Whitby Fr.. Pros, Wc*iosday, Januasy 5, 1M9, PGo5 Crying Puppy: DBIA tax flot the answer To the Edftor:, In response to the letter by RJ. Kennedy <'Cring Pupples' shouki moeto Oshawa, 1h. Fr.. Press, Dec. 29) regardlng Doug Anderson, William Brant and myseif, 1 wIl take the liberty of addressing y ou as R.J. since 1 have no idea who you are, maie or female, or what business wthin the DBIA boundary you represent. SIt would serve no purpose for me to O5ul l u stakes and move our business to Oshawa. Businesses in Oshawa have the. same BIA 9 Nem withlrr the downtown and a'v app.ared bef ors their council. They were asked to give th. BIA on. more chance early in 1993. Bowmanviile and Ajax businesses have voiced opposition also. Port Perry changed to a min/max taxation system a few months ago. What we naydo in 1994 is join with other towns and cities in Ontario. Large corporations, among otiiers, have already shown interest. Your n.xt suggestion was ¶f thus wore to happn (us move), it would allow thebaance Of downtown Whitby te concentrate on improving services with tii. hope of Iuring customers to downtown Whitby. RJ., 1 have a news flash for you -- the iarg'est percentage of DB lA dollars does not come f rom downtown merchants. And what can the. BIA possibly do-for Miracle Mart Plaza Brewers Rot ail, Bell Canada Exchange Building, Stafford Monuments, A&T Motors, the. Montessori School, doctors, Iawyers and so on. Stand at the four corners and look for two blocks in any direction and you wilI see empty stores. For the. downtown to survive, w. must first attract more retail business to the. four corners. These businesses must complement other retail businesses, not just f111 stores. Only thon, working together with proper store hours and service, will you start to attract customrers. A penalty tax on top of business taxd(oes not and wi l not attract retallers. Take a look ad where the customers are going and why. The. DBIA has spent more than $150,000 in tax money in each ef the last four years and is not attracting new customers.- As te budg et, I the. IBIA advertising love -ths one, R.J. Yu obvlously read Mr. Anderson's article MVewpoint' (The. Fr.. Press, Dec. 15) and dlsagr.e. From the. column, 1 suspect It is possible the. DBIA board may not have lsten.d to is experlence ln advertlslng. ff you are Involved wlth payin thus penalty DBIA fax, you would have receved an advertlsing cost sheet for 'Vour Downtown.' Uslng thus cost sheet, add up fhe amount of advertising dollars that could possibly b. collected ln the last iue and check that to the cost of publishlng thls monthly newspaper (ins.rf "tuis month. You may b. shocked, especiatly If you add prevlous months' deficits. Remember, everyone forced to pay thus tax will pay thoîr share of the. deficit for a f.w to get lese expensive advertising. Listen to radio stations, RJ. Commercial-f ree music. Why? Soft advertising market. Stations CHSO nid CHOW (St. Catharines area) are trying to merge because of falling advertlsing revenues. The Toronto Suný, for the. first Overwhelming response To the Edftor: The. 1993 fifth annlual Chrstmas food and tey drive was an exceptionai success. In total, more than 100 f ull van ioads of teys and food were collect.d throughout the. region, serviciNp more than 16 agencies requesting our assistance thus year. Every agency receiv.d enough food and toys to f111 their 1sf of familles requlring food and toy baskets so thaf net on. family, to our knowledge, wiio had contacted an agency went without. Food and toys continued te pour ln Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and even Boxing Day. Thanks 10 everyone involved, from the volunteers f0 the sponsors, f0 fthe people and businesses ln the communities of Durham Reglon and te the apencies who sorted an dist ributed the food and toys. Tii. residents of Durham Region experienc.d what Christ mas is ail about -- caring, sharing and giving. Chlsf Trevor McCagherty Durham Rgonai Police *NEW! WASHf RS (Include Water Savers) " NEW! DRYE 4S(GPas & Electric) " DISHWASHERS 1TJ " STOVES (Gas & Electric)® " REFRIGERATORS (10year limted warranty) PRESENT THIS AD FOR A SAVE WITH FRle e CS AR 1 VEAR EXTENDED WARRANTY CS AR SALES DOMES TIC MAYIAG SERVICE 22 Stevenson Rd. S. (Corner of King) Oshawa - 436-9969 sic months of 1993, reported a $200,000 profit, Icompared with $2.6 million a year earller. Soft advertistng has hurt the* Toronto Star (a loss of $9.7 million the first thre, months of 1993). Advertisng volume continues to decline. Thompson Newspaprs is tfylng to seli some cf their newspapers. You mention "merchansr and udowntown merchantse mostly in yeu letter, RJ. Are you aware wo pays thus penalty tax to the OBIA? Some are outslde DBLA bonales. Rletail merchants are a minorlty. Prof essional businesses are a majority, and we can show this If council would only allow us a doputation. If you, FU., andi 1 truly want downtown Whltby to survive, we or someone else must corne up wfth a mucii-needed solution. 1 do not now have an answer, but from our survey and watching the* change In downtown Whltby over fhe last 22 years, 1 can tell you most defirit.I fiat a forc.d DBIA tax on top of al other taxes has neît been the. answer. I would h. happy to dîscuss thîs furtiier wlf h you at any tîme. Feel free te call Cene P.acock Peacock Sports & Trophies Ud. Whftby Â&TRIMARK. MIUTUAJL FUNDS WE MANAGE. TO OUTPERFORM. AIl rcIUrIný' Mitdicilhlri r ous i o g. ( hrtered \ cointanis. ,arc historical annual (-onîpoutnded total rates tif returît and rdeflet hinges In ut sIlu u ad dîst rihttons ruese The%- (Io not take nto account sales charges tir , tt s imabtej.stle hs unîtho)ldcrs msîh n sould ha% c redutced rcturn'.. Past performance dues flot gu.îr.ntec iturc' resuit.. Vouir tut s aIneand j ivvesteni rcturfis will fluctuate. IniportantiInformation about an%- mlut u.tI und I>. rouaned in mII simîpliî[ed rospeciut'. Read % our prospectus carefulIh helotre ms estng. You i htijnon n i mak \ti uaiFods or front.. TPA Group of Companies invites you to spend an evening with.. GODREDN PAPE Conitact TPA INVESflMENT PLANNING CENTRE, 666-896OR 1400111126549492 Gordon Pape DNI. y Foundadoln. Lecture & seminar topies indude: HOWTO BEAT LOWR ITEESRAIES *Why iteest rates are down - and likely 10 stay t/wl way *Thle impaa qf 10wbgntrej1rates onaRRSPs *How thle tax system penalizes interea miw&tors * Jmroving retums in RRSPs and RRJFs *Takùng advantage of Ihe dividend tax credit *Usieig t/he capital gains exenytion *How taIomprove aftertar returns *How to select t/le BESTMUT UAL FUNDS E À L 9 26.2%30.1% 17.8%15.0% 36.0% 21.5%13PI2.6% 'f -.MN4,