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-- 6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, February 20, 1990 The, Rout Povey Stay 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO EDITORIAL Publisher - J. Peter Hvidsten ~~ Office Manager - Gayle Stapley Editor - John B. McClelland News/Features - Julia Ashton Billing Department - Louise Hope BUSINESS OFFICE Accounting - Judy Ashby A \ 2m a350C0 5g RADIAN COMA, (Qs) i J; > Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association Ontario Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd. Port Perry, Ontario PHONE 985-7383 FAX 985-3708 News/Features - Kelly Storry Retail Sales - Kathy Dudley, Linda Ruhl, Tracy O'Neil The Port Perry Star is authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, for cash payment of postage. PRODUCTION ADVERTISING Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Annabell Harrison Advertising Co-ordinator - Valerie Ellis Subscription Rate: InCanada $20.00 per year Trudy Empringham Advertising Sales Representative - Anna Gouldburn Elsewhere $60.00 per year. Single Copy 50¢ Darlene Hlozan BE A Editorial Comment ONLY MONEY If you were operating a large business with a total annual budget in excess of $200 million with about 1,000 employees, and due to circumstances beyond your control, you had been forced over the last several years to fragment major depart- ments in different rented offices several miles apart, what would your priority be? One would think, that at the appropriate time and when the business had sufficient money, it would make sense short term and long term from a business point of view to bring all those departments to-gether in one central location. Especially if that business already owned a fairly large building with plenty of adjacent land that would more than ac- commodate the necessary expansion. This is the situation Durham Region finds itself in right now. The Region is spending large chunks of tax-payers mon- ey to lease office space all over Whitby and Oshawa because the: Regional building on Whitby's Rossland Road simply is not large enough. And that building is also home to provincial courts and assessment department. 'But rather than pursue a course to bring the departments under one roof in a new or expanded single building, Durham Region is pushing ahead with a plan to have two main build- ings, one presumably on the current site and the other in downtown Oshawa, a distance of nearly ten miles. This issue has been the subject of enormous debate among various Regional councils for more than a decade. Last week, a consultant told councillors that it will cost about $52 million to proceed with the two-building concept. That's a lot of money in the best of times. In this day and age, when governments at all levels must pinch pennies to avoid dumping more of a tax load on the already over- burdened public, it is a great sum of money. And what is frustrating and infuriating is that the Region is pushing ahead with this two-building concept to placate the political whims of some members of the Regional council. The Regional council has not even bothered to have a consultant take a look at what the cost would be to construct one building to house all its departments comfortably with ade- quate parking for staff and the public. Surely, with the amount of land the Region owns at the Rossland Road site, and the fact there already is a large build- ing on that site, the cost to get the job done properly would not approach the $52 million needed for two buildings. We have no quibble at all with the notion that Durham badly needs new facilities for its administration. Aside from the money that pours out each year in lease agreements, it is not very efficient to have departments scattered hither and yon. Using the Regional land and existing building makes the most sense in terms of dollars. But, we could even see the sense in a completely new site, perhaps in downtown Oshawa, if it meant all the departments were "under one roof" with more than adequate parking for staff and the public. And if the Region could be assured that it could sell its present building and land at fair market value. But no, the council is bent on pursuing the two building scheme no matter what the cost, and no matter that if it finally does come about, half the Regional departments will be locat- ed in Oshawa, the rest in Whitby, which is hardly an efficient set-up. A few members of Regional council, among them Scu- gog's Yvonne Christie, remain adament in their opposition to this approach. But they are voices in the wildérness, their pro- tests falling on deaf ears. This is a very expensive way to smoothe the ruffled feath- ers and stroke the egos of a few politicians. At the root of the issue is a claim by the City of Oshawa to one-third ownership of the existing Regional building on Ross- land Road. Oshawa claims it never relinquished its one-third ownership when Durham took over from Ontario County in the early 70's. Though this claim has never been tested in a court of law, the City has threatened to go to court if the Region proceeds (Turn to page 8) > 2 x Ww N RIAN » \ 3 N ¥ SIN " NN \ N- ce Mine NX 3 SN a 3 N ~ TN\\ MIN WN ) MANN Sy » AN \¥ = \ § NN ON 7 Zi 050 /1 QoS 70002527 END OF AN ERA By now, most people in this community will be aware that after 35 years in business in Port Perry, Howard Hall will be closing the doors of House of Howard forever. That event is just a few days away, and it will be a sad one for me. Back in July of 1967, | arrived in Port Perry to begin apprenticing in the newspaper business with my father. It was at this time that | first be- came aware of the name Howard Hall when | saw his picture on the front page of the Star. There he was, grinning back at me from the page with his fists clenched tightly around a wad of money. It was Canada's Centennial year, and as secretary of the Centennial Celebrations it was Howard's job to count the money. Howard in a position of counting money is one thing that hasn't changed much in the past 23 years. But there are a few things about Howard that have changed. First of all the photograph re- veals there was a time in this man's life when he didn't have a growth of white, fluffy hair on his face. That's right folks he wasn't born with hair on his face, although it's been many years since we've seen him without facial hair. Back in 1967 Howard was clean shaven, darker and much younger. But that mischievious little glint often seen in his eye was as prominent then as it is today. Aside from these few physical appearances, Howard really hasn't changed much in the past two decades. He's still " Howard", and you only have to know him, to understand what | mean. He's an organizer, community worker, long time businessman, serious politician, volunteer extraodinare, joker, negotiator and probably most important a dedicated family man. Howard's the type of guy you either like or dislike. Take him the way he is or don't take him at all. Agree with his aims or disagree entirely. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground with this man, most people either love the man, or love to hate the man. But nobody, and | mean NOBODY, who knows Howard can dispute that he has given more to this community (not necessarily mone- tary, but that possibility shouldn't be ruled out) through the years as a volui:tee-, and communi- Random Jottings ty worker than most can imagine. | won't even attempt to list his accomplishments here. As | said earlier, most people either like or hate Howard. I'm one of those who not only likes him, but respect him as well. | don't respect him because he's 15 years my senior, and because | was always taught to respect my elders. No, it's because having worked at this newspaper for 23 years, | have had a birdseye view of this man working for the community and he has compiled a record any- one could be proud of. But my fondest personal memories of Ho- ward as a businessman will be our casual con- versations, and discussions over his desk. For over 20 years, | have been walking two doors to the west of the Star office, and sitting across from him to discuss any number of topics. We didn't always agree with each other, and as a matter of a fact, there have been many occasions that we were completely in disagree- ment over many issues. But we have remained friends of a sort. Not really social and yet not just business friends. Our friendship falls some- where between the two. In retrospect, maybe it's not so much a friendship as a respect for each other as individuals. In all those years of friendly discussions there is still one topic we have never resolved, and that is the merits of advertising and when is the best time to make use of it. | guess we'll never get a chance to solve this one, but it's been interesting trying for over two decades. When Howard locks the door at 241 Queen St. this Saturday, February 24 for the last time and the House of Howard signs come down, things just won't seem the same. It marks the end of another era in this town, following in the steps of other business closings like Carnegies Crest Hardware, Beare Motors and Levinson's Dry Goods over the past couple decades. While Howard will be gone from the busi- ness community, you can bet he'll be around for a long time as our Mayor, or failing a return to that office, I'm sure we will find him once again involved in many aspects of this community. Whatever the future holds for you "Howie", | sincerely wish you good luck and good health.