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Pg2,Wht Fre. P~.Wpesçay, May,22, 1IR*~ Stili 10. decisionon fate of DBIA By Mike KowaluIBd A decision on the future of Witby's Downtown Business Improvement Area remains in limo more than on. year after Town council was asked to scrap it. Council is stili no closer to resolving the fate of the DBIA than it was 13 months ego when it deferred -a request from the DELA management board te, dis- band the 18-year-old organiza- tion. However, DBIA . criticai note that the recent renting of the DBAofice te anotiier group may b. an indication ofcouncil s thinkingon the issue. Although it has not been used since they put forward their April 1995 request, board mem- bers were surprised upon Iearn- ing that the Bureau of Excellence for Durhiam Région is now occu- pgng their former Brock Street DBIA chair Paul Savmge said no one on the board received notice that the office would soon have new tenants. Liners SERVICES AVAIL *Trouble Shooting *Repairs & Restoratii *Liner - Coping - Equ *Maintenance ProgrE *Opening & Closing *24 hr service Cm-s icsde "No one consulted me or the board,» said Savage, owner of a Dundas Street hobby shop. "It wouid have been nice for on. elected body te, communicate toe another what's goig on,» h. said. "But maybe we can take the renting of our office as an answer ...this sort of says to me that we're not going to have a DBIA.» Sa!vage said he has yet te receive a rep1y te a Fbuar letter inwich h.agancalled on council te honour thie resuits of a March 1995 referendum of DBIA, members. >With 52 per cent of the 380 members participating, 94 voted againet continuing Witii the DELan d 87 were in favour. There were 10 spoiled ballots. Instead of bowing te tth. board's demand, council opted te, seek legal opinions on wiiether a business improvement area can be retained whiie the existing structure is modified. Among the options council wanted te, explore was tii. possi-, from ALBLE.... ion iipment 1NSTALLED Also Specializing in: *Interlocking " Retaining Walis __ 1[fln M N~wooe 9 rwtte Deschamps Registered Massage Therapist offering services in: e Cranio Sacrai Therapy e Visceral Manipulation *Somato Emotional Release to aid in the healing of.- *headaches a chronie fatique- *tendonitis, strain, sprainse physical and emnotional *muscular & mental stress trauma *TMJ Dysfunction (JawT) *Specializing with Attention Deficit Disorder Children Gift Cerificates Available Cal! today for, your appointmnent and receive a special 5 % intiroductory discounte. 723-5140 bility of designating a reduced ixnprovement area sud/or having a special levy char d te only those businesses that benefit from an improvement area. Under tih. 1978 Whitby byiaw which created the DBU al businesses (retail sud profes- sional) within a specific area belong to the DBIA. Ail must pay a special tax which is used te improve tii. downtown's appearance and sponsor promotions aimed at attracting shoppers. The tai has not been coll.cted for the past two years because the current board, the. frst elec- ted directly bythe. membership, did not sirîca budget. -if council did receive legal advice on tii. DBIA4 tii. debate was held behind closed doors. Tii. issue has not been discussed publicly sice the board's request was defere. Savage dlaims that council, sud Mayor Tom Edwards specifi- caliy, have no one te blaýme but themselves for the -ongoing un- certaintyr. "Tii mayor himsif said, in tii. press that ?h. feit this situation is detrinental te business in tii. downtown,» said Savage. "But iiow dees h. feel when iie's holding it up?» ho asked. "We'r'e just askin for a deci- sionone ay g =ter andiies i in a position te get things mov- ¶dwards was on vacation abrad and not available for com- ment. Deputy-mayor Gerry Emm said. there are some councillors wiio would like te resoive the, matter soon, but there has been no indication of wiien it will corneforward. "I think tii. DBIA for ail pur- poses. ls dead sud I don't see. a strong will on council te resur- rect it,» said Emm. «Somie, (councillors) indicated tiiey would 1ke te see it back bu wher sthe. driving force? haven't seen that.» Centre ward councillor Shirley Scott, who was involved in an anti-DBIA ptition campaign prior te her election, concurred. "It doeesn"t appear as if we are willînoe te deal with it," said Scott. "I think we do have te deal with it, but pehaps h. (Edwards) wants te see how tii, merchants make out on their own witiiout it fnrst,» she said. Scott cautioned that tiie rent- ngof tii. DBIA office shouid not b.taken as a sign of council's intentions. «It dosen't mean we can9t operate a BIA without -an office and staff te man it. W. can have a BIA without an office.» West ward councillor Judi TRAFALGAR CASTLE-SCHOOL f or grades 7,8, an award of $2,OO o ahgae SatffdyJun 11996 I O:OOauM Opnto a,,l girls who have alread noled for ' those grades or who are jntendilg to applY9for enrol i n thOse grades for September 19 6 eNo oento current students. ______ presents Dr. Richard Hasselback and Breast Cancer in its Final Evening Concerning Cancer Wednesday, May 29, 1996' Oshawa Public Library Auditorium 65 Bagot Street, Oshawa 7:30 p..m. Dr. Hasselback is a' retired oncologist from Princess Margaret Hospital, a founding member of the Canadian Women's Breast Cancer Foundation and ýformer chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee for the Canadian Cancer-Society, Ontario Division. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.- This evening on - breast cancer with Dr. 'Richard Hasselback is- sponsored by Hearth Place, a cancer caring centre. For more informatiô,* ,ùalU9-57. 83- Logfeld also agreed that "for ail intenta and purposes" the DBIA has been.diébanded. "I don'think it will resurface ini the 1f. of this council. TherWE' no doubt in my mind that it will lie dormant,» she said. While prepared to rais. the issue at a future meeting, Loneg- field wonders if the current counài should make the final decision on, the DBIA. 'There no doubt that we've seen the demis. of the DBIA as w. know it now," she said. <But it may b. best that we leave it to the new council" to b. elected i November 19,Long- field added. If there is an y resistance to scrapping the DBA the charg miXt be led byreional counci.. lor Marcel Brunelle, the Town's representative -on the DBIA management board. qI personally could not mgr. with the suspension of the DBIA,» said Brunelle. 1"They could stili meet without the tax and do thinge for people on a voluntary basis,» he said and referred to other volunteer- driven groupa such as the Boy Scouts, Jaycees and service clubs, as examplés. Brunele contends that the board's attempt to do away with the DBIA is a "political decision, rather than ithe beet intret of the people downtown.» Brunelle, who afil has last year's referendum ballots in his Cosse,3si 1, said a review of the ,o sZ bear hlm out. "I -think that the majority of the people didn't 1k. the tax, but they wanted to se. it (concept) continue," h. said. «I tink there is a roi. for the DBIA i this com munity. The downtown is someplace special and we should ail work together to keep it goixig.l DBIA board member Narendra Sethi owner of Whithy Optical,' said his colleagues gave up on the DBIA too soon. «W. should have given it-)a t1ryl to show that we 'can do Borne- thing,» said Sethi. 1Ten if people stili feel the same way, fine, hold a refer- endum and go from there," he sad. However that is i the past and council must respond to theý board's ret. Sethi said. "1 «Either issolve it or corne up witii some new idea. This way, nothing's being ý done in the. downtown and business is8 get- ting worse.» FAMILY REALTY Family Realty 2000 Ltd. LIST Karen Cattaf i Dr. G. crita yl *Days *Evenings e Saturdays * ,AduItà * Chidren * Seniors *Urgent Calis'Accepted Elevator entrance near VIDA Pharmacy POOL1BUSTE.RS FACTORY OUTLET, Replacement Inground INGROUND POOLS FROM $11,750e00 (905) 427m62927 m 64818