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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, April 8, 2010 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5571 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Commentary NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager The Oakville Beaver is a division of Guest Columnist QEP to open in 2012 Ralph Robinson, Ward 1 councillor t was in 2002 that The Halton District School Board made a decision to close Queen Elizabeth Park High School at the end of June 2004. The Town and council of the day began discussions about purchasing the property, which included the school and 12 Ralph Robinson acres of land. Initial emphasis was on the creation of a community centre for the area to at least partially mitigate the loss of the facility that served the citizens of Ward 1 for many years and in a variety of ways. The council decision to purchase the school site in May of 2005 for $4.5 million was, for the most part, received with enthusiasm, albeit a number of adjacent residents had concerns about the loss of the parkland surrounding the school. Most residents realized the potential concerns if the site was purchased by a developer. In 2006, the Parks, Recreation, Culture and Library Master Plan was completed, which did determine the need for an area community facility and council had three options; total demolition and rebuild; partial demolition and rebuild with a cost attached to either of $32 million or utilize the entire existing school building for a renovation cost of $22 million. Following several public meetings, council approved a plan to maintain the original structure for a $22-million remodelling, which reduced the other option costs by $10 million. The Town developed the property and, in so doing, sold 25 single family building lots to one builder for $6.2 million, which gave a $1.6 million profit to the Town with an increase in Town parkland of eight acres valued at approximately $6.5 million. Part way through the development process it became clear the Municipal Arts and Culture Community was in extreme need for a permanent home and plans were almost immediately approved for 35 arts groups to have access to 70,000 square feet with Town Recreational Services using the remaining 70,000 square feet. All stakeholders, including seniors, youths, arts group and the local community have been consulted extensively throughout the design process and development. The 140,000 square feet will have the following, which includes the 70,000 square feet for the arts and cultural groups -- one double and one single gym; a 25 metre swimming pool; youth centre; seniors centre; active living space for programs; multi-use program space; music rooms; art studios; a pottery studio; a woodworking and stone sculpture studio; archival space; black box theatre; rehearsal hall; dance studio; gallery space; café; and, many meeting and community rooms. Interior demolition is now completed and detailed drawings and an operating plan will be finalized soon. It is our objective and expectation to have this exciting facility open to everyone in January 2012. WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com Suburban Newspapers of America Media Group Ltd. I RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association Canadian Community Newspapers Association THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER DAFFODIL DAYS: Town Hall was the site of the official flag raising to celebrate April as the Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Month. Daffodils will be sold around town and a residential blitz will also take place throughout April. From left are, Ward 6 Councillor Tom Adams, Cancer Society volunteer Jeff Gareau, Town Chief of Staff Paul Visser, Cancer Society fundraising co-ordinator Lisa Moffatt, Sarah Adams of RBC, which assists with donation collection and local Cancer Society staffers Sharon Burns, Cheryl Eidt and Sandy McDonald. When Bahama Mama cocktail leaves its mark on technology T echies insist that the new Apple iPad -- released this week in the U.S. and coming to Canada by the end of April -- is both the bee's knees and the cat's pajamas. They contend that this so-called "tablet computer" is the world's greatest invention, easily topping current contenders: the Walkman (which, once-unimaginably, made music portable) and, of course, the Slinky. Well, techies can rave, but they had best refrain from telling me that this device (or any of its competitive cousins that can also be loaded with ebooks/ibooks) is better than books. Or will ever take the place of books. Unless they want me to go bananas. As both a bibliophile and a writer, I'm here to say that nothing will ever truly take the place of the printed book. Electronic books and their ersatz ilk may well take over in terms of sales, but they will never take the place of the printed word. A distinct difference. In an excellent essay in The Globe and Mail, author Helen Simonson pounded the proverbial nail on the head when she noted, "books are nourishment...in a way that visual media, the Internet and I dare say e-book text can never be. They carry smell and memory; they live in their shapes and heft." I'll take that one (slightly flaky) step further and say that books have a personality, or take on a personality --born in their artwork and design and in the memories they evoke -- that the cold e-glare of e-books will never recreate, regardless of how stellar the technology. Years ago, a close friend was heading to Europe to find himself (or lose himself). I sent him off with a copy of Mordecai Richler's Joshua Then And Andy Juniper Now. My friend soon found that he was not a traveller and that Europe at the time was all storm clouds and rain. Horribly homesick, he swears the only thing that got him through his travels was that book, which he always kept close at hand so he could read a rejuvenating chapter whenever he found himself sinking. Imagine him trouncing across Europe with his trusty iPad, and returning with such fond memories of the book (or what the iPad might call, good old File #8603). Actually, just try to imagine him not rolling over and crushing the technology in his sleep; or not getting rolled in a hostel (hoodlums threatened him for his shoes; imagine what they'd do for a little slice of the Apple). Don't get me wrong. I'm not a total technophobe, or technosnob. I love my Mac. I love my iPod. Heck, there's even an Amazon Kindle in my home, and I think it's pretty cool, too. I like being able to load novels, innumerable magazines and newspapers galore onto a device and then carry that cache of good reading around. I might actually (grudgingly) call this progress. But, please, don't tell me that this impersonal device is going to send my worn, treasured, earmarked copy of The Catcher In The Rye the way of the dodo bird. Every page of that book reminds me not only of the author's originality and brilliance, but of long lost, lazy afternoons reading on a sun-seared beach in The Bahamas. Forget the inherent, obvious difficulties of reading on a sandy beach with a $500 device. For a moment, just imagine what a spilled Bahama Mama -- the potent, sugary concoction that only gives my paperback additional character -- would do to the iPad's precious circuitry. Andy Juniper can be visited at www.strangledeggs.com, contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters.