. It la supposed ta proteet the enviranment and preserve the character of the community ta which its principles have been ap- plled. I have sat thraugh many a meeting of councll's administrative commit- tee, the reglon's planning committee and even a few hearinga of the Ontario Municipal Board and have yet ta reaily hear any discussion on the human fac- tor. Everybody talka about whether or not the application is appropriate usage for the site in terms af the officiai plan and whether the plan should ha changed and how much the develaper la going ta have ta psy in lot levies and ta have sewers and piped water brought on site. Very rarely have I ever heard the question: "What impact wWi thia develop- ment have an the averail character and nature of the Town af Whitby? How wilI t make us different? And most importantly, do we want aur community Lo lie changed in this fashian?" But those are the important issues. No one is going ta argue that developers have no rlght ta do what they do and make a profit daing I. But there la another right here. And that la the rlght we ail have La preserve aur community and ta ensure that the thinga that make IL a good, decent and peaceful place ta live and bring up aur children cantinue La ha enjoyed by ail of us. These thinga are found in our history, in where we came fram and why we came here. So we're not just talklng about property rights, we are talking about the common goad and the community's right ohabewhat it la and preserve what iL la. There iasaomethîng fundamentally wrong with the way Whitby is growing. It la ton fast, no, iL la too hurried and not enough thought la given ta the issues that reaily caunt. I blame nether the politicians nor the planners, hey are bound ta the wheel af provincial legisiation, old habits and political or planning per- suasion. The planning procesa should ha changed in order ta reflect the needs of a community that wants La preserve what it la and ensure that iL takes that com- munity where it wants ta go on its jaurney through the pages of its own history. It la ime we ail faced the bigger issues and answered the bigger questions. Growth la fine, but where daes it stop. Do we want Whltby ta ha as big as Oshawa? Haw about North York? Or Mississauga? Or Toronto itself? I don't want WhItby La grow that big. But projections show us that if we keep gaing at our curr.--.t rate we'll be as big as Oshawa la now only 20 years from now. And then it won't ha he Whitby we've ail came ta know and lave hese past few years. Samehow, I thlnk many of you reading this commenLary share those apprehensians, those daubLa. I wonder if the decision makers do. And if they do, do they have the courage ta say no and ta fight for identity and the character of this community? WITII OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan Yesterday I sat through the final promotion meeting at which the academic successes (or, alas I failures) of a few hundred callege students were et- ched permanently in stone. Today and tomorrow the postman will begin the task of delivering those final reports ta the students. Alfred Hitchcock neyer created more suspense. In its way, this year has been unique: perhaps a, benchmark bath in my maturity as a teacher, or in the comning-of-age of the community college system. (Just ta keep the record stralght, in real life I teach journalism at Durham College. My obser- vations on callege life are based on 15 years in that raie.) This year a number of firsts took place: @a graduate from past years returned ta share teaching chares with me; *a student in the first yeaâr journalismn course became a father; emature students in first year outnumbered the traditional (straight from high schaol students) for the first time; emost of the mature students had children at home in their care; emost of those were single parents. The world la not as we wish it to be when we are 18. Growing numbers of students in their mid- twenties and aider are now enrolling in college. It is these who made up my first year class this year. Some are in career changes; some have been forced back through a cambination of a failed marriage and unsteady job skills; one gave up a career in real estate. Regular readers of this column may recaîl that during last sùmmer's vacation I became a father - again. My aider children are now of college age. I now have joined modern society in full: an infant in the hanse and a working wife. That combination has led me ta full apprec iation of what many of today's students are mastering. To give you an idéTâ of the type of ambitions these students bring to the classroom, during the past few months these students interviewed: Karen Kain, Ken Tobias, Tom Rivers, Tom Gibney, Dave Wilcox, Gene Valaitis, Neal Broten and many others. These are not students willing to settle for easy answers. College provides sufficient work for any student. But for any parent, the load grows. Putting-in a full day at school, followed by a full evening of homiework, challenges the most democratic of familles. For single parents, that load is magnified many times. Picture the scene: a day starts at 6 a.m. Rousing a pre-schooler; breakfast; catching the ride (or bus) to school. <For the fortunate few, Durham now offers on-site day care, but nothing will shorten that' long, long day). A full day in class; a rush to the day care centre to pick up the child; the ride home; the evening meal (it's now 7 p.m.); cleanup; bath time; putting the child to bed. By now it's 8 to 9 p.m. For the child, it is a long day. But for the parent, it- is now time for two, three sometimes four hours homework. This student can- not afford the all-night writing session the night before the essay is due; the mature student has to be well organized. The persan who has cuit a $20,000 a year job to return to school is not about to fritter away time. This, then, la my salute to mature students. If the truth be known, college needs you as much as you need college. But special praise belongs to the single parents. Balancing the needs of a pre-schooler with a demanding college course will neyer be easy. One stuclent confessed to giving in to her three year aId one evening. Together, they sat down to watch television together, having stolen an hour from the late afternoon. The student had an assignment to monitor a news program whic began at 6:30 that evening. She neyer made iL. She fell asleep with her child right in the middle of the Polka-Dot door.