Page 6, Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, June 28, 1995 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! MEMBER OF: C+CNA CANADIAN ONTARIO COMMUNITY - COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER N EWSPAPER ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION ISSN#0844-398X The Whitby Free Press is distributed free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashburn & Myrtle as well as numerous public and commercial outlets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering & Port Perry. 27,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $34 + GST • Outside Canada $80 + GST Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Inc. Box 206, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario L1N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Out of town: 1-800-668-0322 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pifher - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% recycled content using vegetable based inks. c All written material, illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyright law. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit line to the Whitby Free Press. To he dtr .,.,, Return our waterfront To theo editor: Who's responsible? My thermometer on the nortl side of the house was reading 1O( degrees Celsius. The news sai that the ultraviolet factor wac extreme. I drove to the lake to park, a many used to, to sit in the shade o my car and enjoy the lake view an breezes. I saw two young coupleE who were apparently immune tc UV and the blazing sun, standing down by a fence which blocks the view of the waterway. . I saw one bicycle on a strip ao hot asphalt. Many cars used to park at the pier edge and are now precluded by soil piles and a chain fence. Let the politicians who are responsible for such short-sighted planning identify themselves so they can be removed at the next Dizz The Uglification of Whitby Program -- Phase 2 With the yellow brick road there to follow, the Wizard of Oz you could meet. But in Whitby you'll just get a dizzy spell at Gilbert and Athol streets. The yellow brick road is a circle, «Intersecting' we're told, (is that plain?) 1 think there must be some strange virus intersecting a Town planner's brain. Four leafless trees made of metal have sprung up aloft in the grass; a curious modern art sculpture to indicate which way to pass. How splendid to know that our saf ety in Whitby is sure to be found A round of applause is in order a round-and around-and around. Freda Jepson Whitby :h s s f d s e election, and we can return the waterfront to the seniors who need an escape from summer heat. Dugals Gorden Whitby Road maintenance deficient To the oditor: n Re: Mud Road letter (June 14, Free Press) I am pleased to see that some J of our neighbours share the same ) concerns as I do, on the amount of money spent maintaining Townline Road. Having been involved with Metro Toronto as a maintenance supervisor for 19 years, I am fully aware that doing a job properly the first time will amount to substantial savings in the future. Unfortunately, these days, especially through tight budget restraints, a lot of problems, due to high financial commitments, cannot be resolved immediately. Understood, but if a short-term solution is not evident, then planning a long-term solution through varous stages or phases is a much better approach than adhering ta previaus maintenance practices,tespecially if they do not reduce future maintenance costs or resolve current maintenance problems. Annually topping up road bases in the spring, then pushing those bases into the ditch during winter snowplowing is a no-win situation. When you continue to trave a maintenance schedule such as this an an annual basis, you are not properly addresing yaur maintenance deficiencies, both from a practical sense or from an economical one. Stewart Adamek Town Mud Road Ashburn To the editor... Blackout proves costly To the editor: Copy of letter to the Emergency Measures Committee, Whitby Hydro Electric Commission The establishment of ar emergency measures committee is .ust one more example of actior beng take.n after the fact. 1 feel it is a waste of taxpayers' money anc only another way to justify the need for hydro commissioners. In the Whitby Free Press, June 21, Whitby Hydro general manager Tom May stated, "we don't schedule this kind of work in peak loading periods." One has only to look at the heat conditions in Whitby at the same time last year to find out what it is like. Mr. Ralph Blank is to investigate the 'adequacy' of our power outage detection systems, response methods and public communication systems. I have a few suggestions for Mr. Blank. As far as 'power outage detection systems,' the phone lines to Whitby Hydro were jammed with callers within minutes of the power outage, giving a very inexpensive approach to 'power outage detection systems.' 'Response methods,' other than automatic, are why I thought we were paying 24-hour standby pay to our hydro employees. if has been brought to the attention of the Whitby public what excellent equipment, needed or not, that the utilities possess. With regard ta 'public communication systems,' the commission was able to pay for a haf-page ad in the local paper to apologize for the inconvenience after the power shortages. Why could they not have used this same vehicle to warn the public of any possible problems prior? When I asked what the problem was, after I was finally able to get through to the hydro office, I was told that the probable reason was that Whitby is growing too fast ta meet the demand. Mayor Edwards is trying to refute this reasoning. Mayor Edwards, according to an article in a local paper, 'explained that while he is the Town's representative on the hydro commission, the problem is not within council's jurisdiction." This being the case, why do the taxpayers bother payingoforta counicil representative on the hydro commission? I would be very interested to know to whom any monies might go if the hydro commission has any recourse against the contractor who did not have work on a particular substation finished on time? Possibly I could offer a few suggestions as to who should be reimbursed:' --residents of the Town of Whitby through a lowering of their hydro bills one month. --local businesses such as bakeries, restaurants, barber shops, service industries, anyne who depends on the use of their telephone or fax systems, and just about any business that uses electricity (and who doesn't?) --the elderly or persons with health problems who rely heavily on the use of hydro. The total cost resulting from this power outage will be stagger- ing when we take into account the amount of lost wages paid to Town employees who were sent home, the police officers who were on point duty at the intersections, the hydro crews who had to work overtime to restore the power (and thank you, all), even down to the cost of a half-page ad in the local paper to apologize. It is hard to find an answer to the question of 'Why did Oshawa and Ajax not experience the same problems, after ail, we all had the same weather conditions?' I would very much like to receive a reply to this letter, and would be more than happy to offer any further suggestions to you. Robert (Bob) McCleery Whltby P.S. Maybe councillor Mitchell hit the nail on the head when he said "Maybe there was a power surge caused by the electronic deskr To the editor: Copy of letter to the Whitby Hydro Electric Commission Dear Sir/Madam: I am writing this letter at 8 p.m., June 26 with the only illumination coming from a nearby window. Yes, it's Monday on the west side of Whitby and there is no power -- again. With the previous Sunday and Monday hydro fiasco in which we were "out" a total of 11 V2 hours, I graciously accepted your written Great jobs To the editor: Oh, if I had only known then what 1lknownow -- the two most perfect jobs in aur society. on. oi them is the weather-person. Once you've obtained that job, you can be wrong with 99 per cent of your predictions and sill you'il nover mmsyourj ob. The other most perfect job in our society is a politician. When you've obtained that job, it seems that you can give yourself raises in pay as much as yau want and there isn't anyone who can do a damn thing about it. Oh, when I was younger, if I had only known what iknow today. John Southern Whitby apology printed in the Whitby Free Press and decided not to pursue this matter further. Now, it is a week later after "the worst power outage in Whitby Hydro's history" and I don't have hydro again. Sorry, but my patience just ran out, I am writing this letter as an off icial complaint. The service or lack of service in the past week has been appalling. I have been a resident of Whitby for more than seven years and have never seen such poor utilities service. In the recent newspaper article, the alleged problem stemmed from the out-of-service Garden substation. Assuming after a week, the installation of the new computer system is complete, the problem should be corrected, right? So what's the problem this week. I would never be so presumptuous to assume that I paveithe expertise needed to provide you with a solution ta this .problem. But I feel the residents ai the west side of Whitby who have been affected by aIl these blackouts have been extremely patient. t's time to remedy this siutation, and yesterday would have been soon enoughfor me. Vour action plan mentioned in your apology in the newspaper saunds great, 1 only hope the meat in my freezer will not perish waiting for this system ta be implemented. Sonry, 'd love ta continue complaining, but 1 need to go find some candles. Please get this thing worked oui. Patty Young Whitby Hydro fiasco