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The Canadian Champion, Friday, March 23, 2007-A7 Development shouldn't corne \Fine ilow of natural- gas fourid; at expense of downtown core moreo area drdlling is expecrted * DEAR EDITOR: Mayor Gord Krantz's cavalier commenîs in the March 14 Toronto Star regarding the slow I demise of downtown Milton show a prevaient attitude found in flot oniy the mayor but the Town's administration as a whole. Whiie businesses do have 10 constantiy reinvent themseives, the municipaliîy needs to have some consideration and fore- thought in planning the overail weii being of the entire town. Whiie Krantz says "ifs up to stores to adapt," isn't it also up to the Town to adapt? We have seen littie planned deveiop- ment, just rampant develop- ment. We have visited Milton ofien for several years and for the past three years we've lived in Milton, and in those three years we haven't seen the powers- that-be do anything positive for downtown Milton. We read of the proposed removal of pedestrian crossings, thus making it difficuit for any- one wanting to walk anywhere j downtown. We've seen signs saying cars have priority over people trying 10 cross in wbaî were once designated crossing areas. We hear of possibly put- ting in parking metres, whiie - -from POWER on page A6 smog will have to travel acroas thse Milton com- muniîy before it reaches the escarpment. If you have waîched An Inconvenient Trutb, do you flot feel awakened with a sense of purpose or obligation 10 save our environment? We are already making smaller differences by using ener- gy efficient lighî buiba and programmable ther- mostats, and we ail have been recycling for some lime. Why stop there? This ia an opportunity for us as a communit>' 10 pull together and face a much larger tbreat, one that will affect us first before any other communit>' The consequences seem obvi- oua - gas fired plant produces smog, community gets lung cancer. A source i have read states that the massive power outage in August 2003 was caused by a i understand - there are busi- nesses already paying a parking fee to the Town. We see trash piied up and overllowing in the downtown bins, not just for a day or two, but pretty much every time we take a stroil downtown, which is several limes a week. Did the developers of the new shopping complexes receive tax breaks or other enticements to locate in Milton? If they did thaîs okay, but did the downiown merchanis get any incentives 10 stay? Downîown Milton couid thrive with some consîderation and planning [rom the Town offi- diais. Look ai Downtown Oakvîille. To us, Oakviiie looks like a towii where the officiais and the business people worked hand-in-hand to better both worlds. We haven't seen thai type of partnership here. i worked for a Town for 17 years and do know a little about Towns and deveiopment. 1 do know that our pianner, zoning officiai aîîd economic develop- ment people were constantiy working on the future develop- ment of the town wbile keeping in mind the importance of its core. The rural îown i worked for had residential areas and busi- nesses întegrated, creating neighbourhoods while always keeping the environmenî and the lownspeopie in mind. We haven't wiînessed, or even heard îaik of, such a goal for Milton. The environmental experts cali for fuel conservation, yet Milton shows great concern oniy for vehicles. Health experts cali for more exercise in peopies lîves, yet Milton is moving to making crossîng sîreets down- îown a chore, thus discouraging waikers. Most cities and towns are stniving 10 enhance and build up their downtown. What bas Milton done in that direction? Most cilles and towns are mov- ing in the direction of lhriving, green municîpalities. Milton seems to me to be moving back- ward insîead of forward. Yes, businesses constanîly need to reinvent îhemselves, but s0 do Towns. Administration shouid look 10 001 only future development, but also the future of whaî is already in Milton. You don't look at one area ai the exclusion of the other. Thats poor planning. lsn'î that, in essence, whaî Krantz ia îelling us the business- es are guilty of? MARGARET WALLACE ROBERT STREET lightning strike ai a power plant on the U.S. side of Niagara Falls. Nowbere was it mentioned that the outage was caused by over-consumption. i believe Paxton bas ulterior motives in bis pies to consider allowing a polluting plant to be built near Milton while ignoring the consequences simu- ply because we have te, saîisfy power demand. Milton la not the righî place to build polluting power plants. Alternatives such as wind and solar energy do bave a place, perbapa on top of the mountain range alorig Milton. Perhaps Milton res- idents cao attach wind generalors and solar pan- els 10 their homes and businesses. Eiîber way, ils beneficial for us 10 sel prece- dents and show everyone that smog will not be îhrown down our tbroats if we can belp il. THOMAS GWOZDZ MILTON 'Turne Capsules' ar-e geins of infor- mation extracted from past issues of Tne Champion and other publications in on.ier to provide a wlndow int Miitonl past. E:xplanatory comment 15 sonietimies pnvlded to place the situa- tion in context. jml> 1909 The Halton 011 & Gas Cos drill struck the granite last week ai a depth of 1,660 feet without havmng struck a flow of oil. Yesîerday, Mr. Tbompson, the driller in charge, together with Morgan Crewson, was in town and reporîed hsving obtained a fine flow of natural gas, whicb becommng igniîed la burning at time of going to, press, flames reaching over 10 feet high. Mr. Thompson ays il la difficult at thla stage to exact>' estimate the quantity of gas which can ultimatel>' be obtaineti but bie la making prepara- tions for capping the well. At a meet- ing of the directors hieldi n Milton on Fridai; eveniug it was decided to, remove thse drilling outfit to Milton and try another spot close o tise towu, where indications for oil are considered ver>' favourable. The report for' 1908 of thse Inspector of Prisons aud Public Charities shows 143 committals to Miltonujail, diree of thean of woxuen, an lucrease of 33 over the number for 1907. Thse numuber of commîtt"l for drunenneas was thse sanse lu, each ofthe two years, sx. Thse coa of daly> rations pet prisoner was 8.05 cents. Work on thse new banstaud in tise court bouse park wlll begiu tomorrow The town will fum"si electric ligis for it. The firs Willmott binder was glven a strong trWa on Tuesday after- noon lu cutslug a five acre ftel of wheat on A.S. Willnotr's faon, fima bune. The machine started without a bitch, and did excellent work. Mn. Duclipp, superintendent, Mr. Heudet'son chief expert andi C.&. WllImott, presideut, a> thse results are pleasing. mitof ime capsules August 1909 The new baud stand li the court house park was most successfully opened on Fniday evening. The band pbiyed a number of high-class selec- tions in its best style and Carey Bros. exhibited a fine lot of new moving pictures. Reeve Earl, Councillors Deacon and Griffith and E. Syer made short speeches. There was no admission fee, the attendance was very large and the silver collection generous, the total receipts amount- ing to about $40. The enterlainment having been such a great success it was announced that several more of thse same kind would be given before the cold weather sets in. The stand la hexagonal, la substautiilly huilt, bas twelve electric: lampa and when the painting la fished, will be an orna- ment to the parle and a credit to the town. Milton Fire Brigade went to Pais yesterrla acconapanied b>' thse band and citizens to take part su the big annual competition of ie Provincial Volunteer Firemen's Association. Altogether about 275 Mlltonuans aud 25 front CampbellviUe travelled b>' the CJ>R. specil Georgetown sent a tiuanud band aud Acton brigade weuî bsut 414 not compete. The Mikion boys covered themnsehres with glory. The>' proved to be thse crack teain of the competion winning first prize lu thse hose reel race aud second in the hook aud ladder raée whlle Firemen Fleming and Ryder won prlzes lu foot races. There was great rejjoicing litre when the excursionlats got homse atabout il p.m There was a toithlight procession from. the train, foilowed by a big bonflre oppo- site thse Hotel McGibbon. This materialis assemblMdon beh4ff of thse Mit Historical Society by jim Dils; who cati le reached at jdlls@darect.com. e - V u * - Tuioh ee-flIm on R-OPR111u1 -»M Ore Do you suifer with nmwlek or 10w back pain? 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