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A year ago the Ontario Government set up an Adâ€" visory Task Force on Housing Policy under the chairmanship of Eli Comay. The force of eight members, backed up by a battery of consultants, spent eight months reviewing the housing situation across the province. The task force was set up because it was generally felt that the housing situation was reaching ‘crisis proportions, and the public assumed that the primary objective of the whole effort was to define the proportions of the problem, and suggest more effective ways and means for coping with it. The major recommendation of the task force was that a Housing Ministry should be established. Both opposition parties and a growing number of knowledgeable .people in the community â€" had been urging that for some months, if not years. Eight The editor: months of study were hardly necessary to come to that conclusion, On the key question of just how great are the housing needs, the report was a cop out. True, at uone point it stated: *‘By any definition socially or politically acâ€" ceptable in Ontario today, it can be assumed that there are between 300,000 and 400,000 families experincing I would like to endorse the arguments against the Lionstar development presented by Miss Marjorie Campbell in her letters in the last two issues of the WestonYork Times. A highrise project of this magnitude so close to one of Weston‘s best residential areas presents a threat to the way of life of the residents of this community. housing needs, depending on the housing standards applied: and thereliability of ‘the date used." But the report came up with no data itself. In fact, on page 91, in discussing government responsibility, it states that "The first set of responsibilities is conâ€" cerned with establishing housing needs and prioities. It will be necessary to determine the current and future housing needs for all sectors of the community and for all groups with special housing market areas of the Metro planning board which, at one time demonstrated substantial planning ability, has somehow lost its way. It no longer can tell the difference between what should rest in the hands of Metro elected represenâ€" tatives and what should properly be placed before the planning board. Although this project will not be physically within the R1 area, it will loom over it like an ugly giant, 28 storeys high. It will result in the gradual erosion of the way of life in this area. One of the inevitable results of this project will be a much greater increase in the volume, of traffic. This, of course, will necessitate road widening with the loss of trees, lawns, etc. Traffic will pour down adjacent streets, such as King, Rosemount, John, George, Fern and Church Noise and air pollution will increase drastically, and this will have detrimental effects on the health cof residents both physically and psychologically. This combined with the loss of privacy will have an adverse effect on property values in this location. Residents, new and old, who have moved in here and have purchased property because of the trees, the beauty of the area, and the Weston way of life in general, will have been betrayed. Homes will not be cared for, a sense of pride will have gone, change and When three citizen groups are invited by the Metro board, which is appointed by Metro council, to openly express their views as to whether the planning board should censure the council, the Metro board‘s reputation slips downhill. 2 l'vl‘;mve;â€"l_vi;tt:(f)?i)bérd members, particularly milke ty t Endorsing the anti Lionstar movement Ontario‘s housing needs Political games province." * _ That, it had been assumed, was the job of the task For anyone who feels that the crisis nature of the situation is being exaggerated, the following is in illuminating summation from which the average citizen can draw his own conclusions. ‘"The number of families who pay more than they can afford for housing is rising, available data in this area is incomplete, but in 1969 it was estimated that about threeâ€"quarters of the families receiving less than $3,000 a year, and more than a third of the families receiving between $3,000 and $6,000 per year, paid over 25 per cent of their income for shelter. At that time more than twoâ€"fifths of the families with less than $3,000 spent more than 40 per cent of their income for shelter. "‘The situation has undoubtedly worsened since 1969, though actual figures are not available. From the data which is available, it can be concluded that at that time home ownership was virtually inaccessible to those earning under $8,000 a year, accessible but ‘expensive‘ for those earning $8,000 to $12,000, accessible and reasonable for those earning over $12,000." force. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the task force report is its general conclusion that the governâ€" ment should rely heavily on the private market. For that sizable group of the population earning less than $8,000 a year, housing has become ‘virtually inacâ€" cessible‘ precisely because the private market has been priced beyond their budget. To rely on the private market is to evade this major, and most urgent, porâ€" those from the city, were hurt that Metro council didn‘t ask their opinion on a road widening a transportation matter properly a responsibility of Metro transportation committee. A city member even encouraged a deputation of citizens to appear at the board, without previous notice, to complain about the widening. Rightly so, Metro Chairman Paul Godfrey, a member of the board, said he didn‘t believe it was the job of the planning board to judge council‘s decision not to ask the opinion of the planning board. decay will have set in. All for what? To quote from Oliver Goldsmith‘s Deserted Village: Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay. Here I would like to include a sentence or two from Miss Campbell‘s second letter to the editor of this paper on April 16, 1970: "I am a homeâ€"owning taxpayer who has looked forward to enjoying retirement on a relatively quiet residentiallyâ€"zoned street, where birds sing and flowers bloom and little children play on treeâ€" The editor: We don‘t advocate women‘s lib but how about a bitch‘s liberation movement? With all this talk about spaying female dogs, isn‘t is about time someone got to the real problem and had male dogs neutered? A bitch can only conceive two litters a year but a male dog can continually propagate. It is also the male dogs who run in packs and cause damage to neighâ€" boring property in their constant search for a female in heat. Neutered dogs are more apt to stay around home even when let loose and, contrary to most popular beliefs, do not sit around and become dull and lazy. Animal liberation movement tion of housing needs. T On occasion the report becomes little short of fatuous. For example, in discussing a shortâ€"term program, it recommends that "The province should secure agreements for voluntary price control of lands brought into "early development through this Sometime, perhaps next week, I shall attempt to set out the kind of housing program which would more . effectively meet Ontario‘s housing needs. program.‘‘ Voluntary price control. The mind boggles. The Comay Task Force‘s affection for the private sector makes it impossible to tackle Ontario housing needs effectively. Again, an example, to illustrate the point. Nowhere is the bias of the report more evident that the low priority it assigns to public land acquisition. Lana banking should be used only when the private market is unable to meet provincial housing goals, according to the report. Norecommendation is made as to the size of the land banking program the province should undertake; no guidelines are set; and the only program discussed in the report would see the province acquiring barely 10 per cent of the 300,000 acres which the report estimates will be needed for urban growth over the next 20 years. The report therby rejects the single most important element in solving the housing crisis â€" much more public land ownership. The experience of cities like Saskatoon and Calgary whose housing problems today are umquely manageable precisely because they had the foresight to establish sizable public land banks years ago, is totally ignored. shaded lawns. When a concrete jungle looms as a possible alternative, I begin to have second thoughts." Those who share the concern of my neighbors and myself, the ones immediately affected, can support our objections to the proposed Lionstar project by at tending the meeting of the Planning Board, Borough of York, on Thursday, September 27, at 7:00 p.m., 2700 Eglinton Avenue Wes.. York Controller James Trimbee, also a member of the Metro board, pinned the citizen members of the board to the wall. If they don‘t like it, they could resign, he said. He added also the fact that a regional government, such as Metro, does not have to have a planning board. Controlling our animal population is all well and good but the spaying of females in not even half the solution. It‘s the male dogs who should be curâ€"tailed â€" if you‘ll pardon the pun. What‘s good for the goose is good for the gander so let‘s see some equality in the animal world. Some city politicians are using citizen members of the Metro planning board for their own political games. The citizen members should be adult enough to stick to Metro planning policy. _ (f it they don‘t like it they can take Mr. Trimbee‘s advice. If we‘re going to charge more in licence fees for unspayed females, then it seems only fitting that dogs who have not been neutered should be licensed under the same price structures. They‘re just as playful and as happy and more responsive to their owners. The Times, Thursday, Sept 27, 1973â€"Page 7 T /[z Yours sincerely, John Bain Weston, Ontario Sincerely, F. Robinson.