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6 The Clarington/Courtice Independent, Bowmanvillc, Saturday, February 10,1996 (905)697-1501 by John O'Toole, Éürhàtn East MffîïMéÈMÿr The "Important Question" I put to each of you is simple to ask but needs your immediate mention before you answer.' Do YOU, the people of Durham Durham East want to be "In or Out" of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)? I reported last week that there will be opportunities opportunities for you to have input. Note: people from Man vers Township are not part of the Region of Durham and arc not directly affected by the GTA. However, changes to Property Tax Assessment .could impact all. Ontario. You arc encouraged encouraged to keep informed. 1st: My Rogers Cable 10 TV Show for this week (Feb. 4 to 9th) featured the Minister of Municipal Affairs (the Hon. A1 Leach) and Mr. Jim Witty (Chair of The Region of Durham) Durham) cable times: Sunday 12 noon, Monday 2 p.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. and Friday 11 p.m. I have a copy at the office if you wish to borrow it. 2nd: February 13th at 7:30 p.m. for Scugog Township. Township. To be held at Latchman Centre. This meeting is sponsored sponsored by Mayor Hall and the Scugog Council. You must notify notify the Clerk's Dept, at 985- 7393 before February 9th to address council. 3rd: February 20th at 7:00 p.m. for Clarington. To be held at the Municipal Centre, Centre, 40 Temperance Si. Bow- manville. This meeting is sponsored sponsored by Mayor Hamre and myself. Please contact the Clerk's Dept, at 623-3379 or my constituency office at 697- 1501. Those wishing to address address the panel should schedule your comments before February February 16th. Comments should be limited to no more than 10 minutes and written submissions submissions are preferred and will be responded to. , I have limited copies of the 2 or 3 main background reports: reports: A) : "The Report of the GTA Task Force", (Dr. Ann Golden's Report). B) : "Moving Forward Together", Together", (a discussion paper) prepared by the 4 Mayors, H. McCallion of Mississauga, Mel Eastman of North York, B. Hall of Toronto and N. Diamond Diamond of Oshawa. C) : "The Economics of Urban Urban Form", (prepared by Dr. Pamela Blais for the GTA Task Force). I will leave a copy of these reports at the Scugog and Bowmanvillc Bowmanvillc Libraries or you can drop by the Constituency Office Office at 75 King St. E. Bowmanvillc, Bowmanvillc, call 697-1501. 1 am available to any school, service club or organization organization to share the information I have and receive questions and input on this important question. Please call my office at 697-1501 to book a time. Each of you must understand understand that your Provincial Government Government did not compile these reports. The GTA Report was commissioned by the previous Provincial Government and we have just recently received the report. This week, the Min. of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Housing, the Hon. AI Leach, will announce an independent panel to receive public input over the. next 30 or 40 days. Durham will have a representative on this 3 person panel. The main issues of the debate debate are: Exciting News about Hearing Aids! There's no excuse today for not wearing your hearing aid. The clunky, behind-the-car models of the late 70's are no longer the fashion. Today, many assistive devices fit completely in the ear canal. They are barely visible at all! Hearing aid specialist Colette Cauchi operates the Bowmanville Hearing Centre, located at 47 Liberty St. S. (at ' Memorial Hospital). Many clients are surprised at how much hearing aids have shrunk over the years. And seniors arc not the only clients Cauchi sees. Hearing loss affects people of all ages. Anyone from factory workers, to rock fans, to motorcycle riders should be concerned about their hearing. In fact, in today's noisy society, many people will have a hearing handicap well before retirement age. They may not even be aware of it. The Bowmanville Hearing Centre will arrange hearing tests, fit people for hearing aids and do repairs. The Centre also offers hearing protection aids and advice. Cauchi recommends custom-fit noise attenuators to protect ears from unwanted noise. The Bowmanvillc Hearing Clinic carries swimming ear plugs, ideal for children who arc prone to infections. Hearing help is available with the Ministry of Health assisting in paying $400. towards the purchase of a hearing aid. The latest hearing aids arc light-weight and nearly undetectable. Cauchi hopes the stigma of wearing such a device will soon disappear! "You wouldn't leave home without your glasses. It should be the same if you need a hearing aid." For further information or to set up an appointment call 623-6500. BOWMANVILLE HEARING CENTRE 47 Liberty St. S. (at Memorial Hospital) ^ P 1st: the governance model: model: Presently, Local, Regional, School Boards, Hydro Commissions Commissions and Provincial politicians politicians along with civil servants provide a variety of services. Many of these services such as education, some hydro services, services, police, fire, public works (roads, sewer, water), parks, libraries, libraries, recreation, social services, services, planning, tax collection, assessment and economic development development are complicated in their funding and delivery. Which level pays, who delivers the service and who controls the service? There is no question question that duplication exists. The main idea is to eliminate duplication and waste so our taxes are used effectively without without deterioration in service. I tend to think that some services services are cross-boundary or intermunicipal intermunicipal in nature. When you consider that Ontario Hydro services some part of our municipality municipality and other parts are serviced by the Local Hydro Commission, does it really matter what the name is or does it matter if it crosses from Clarington into Scugog or Oshawa? The same is tme in education and in many other services that are delivered. In my opinion, all that really matters matters is who can deliver the service service in the most reliable, accountable accountable and cost effective manner. 2nd: equity in property assessment: Our municipal tax bill forms the economic base for most of the services listed above. The province is supposed supposed to control assessment. However, there are inequities in the assessment base. In a region, region, taxes vary from municipality municipality to municipality for a property with the same property property class and end use. Business tends to closely consider the municipality's tax system when considering location and even expansion. The same can be said of builders and home purchasers. If you consider equity equity and fairness in taxation, you must avoid bonusing and have a common assessment base. This issue tends to be a little complicated, but if you consider a common assessment base and vary the taxes collected collected (same thing as the level of services provided) which are controlled by the mill rate imposed imposed on each property class, you will begin to see the relationship relationship of fairness in an area or region offering common services. services. I believe we should each pay our fair share for common services. I am a strong believer that we can no longer afford ever- increasing taxes or user fees. Furthermore, the local councillor councillor is the most accessible and accountable politician. Directory Contains 120 Groups Looking for a support group in your community to help you deal with a specific concern? The Canadian Mental Health Association has published a "Directory of Self-Help Groups in Durham Region". This directory lists over 120 groups, with purpose, contacts, meeting infonnation, etc. For more infonnation call (905) 436-8760. Parents Concerned Over School Parking Clarington's Public Works names asks both the Norlhum- "There is no loading/ Director and the Senior By-law berland/Clarington Board of unloading zone at Central Pub- Enforcement Officer will be Education and the municipality lie School. Some people have getting together to review and to examine the problems which received tickets and others prepare a report on the installa- occur on Wellington Street. have received warnings to lion of a drop off/pick up area The petition notes, "recently move their vehicles." for the children attending Ccn- • wc have been experiencing Now the parents want to tral Public School. problems picking our children know what to do and have ap- A petition containing 35 up from school. proachcd Clarington council to find a solution. HOME SAFE HOME Winter Home Security Home Security and Safety takes planning and should be a year round priority. But in the winter months, special precautions are necessary to protect your home and those you love. In the winter, the cold and snowy weather forces many crooks, who travel by foot, off the streets. Accordingly, the number of housebreaks in some* areas drops slightly, but is balanced by the fact that your home becomes more vulnerable to a criminal attack. The cold temperatures force the honest citizens, like you and I, indoors, which means the bad guys have little to fear from potential witnesses in our neighborhoods. We're inside and can't hear them. During the winter months, it gets darker sooner making it easier for the burglars to approach your home under the cover of darkness and watch your comings and goings through the windows of fully lit rooms. Drawn drapes and closed blinds keep the potential burglar guessing that there might be someone inside who could give him or her'trouble. According to FAI Security Advisor, Gary Crittenden, eliminating hiding places near your home takes some planning. It may be best to begin this in the fall when it is easier to trim hedges to eighteen inches or less and to prune hanging tree branches to a height no lower than six feet. Gary also suggests that installing exterior security lighting and making alterations to privacy fencing, to allow for easier surveillance of your home by neighbours, are excellent additions to your home security plan. If you are planning to travel south in the winter months, a few practical tips.will reduce your chances of becoming a housebreak victim. Gary recommends that while you are away, have someone you trust (friend, relative or professional houscsilling service) shovel your snow, pick up your mail and newspapers and even park their car in your driveway. Install a timer for your interior and exterior lights and while your housesitter does their daily "security sweep" of your home, have them alter the times that the lights come on to make it appear that someone is home. With these few practical steps you may be able to fool potential burglars into thinking your home is occupied. Another item to think about is that you may be inviting burglars to your home when you are away by announcing it on your telephone answering machine. Messages should only announce the number being called and the fact that you are presently unavailable to take the call, but will get back to the person soon. Telling callers that you are "away for a few days" is an invitation to burglars. Also, be sure to clear your messages regularly. A long series of beeps indicates a long line of messages and potential burglars may take this as an indication that you are not around. ,"This is all good advice, but the centerpiece of any home security and safety plan is a professionally installed home alarm system that detects and ejects intruders from your home before they can steal or damage any of your property or hurt those you love. An effective home security plan is not about catching the bad guys. It's about making sure they arc ejected the instant they enter your home, so they leave empty handed without hurting anyone," says Gary Crittenden FAI Security Advisor, whose Bowmanville based company markets à nonmonilored "detect and eject" system called the Securityguard, a sophisticated but easy to use, award winning, home security system sold worldwide by FAI Home Security. Monitored home alarm systems arc subject to false alarms, user error, bad weather and power surges. In fact, in the Greater Toronto Area, monitored systems false alarm at a rate of 95%. (Metro Toronto Police Annual Report 1994). "The FAI Security Guard is not monitored and since it is not hard wired, it doesn't false alarm due to electrical problems. Instead, it blasts intruders with a wall of noise that announces to everyone within several hundred feet of your home that yoiir residence is being violated. With so many witnesses, the bad • guys just don't hang around," says Gary Crittenden, FAI Security Advisor. FAI Security Advisor, Gary Crittenden, can be reached at (905) 697-3375 @ j„ # # # e # # # ■# YOU'RE INVITED! SSELST. COUNTRY is proud to be CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF YAMAHA Sales & Service Our location Durham Rd. 57 6K south of 7A Blackstock, Ontario. # * # # # *■ # # # # # * # # » I# YAMAHA The Power To Satisfy. Telephone 905~986~4437 ©j.p. $$$$$$ $ % $ $ S $ $ *{s $ S $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $