August 9, 2024 Stratford Times GALEN SIMMONS Regional Editor As much as I love the fact that my girlfriend and I found a house to rent well with get, there are some things about this house I don’t love quite as much. The house we're living in is over 100 years old. According to my insurance agent, it was built in 1911, though our landlord says it’s at least several decades older than that. While it has been maintained through the decades, there are some much-needed upgrades that would solve a few of our problems. First of all, the basement hasn’t changed since the house was built and | don’t think anyone’s ever been down there with a vacuum. It’s un- finished, it’s only half height, there are spiders and other bugs living in the ceiling, the concrete floor gets wet when it rains and I hate going down there. That last point isn’t so much a fea- Editorial The challenges of living in an old house ture of the basement as it is a warning that if 1 ever go missing, you'll probably find me uncon- scious under a pile of boxes down there. Though I try to spend as little time in the basement as possible, that — as it usually is — is where the fuse box is located. We have one of those old-style fuse boxes and the last person who lived in this house (or maybe the one be- fore them or the one before them) made sure ev- ery fuse was labelled incorrectly. So, last week when my TV and internet went out, I had the joy of testing every fuse in the box. Then, when our air fryer went out, I had to do it all again be- cause I didn’t relabel the fuses and forgot which one went where (that one’s on me, I’ll admit it). Finally, when I thought I had gotten every- thing right again, I realized the fuse for our fi- bre-internet equipment in the basement, which is also where we have or sump pump plugged in, was also-not working and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to fix it. So, after hook- ing up an extension cord, calling in my inter- net-service technician to help me actually find the fibre equipment and then having my land- lord come figure out why it wasn’t working, we now have everything back up and running the way it should. My landlord and his handyman suggested we not run so many appliances off each circuit, but with only a scant number of electrical outlets in each room and no central air in the summer, that’s not really an option right now. We also have mice living in our walls. They’ve chewed through some of our food in the basement, they’ve chewed through food in the kitchen cupboard, my girlfriend saw one run across the kitchen floor one morning and they seem to be wise to our attempts to trap them. My cat, Ziggy, is no help — she’s old and her mousing days are long behind her — but my girlfriend’s.dog, Phoebe, certainly likes to bark at them in the walls. Maybe she’ll step up and become the mouser this house needs. This house is also in desperate need of a wa- ter softener. While my landlord is unrelenting in his opinion that purchasing one would be too expensive, we live in Stratford where the wa- ter is notoriously ae Since we moved in, our dishes, pots, pans, and everything else we put through the dichwastll have developed a hard, calcified layer, and we’ve just about re- sorted to washing everything by hand — some- thing I'd hoped I wouldn’t have to do after liv- ing without a dishwasher my entire adult life, While these challenges haven’t been ideal, I know there are many who don’t have access to or can’t afford the kind of housing we have, so I am grateful to have a roof that doesn’t leak over my head and four walls to the keep the el- ements out. Someday, we will look for a home that checks off all the boxes, but for now, we'll just have to live with what we have, and I’m ok with that. Letters to the Editor Dear Editor, As a taxpayer in the City of Stratford who has seen my property taxes increase dramatically over the last five years, I must comment on the city's recent announcement that they will be hiring three more people in the human resources (HR) department, thus increasing its size by 50 per cent. To support this increase, the article states “standard HR in- dustry practice is an HR to employee ratio average of 1.7 HR staff, rounded to two, per 100 employees. At over 400 employees, that means the city would support an HR team ae off that is not how staffing ratios work. You can't just round up to suit your needs. The proper calculation should be 400 times 1.7 to give 6.8 HR personnel, which could im- ply, at most, one new employee being hired. Secondly, Forbes Magazine states that most HR depart- ments are overstaffed and that a more appropriate ratio is 1.4 HR employees per 100 employees, which would imply the city already has more than enough people in the HR de- partment. Perhaps these additional hires are needed to enforce the respectful workplace policy? Finally, at the end of the article, it is stated that these new hires will cost $341,043. That cost will be borne by taxpay- ers like myself and will no doubt increase every year. What added value will taxpayers see from this extra expenditure? Regards, Greg Hoggarth Stratford Letter to the Editor: We need to talk Thank you for Bruce Whitaker's column, "We need to talk". I think it should be required reading for everyone. I agree with Coun. Mark Hunter's comment that it shouldn't be this hard to be respectful of people. It's not. Anyone who attended the June 27 public meeting on the Krug site's redevelopment got a master class in how it's done. All of the delegates expressed their concerns, aaa their questions, presented their ideas and, in most offered up some thanks that the site would be ieereloped Some were heartfelt, others data-driven, but no one shook their finger, raised their voice, hectored council, staff or the developer's representative, or resorted to hyperbole and menacing metaphors like some delegates did at the July 22 council meeting. But put aside the matters of civil discourse and respect that Mr. Whitaker and Coun. Hunter raised. I attended both meetings and, in my opinion, the delegates on June 27 were much more effective communicators. They didn't let their tone or choice of words undermine their message and risk alienating their audience. By audience I mean their fellow citizens and potential allies, not just council. The June 27 delegates did an outstanding job of bringing forward their concerns and, in turn, earning the support of residents outside of their neighbourhood. P.J. Lewis, Stratford GRANT HAVEN journalism, one community MEDIA ata time! STRATFORD Publisher Stewart Grant - stew@granthaven.com Regional Editor Graphic Design / Sales Inquiries i Cok . Business Development Heather Dunbar - heather@granthaven.com Billing Administrator Cindy Boakes « boakescindy1576@gmail.com Contributors Connor Luczka, Spencer Seymour, Betty-Jo Belton, Julia Schneider, Gary West, Paul Knowles, Emily Stewart, Lisa Chester, Fred Gonder, April Taylor, Sheila Clarke, Irene Roth, Lauren Eedy, Lee Griffi, Stuart Lender, Thomas R. Verny, Sydney Goodwin, Kristen Parker, Alex Hunt, Hannah Kavanagh Dear Editor Stratford is fa beautiful city with world-class theatre. We are fortunate to have a beautiful park and walking path around Lake Victoria. I’ve lived here for 11 years and noticed the path that is unpaved seems to get worse every year. Even after light rain, it is muddy with large puddles along many parts of the path making it impassable. I’ve heard many complaints about this. It’s a shame because that side of the river is so attractive and a lovely walk. With all the visitors to our city and the many residents that enjoy that side of the river, it is incomprehensible why nothing is done to improve the quality of this path. I would think that our parks and recreation staff, along with city council and our mayor, could get a team together to brainstorm on how this continuous issue can be resolved. Solutions such as pea gravel or decom- posed granite could work. We need to invest some money in one of the city’s most beauti- ful and popular areas. Why can’t we have a world-class walking path that won't be an embarrassment for Stratford? Susan Draper Stratford STRATFORDHITS 1. Everyone has a story 2. The news should be free for all Os 3. Good news beats bad news 5. Newspapers — heey 6.N 8. Newspapers should Guiding Principles 4, A Newspaper should be a community effort (contribute to your local paper!) 7. Advertisers, bigors small, should profit from their ads (meaning sensible ad rates) be locally-owned and operated