Residents say at public meeting.... Town should be clearing all sidewalks Although it was an ill- attended, duil and unin- spiring meeting, it has become obvious that a small majority of people living in Whitby want the town to assume responsibility for clearing all sidewalks in the community. Only about 30 people attended the long awaited public meeting to discuss the town's current policy on the clearing of snow and ice from sidewalks Monday night. Most of those who spoke at the meeting gave cautious support to Mayor Bob Attersley's recent suggestion that the town take over the snow clearing duties. The most immediate concern expressed was for senior citizens who are often not able to per- form such manual labor because of health problems. Mrs. Husband of Willow Park Blvd. told the operations commit- tee of Whitby Town Council that one of her elderly neighbours received a bill from the town for $178 for clearing her sidewalk. At the time, her neigh- bour was in the hospital. Her neighbour was also unable to get any help although she had applied to the Whitby Jail and other agencies for help. Of the policy, Mrs. Husband said, "I do not think it's fair, everyone should pitch in and have everyone's sidewalk cleared." TREE PRESS Vol. 15, No. 8 Wednesday, February 20, 1985 24 Pages One of the activities of the local Boy Scout Scout Council was on hand to oversee the movement ls their Pine Wood Derby. In this com- proceedings. With hlm are: Stephen McNeil, 10; petition, the boys make their own small cars Ian Koisteren, 9; Shawn Downey, 8; and, Craig whIch are judged on appearance and originality Alten,8;al1ofthe FlrstWhitbyCubTroop. and then raced In competition. This week is also Baden-Powell Weok when Last week, the boy scouts started their 1985 they honor the man who started the scouting derby and Coun. Marcel Brunelle, himself a former movement. presAdent and commissiother of the Whetby Boy Free Pres Staff Photo Scouts honoring Baden-Powell Week Like their counterparts over the world, the Whitby Boy Scout Council will be celebrating Baden-Powell Week this week. Major-General Sir Robert Stevenson Smythe Baden- Powell started the scouting movement in 1907 when he took 20 boys from all parts of London, England on a camping trip to Braunsea Island. While there he wrote a series of six booklets entitled "Scouting for Boys." In the two years that followed, the scouting movement grew to 80,000 boys in all parts of the world. The first World Scout Jamboree was held in London, England in 1920. Over 6,000 boys attended. -Over the next few days, Whitby boy scouts will be holding a series of events in honor of the founder of there movement. Here is a brief schedule of their events: First Whitby - church parade at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Feb. 21. First Port Whitby - scout parade at St. John's Anglican Church, Feb. 24 at 10: 30 ar. Third Whitby: church parade at All Saints' Anglican Chur- ch, Feb. 24, followed by a father and son banquet at 12:30 p.m. Fourth Whitby: church parade at St. Mark's United Chur- ch, Feb. 22, followed by a father and son banquet. Fifth Whitby: father and son banquet, Feb. 27. Sixth Whitby: church parade at All Saints' Anglican Chur- ch, 5 p.m. Feb. 24, followed by a father and son banquet. Seventh Whitby: Father and son banquet, Feb. 24, at the lodge at Camp Samac. Eighth Whitby: father and son banquet at the Centennial Building, Mar. 26 at 6:30 p.m.; and, Ninth Whitby: church parade at Holy Family Church followed by a father and son banquet, Feb. 24. The Tenth Whitby troop held their father and son banquet on Feb. 18 and the First Ashburn held their's on Feb. 10. Don't expect change now Don't expect any im- report, public works mediate changes to the director Dick Kuwahara town's sidewalk snow stated that if the town- and ice clearing policy, was to assume respon- Coun. Joe Bugelli says. sibility for clearing al Bugelli, chairman of sidewalks in the town it Whitby Town Council's would cost the average operations committee, taxpayer an additional made the remark after $3 a year. Monday night's publie "But he doesn't ad- meeting concerning the dress what level o! ser- policy. vice that figure brings," The West Ward coun- he said. cillor said that he still Bugelli also noted that isn't prepared to the town could be faced recommend a change in with many additional the town's policy for a costs such as lawn number of reasons. repair because o! He notes that in sis CONT'D ON P. 3 William Stone oft Queen St., Brooklin told the committee that the town's current policy is unfair and discriminates against almost half of the people living in the town. "The bylaw says that half the people get something for nothing while the other half have to pay," he said. Under the town's current policy, residen- ts with sidewalks abut- ting their property must clear it of snow and ice within 24 hours after- a storm ends. If they didn't, the town will issue them a notice requiring them to do the job. If it still isn't done within another 24-hours, the town will clear the snow and charge the homeowner 80-cents for every foot of sidewalk cleared. In his report to the committee,. public works director Dick Kuwahara estimated that it would cost the average homeowner an additional $3 a year should the town perform the service. Stone noted that many people pay more than $1,000 a year in property taxes. "For $3 more, they'll never even notice it."y Chase Casagrande of Canadian Oaks Dr. also gave his support to At- tersley's suggestion but also took time to criticize the town's bylaw enforcement of- ficer. He suggested that the officer "use a little diplomacy" when dealing with homeowners. "I didn't like the tact your bylaw enforcement officer took. It was hit and run." Casagrande said that officer should stop and talk to people "instead of just dropping a notice in the doorway an hour after its printed." The town's current policy of clearing just some of the sidewalks in the town has also produced some problems for him. "Everything was fine until you decided to help me out by clearing the snow," he said, "All that little bombadier does is bring me more snow." If the bombadier had cleared all the snow in hi neighbourhood, there wouldn't be a problem for him. Colin Duddridge, also of Canadian Oaks Dr., said that the town should clear the sidewalks for three reasons: as a service to the town's residents; for the pedestrians who use them; and, to protect the health and safety of senior citizens and others. If the town decided to clear the sidewalks, "you would be doing something for the people for a reasonable price." Duddridge noted that the Dr. J.O. Ruddy General Hospital has been treating a great number of people for in- juries suffered during sidewalk snow clearing. He also said that the post office told him that there hasn't been a day y.et this year when a postman hasn't been off because of injuries sustained on town sidewalks. For those who might suffer injuries "$3 a year is a pretty good in- surance policy," Dud- dridge told the commit- tee. However, Ken Mac- Donald, himself a senior, said that the town couldn't do as good a job of - clearing the sidewalks as the residents do. There would be "no better quality snow clearing than that which is being done presen- tly," he said. "This system is working pret- ty well." MacDonald said that people shouldn't be looking to the town to do jobs such as these. People living in Whitby should take on a little of the responsibility for caring for it. "I don't know what's wrong with a little per- sonal responsibility," he told the committee. "What comes next, will nobody want to cut the grass?" Another senior citizen remarked: "I don't see anything wrong with the present system. We have a bylaw and that's the way it should be." Whitby Town Council is not expected to make any changes to its sidewalk clearing policy until sometime later this year, if it makes any changes at all.