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PAGE 4 The building of a large high-rise residential and commercial complex in the heart of any community already served by many good retail and service shops on its main street can be a boon to the community. This could include the independent merchants in business prior to its development. It could also prove to be a disaster for the municipality if equitable safeguards to the town and to the developer are not in- corporated in the agreements entered into by the parties. The Weston Times is not opposed to the Weston Square residential apartment development by Lionstar Development Com- pany, assuch. We are deeply concerned, though, by the action of the Borough Planning Board March 17 last, in deciding to recommend that the Borough sell the John Street Parking lot to the developers under conditions that could be disastrous. . As reported by last week's Times, Mayor Philip- White's proposal that the matter be referred back to planning board staff Was defeated by the Planning Board on a vote of 5 to 4. It is to be hoped that when the report of the Planning Board comes before Council that it will be referred back to the Board for further study. A proposal by the developers that they create, within the new complex, parking spaces for 160 cars to be administered by the Borough for a period of 60 years in exchange for the sale of the Borough's parking lot on John Street to Lionstar Development Company for one dollar is objectionable for many reasons. After sixty years Lionstar, or their suc- cessors or assigns, would own the municipal parking area outright. As the owners they could absorb the said area into their own other parking areas of the complex without regard for that considerable portion of the public that uses the municipal parking facility. Such result would also be prejudicial to the independent local merchants of Weston. Controller James Trimbee in a letter to this newspaper last week made a very pertinent observation on the sale of the municipal parking lot when he said, "It should not be exchanged under the terms of the Planning Board to relocate it on the second floor of a commercial development, thereby creating a captive clientele for the new project. It should not be exchanged to become part of a development that will terminate the only chance of Weston eventually having a GO-train service." Adequate parking facilities are, of course, indispensible to commuters who would use the GO-train service. There is also a suggestion in this connection that the Borough might ex- propriate property close to the railway station for public parking. If the taxpayers objected to this idea since they have the John Street parking lot now, we could not blame them. ,. The C.N.R. has filed an application to the Railway Transport Authority of the Canadian Transport Commission to discontinue its mor- ning service from Guelph to Toronto. If allowed, this will prove a real hardship to commuters. It will, in such eventuality, result in the likelihood of a GO-train service between such points as Rexdale, Weston, West Toronto and Toronto Union Station. We would then need our own municipal parking, almost certainly for more than 160 cars. Sale terms not acceptable by Principal Publishing Ltd., every Thursday Chum“ Attvrrtisintt "Mu. Edith. Mannon Display Advonising Al SIN" - LINN Slog'lhd Telephone 241,-521 l Soconq Clots Mail Roomrnion Number 1588 SUBSCRIPTION RATES $7.00 par you in advance to any addran in Canada Om" countries $9.00 W. K, Wilson, Gonna! Mung-t F A. Silva. Mam!" Mrs. Dov-on Fawcett, Editor ‘LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Pothéads like four-year olds (1) Has any thought been given to the effects of the proposed development on the lives of themen, women and children who are residents of the area? As I understand it, the developer plans ramps to carry traffic from the complex via John and King Streets to Rosemount Avenue, down to Lawrence Avenue - and so out of the area! (In the photograph of the model of the project in The Telegram, March 14, those ramps seem to cover part of the present Municipal Parking lot.) How many of those who would live in the complex or come there to shop would patronize the long-established businessmen on John Street and Weston Road? How much air and noise pollution would result from the in- creased traffic pouring past Drug concern to add my protest to those so ably expressed in last week’s issue of the Weston Times against the sale of the Municipal Parking lot on John Street to a private developer. To their arguments, with which I am in full agreement; I wish to add a few more, from the humanitarian point of view. Sue ButtGrade 11 Emery Collegiate. 'T thought that maybe five or six kids in the school were on drugs regularly, but we had a discussion with our Six, Borough onork), I wish A recent enquiry made to some students in North York on the drug concern elicited some surprising comments. Here are a few, gathered.by our reporter Rosemary Brew: As a life-long resident of Weston (now panic! Ward Susan Teed Grade ' Emery Junior High Drugs is a topic that se- parates the viewpoints of two generations; that divides the "beautiful people" from the "dull squares". The use of drugs is nothing new - it can be traced back to Rome during the time of Caesar who made narcotics avail- able to the Romans to help them get away from reality. After 'studying Roman history - unemployment, disease and a crumbling Empire - it's no wonder. A grade 9 student at EmeryJurtior High gives her viewpoint through part of an essay on the subject of drugs: Today, young people and adults who take drugs practically base their whole life on it and when they see their world falling down around them they shut their minds to it - sometimes forever. They remind me of kids - four year olds. When something bad happens they run to drugs, their "mom, my" to take the hurt away. Maybe the answer is Resident warns of mall side effects mum-1mm What the kids say teacher recently and it seems to me that about 50 percent of them take drugs at least once every three or four weekends. Some have reasons to use it - like problems at home - and they use drugs to get away from them, but most kids just try it for kicks. L don't think the schools can do much to help the kids on drugs because they tell (2) Has any thought been given to the effects of the next steps to be taken, et.. fects even more far-reaching than those outlined above? I have heard that these steps are planned already and that some are at the' drawing- board stage! The time to stop them is NOW, before the first step is taken; otherwise - well, let's suppose that the parking lot is sold and that the complex is built: Next would come the widening of King and John Streets as far as Rosemount Avenue to accommodate four lanes of traffic. This would involve the razing of the Public Library, an ar- chitect’s gem, built in 1914 with the help of a grant of $10,000 from the Carnegie Foundation, improved in recent years at a cost of some $40,000 to the tax.. payers of Weston, and filling a definite need in the com- munity. It would result in the is.olation of Central United Church, and would leave the relatively new H. J. Alexander School right on the edge of a four-lane high- way! Rosemount, too, would be widened, and the traffic past the homes there and past C. the homes and schools in the community? 7 7 Epena a South American vegetable. If you inhale it, you "turn on" but it has no secondary or side effects. It won't hurt you or unborn children, it's not habit for.. ming and may someday be legalized, just for the "beautiful people". The answer for those kids who hide from their problems "behind mommy's skirts and "under the covers could be epena. Have fun, blowing your mind, guys. And for those who ddn't need a crutch, those who are mature enough to face up to reality - congratulations. Pretty soon it will be your turn to be the right kind of "beautiful people". [3:13:13 RED CROSS GOOD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU HELP R. Merchant School would increase drastically. So, to provide another possible exit from the area, the homes on King Crescent would be expropriated and the Park in which Weston’s War Memorial stands would disappear, along with" many of the homes on Little Avenue - to make way for a continuation of the four-lane King "highway" to Lawrence Avenue opposity the Recreation Centre. Now, let's look in the other direction - . east from Rosemount. While this step may not be taken in the immediate future, is it not logical to conclude that the rest of King (and possibly, John) would be widened to four lanes eventually to carry traffic to Jane Street and the Hwy. 400 Extension? The picture is complete: gone are the trees which make King and Rosemount so attractive, gone are your front lawns, even your homes (if you happen to live on King Crescent or Little Avenue), gone are your quiet residential streets, your library, your park, and your community. Is there nothing left? o yes, four lanes of concrete, frustrated local businessmen, heartbroken homeowners, fearful Anette Eriksen Grade 9, Jane J r., High. _ "About half the kids in our school have at least tried them, but there aren't too many now that use them a lot. Some teachers try to help the kids that take it. They talk to them and let them sleep it off in the nurses office, but others tell their parents or report them. If it is legalized, more kids will try it, but a lot of them won’t smoke anymore, because there's not as much fun in doing it in the open as there is in using it behind their backs. _ I hope they never legalize it, because if they do, I guess I'll try it. York Street Maintenance Superintendent J.M. Waghorn recently completed a course at the T.J. Mahony Road school. Sponsored by the Ontario Good Roads Association, the course is held at the University of Guelph and Mr. Waghorn obtained the highest marks in his class, {which included Road Superintendents from all over Ontario. Past President of the association, AU. Rettle (left) is shown congratulating Mr. Waghorn of Arthur M., Weston. the teachers that they like taking it and they don't in- tend to stop. Support . the Weston Businessmen’s Association and the Weston Ratepayers' Assoication in their efforts to prevent the sale of the Municipal Parking lot on John Street to a private developer, appeal to the members of the Planning Board to reverse their decision of March 17, urge the members of the Council of the Borough of York to give serious consideration to all the far-reaching effects of the plans outlined step by step above; in other words do everything you can to 'ensure that the picture I have described is never completed. A Grade 11 Student, Westview Centennial "I guess most of the kids start smoking marijuana for kicks. They like the feeling of having a high, so they keep doing it. And most of my friends have started using pills and caps (capsules) because they are easier to use. You can get a better high - and you 'can pop one at the supper table without anyone knowing. Try smoking grass and the whole neighbourhood can smell it. Caps and Tabs are easier to hide, too. They are a lot smaller and easier to slip away than a bag of pot. Once I said I'd never try grass, but I did. Then I said Pd never touch drugs, but now I take them sometimes. One thing though, I’ll never shoot the stuff or take ISD!" "Why," you say, "thath a horrible . picture, an imaginative picture, am impossible piehrel" Yes, it b horrible - it makes me weep even to thirt about it-- but no, it's not imaginative and it's not impossible; rather, it'srgrimty realistic and quite possible, UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT ITl punk. and children unable to reach any school in the area without erasing those four lanes d concrete. THURSDAY. m t, I”. Yours sincerely, (Miss) Marjorie I. Campbell 190 King Street Weston, Ontario