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PAGE 26,WHFIBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVUM4ER 6,1991 An analysis of the candidates' answers FROU, PAGE 25 than any of. the éandidates. However in terms of this election, my views ar irrelevant - theirs will shapýe this commùunty (and AUTIIOIUED BY CFO FON GERIT ENE FOR MAYOR your pockotbook) for the next three years.' Municipal'issues change con- stantly and bence much of the questioning was on general linos te determine how tbey would ap- W roach an issue. emocracy I amn hapy te report that most candidates appear to believe in democracy. Most said they would follow the wishes of their constituents even wbere this differed from thoir own beliefs. Most of the incumbents ovaded the question with phrases like "responsibility te, make dises or "act in the intoreats of the Town as a whole". Salaries If the candidates live up to what they say, theïr salaries will be eithor frozen or kept at the level of inflation wbich is a far cr from the 22 and 29% in- creases they voted themselves right aftor the last election. A few candidates evaded the question. Agendas The vast majority support the release of council agendas on the Friday beforo the Monday meet- ings so, it seems- that finally the public will gain the kind of access te information that has been donied them for as long as I can remember. The Free Press bas long charnpioned this cause. Property Righte One question 1 have yot te, get a satisfactory answer from any politician is the one about the TOM EDWARDS' AGENDA fe AIM TOWARDS A ZERO TAX ESTABLISH TASK FORCE INCREASE TO DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO A1TRACr HIGH-TEGH IENDUSTRES se PICE GRATERAND FINANC1AL INSITUllONS ARCHITECTURAL CONTROLS se WORK WITH COMM[NF1y ON NEW DEVELOPMENT TO CROUPS ENSURE COMPATIBU IJWF TO WMOVE CLIURAL LIFE 0FF WHITBY'S HERITAGE OJR TOWN fESTABLISH MoAYOR'S of WLL RECOMMEND THAT A COMMIflEE CJTZEN'S COMMITEE ON COMMvUNrTY RELATIONS TO BE ESTABLISI-ED TO SET SALARY DEAL Wrri THE CHALLENGES LEVELS FOR ALL MEMBERS OF ASSOGIATED WITH INCREASED WHIBY TOWN COUNCIL URBANIZATION TOM EDWARDS DECISIVE, INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP FOR THE 90'ps Authorizulby ihe C.F.O. for Tom Edwards VOTE Marcel BRU NELLE REGIONAL COUNCIMIOR SHIRLEY SCOTT FOR CENTRE WARD COUNCILLOR Seniors, Families, and Businesses: "I will1 be there for you on a fulti mbasis" Expertise, Honesty, Integrity. Desire to do an outstanding job with common sense. Authorized by the CFO for Shirley Scott D~ 24 years utility experience 13 Consultant for the Municipal Electric Association serving over 300 utilities *We can Iower hydro rates in' hundred other utilities have! Whitby - over a *Leadership is proven by achieving resuits in Whitby - flot by attending out-of-town conferences and seminars at the customer's expensel *CUstomers; éèmployees and commissioners, working together*means - successful conservation" programs, Io'wer rates and better service!1 4 ~ AV *A 9 9t4 Xr 4 4 4.*t *~~~~~~~~~~~~ V6 V 9 '**AtuidyhO1v0'MS0.a.~X~ "Experience Working For You!"i utic i,- y F t r ;-c lBirelé RALPH BLANK Whitby Hydro EIectrýtc ,Comrn issionI ~Ma! -e balance of' individual property rýghts vs týhe rlghts of the corn- mnunity or noighbourhood. This fs central te every planning and zoning decision and yet nons of them even underatands the ques- tions. Property rights are now being proposod as part of a new Canadian Constitution and our màunicipai politicians don't even know wbat they. are. Ini thoir pureat form property rigbts' are I own it; I can do anything I want with it" It can mean "If,I want te paint my house flourescont orange with blue polka dots, that's ny rigbt. If I want te Park rusty, old sxnashed-up cars on my front lawn, I can do that too." Virtually overything that a municipal govenmont doos enfr- ingos on private property rights. Ail planning decisions, ail zoning decisions, even taxation, affects the indivdual property owner's usage and enjoyment of bis property. Hence the question as te, the balance. betwoon private and collective rights is vital te knowing how a candidate will -handIe aimost any issue. As an oxaxnple, Wihitby's coun- cil bas consistently tokn te position that a property owner's rig'ht tedemolish a building on hZ proporty was sacrosanct - "Its hi ,property, ho can do wbat ho il~e witb it" - even if the build- ing in question is an bistoric structure. But te replace that building, the owner bas te con- formn to a slow of zoning by-laws, building codes and sito-specifle design criteria, ail of which ama onfringemonts on "what ho likes to do with it'.. The fact that candidates don't oven undorstand tho question probably explains why such off-tho-wafldiscropancios oxist and why devolopors and rosi- dents so frequontly corne away from council bewilderod by tho inconsistencios. Centennial Building One of the more specific ques- tions was about the Centennial Building. Héritage in Whitby is now a mothorhood issue and every single candidate said they like the plans te renovate the Centen- niai building as a theatre/ musoum complex yot only a small xinori1r was willing te commit txdlars te mako it happon. "'ell, sure ]Pm in favour of it as long as it's free." plants these candidates pretty squarely on the fonce. Most feit fthe money should be raised fr-om senior governments (they're already expected t idck in about 601», doveloppe (Bob Attersley bas armn-twisted about a million from that source), or community und-raising (which ii just anothor way of taxing the generous). When push cornes te shove council will have te make a decision. Only thon will we really find out wbether thoir "support' is anything more than lip-service. Garbage The garbage question elicited a lot of finger pointing but very littie inspiration. Theopnly ne* idea I saw was Brian Wick's rosponse te the ¶bwn's decision te collect blue . boxes eve ry two weeks. Ho suggested wo collect regular garbage every two weeks instead. Rather than keep the garbage around for two weoks we might recycle more. Makes sense. Jim Priost suggested transporting garbage te aban- doned mies in nortbern Ontario. Altbougb this is not an new idea, Priest is a mining engineer and bence probably knows what he's talIng about. Taaion Here, there was unanimous agreement that we're overtaxed. The most common romedy is te shake more monoy out of tho senior government tree but in the short term that is not very reaiis- tic. Nobody came up with any concrete proposais for substantial cost-cutting..ý There are several business people running in this élection and rmn surprised that none of them made any analogy to the ind of gut-wrenching cost- cutting that hundreds of private companies have gone through in the last year in order te stay in business. There seems to be an acceptance on the part of ail can- didates that aithough taxes are too bhigh, tbere going te stay