The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Opinion Reader asks, how high is too high? Dear Editor: Recently, Midland town council had an op- portunity to deal with the controversial issue of new building heights. There is now a pro- posal before council that would allow the construction of an eight- story building on the site of the Athenian Hall, at the corner of Dominion Avenue and Second Street. Two weeks ago, Bryson Parsons, a Queen Street resident who cares about sound pian- ning, and I, went door to door in several areas of Midland to try to determine whether the majority of citizens support the unanimous decision of council to give this development the green light. Many people are glad to see a new develop- ment at that corner. A development would clear away a problem area, and, if done pro- perly would enhance the neighborhood. However, nearly everyone we talked with felt the eight-story structure is too high. Downtown Midland already has one high- rise building. Therefore, some would say, the door has been opened for more high-rise development. This line of reasoning should not sway council to give this plan final approval. Firstly, the Midland Avenue building does nothing to improve the quality of downtown Midland. Like the Athenian Hall property cases it most likely does. cheated. run a town? Democracy inaction Small town politics in some North Simcoe municipalities does not make for a good model of democracy in action. Closed meetings have become the normal method of conducting business for some local councils and open debate is stritpeuiiy discouraged. Midland and Tiny Township both have regularly scheduled "caucus" meetings immediately prior to their public meetings. It's at these meetings that the arguments and debates are in full swing. Matters are solved behind closed doors, out of the view of both the public and the press. When the "'real" council session starts, the rubber stamp is brought out for a hard evening's work. It could be argued that the business of running a municipality moves more smoothly under these circumstances, and in some But that attitude belies the democratic values Canada stands for. When bylaws and resolutions are rushed through.a council meeting before anyone has a chance to say "'boo"' about it, the voters are Midland council has become so wrapped up in the idea of resolv- ing things in private that its public meetings have simply become forums for the individual councillors to reach their cable TV con- stitutents and, they hope, present a positive image in an entertain- ing fashion. This makes for good TV perhaps, but is it any way to plan, the first floor of the Midland Avenue complex is commercial space, but it has not attracted private busineses that would strengthen the downtown. The building houses social service offices. Secondly, the Midland Avenue buliding is disruptive to its immediate neighbors. It sub- tracts from the quality of the residential neighborhood nearby and takes away privacy from those who live around it. Also, there is a problem of garbage blowing from its disposal bins and parking lots. There are sound reasons for limiting high rises inold neighborhoods. It's mot enough to say they are eyesores. A council that allows them to be built in an existing neighborhood takes something from the residents living nearby. As well, something is lost from the downtown, when a new building is allowed to tower over the historic architecture of the community. Recently, Barrie, which has faced the pro- blem of developers asking for height restric- tion exemptions, hired a consultant to look into the problem. That city has learned the hard way that burgeoning high rises do not add to the downtown core. Midland council should undertake a similar study and shelve the Athenian Hall proposal until it knows whether this plan would indeed be an asset. Would four storys be an infringement? Five - perhaps? Does Midland council have the ex- pertise to know for sure? Certainly eight is too much! Yours truly, Mark Bourrie Midland Councillor should fill soot on board Dear Editor: If Mayor Al Roach and his fellow- councillors Bev Day, Nancy Keefe, Gail Brown and Gale Niblock are red-faced over their 1988 re-appointment of 23-year-old Mark Leader as Midland's representative to the Huronia District Hospital Board, it isn't too surprising. Leader was absent seven out of twelve HDH regular board meetings in 1987. His at- tendance record in 1988, up to the present time hasn't significantly improved. Out of six meetings involving th HDH board of directors held thus far in 1988 -- in- cluding the annual meeting held June 20 -- he has been absent on three occasions. The bid by the HDH board to alter municipal councils' appointments of representatives, which was "dead partially, according to one HDH board official, by the lack of attendance and participation on the part of Midland's representavie on the board. The Town of Midland has a substantial in- terest in Huronia District Hospital. Besides making an approximately $95,000 annual payment towards the hospital's debenture (mortgage) debt, Midland provides a lot of other services. For example, the hostpital has fisrt call on Midland's very expensive fire protection facilities. The municipality supplies water and sewage treatment services, bus service, etc; Huronia District Hospital's 1988 budget amounted to $12,248,435. Midland needs a representative on the hospital board who is going to stay on the job, look after the store and give the people of this area the represen- tation they are entitled to. IN view of the fact that the regular mon- thly meetings of Huronia District Hospital board of directors have been changed and no longer are held on the same evening as that Midland council, it is now possible to have diredct council representation on the board. It would appear that Leader's busy schedule precludes his ability to participate fully as a HDH board member. Midland council should do him a favour and releive him of his present appointment. Midland's current HDH board represen- tative should be replaced by a nemnber of Midland council who will keep council and the citizens of Midland fully and regularly informed. : i Sincerely yours, Bill Ogilvie Midland, Ontario As I SeeIt by David Krayden Don't get me wrong. I enjoy plane travel. It's a lot of fun. But traveling at night can be difficult -- especially when you don't sleep. Right now I feel like going to bed. Instead of acquiring badly needed rest last night I was flying from Vancouver to Toronto. My 10 days on the West Coast were as close to paradise as I may ever hope to deserve on this earth. I enjoyed my vacation and wish it hadn't ended so soon. But I had some rather unique problems with planes along the way. Take the stop-over in Calgary on Sunday night and Monday morning for instance. It was only supposed to be a 30-minute delay. -Penetanguishene Citizen-- Published each Wednesday by Telemedia Communications Inc., Ontario, 74 Main Street, Penetanguishene, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 2327 Year subscription rate $39.00 Page 6, Wednesday, June 29, 1988 It turned out to be an hour on the ground with nothing to do. The problem had something to do with "rotten fruit" in the cargo section of the plane. You know how the pilot usually handles these situations. After a long time of uncer- tainty, when you hear bumping and banging going on underneath the plane, a voice broad- casts the particular state of affairs. A wavering voice explained the situation to us all and we all smiled that there wasn't something more serious going on beneath the plane. "If ... you're wondering ... what you can smell right now," the pilot hesitated, "'it's just some ... rotten fruit that we've found ... in the hold." Tell me why pilots pause so much 549-2012 Manager: Judy French Managing Editor: Tim Kraan Editor: David Krayden Reporter: Murray Moore Sports: Arnold Burgher when they're explaining things like this to you? He promised us that the difficulties would be rectified within "five or 10 minutes." That's like the plumber telling you the job on your sink is only going to cost $5 or $10. I was just starting to get tired before we landed in Calgary. But try to sleep when a plane has landed. All the lights go on. Peo- ple behind you get up and push your chair forward; they reach up into the upper com- partments and search for their carry-on luggage. Masses of new passengers arrive and bump your seat. " So you just sit and wait. --Eetters From paradise to rotten fruit Try as I would, I just couldn't get to sleep all the rest of the way to Toronto. Because of the time difference between Pacific Daylight Time and Eastern Daylight Time, the night tends to vanish without warning. Before you know it, it's morning. Soon they're coming around asking you if you want a drink and presently it's time for breakfast. (They didn't feed us very well on this flight and I couldn't turn down breakfast). After eating my early morning meal, I real- ly couldn't risk going to sleep. I thought I was going to whoof my cookie, or more exactly, my oleaginous omelette, Wish me pleasant dreams. The Penetanguishene Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. They must be legible, signed (by hand), and carry the writer's address and telephone number for verifica- tion purposes. Pen names are not allowed and anonymous letters will not be published, but names will be withheld if circumstances warrant. Letters publish- ed by this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the opi- nion of this newspaper, its publisher or editor. a I ct ee ee LT OES EE NI HELL LLG GS LE I, manic