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Town lays off Councillor Sersonnel critcal of retrpagWe2 tree-cuttin, pae 8 3rd toumnament Student win for voleybali writing skflls tèam ~13 improve page 'No' support AARON, PEEVER (Ieft) and St, Bemard pose with the patriotic poster théy created. :alc SholGradi lasaes (from Pever came Up -With, the idea -of cetn left) ,Jennifer Nevin Elysse Quartarone, the poster, which he çot everybody in the Chdnua Gicci AManda Darocha, Andrew sohool to sn It will be hungi h Hylandî Devin Riordon and Jesse Silva' school's front hall. Phob by PM"k Rooeoe. MWyFm..Proua 17 'No' jus.t a reprieve, saysf Bylm1k.Kowalsk Toc close for comfort. Tiiose four words - no doubt reflect tue feelings cf most Canaidians ta Monday's referenduma result ini Québec. Althougli a razer-thin margin separated tue two aides wiien ail votes were counted, a big sigh of relief could still b. heard acro s the country- when the. anti-separatist forces emerged victoricus. Now politicians, punits and tue populace are left ta, analyze what Quebecers were'epesigand what it means fcr te future. "PIhe only tiiing resolved is tuat it's given Canjada leus than a one per cent chance ta reconstitute tue country," said Durham riding WP Alex Siiepiierd. It's our last chance ta pull it eut of tue fire," the. north Wbitby representative stressed from bis Ottawa office after thi. outcome became apparent Monday night. I4p "I don't think lit'sas close as the Yua fores will start talking about tamorrow (Tuesday), but the. reality is - if everybedy's ion.st on bath aides - tuis is inconclusive and it'. clear tuat Quebec l,8aa society divided." While Siiepherd ezpectsd a margin cf "51, 52 par cent" for tue No side% Shepiierd t.rmed tue final resuit cf 50.6 per cent.ta 49.4 per ,cent "rzidiculous" and saddayhn id osbe However, h. is leery cf moving tee fast ta address tue grievans tuat. nearly 50 per cent' of Quebecsrs apparently have witii Canada. "I don't like .tue ides of appeasement and I don't thinkr our govsrnment has a mandate for constitutional refcrm," smid Shepiier.d. ."Any reforms wiil have to involve tue wiiole country," h. SEE PAGE 16 Downitown business area fluture stili in, lim'bo By 111ke Kowalukl Seven months without a properly functioning business association has some downtown Whitby merchants worried. With Christmas fast approaching, merchants fear notbing will be dons to orgamize promotions aimed at enticing shoppers to the.downtownts holiday Besson. Since last April's suspension of tiie Downtown Busoiness Improvement Area's (DBIA) operations, there i. no person or com=nttee officially responsible for co-ordinatingYuletide activities as in the. past. Although the impact on Christmas sales is the most immediate concern, fears are alo being expressed that the. DBIA's possible demis. may b. theii.5rst step ini bringing about an end to the. downtown's once thriving retail sector. A smootii-running DBIA is essential to the. downtown's future when faced witii competition from strip malse and indoor plaza., preponents daim. Critics, iiowever, contend that poicies which promote development elsewhere ini Whitby are just one factor contributing to an exodus cf retail trade from the, traditional 'heart' of tiie commuinity. Catciiy slogans, flower baskets and colourful ribbons only mask the. real problems downtown merchants face, tiiey dlaim. Meanwhile, both aides anioualy await Town couneil'a ruling on the. future c f the. 17-year-old organization (se. separate story). Whatever decision council makes i. almost certain ta upset oe side or the otiier, most agree.. "About five months ago they (council) wer. supposed te, check eut the. legalities ta find out if it is possible ta, do changes,". said Lionel Graveline, owner cf Picture This And That on Brock Street South. "We're trying ta find out if the. DBIA is dead or alive and ws iiaven't been able to get that answer," h. said. Graveline and ether merchants met with councillors Shirley Scott and Judi Longfleld recently ta express tiieir concern about the. impact of a non-functioning DBIA during the. Christmas period. mhe meeting witii Scott and Longfleld stemmed from an earlier oe invelving Mayor Tom Edwarda, councillor Marcel Brunelle (the. Town's representative on the DBIA board), DBIA chair Paul Savage and vice-chair Doug Anderson. During tiiat meeting, Savage and -Anderson were asked if tiiey and the, rest of the. DBIA board would join with other merchants in arranging some form cf Christmas promotion. Altiiough the. two iiad no objections ta board members participating in a voluntary effort, tiiey stressed. that ne officiai involvement was possible since tiiey censidsred the. DBIA ta b. a "dead issus.* In April, following a membership vote, the. board formally requested that council disband the. DBIA. Council, instead, deferred the. matter in order ta seek a legal opinion on wiietiier the. concept cf a business improvement area can b. retained wiiile the. eisting structure is medifled. "With six ta, eigiit weeks (until Christmas) left, we need ta do sometiiing," said Graveline. "W. asked Shirley Scott and Judi Longfield and tiiey (Town) miglit b. taking over the. Tre. cf Hopel" h. said. (Downtawn merchants sold coloured bulbe to.siioppers whicii were in turn exciiang.d for the. white bulbe on the. large Christmas tre. in front of the. library. Preceeds from the. sale went te local charities.) Despite the. critics' contention that it was an unneccessary and costly expense., Graveline defends thei* need for botii an office and employees ta operate the. DBIA. "W. (merchants) can volunteer, but we cant run it," he said. "W. need somneone ta co-ordinate it'and tiiey have ta make a living." Graveline rejects the. results of last March's referendum in wiiicii a slim maj ority cf those voting were against continuing the. DBIA. Witii 52 per cent of the. 380 members participating, 87 were in faveur and 94 opposed. Ther. were 10 spoiled ballots. "TMat referendum was don. after two years cf negative press and people going around saying you're paying tac much i taxes," said Graveline. 7d like the. Town te do a proper oe," he said. "I think the. majority cf people don't know wiiat a BIA i. fôr and what it doe. and that it cost money te do it. Created by couneil i 1978, al downtown businesses (whether retail or professional) within a specific area belong ta the. DBIA and must pay a special tax whicii is used ta improve the downtawn's appearance and sponsor promotions. No tax has been coilected this year because the, first-ever elected DBIA board opted ta hold the. referendum seen after taking office and therefore did net strike a budget. "On, of tieir (critics) big things was ta have an elected board, fine," said Gravelins. "But tiiey didn't want ta listen," h. added. 'ii. two top cnes (Savage and Anderson) en the. BIA are doing nothing," said Diane Hililman, ce- owner cf Whitby Fabrics.' "If Deug Anderson cared about it, he would have don. something about it," she said. Hillman said "I don't believe that survey (referendum) at ail," before she accused The Fr.. Press reporter cf net properly identifying himaelf and of working in conjunction witii tue newspaper's publisiier Anderson.' Barb Powers, owner cf Lafontaine Trading Post on Dundas Stre.t West, aise, feels "strngly" about the, need to retain the. DBIA. "As a downtown merchant, I would like something going on for Christmas promotions," said Powers. "Pler. doesn't seem to be a BIA rigiit now (yet) there i. interest eut tuere in geting together and doing something," she said. "Council doesn't know wiiat tiiey can do ... We would take iielp from any source." Powers admitted that previeus DBIA. boards were "not perfect," but argued that "you have ta change from within. "I think a good- downtown SEE PAGE 3