WHITBY FREE PRESS, Thursday, November 25th, 1971, Page 3 IROQUOIS PARK ...On a hot July day last summer, the Mayor of Whitby, Desmond Newman, stood before a group of newsmen and unveiled plans for a $70 million sports & recreation complex. The press conference was held in T o r o n to and metro was taken by sur- prise. A $70 million sports complex in - of ail places - WHITBY! The c r i t ics came from everywhere and their remarks were scathing. Some snorted disbelief at such a monstrous project for such a small town, and still m an y m o r e people suggested that the whole affair was a publ ici ty stunt for the town. And so the WHITB3Y FREE PRESS decided it was time to find out what some of the re si dents of WHITBY thought about an undertaking of such magnitude. With this in mind, we went out into the streets to talk to people. Below are the resul ts: Mrs. Lawrence, King St. "If the town can get a sweepstakes for themoney, I think it sounds like a very good i dea. I think the money could be raised in less than 2 years. Harry Vorvis, Brock St. S. "Where are they going to get the money? T h a t 's the q u e s tion, where are they goingto get the $70 million? 1'd like to see i t built but I don't see how they're go in g to get the money; that's a lot of money you know. " When asked if he thought the project was a good idea, Mr. Vorvis replied, "Sure the idea is ail right. It might do something for the town. "Mr. Vorvis did not speculate on how long it would take to build such a complex because he felt the town wouldnot be able to get the money. Mr. \/orvis went on, "I've been in business in Whitby for 45 y'ears. Il'd like tosee it go through 'd like ta see the otd town dosomiething, but ta me it's impossible! W e had a pretty hard time g e tt i ng m on ey for the hospital dov'vn there, and it wasn't much money ei ther. " Mr. Frank Rooke & Cindy Rooke, Brock St. "A lottery works in a good many other places and the people will buy the tic- kets anyway. It would really do the town FACT OR FICTION" a I o t of good. You have to do al1 these things to help a town and if you don't , the t o w n will go dead. You need some new ideas like that to boost the town. " Both Cindy and her grandfather Iliked the idea of a sports complex in Whitby. They felt the projec t could be comple ted if it were started now and they both agree d the money could be raised by by having a provincial lottery. Mary Ellen McGuay, Byron St. N. "I just don't feel the municipal govern- ment should be even running a lottery to get that much money to bui Id a big sports comp lex like that. I don't really think th is municipality should be concerned with that type of complex right now. There are other things such as low cost hous ing units that are supposed to be bui I t at the end of Garden Street. t think they've been talking about it for a year or so, andnothing's been done yet. I think these are the problems they should handle before they start using their time andenergy andmoney for a sports com- p ex that costs $70 million. t would agree wi th a sports centre once the other problems in the community were settled. I have nothing against spend- i n g m o n ey fo r a sports complex that gives recreation and enjoyment to peo- ple, that's a good thing, but people are s u f f e ring from other things right now 1 i k e high cost of food, unemployment, low cost housing they don't have. I think these are the things that have tobe dealt with first. " Gary Calberry, Perry St. Dundas E. & Paul Watson, "If everybody goes behind it, they can r a ise the money. It'll help a lot to im- prove the town. I Bothboys, whoappeared tobe hockey players, Iliked the idea of Iroquois Park. They felt there was a need for the com- plex and they expressed no doubts the project could be built in the next three year s. Nei ther of them doubted the themoney could be raised by a lottery. Buzz Jackson, Brock S. "$70 million ? It would take them the next 10 y e a r s to raise that kind of money, even on a lottery you have to go at least th at long. They have to sell those tic- kets practti1cally all over Canada they wouldhave to do a. lot of advertis- ing to sel1 them, which costs a heck of a lot of money. The more advertising they do to sel 1 tickets the more it's going to cost, and the less profit they have. I 'd love t o see a sports complex here bec a u se I t h i nk we're going to beat Oshawa. When you consider the amount of expansion that's going on in Whitby as compared to Oshawa, I think in the next te n years we're going to surpass Osh awa to become the core city. I'm al in favour...but $70mil lion! We'll never raise that kind of money. Davis h a s n 't even okayed the 1lottery tickets yet, so how are they going to go ahead and say it'll be done by a certain length of time? Who's going to pay for it? Murray Silver, Whitby "Il've b e e n i n the Kinsmen here for 15 y e a r s - and if we want to make money wejustgetoutandhustle. Why can't the town do the same thing?" M r. S i I v er was ail for the sports c om p I ex and forsaw no real problems in raising the money. He further stated if the to wn needed help, he was sure the Kinsmen would be glad to assist in raising the necessary funds. Mrs. Kay, Maria St. "Ilt's a l o n g t i m e since I was sports- minded, but I should imagine it is a good thing for the youth. I don't see why they c an 't rai se t he money. Everybody's rais ing it al1 over other parts of Ontario by various means. If you can't spend a coupleof dollars on the youth, you may as well forget about yourself. After ail, who's going to miss a dollar or two? " Al though s he wasn't sure about the possibility of attracting major teams to tr oq uaois Park, Mrs. Kay was behind the project wholeheartedly. Mr. Mlc Lauchlin, Clarence St. "I think it's a "helluva" good idea. AI- though I approve of the project, some- body 's got to be doing i t! " Jus t a s the C. N.E. draws tourist b u s i ness to Toronto, Mr. McLauchl in felIt a project like Iroquais Park could dr a w thousands of tourists to Whitby. He felt i t was not only good for busin- e s s b ut was something long-needed in the town. Mrs. Connie Seaver, Brock St., S. "t don ' t think we need it. $70 million is a b i t r i d i culous, I think there are better ways they could spend the money than building up a sports complex. The y' v e got the Civic Auditorium for that. lt's an awful lot of money to try to raise. ' Continued on Page 12