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P.........' -- Residents' concerns ignored in Cornwall Rd. plan Dear Sir: _ Council voted on Monday, May 3rd to proceed with the Cornwall Road Construction plans from Old Mill Road to Chartwell Road. Their decision raises questions about how our elected municipal officials make decisions during this period of massive social, envi- ronmental and economic change. r I .1he decision of Jackie Cutmore to bow out of the race for candidate of the Oakville Milton riding of the federal Progressive Conservatives, means less of a battle for the remaining three challengers, Now, councillor Stephen Sparling, former councillor Janet Mitchell and Oakville Mayor Ann Mulvale, will fight it out for the right to represent the Tories thanks to the retirement of incumbent MP Otto Jelinek. Anyone familiar with Cutmore, either as a former councillor, trustee or executive of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, knows she is a strongly- opinionated woman. She's no wallf1ower. Her withdrawl from the race will take some of the anticipated fireworks out of the debates leading to the June nomination meeting. Following lengthy. well- researched presentations by citizen delegations, councillors made their decision based on economic con- siderations. The issues raised by residents were disregarded in the decision-making process. Instead, councillors based their decision on expedient planning and engineer- ing advice to facilitate the $l50,000 deal with Kanefl' Che MEL May 5, I993) to build the But [mung sand that. her decusuon to change her mmd ts undcrstandablc tn the contmt of the amount of ttmc needed away from family and her new lob mth Child Fund Ontario. P f il ntario Hydro is heading for a showdown in the next few years and it Owill be up to the provincial government of the day to ensure that taxpay- ers. finally, get more electric bang for their buck. . When OH's new president Maurice Strong took over the reins of the utility, he found an operation in chaos. He inherited a fat cat utility with too much staff, too little efficiency and a crippling debt that was and is, threatening to bring both the utility and the province to its economic knees. fidicting powei needs is/the main core around which Hydro policy is built When the predictions are correct, the theory is you win. When they're wrong you're in big trouble. Ontario Hydro is in big trouble. It based the construction of the multi-billion dollar Darlington nuclear plant on inflated demand figures that have no basis in reality. Hydro had claimed it would have to expand electricity production to 15,600 megawatts to meet demand. In reality. that demand has only been 1,100 megawatts. ( A megawatt would operate l0,000 light bulbs of 100 watts). This poor planning meant Hydro continued to incur billions of dollars of debt to build new projects that weren't needed. It also used these electricity demand projections as a carrot to private energy producers, who took those numbers and began planning work on their own projects. Now most of these plans are on hold or have had the size of the operations cut back, If the private firms were operate on an equal basis, they would blow Hydro out of the water. The problem is that Ontario Hydro is a virtual monopoly and as such is a power unto itself. It will only purchase power that would be more expensive to produce itself. And given the cost structures in place and the over- capacity of expensive electricity at Hydro, those strictures are rarely met. Structural changes are currently underway at Hydro and they will have to continue in the future if Ontario is to remain on a competitive basis with other provinces and US. states. The province's cheap power used to be a drawing card to manufacturers, now its rising costs are a deterrent. Old Mill section of the Cornwall Road. Residents of Oakville are now waiting to see what th.e Town traded in this "behind-closed- doors" deal. In making their deci- sion, Council failed to hear local people who raised valid social, environmental and economic issues for a sustainable communi- ty. Although l6 private power producers have had their projects downgraded. it will be interesting to see how cost-effective they will be compared to Hydro. From our viewpoint, it won't be much of a contest. Oakville's Official Plan was approved ll years ago. Cornwall Road has always been a part of the plan, but it has grown to a four- lane expressway and will require a seven-lane intersection at Trafalgar Road to accommodate the proposed Genstar/Kaneff/Main Lumber/General Tower develop- ment. Further, the expressway will cut through the proposed residen- tial development where the popu- lation density is projected to be 4,500, three times the rate of the existing neighbourhood. With more people using this section of Cornwall, the thoroughfare will limit safe freedom of movement for all Oakville residents and increase automotive pollution rates. Residents' concern is that if this road is built as approved, the Official Plan may no longer sup- port neighbourhood needs and val- ues. Indeed, we are looking at short-term gain for long-term problems in the mid-town corridor. No doubt agreement to proceed with Cornwall Road is a difficult ’ OPINION Then there were three EDITORIAL decision. councils have debated the Cornwall extension for more than 20 years. But previous coun- cils have chosen to wait until they had a better planning model to guide their decisions. Now, sus- tainable models for community planning are accessible and are being advocated globally. Dear Sir: Re: Fight Predicted Over St. Mildred's Construction. Here's to Carol Hobbs and her brilliant idea in regard to St. Mildred's Lighthourn. if that school really feels it needs a larger building and more facilities. let it take over the former Oakville-Trafalgar High School site. If it prefers its present location. let it stay the size it is. it prefers its present location. let it stay the size it rs. Meantime. rather than harassing the neighbours. the school should be thanking them. For years that area has suffered heavy traffic jams several times daily. In I986 there was massive construction in that residential area. Now the school wants to put the neighbourhood through that again! When will enough be enough? NOW sounds good. St. Mildred's expansion criticized The thing that I want to speak about is when people insist on stop- ping in the right-hand turn lane and block everyone behind them; when they are going straight anyways; when they should be in the cen- tre lane. This really gets me and I see it every day, particularly at Fourth Line and Speers. Our town council in their wisdom decided to save money by not having grass clippings picked up with the garbage. We have abided by their questionable decision and have not put our grass clippings out. However, when looked out this morning, four additional bags had been added, Upon checking, of course they were filled with grass clip- pings. Out town employees used goodjudgement and took these along with their regular garbage for which we are grateful. However, if non- law abiding citizens continue this despicable practice and the town enforces this law, what are we to do with the grass clippings that do not belong to us? This must have occurred between midnight and 7 a.m. and we are not about to sit up and guard it all night. E3011]: CALL845-5585 DE Got a gripe? Give us a call. Readers are invited to express their opinion on a topic of their choice by calling 845-5585, box 5250. All callers are allowed 45 sec- onds to express their opinion and must provide their name, address and phone number for verification. A cross section of the responses will be published in next Wednesday's Oakville Beaver. SPEAK YOUR MIND A model for a sustainable com- munity acknowledges the interve- lationships of economy. environ- ment and health in terms of human development. See Figure I (In T. Hancock, Hummus I993; 8:43). Most will agree that the economy must be environmen- tally sustainable and not deplete The Oakville Beaver muss your comments. All letters must be signed and include the writer‘s address and phone numbet. Letters should be typed, ttouNo-spttard and addressed to: Lam to the Editor. Tho 00M". Savor. 487 Spun Rd., Oukvlllo. Ont. Ltttt MM fiasa'y 467 Classified Advertising: 845-2809 Circulation: 845-9742 or 845-9743 845-3824 Fax: 845-3085 LEM. Knight Spear Mark Roser Kay Brown HIE OAKVlLLIi BEAVER Rot Oakville, Ont, L6K Ltd E§HLNGWGE0RGE1| renewable resources or pollute the air. land or aquatic ecosystems. However. people are realizing that the economy needs to be socially sustainable as municipalities begin to enter into agreements with the province to support the health of Council members are urged to adopt a community planning model to visualize health, environ- ment and the economy in a process of open. decision-making. As thoughtful members of this com- munity, they are requested to re- think their position of Monday night. They have chosen to assume responsibility for the community but this decision will have a last- ing, detrimental affect on genera- tions of Oakville people. As citizens of Oakville, encour- age Council to reconsider their decision and make community liv- ing u happy, healthy experience. Kathleen Cruttenden Director, Trafalgar Chartwell Residents' Assoc., TCRA Oak groups. Our vision changes from an economically focused model to one of people and their needs, sup- ported by thoughtful economic and environmental planning. the provmc all ciliz Wh: Based Wt to IVIIOHIT M en IC an " the equall we th tt nd social support and tental protection need- n the health of these vision changes from ally focused model to the 1991 be )mmunll tt In 1K and Robert Glllbey Adverllslug Director Norman Alexander Editor Geoff Hill Clrculultuu Director Teri Cans Qlllce Manager Tim Colel Product ion Manager m wn Ian Oliver Publisher the high area and pulauon sfu " 1tlati "it re nabl num mi oll 8l0 o " ure If er I5 n Dear Sir: Perhaps the motto on Ontario license plates should be changed to "Yours To Flee." After all, a recent Environics poll of I,006 Ontarians revealed that a shocking 41% of them would seriously consider moving out of the province if they could afford it. What's more 50% of Metro Toronto residents and 54% of What's more 50% of Metro Toronto residents and 54% of those aged 25 to 34 said the same. Even 37% of NDP supporters said they would leave if they could! Why do so many seem to have a sense of hopelessness about their future in this province, once a province of opportunity? The poll also showed that 76% of Ontarians believe the provincial debt is growing so quickly that it will soon reach a crisis propor- tion and another 6% say we're already there. Ontarians place the blame for this dismal situation squarely on the shoulders of Premier Bob Rae and the NDP. In fact, only three per cent of Ontarians had a lot of confidence in Premier Rae’s ability to manage the province's finances. On the positive side, 6l% of Ontarians supported the widespread privatization of government assets and services. Even more encouraging, 67% of union members and 54% of NDP sup- porters backed widespread privatization. These Environics poll results were responses to questions com- missioned by Ontarians for Responsible Government. The premier should heed the views of Ontarians, abandon his destructive policies and adopt the right ones to get our province back on track. Merely cutting some public service jobs and spending a little less on them is nothing more than a bandage solution. Premier Rae needs to fundamentally restructure government. if he isn't prepared to do so, he should resign and let someone else do the job - LETTER OF THE DAY --.-.- Ontario: yours to flee WEEKLY FOCUS " Ba All "w w BOAR HuNnNG Wtrfl BORIS BEAVER M1IN; 'ij/ttl MIKE MAZ 'i')fiiiiiiii1iiiii Colin Brown Ontarians for Responsible Government vet mm Illa Toda 'lt/rl/ll New, Now or Whitt akvlllo Home m: Weak Me in, WI lob lhh " Mllyll Norm Vom Mlnor, 0mm. Pom/borough Thin Wuk, uh M201, An mum copy: t, y 2fit',IUg Mm»! mo wn Ir Wonk hp "