PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1985,WHITBY FREE PRESS w hitby r ~Publishied every wednesday MIHE NL MICHAEL KNELL Çr;by M.B.M. Publishing Community Editor and Photography Inc. 1 1v1 IPhone68-61Ill VALERIE COWEN Advertising Manager The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, Second Class Mail Voice of the County Town Michael an Burgess, Publisher- Managing Editor .. Box 206. Whitby, Ont. Registration No. 5351 The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. Council should refund residents' money Town Over the course of the las newspaper has reported on sidewalk controversy. From we can only conclude that th affected are being subjec greatest miscarriages of J' nessedIn the community for To begIn at the beginn residents - whose homes Il A w newsy namementey ene ofCmnadas outstanding nom pern=alt TUE After 15 years in Toronto, nearly forgotten what a rea all about. But we are back1 we met nearly 30 years ago, reacqualnted with the frigid I grew up In New Brunsw thumberland Straits and the earliest memorles of winte piled half-way up the telf remember Doctor Gass, swc sitting In a horse-drawn c house on his way to a patien After that we moved to M was wrong to take s st several weeks, this applied for severances from the Land Division the Hawkstone Cres. Committee. From what we understand, the town's the evidence to date, public works department was not prepared to îe f Ive or sa resldents recommend that their severances be granted ted ta one ao the unless they each paid the town a $960 sidewalk ustice we have wit- construction fee. tseveral years. Recently, It came to light that the town had ing. In 1983, these already collected the money for the sald sidewalk e on very large lots from the developer of the nearby Farewell Estates subdivision. These residents also convinced council late last year that the said sidewalk would prove detrimental to their homes and properties, so t es wasn't built. The last major relevant fact in this bizarre situation was brought to the fore by Coun. Joe Drumm at last week's council meeting. Hawkstone Cres., he said, is a local road and as such, would only have a sidewalk on one side. He noted that this sidewalk already exists, in accor- dance wlth council policy. All the residents want, and deserve, is their money back. Since the town Is not going to build the sidewalk, they have no need for the money. AL NW And If they ever have need of elther the money or the sldewalk, we would like to point out that my wlfe and I had very council has already collected it from the l Canadian winter was delor. ln Ottawa now, where developer. ,iandOttawarnow, where (After ail, why would council build the sidewalk and we are becoming anyway? Their policy says they don't have to and season. we've listened to a great deal of debate recently ick, close ta the Nor- concerning the sacredness of maintaining policy.) Bay of Fundy, and my The other thing that concerns us is: why did the r are of feet of snow, town demand the money in the first place? Even ephone poles. I also the town's solicitor had a hard time with that one. athed In buffalo robes, In a recent letter to public works director Dick utter, Jangling by the Kuwahara, he said: "I am not sure of the reason for it. making such a request as a condition of severan- anitaba, and my winter ce as it is my understanding from you that the memories here have to do with the temperatures. We ignored them, by and large. We played hockey and skiled down the river banks despite the fact that It was 20 or 30 degress below zero. Much later, there were winters ln Ottawa and Montreal, where the season is as much in earnest as It is anywhere. Eventually, my wife and I moved to New York, where winter as we knew it doesn't really exist. When It did snow, there was chaos, and the sound of chaos was the whine of spinning tires as New Yorkers, winter-innocent, gunned their motors. Once after an unusually heavy snowfall, an aban- doned bakery truck blocked our street for a week. After that, came Washington, and a Christmas Day on which I sat outside in shirt sleeves drinking a beer. Then there was Ottawa again, and Toronto, and winter can't seem to decide what it is. Sometimes a Toronto winter is northern, and bitter, and sometimes it's a cross between late Fall and early, sloppy Spring. Now we're back in Ottawa, and there is no doubt about winter anymore. My wife and I spent an hour one night shovelling off the driveway. Where to put the stuff was becoming a worry. On one side of the driveway, the pile was already six feet high and it was only early January. But there are benefits. After we finished that night, we took a walk through the neighbourhood, and we live in a kind of winter fairyland. There was a mauve tinge in the sky from the city lights, and the branches of the deciduous trees were like black lace against it. The evergreens were laden, the lights sparkled on new fallen snow, and It was good to be Canadian. idewalk fee financial contribution recelvedtfrom Farewel Estates was sufficient in ltself ta construct the said sidewalk.d n The solicitor also indicated that since councIl has decided not to build the Hawkstone sidewalk they "are anxious to return the contribution so received to the developers." From the evidence seen and the comments heard to date, this newspaper has come to the following conclusions: firstly, It appears that town staff had no business demanding the money in the first place; secondly, It appears as though council is bound and determlned ta treat these In- dividual citizens as If they were a multl-million dollar a year development company (which they are not); thirdly, council is taking the ridiculous position of trying to make these individual citizens party to a subdivision agreement signed with the developer, an agreement from which they derive no benefit; and finally, it is more than abun- dantly clear that while council would like to keep the money, they can find no real reason for doing so. It is also obvious to this newspaper that both the politicians and their staff are very embarassed by this situation. We think they know they should not have taken the money and should now gîve It back. This newspaper belleves that council realizes that a serlous error In judgement was made by a member (or members) of their staff. We agree with Coun. Drumm that If council keeps the money they will do nothing more than compound the wrong done to the Hawkstone Cres. residents. In this situation, the councillors should take on, for just a moment, the role of a consumer. Would a consumer pay for something that was not going to be provided? Of course not. Then neither should the residents of the Hawkstone Cres. area. m.mmm9