Whitby Free Press, 26 Oct 1988, p. 10

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PAGE 10, WHJITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26,1988 Froc Press:- What do you think are the. major issues et this election? B.A.: I dont know of suy major issues. Wc've pither dealt with ail the issues or they're in the tbroes of being dealt with if they are issues. Looldng ahead, the next tbree years, if rin elected, I want te finish the work I started eight y.ars ago on the harbor. Theres the removal of MéNamara Marine sud the general dlean-up, sud of course, the Port Wlitby study. Weve had three separate people involved in the McNamara propertLy, sud flnaily wc now have Coacan involved sud it looks lhke thcy're going te go ahead with it. rd like te stay and do something on the barber, I tbink it's a real enset te the conimunity. The other matter I have some concern about la the services te Brooklin, sud we're presently working on tInt te try sud seS what we can do. We're happy that we've had the. needsastudy compheted sud now weve got the grant te do the engineering study sud it's on its way now (the minlstry juat announced that). That starta the bail rolllng wblch rmn happy with. Certainly, looking- at our complete roads system is suother tbing rd like te do la the next tbree years. And then a complete review of the officiai plan. It's 15 years old, it's time it was completely reviewed. Thinga have chsuged. They're the four thinga, sud not necessarily la that order. Free Prose: What do you thlnk wif lie the. most contentioeis items on couneil' agenda fer the niixt three years? B.A.: I think there wll b. a variety. BrooklWns water sud sewer becomnes a dual matter now, involving net only our council but regional council. Sa there's a lot of work te do on regional coundil. And keep in mnd they normally rotate about a third (of members) on that council every election at the. Region, sud it looks 111<. there could be better than half replaced tbis election. So with continuity and what have you, somebody's get a lot of work te do over there. Theyll probably put that (services) in place, but it's stiil outside the black lin. - the water sud sewer area for the region - se that's going te b. a problem, trying te soUl them on the. package. Fre.eProse: What do you think were te nmaje aeeempish ne/failures of the lIast three years? smnba B.A.: A major accomp lismn a certainly been the type of growth we've had iný the community. The increase la the industriallmsuufacturing secter, Fm very happy with. The commercial and residential deveopment we've had has al been good for th. community. We're tIc envy of the region. Every tira. I go te Region, the other mayors at management comiittee are reafly riding me because of tIc type of development we've attracted te Whitby. A you need tedo is take acdrive tlrough Oshawa, tae a drive through Pickering sud Ajax, sud tIen take a hook at Whltby. I tbink that's probably su overflow from b.ing the county town sud tIc old county seat. W. certainly have great development here. Fr.e Press: Some et the contentious issues eft the last thr.e years - for example, Decoin, Bluegrase, Lynde lies - would yeu have handled these any diffoeently ii retroSPeet? B.A.: No. I was on record la Bluegrasa. W. oertainly have su obligation, council bas su obligation, te provide variable priced housing. I don't 1k the word "afTordable" because nobody can define it at the Province. l'y. talked te Mult Farrell, who the Premier put in charge of "affordable housing." I lad a meeting with hlm sud it turned inte a real debate on "affordable." Wben Perez came up, Io and behold, be teld me that anytbing between $850 sud $1,150 for a month's rent is affordable bousing under the ministry' definition. I think that's abselutely razy. A three-bedroom BOB ATTERSLEY: - 55 yeareold - Mayor since 198Ã" - Town Council for, 19 years -President: Atterstey ýTire -Mariried: 2 children la affordable. I don't wîere you go withý that. On thc Iroquois Park complex, wve certainly bad a division lu counicil. That's the only division I can really rememnbeý in elgît years as mayor. I guesa calmer heads prevailed later on. As for' the addition, we did have an increase »in the tender'te do what we wanted te do. at Iroquois Park, sud the majority of coundcil, on a aplit vote, decided not te do tînt. Now were inte a situation at the new complex, l'y. got sumniaries on it, 'and it's got te b. controlled. We've 'already adopted that Moriyama go ahead, we've committed $500,000 on plans, sund the total .stimated te complet. the wîole thing wiIl be in the $17-rnillion range. Now were looking at pîasing it, se initially we're looking :probablyý at $8 million, a lot of money, if we start looking at the library and the additional pool. It's going te lave te b. engineered sud finsuced the right way tbrough. This la what the majority of ocuncil wanted. I looked at it la a cifferent way, I hooked at putting the increased faciity. at Iroquois Park for now, sud building something up here at a later date, maybe not as big and elaborate as this wiil be. But I bave te agree witî it, the majority of counicil rules. Ever incestînt vote bas been taken, counicil il; ail back on aie sud we voted unsuimous te go ahead.' Once it's done, you csu't keep harping back on a bad tbing. Net ail your ideas are tIe rigbt ideas. I get anc vote, sud ther. are seven members of counicil. Fr.. Prose.' Do yen tbink that Whitby la g rowing too faut? B.A.: No. Ajax and Pickering are growing mucb faster than Wbitby, population-wlse. Metro East la going te grow, and I thlnk if you get the right type of development sud growtb, it's good. I think tînt the people who corne te Whitby are super people. Most people that corne lu get involved ln aporting sud community activity. And you csu't just turn it off anyîow. If the land la properly zoned in the officiai plan and the services are available, you cannot stop the devel- opmnent. Wlether you ike it or not, lt's going te b. there. rm kind of proud ovor the type of people that picked Witby in which te ive. W. started in 1980, wben I camne ln, te promote the municipaity. I think we did a super job. Whitby is known, theres no question about thnt. I travel Canada and ail over, and Whitby la at leat known. And it's known as a good municipality. The new preaident of Durhamn College, as soon as hie was in office, we sent hlm a wbole package about Wbitby. We're the only municipality that did it ... Wheres the first place le hookcd for housing when le came bere? Whitby. lie was talking about the promotion of the comxnunity, that's wlat l'm saying. Fr.. Prose.'yS en ntioued traffie au a problem. What initiatives would yen advoeatc? B.A.: l'y been trying te got the Province te get tIc roadh througl Burns St., to corne along Hopkins sud anotler service road te tic inte Brook St., se if they comne out of tIe GO station they csu go meetig w«"Atb Proin e, In had ar Free Prose What do you- tbhink are the majovissues e t s election? G.: When I announced that I was runming for mayor I said there are niany issues, my opposition said there were no isus henheanonced and I came out with the issues as I 'saw themn. Certamnly the development, and the way. the development has juat seemned te have run wild witbln the municipality. rm for growth but good controiled growth within the niunicipality. It's sometbing that we can be proud of, and our children can b. prdof. the envfronmiental situation as it relates te our watershed areas. rm really upset with what's happening in our creek vaileys.* You go over te Anderson St., it's a serlous situation, erosion there conilng frem the new development. Pringle Creek now is dead, north of Rossland Rd. that wiil affect right down te our lakeshore clown at Lake Ontario. Tax situation, when w. have this growth .thnt we're having, sud we wil have for the next few Years, why do we tIen have te go sud tax the proPerty owners additional money when we are already getting a good retura on the growth coming inte the municipýalitY. There is a lack of negotiations with the developers, for somne of the facilities tbat we can get. I do know, as meeting with many of the other councillors, ini the Metro (Toronto) area that they put a much hardIer bargaining position with the developers as te what the developer pays at the terni of negotiations than we do here in Whitby. I have taken a lot of thoughts that Hazel used over in Mfississsauga, sud I think it is a tough position that bas te be taken. We are not always go* ehv this growtb. And if we csu -take that strong position in negotiations now, that will help us carry tbrough the. years when we don't have the heavy developmnent. But we are letting the devehopers the big ones, corne in and tîey're sellhng their wares, sud they're eaving. And, if we 'don't get, tbemn now, there is no point In going te themn afterwards, you h ave -te gt tem before. They want te corne into WhtbYif Whitby ih an attractive place, it's a place they csu selh But if we clon't get our return from tbem we're losing out, sud when we have te go back te those taxpayers, te try and pick up what th, developer didn't give us, the developer. wont give you suytbing unleas you. go and dernand it.. Those are four of the msuy items. Traffic congestion isansother one. I feel we are bringing ina, lot of population sud we're not getting the doilarg from Queen's Park. I, as chairman of works (Region), have been msuy times, through ( Regional chairman Gary Herrerna) te trY sud get Queen's Park te recognize our traffic congestion. It la turning peoiple off of the attractivenesa of «Wbitby, because of the traffic congestion. You have te -have certain warrants, te meet intersections for the. traffic congestion, for the signalization. And w-en the- money-goesinto Queelpn'a Park, And I don't knowv -wlhat the maglo is te get the. population -up'ýto 100,000 so fast. To me, what!a the nmagic of saying you'r. 100,000. 7d. soonet do it properly and GxERRY EMM: - 49 yýears old - Resi dent of -Whitby for 31 years - Town Council.for1yes - SeIf-employed ,> -Married, 4 ehildren make sure the people who are cornig ini rea]ly can BAY, three or four years after theY'Ve corne here this is the place we want to stay, this is the place we want to invest in. Not just the thought, well, that's the place to be right now and then they get here and a year later they say 'Mvy gosh aH tbis traffic congestion;" It may be painted ini the Toronto Star as being a beautiful place with these beautiful older homes being restored and the character of the downtown is a emal town. Where is the emali town? We keep on seeing plazas opening up ail through town and the downtown has got empty stores ini it. I tbink these plazas that are uing up, and the one that went clown on Nindas St. W., I voted against it. I voted against it at the Town and at the Region because it was wrong. There la another one I have coiing before my committee on Ganrard Rd. zonéd residential and rv got an application and it is o*wned by a dleveloer who is building many of them here in town and I don't know where he is getting the inoraton to say this is plaza city. Those are some of the issues. FreEé . s: What do you think are the majora acopihments or (allures ofe meil in the. peut thr« eo ar? G.E.: To ait down and reaily size the situation as it relates to our development. We are in an area that's extremely attractive to the developers. We have an ereeyattractive town and eveybody wilsytat butare we coing the best to make sure that it will be attractive in 20,' 30, 100 years fromn now. Are we retaiing the character of the town? Some of these subdivisions are nicein a way, but if you're going te mess up the streams and the character of the roads and that and 1just inake it another suburbia, ia it going te be really the community that the people came here for in the firat place. The County Town had a structure that was unique and I think we should ecpand on that. I thmnk we should expand that out into the suburbsansd make that somnething that's unique, not juat a row of housing after housing after housing stock that doesn't have any relation te the County Town. ---Free Proe.' Are there any issues ini «the pet three years that think ehould ý )ave been handled diffeently? fG.E.: I certainly' do. The recreation i complex down at Iroquois Park, we didn't have the znoney at the time. I had te vote .againat it sud I advised the Mayor that he was wrong in bis push to have it clown there. Hie did back off. We are looking Up at 'the Rossland- Rd. site and have endorsed that through coundil. J feel that we have te, through negotiations* with developers, look at our recreation because this la were the demand is going te corne for ahl the facilities up in the northern area where the younger population have choose te live. We certainly got the counicil te back off at the Iroquois Park location .which is already existing there, and put it where the population is. When people have te drive from one part of the tewn te -the other, it!s beat te bring recreational facifities within the. aav thf1na ging rte use themn. We've got SEE PAGE 24 sEF, PAGE 25 '

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