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WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAYl SEPTEMBER;8,1982,,PAGE 13 Bold, 'new measures recommended to restore economy Couneil Column fVzhD Submitted by members of WHITBY TOWN COUNCIL By REGIONAL COUNCILLOR TOM EDWARDS Chafrman, Recreation-Department At the recent A.M.O. convention held in Toronto, the Federal Government's 6 ad5per, cent wage restraint program was dismissed out of hand by an overwhelming majority of the delegates', Ail but a handful 0f the'delegates representing some '800ý municipal organizations voted for. a restraint, program which is realistic and which will not have negative implications. What is, necessary in these days of 'stagnant economy is bold new measures which wii restore' our factories.,to full capacity, and which'will de- crease unit costs by introducing economies '0f scale. .To this extent I believe the Federal Gover nment- should be initroducing tax incentives to those com- panies which improve production and.decrease unit costs. In the same way we in thé municipal field, rather, than hide bebind the decisions of a higher level of government, should be chalienging ourelves, our, employees and the taxpaying public to seek out in- novations which will resuit in improvdd level of ser- vicewith no increase in costs. In this way the cur- rent économic crisis we are experiencing dan become a positive rather than a negative period. Even the dreadful years of World War Two resulted in tremendous progress in medicine, technology and the humanities. Ever time a super jetlands safely with its hundreds of passengers even in the worst kind of weather, by the use of radar, remem- ber that this miracle of science had its origin in helping huge. bombers reach their target, or to des- troy an enemy plane. The Bureau of Municipal Research issued a publi- cation recently which had this to say.- "Municipal politicians and civil -servants continue to be caught in the trap of having to provide an expanding. level of service »with the financial base which is not ex- panding as fast. How ever, a few municipalities have taken it upon themselves to break ranks'and to. chalegetetraditional waiey 0 f doinhg business. They have declared war on rising taxes with a fairly unaiirtool on the municipal'scene; namely in- ~novation." The document then describes various experi- ments introduced by municipalities, mainly in Nor- th America, but in other continents also. Dallas, Texas discovered thatý cheques received, by the city were left for days at a time before being entered. They introduced a c omputer program which placed such receipts cirectly into the bank, and saved eighteen million in one year. St. Peters- burg, Flo rida,-with a population of 236,000, discover- ed that '80 per cent of sewer stoppages resulted fromn root growth., The city introduced a- new ýtype of fumigant weed killer which resulted in a saving .of, $100,000 per year. Palo Alto, California, population 56,000, in. co-operation with- its. fire union, 'had a feasibility study performed. As a- result, a consoli- dation was introduced. which niot oônly saved the community $300,000 over -a 3-year perio, but in- creased efficiency by placinig more men at, the see0 f the fire. Beilville, Washington, population 68,000, set up 150 block watches and police officers provided information on security and on the burgiar problem. Senior, citizen volunteers were trained to ý-engrave private1 property and, to perform security checks. The year prior to this schemeé, residential burgiaries had increased by 83 per cent. In thé first year 'of the new scheme robberies dropped by 175. Montgomery- County, Maryland, population 600,000, provides iminediate fire Protection -to' new areas byusing re-locatable fir e halls made of pre- fabricated materials, such as those which provide school portables in the Durham Re gion. Fort Lau- derdale, Florida,ý population 160,000, introduced a scheme called Selective- Traffic Enforcement Prograrn. Some 15 civilians were trained toconcen- trate in reducing accidents in 31,hazardous loca- tions, enabling police to concentrate ontheir crime prevention duties, and saving $50,000 per year. In London, Ontario, the planning department has computerized its zoning' and by-law information. This is» instantly available at a nominal fee. Not only are recipients quickly informed, but the coinmunity benefits by $20,000 0f new revenue. Edmonton, Alberta bas introduced a system of self-financed liability insurance. This removes the expense of in- surance premiumns from the taxpayer, and makes payments more accessible. Winnipeg, Manitoba, population 5W,000, scrapped the existing, fire alarm system which was, costing $616,000 annually to maintain,. and incurring hundreds 0f thousands of dollars in false alarins. This resulted in an annual saving 'of $160,000 annually, and tremendous savings in decreased fire insurance premiums by improved response time. The Borough of York, On- tario, population 139,000, introduced a new garbage disposal system by retraining, its staff to inter- change jobs. As a result, an annual saving of $57,000 was realized and the Borough bas the lowest par ton and'per capita garbage.rate.of.any, Ontario muni- cipality performing a similar service. Now Whitby has already attempted to move ini this direction. A couple of recent examples are the purchase of its own telephone system which'will result in the saving 0f hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next 10 years, besides making it more flexible, and the change to the garbage dis- posal1 over a four-day week rather than five. This gives addltional m'aintenance time and removes the administrative difficulty in coverinig statutory holi- days. At the regional' level, inresponse to my urging, a measure of -self-insurance is, taking place but the tirnid attempts have produced'no real saving, and we have a less than-satisfactory level of response to affecte d homes. In addition, both levels at the Region and the Town have entered inito an energy- saving program, including the use of propane- fueled vehicles and of encouraging employee suggestions. What is necessary,. however, is a fuli-scale cam- paign to make every resident of our community cost-conscious,' 50 that real restraint will. be. realized, and we shaîl have a concentrated and co- operative campaign to cut costs and maintain.levels of se rvice. Wes 4udepand mmediately on the anti-vandal meàsures. by information Which wouldl aid. usà in combatting all law-breaking activities. Ail of us must ha appalled atý the increase in crime -of all types ini ourcommunity. We must make it clear to all law breakers; whether it be the teenaged vandal or the professiorial criminal, that by increased vigilance and anti-crime measures we are going to stop the actions of the law, breakers in our com- munity.to ensure that Whitby remains a pleasant and safe place in which to live. This seems to me to ha a much more satisfactory and more, effective way of coping with the rising cost of living, than a measure introduced, by a higber level of government which has failed in the, past and will surely fail again. O*Mé»Bo approves development The Ontario Munici- pal Board bas approved the building of a town- house .development in west Witby.' Altbough the decision bas been met with ob- jections from nearby residents, O.M.B. chair- man A.B. Baîl approved plans. to build the Otter Creek development. The residents claimed that the developer, Gross- man, Bleeman, and J. Silver Holdings Ltd. of Toronto, neyer told them of the townhouse development when.they' purchased houses adja- cent to it. Before the plans we re approved, Durham Region approved a Whitby- Town Council resolution to change the populationdensity lin the -Otter Creek area.. This was to appease si ngle' famnily homneowners who claimned the develop-' ment woul.d hinder ac- cess to and change the character of their neigh- bourhood. EDWARDS >Bomb- threat A man bas been ar- rested. after someone. issued a. bomb tbreat at the Cadbury Schweppes plant 'on Champlain Ave. last Friday night. According to a spokes- man for the Durham Regional Police, Force, an employee 0f the plant informed his superviso r that he found a note on, bis locker saying tbere was a bomb in the, plant. Plant-.employees and six police officers then, conducted,.a search 0f the plant but found noth- ing. Police said, that the ban'fdwriting on. the note was that 0f the. employ- ee who reported the tbreat. 1David John Elms, 25, of 935 Centre' Street Soutb,-Whitby bas been charged ,witb public' mischief. He will ap- pear in Whitby Provin- cial Cour t on September 10. Wlîore TaleLUGHTING E OihfiALSO ONSALE Swag 24.95 Vrt - Wicker la ceramics -Sports bags Jeans "Pennington'! Aereff 9.95 giftware Sweat Suits 19.95 Lacoste T-Shirts 24.95 ie Located * MENTION House umbers BRA99 at the four corners in* THIS A-D* rPickerng Village and GET ournewstoreîn *A FRE'EGIFT Copltlieothe Harwood Mal Ajax 0 f ixtures and 0-ei i -o n which of f icilyoestdy per customer), artifactsalyo en.ody ýSeptem-ber,8.,-