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A6 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday, July 16, 2003 = X Recognized for Excellence by Ontario CommunHy N cm paptrc Association Canadian Community N owpajwrs Association i EDITORIALS A M D LETTERS THE OAKVILLE BEAVER 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax; 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 337-5610 Circulation: 845-9742 IAN OLIVER P ublisher NEIL OLIVER Associate P ublisher TERI CASAS Office M anager JILL DAVIS E d ito r in C h ie f MARK DILLS P roduction M anager KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising D ire cto r R1Z1ER0 VERTOLU Photography D ire cto r STEVE CROZIER C irculation D ire cto r ROD JERRED M anaging E d ito r m* m m a t p u w g i o n to * m . n u > H fixJP & e twg H ints Adverts** AJkaon Heratt/Ccuier. Arttv Ertsrprtte News. Barns A d o r a . Bury* Bay This Waek BcRcn Enterprise. Brampton Guardan. Burlngton Past. Ourtrytjn 9 c (p n g Nom . Ofy Parent. CoikngwoocV'iVasaga Connection, East Yu* Mrrar. Din fcfcocata'Oourtry Routes. Cloocoke Guardian. Fiwnborough Post. Georgetown Busnees Tmos, Kingston n«s Week Undssy The Week. MWon Canadian Champton. Mlton SMKpng News. MHais sauoa Business Times, MssissauQQ Nswhl Napanee Guide. Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner. NorthuntiertMio News. North ttx* Minor, OoMte beam . OaMte Stappng News. Otdbmers Hockey News, OrlWa Today, OsftawaWiflby.Qaftiglon Port Perry The Week. Owen Scuid Trtxne, Palmerston OCservw Fetartwuigri Thil Week. Pteton Courty Gude, Rjcfimond WThomwWaughan Uberal. Scarborough Mnor. SioufMWlttindge Trfeune. R m « r Yoirg. Cry (< * rk Guardnn THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL M EDIA SPONSOR FOR: H a lt o o H e althca re moA sa» * · ' v ...X ll E H O N tW H fr; T T t l f IY m ss M&MFund X TO M F^P W t1rA 'G W ,J . O N Lm fman loakvHIc galleries | S K t Suburtun Newspapers ot America TV AUCTION © v& Oakville O > The O s M » . MMon and CMncl o n r * t o m BUSINESS EXCR10C6 O & dJL C M M r » n 1 Voters may have final say Try this today at work: W alk Jan. 1, 2004 after the com m ittee into your boss' office and tell him a com pared councillors' salaries to group o f people, w ho don't w ork those in other nearby regions and for the com pany, have reco m found H alton councillors about 20 m ended you receive a 70 per cent per cent lower. pay hike. By all accounts this w as a trans So, how receptive do you think parent process in w hich the politi y o u r boss w ill be? cian s kept an arm 's C hances are, not very. length. H ow ever, w hen it To be sure, this is a To be sure, this is com es to p o litician s bold m ove by regional a bold move by and their salaries the politicians to accept a bizarre can som etim es regional politicians huge pay hike in an to accept a huge be the norm. election year. Take the announce In co n trast, earlier pay hike in an m ent from regional this year O akville election year. council last week that C ouncil balked at a co u n cillo rs voted m ajor pay increase and them selves a pay hike o f m ore than stuck with the old system which 60 per cent. The regional chair will gives councillors the one-third taxreceive a pay raise o f nearly 70 per free status. cent. H ow ever, the politicians will This will result in tw o different lose their one-third tax free status pay structures for local and region and their new salaries will be tax al councillors in Oakville. able. R egional C o u n cillo rs will Incredible. receive the higher taxable salary W hat is even m ore strange is that from the region and the sm aller this w hopping pay hike w asn't one-third tax-free stipend along som e underhanded deal done in a with their O akville Council col back room aw ay from the public's leagues, eyes. W hether the public at large con In fact, it was a citizen's advisory siders these increases fair m ay not com m ittee (read: Joe Public) that be know n for som e tim e....perhaps recom m ended the hikes take effect Nov. 10. LETTERS TO THE ED ITO R Oakville Galleries needs balance How lucky Francine Perinet is that public money and space support her personal passion for contemporary art (Passion for Galleries. Oakville Beaver, July 12). Almost half the rev enue for Oakville Galleries comes from our town tax levy -- 42 percent in 2000,49 percent in 2001 (2002 figures will be released later this year). As part of this community, "the Galleries' balance sheet accounts are merged with the accounts of the Town" (Oakville's 2001 Financial Report). Other public funds provide grants -- $53,686 in 2000 and $85,000 in 2001. How fortunate she is that the Centennial Gallery is located in a busy library (Oakville Central Library). For instance, on June 21-22 during opening hours. I observed 621 people on the main floor of the Central Library. My vantage point opposite the gallery door could not include visitors to the children's library sec tion. Of those visitors, 55 paused briefly at the gallery doors, looked in, but did not enter, 228 walked right passed the gallery, glanced in, but didn't even break step. Of the 621,65 actually entered the gallery. Viewing time ranged from one minute to examine one piece, to 10 min utes for the entire show. Walk Ways. Perinet's passion was actively shared by about 10 per cent of library visitors on a weekend that would naturally draw people to the Central Library -- Waterfront Festival, good weekend weather, final exams. In the article the writer states, "There was a time when it (Centennial Gallery) was more of a community centre (Oakville Beaver, July 12)." How fortunate that Perinet's gallery pol icy and practice have decimated that former community presence in a community owned and funded space. In this swing from one extreme to another, isn't it time to find an equitable balance? As she said in her interview, "you can't slow down and stop questioning." I ask then, why Oakville Galleries with its public funding and space con tinues its dog-in-the manger unwillingness to house highly attended, visually challenging and enjoyable exhibitions of artists and artisans in this community. I write as a set designer for Oakville's three community theatres, as an embroiderer with the Oakville Stitchery Guild and as a member of the steering committee for the Festival of Fibre Arts 2005. JANE CORYELL Union questions logic of regional council pay Re: Halton Regional Council Increase On behalf of the members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) employed by the Region of Halton and its municipalities, I would like to congratulate the Regional Chair and the regional councillors on their 70% and 60% increases respectively. I will not comment on whether the increase is fair as that is for another debate. Perhaps now they will finally concentrate on negotiating a fair wage increase for the members of CUPE. It was with interest that I read Tom Clark's (Halton's director of human resources) comments on how they would have some difficulty in calculating the actual per centage increase, so is it more than 60%? Is it less than 60%? If they don't know, how could Council approve the increase? Perhaps the councillors can tell us what their total income from all municipalities will be and did they know what the salary was when they ran for office? CUPE members, employed by the Region, have been consistently told that if they want what other employers pay, they are free to go and work for them. 1 assume that since this increase is now passed we won't be seeing any "For Sale" signs on their lawns or letters of resignations. We were also told that union members had the privilege of a grievance procedure. Is that supposed to make up for a 20 or 30 or 40 percent wage difference? How does Regional Chair Joyce Savoline justify pay ing less to Region employees for the same work performed by Oakville employees ? In addition to this increase, what about the annual increase also received by all of the councillors over the same seven years Mr. Clark says was the last time of reviews. The pension contribution increases are a signifi cant contribution if they are going to be matched by the Region, where is that increase calculated in this 60 or 70% increase? It is also interesting that the Council does not have any hesitation in approving increases of eight or nine percent annually for middle management. Do these employees mean more to the Region than the rest? I invite all Regional Councillors and the Regional Chair to meet with their unions and bargain a fair collec tive agreement. 1 invite you to meet with CUPE and nego tiate a fair collective agreement. We are willing to meet with you at anytime. Just name the location, we will be there. R. A. CARNOVALE CANADIAN UNION OF PUBUC EMPLOYEES Despite success, Pine Grove school faces closure Re: Parents say public board jum ping the gun on school closures, Oakville Beaver , June 27 and St. M ildred' s receives perfect score from Fraser Institute, Oakville Beaver, June 28 As an Oakville resident, I wish to add my voice to the out raged parents of southwest Oakville facing accommoda tion/consolidation reviews of their elementary schools. I am focussing my comments on the PE 13 region where the Halton District School Board has recommended closing two schools affecting a capacity of 572 student places by June 2004 and a further 253 places by June 2005. The Board's Superintendent of business cites grant impacts for savings projected for the next 25 years. The fig ures are based on statistics that do not take into account the continued renewal of a mature district introducing new fam ilies with children into the demographics o f the area. The education grant system has failed both the school boards o f Ontario and the communities they serve. The perstudent grants are inadequate to repair and maintain many of the older schools. Some closures may be necessary, but the studies of the population should be current and not based on projections to 2016 that are not realistic. Take for example the current percentage use at Pine Grove Public School. 114 percent, yet the planner projects a sudden collapse for the school year 2004 to 60 percent usage. What information or misinformation is this projection based on? I turn now to the article in the Saturday Oakville Beaver Weekend issue. St. Mildred's received headline treatment for its perfect score 10, from the Fraser Institute. St. M ildred's deserves the accolade: however it is a pri vate school with low student/teacher ratios, can chose who. they accept into the school and therefore should have the expectation of high success in the classroom. What is horribly wrong with this article is that it should have had a subtitle, Oakville Public School. Pine Grove, achieved a 9.9 score overall. Pine Grove, one of the public schools being considered for closure: with this success, the number crunchers in the Halton District School Board should be ashamed and the school administration and teachers should be very proud. The enrolment at Pine grove should soar if parents are alerted to their success. MARY D. SMITH S h a r k e y 's d e v e l o p m e n t p r o p o s a l d o e s n o t b e l o n g in d o w n t o w n O a k v i l l e Bronte Village BIA grateful for support The Board of Directors and the Merchant Members of the Bronte Village BIA want to thank everyone for making our Canada Day Festival such a fantastic success. The turnout for the event was tremendous and the congrat ulations from attendees are still being received in the office. I am extremely happy for the efforts of the organizing committee and the financial support of the Bronte merchants. I also want to acknowledge the following corporations, local restaurants and individuals whose contributions made this event possible for the citizens of Oakville and visitors from the surrounding Regions including guests from as far away as the Yukon. They are: National Homes. Mattamy Homes. Burloak Signature Park. The Bronte Outer Harbour Marina, the Oakville-Trafalgar Lions Club, the Oakville Lions Club, Molson Brewery, the Halton Multicultural Council, the Harbour Lighthouse Restaurant the Twisted Fork, Etcetera, etc., the Firehall Restaurant, the Rude Native and the Coach and Four and finally Peter Whitaker who organized the Comedy Dinner Show. Although the goal of raising $25,000 for the fireworks wasn't reached by Canada Day, the Bronte Village BIA Board of Directors will host a future fundraiser and donations from individuals will still be gratefully accepted at the office of the Bronte Village BIA. 100 Bronte Road or at the following merchants: Timeless Design. 105 Jones St.. Mixed Grill Catering, 2436 Lakeshore Rd. W. and Exit Realty Negotiators at 2274 Lakeshore Rd. W. 1 hope your visit to Bronte was pleasant and may your memories be fond. KERRY SALARI CHAIR, BRONTE VILLAGE BIA Pud By STEVE NEASE The vigour with which this letter is graphically put on paper will tell you that 1 am opposed to the 14-storey build ing that a developer has in mind to build in downtown Oakville near the lake. This is a brutal project, which does not reflect the require ments of downtown Oakville. It is completely detached from what downtown Oakville is or should be. The fact that there is an "incredible demand" does not make it a project of wise equilibrium. My admiration for the beauty of nature pushes me to say: do not put another unpleasant discordance between my eyes and the lake. GIUSEPPE FAVA The OakvWk Beaver Is a member of the Ontario Press Coundi. The coundl is located at 80 Gould S t. Suite 206, Toronto. Ont.. M5B 2M7. 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