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Where's the compromise? , It needs to be said one more time

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Penny Coles REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK This week's town council discussion was confusing, in more ways than one. The discussion of how to deal with the motion regarding the library, community centre and soccer fields - separate it, amend it, defeat it, discuss it, don't discuss it - back and forth until one audience member, Tom Braybrook, claimed "motion sickness -I needed Gravol," took up more time than any discussion about the issue itself - one that could seriously affect - or maybe not, but we have no way of knowing because it hasn't been studied - the future of the Old Town. Aldermen who supported the motion, along with the Lord Mayor, say the deferral offers the chance for someone - council or an outside consultant - to study all the options. Yet it seems clear any option they plan to study begins with the premise that the library must move, when residents have pleaded with them to study alternatives, or build a new one, but without moving services from the downtown core. One wonders why all the business organizations in town are being ignored, why some aldermen refuse to acknowledge the danger to a downtown core if services are removed, when communities across the country are attempting to redress the harm that has been done by unwitting planners who thought for decades they were on the right track. Those communities probably had parking problems too. Now they would love to have parking problems. The future of the community centre was left tied in with the library decision, despite the sensible alternative offered by three aldermen to discuss them separately. That means, as near as I can tell, that the building, which according to parks and recreation director Clive Buist has nothing wrong with it other than a floor that needs fixing for about $10,000 - will probably be torn down and replaced on the town's Regional Road 55 property, because the library is short of space. The claim by one alderman that the community centre is "woefully inadequate" seems a slight exaggeration - it was entirely adequate to hold 400 people last week. Other possible explanations seem fanciful - we have accessible meeting rooms in Virgil, at the arena, in St. Davids by renting the Lions' Hall, and in Queenston at the Community Centre. Some aldermen have said a community centre with a stage would be nice, but we have a Black Box Theatre in Niagara District Secondary School, and I can't recall it ever being used by the town. As for a meeting place for the young people, the Kinsmen have tried that with the Scout Hall. Young people looking for somewhere to hang out seem to prefer the Donut Diner, or the Village Green or Mary Street parking lots. Ask them what they want and they would more likely say a skate-boarding park, but if a meeting room is the answer then why not try the arena first and see if there is any interest among the youth of our community, before building something that may not appeal to them. Want a gymnasium? There are several available for rental, including two at Niagara District Secondary School Are they so popular they are always occupied? Do we need a new community centre? It appears more to the point that we need the cash from either selling off the property (and who would want it, unless the Prince of Wales Hotel would like a five-diamond parking lot) or creating revenue from parking spaces. Either way, we're back to turning over town-owned property to allow for more tourists' cars. It would appear that three aldermen, Allen Snider, Judy Rylands and Rob Copeland, who had no chance of winning, were on the most sensible track at Monday's council meeting - go back to square one and examine each issue separately. It has been said so many times, there are answers, solutions, compromises, and alternatives galore being offered -and I'm not sure why anyone bothers, because it's obvious nobody is listening. You don't hear what you don't want to hear, and that can be said of those on both sides of the argument. That's why a task force seemed so sensible. All of our elected representatives are good, decent people, with the welfare of the town at heart. But how can they be so sure they are right, in the face of such opposition? Some of those opposed have said they will keep up efforts to convince aldermen there are alternatives, including the coalition who brought forward a proposal that would see a new library, preferably in NDSS, and one at the Court House. They have little chance of being heard. Why bother? When all is said and done, they at least know they tried.

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