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Page6 Whitby Free Press, Wednesday. December 15, 1993 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! MEMBER OF: ONTARIO CANADIAN COMMUNITY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS CNA DIVISION AUDIT BOARD ISSN#0844-398X 26,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Inc. Box 206, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario L1N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Toronto Line: 427-1834 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pifher - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% recycled content using vegetable based inks. © All written material, illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyri law. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit line to e itby Free Press. The BIA record by Doug Anderson, Publisher, Whitby Free Press The principle benefit of a BIA (perhaps the only one) is the potentiai to pool resources to achieve the common goal of in- creased business and prosperity. If Whitby's BIA was attracting droves of customers downtown, there would be little controversy; but instead, the Board is spend- ing tax dollars on banners and wreaths and various street im- provements which do zip to get paying customers into downtown shops. The function of a BIA is to improve business. Successful BIA's (and there are afew) do just that. Through a combination of ideas, marketing skills and leadership they bring businesses together to work as a team for everybody's benefit. None of that describes Whitby's BIA which is wracked by dissension. BIA's can only work with the support of the businesses involved. The absence of that support in Whitby is sufficient reason to disband it. The sixty thousand people of Whitby spend a billion dollars a year. That's enough to keep every business in Whitby humming from dawn to dusk; but instead, hundreds of millions are spent at the Oshawa Centre, the Pickering Town Centre, and now the new Costco store in Ajax. Millions more are still being spent in Toronto. Where is the strategy to bring some of that business back to downtown Whitby? Heritage Canada which originated the Mainstreet program for revitalizing downtowns has dozens of case studies where 'pretty- fying' with lamps, bricks and planters etc. does nothing to attract business. Heritage Canada puts the emphasis on business. If people are shopping, then merchants are making more money, which they can spend on their buildings. Better business also means more tax revenue which can be spent on improving the streetscapes. But the first step is always improving business. Whitby's BIA has failed to market the Downtown. A comparison I make for anyone who will listen is that the $150,000 the BIA presently spends each year would buy more than three pages of advertising every week for the full year. Business would improve dramatically and the rest would take care of itself. In spite of aIl this, I remain a strong supporter in principle of the BIA concept; however, I and others have been frustrated at every turn. When we offer constructive criticism, we are accused 0f "negativity". Those who oppose the BIA are not the problem nor did they create it. They have been asking for changes for years but nothing ever really changes. WelI here's some more constructive "negativity": 1. Special events need to be planned months in advance and businesses need ta know what's been planned so they can plan their own activities around them. 2. The BIA Board should have been elected by the Downtown businesses directly instead of being appointed by Council from behind closed doors. The present Board has no accountability ta those whose tax dollars they're spending. 3. The publishing of "Your Downtown" newspaper with tax- subsidized advertising is fundamentally inappropriate espe- cially when it is in direct competition with the BIA's own members. 4. Members of the Board are in a conflict of interest by directly benefiting f rom those advertising subsidies. One member in particular has given himself subsidies of thousands of dollars. 5. The boundaries of the BIA were deliberately designed to in- clude a number of large businesses (Miracle Mart, Beaver) which would beef up the tax revenues while getting little benefit. 6. In15 years, neither Council nor the Board has corne up with any guidelines, constitution. by-laws or whatever to govern SEE PAGE 31 PTo the editor... 'Pathetic' vote-getting To the editor: Re: 'MPP urges protest of proposed OHIP revisions,' Whitby Free Press, Dec. 8 This is one of the few times that the provincial NDP government has even came close to getting something right. However, as usual, they messed up. Although they (and the OMA) are correct in proposing 19 medical services be declared "non-essential," they have left one of the most significant cost savers, specifically eliminating most abortions. Many sick people are suffering because of the cuts forced on our doctors and hospitals by the NDP social contract and also because of the millions of dollars that are wasted on abortions. Ninety to 95 per cent of all abortions are ony for the convenience of birth control. Make (most) abortions non-essential, also. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Mr. White. Oops, what's that you say? Merry Christmas is a politically incorrect no-no. What then? Have a merry festive season? Not. Get real, Mr. White. Your attempt at vote-getting, by urging protests of the proposed revisions, is pathetic. Equally pathetic, is your NDP government trying to eliminate Christmas/celebrations To the edItor: I am writing this note of thanks to all the staff at the Whitby Free Press. During the week of Nov. 11-14, Durham Regional Police hosted the first of its kind, the Accident Awareness '93 Exposition at the Metro East Trade Centre in Pickering. The show was a success with approximately 20,000 people attending to view the dramatic effects and results of motor vehicle collisions. It was an educational forum including several organizations directly or indirectly involved in accident reconstruction, safety and research of motor vehicles and human injuries in collisions. Ail of these people put a great deal of trne and effort into making this presentation a success and should commended for this. Several weeks prior to this show, I telephoned the Whitby Free Pres and informed them of of the birth of Jesus Christ. Neither action is lost on the majority of voters. September 1995 is not really that far away. And yes, White. Merry Christmas, Mr. Ted Greenfield Whltby White male criminals To the editor: I congratulate our MPP Drummond White for his letter ('Job equity,' Free Press, Dec. 1) defending the provincial government policy of excluding white males from being hired for employment by the provincial government. t is. my understanding that we elect MPs, MPPs and others, to represent the people as a whole. We do not elect them for the purpose of excluding any person becauseof race, religion or sexual orientation, nor do we elect them to feed us hogwash about the lofty aims and purposes of a system that makes white males criminals for being born white. Drummond writes of the lofty ideals we fought in wartime. In my years in the service of Canada from 1940 to 1946, I never once heard the expression 'whites only need apply' when i came to enlistment in the wartime services. With all due respect to the people of all races and religions I served with, and this includes the Sihks, Girkhas and Africans in the Eighth Army, the Canadian forces in wartime would not have existed if 'white males need not apply' was the rule. Drummond, I leave you with this warning: your colleague, Brian Charlton, has stated that white males will have their chance in five, 10 or 15 years. How wrong he !S. AIl Ontarians will have their chance in the next provincial election which will come within the next eight or 18 months. Then we will have the Drummond Whites and Brian Charlton reversing their stand when seeking the white male vote. Drummond mentions his visits to the Royal Canadian Legion halls. It surprises me that he would even associate his views with an organization that is primarily a beehive of white male activity. While Drummond supports a policy of 'white males need not apply,' he should be denied entry to any and all Royal Canadian Legion halls. Tom Doucette Whitby the idea for the show. Without hesitation, The Free Press was with us, even though the event was not in the town of Whitby. The Free Press presented an article each week, all professionally informing the public. The Free Press's 'Driving Safely with Randy' columnist Randy MacLean even attended the show and wrote a very complimentary article. Again I cannot thank you enough for your assistance. I can only hope that we have both offered a form of education to the public in driving more responsibly and less aggressively. It is important not only that we reduce the carnage and tragedy on the highways during the festive season but ail year long. As a member of the Durham Regional Police Service. I would like to take this opportunity to wish ail the staff at the Whitby Free Press a safe and happy holiday. Police Constable Dennis Glazler Whitby Support appreciated To the Editor: The Whitby branch of the Royal Canadian Legion wishes to thank local businesses, stores, organizations, social clubs, public institutions, hospitals, schools. students and. last but not least, the general public for their support and contributions to the recent poppy fund campaign and the urchase of the wreaths laid at the hitby cenotaph on Remembrance Day, Nov. 11. We take this opportunity also to wish you ail season's greetings and the best in the coming new year. VI Booroff RoyalCchaIr Royal Coaadlan Ion 20,000 at accident awareness show