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Orono Town Hall COURTICE LIBRARY 11.14.03 62 Temperance St. Bowmanville, Ont. L1C 3A8 $1.00 G ST Included Wednesday June 25, 2003 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Residents have their say on future After decades of service to the community, Mercer's Garage will be closed for business business at the end of this month. Dave Mercer (pictured) will pump gas till the tanks are empty. Orono shuttle bus coming soon! Orono's Community Forum Forum last Wednesday evening, was a real meeting of the minds. About 80 people showed up at the Orono Town Hall to brainstorm about the future of the village. Guest speaker, professor Robert Shipley from the University of Waterloo, shed some light on how the-town of St. Jacobs, which is a tourist destination, functions. There had been a suggestion voiced earlier that Orono should become more of a tourist town. "You should know what's going to happen when you make certain choices," he stated. "St. Jacobs has 14 stores where you can buy quilted placemats, but you can't buy a loaf of bread after 8 p.m." All the commercial property in St. Jacobs is owned by one company, said Shipley, and no one working in the shops actually lives in St. Jacobs. "The community of people who live in the houses have nothing to do with the commercial activity," he stated, "They are two entirely separate communities." communities." "Totirists have certain expectations, said Shipley. They want new towns to conform conform to their idea of a charac- Canada Day Fireworks Kendal Community Centre 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. teristic tourist historical town. "Streetscapes become dominated dominated by pre-faded graphics," he stated. "Places may not look like it looked before, but it is suitable for photograph- : ing. Is this growth?" he asked. Following Shipley's presentation, presentation, meeting participants were divided into groups. Facilitator Faye Langmaid, Glarington's Manager of Special Projects, assisted by Suzanne McCrimmon of the Clarington Board of Trade, asked participants to list a few of the best things about Orono, and the drawbacks. The traditional downtown, walking trails, community newspaper, post office, pool, park, library and the Orono Fair were listed as the best Orono has to offer. The drawbacks drawbacks listed were the lack of public transportation, low availability of real estate and the high property prices and the absence of a "white linen" restaurant. Another one of the groups was asked to consider what currently draws non-Orono residents to shop here. The bake shop, Jungle Cat World, the Orono Park area, the arena and soccer fields were all identified as draws to the area. In answer to the question, "What would you like to see changed?" • the group answered, clean shop windows windows downtown, garbage containers emptied and lids put on them, windows in unused stores covered up, traffic slowed down and facades cleaned up. It was apparent again that half the people wanted sewers in the village and the other half didn't. Langmaid will take all the material and comments gathered gathered at the meeting and will prepare a report for Clarington council in September. Professor Shipley was very pleased with the outcome of the meeting, which he said "expressed a common vision ORONO continued page 3 This year's Orono Fair will be serviced by a shuttle bus from Bowmanville. Councillor Robinson's motion requesting an hourly bus service to the Orono Fair was approved by Clarington council at their Monday night meeting. The cost to the municipality for the four-day service, from September 4 to 7, will be approximately $1,000. "This service will be a kick off for the Orono Transit System" stated Councillor Gord Robinson. A second motion by Councillor Robinson also pertaining to bus services was approved by council. Robinson moved that the Engineering Services staff investigate the feasibility of providing a limited transit service between Bowmanville, Bowmanville, Newcastle Village, the Village of Orono and Wilmot Creek retirement community. "We're pretty confident we will be able to provide a bus service this fall," stated Robinson. "We're looking at a two day a week service, pos sibly Tuesday and Thursday," said Robinson. BUS continued page 3 TONIGHT Wednesday, June 25 Ministry of Transportation Public Information Centre Rickard Recreation Complex 2440 Hwy 2, Bowmanville Open House 3-9 p.m. Presentation and Question/Answer Session begins 6:30 p.m.