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Pàe4.Whltby Fr0. Pres, Wednesday, July 101996 DBIA chair fires back at felloin erchant By Mike KowaMdik A group of merchants seekin~ to resurrect Whitbyys moiunU Downtown Business Improve- ment -Area have been challenged to back up thoir criticism of the mn eont boad. DBhair Paul Savage is demanding proof of accusations contained in a recent letter to Mayor Tom Edwards from 21 merchants upset over the lack of a functioning downtown business association. T he letter charges that there were "numerous discrepancies and question?» which arose dur- mng. a ireferendum of downtown buséiness owners last year over whether to continue with the DBIA. As a resuit, the seven-vote margin In favour of disbanding the DBIA. is not an accurate reflection of the feelings of many merchants and the board should not have asked Town council to kil the. 18-year-old organization, the letter states. However, the letter (se. page 6) concedes that the merchants' «hands are tied" and that nothing can be don. until the board's mandate expires next year. 'Tm a little disappointed that someone would corne along at this late date and say the proceEs was unfair,» said Savage of the March 1995 referendum resuits. With 52 per cent of the 380 members participating, 94 voted aanst continuing with the DBJA and. 87 ware in favour. There were 10 spoilod ballots. Savage said board member and former Whitby mayoral candi- date Pat PerkIns was given res- ponslbuhty for ensuring that the referendumý was conducted pro- "hchecked several tirnes with the (Town) clerk's depart- ment and the method used was Oefcl K with them," said «Councl had 'a member (Mar- cel Brunelle) on the board who said the process was fair and honest and who alogot upat couneil and ad it was fair and honest"h, said. «We went back as many as3si times te collect them (ballots) and that's going byond the caîl. In M mrind, everyting was don. bythe book accordinig te the Terming the letter «short on a pecifia,» Savage promised te inivestigfate any charges if proof ican be furnshed. I Savage also rejected the mer- chants' dlaim that the resuits should be discounted due te the 7slim margin of victery for tii. anti-DBIA forces. «A higher ma 'ority of pýeople voted te diban the BIA than voted te stay in Canada during the Quebec referendum," ho said. "I can't believe that some people in the Town of Whitby can t live with the results. Que- bec people have te live with their referendtuni and it was a lot dloser thanours.» Rather than being upst with the management boar, Savago said the. disgruntled merchants should instead be directing their anger at Town council. "It'sthe council sud mayor holding things up,» ho said.' 'Tv. written two letters te tthe Town asking thern te resolve this one way or the other and Pm told it's before the legal departrnent. «IUrsoIPd hate te see the bill for it Ç,eause they've had an awful lot of time te consider this.» Although ho sympathized with the morchants over the. uncertain statue of the DBIA, Savage said the_ postion that ho and other DBIA foes have taken in recent years has been given credibility with the DBIA now i limbo. ,Ho noted that merchants have saved more than $300,000 due te no longer paying the special levy assessed te busineases located in the improvement area. Under tii. 1978 Whitby bylaw which created the DBAal businesses (retail and profos- sional) paid* the tai which was used te improve the downtown's appearance and 'sponsor pro- motions aimod at attracting shoppers. The. tax has not been collected for the pat two years because the. boardtii. f irat elected bv the membership, did not strike a budget. "I- put mine (levy) back into tii. Durham's Olympians Durham can ho proud. 0f the. five-member team responsible for the, recycing sud waste management at the, 1996 Olympica, fthre. are residents of tusé region. Broughiams Jack MéGinnis of Recycling Dovelopment Corp., in coijunction witii Royal Recycling from Hamilton, has initiated an Intensive recycling program for Olympians and spectators alike. Glenda Gies, on. of the. foundera cf Durham Region's rocydling program, will b. in charge of cornposting. Pickering's Gail Lawlor, also chirofDuniiam Environmental Network, will conduct training sessions for hundreda of local citizens as well as for corporate volunteer from around the world te act as recyling ambassadors te assist and encourage visitera te recycle. Behind the scene, ernployeet; of tii. games will b. expected te souroe-separate alurninum, Plastic, fine paper and cardboard. In the. Olymnpie village, ail athletes and coaches will use special containers for the. recyclablea they generate.' For the, 'gold medal' - black gold, tiiat la - Gies,- one cf Nortii America's tep composting consultants, has set up a hohind- the-counter system that will utilize the village's kitchen food waste. Rather thon sending te lsudfill,-nutritious organics will b. turnd into 'black gold'- a rich soil conditioner calI.d compost. Hopeffily, the devis.d systema will dlvert up te, 85 per cent cf the estirnated 9,000 tons of trash that will ho generated by more than two million visitorsand 15,000 athietes. If you are going te tth. Olympics in Atlanta this summer, b. prepared te win the. race on less wast. by recycing your pop cana and plastic water containers in large, well marked blue recycing binai placed in convenient locations througiiout the, Olympic site. List.n for sunouncements sud watcii the. screboard for recycing messages. 7With 'the. additional support from Coca-Cola sud Xerox, major sponsors of the Olympica, we will have a real chance te make an impefct,w" aysMcGinnis. Ifitoean b. don. at the Olympics, why are w. net aeeing more here atlooe1 festivals and school track events, for example. Every public event must incorpote' good environmentai sens. as w.ll as the 3Ra mnita initial -planning stage, tiien organizers of events must ensure that recyclablos are collected te b. ecyclod. TMme ia running eut. business and so have a lot of others,» h. said. "People are planting fiowers and improving their stores them- selves. T7hey're not payfingan outrageous contract te ave flowers planted and watered.» The succeas of last month's County Town Carnival also in- dicates that if morchants are concerned about tiie downtewn, thon events can b. organized.on a volunteer basis, Savage added. Beth Lichtental, oporater of Baby Shack, collected tiie signa- tures from her fellow business owners. «Basically, tiie board has cho- son not te do anythngand w. feel this is wrong,» said Lichten- tai. «Essentially, wvhat it -bouls down te is we've been doing BIA work sud they've chosen not te participate,» ash. said., Liciitental conceded that «tiiere are a lot of problems with tiie way the. BIAfunctions, everyone agrees. «But; you try te fi it before you throw it out sud no one atternp- ted te, fix it. » Lichtental, said she and hor colleaques are in a «Catch 22" situation in that the, board will not resign, nor can it be forced te do so. "If w. get teo involved, p1 wiIl say we don't need a Br ue if we don't, tiie Town will only liston te those who want te dis- band it.» Lichtental agreed that the. DBIA should bo a volunteor- driven organization,' but tusis J *notalways practical. «It's a matter of dollars and cents. You can't hold events without mon. ,» she said. «Itfs difficuit; te go around and ask your noxt door neighbour for $150 for a promotion.VNoboy wants te give, only get.» While flot. specifically claimini that «anything was don. wrong, Lichtental said she doos not want council te base its decision on the. DBIA solely on tiie refer- endum results. 1 There was a seven-ballot <11f- ference, that, telle you tiiere was almost a 50/50 split,» she said. qI also heard that ballots were sent toe i.iead offices of tii, CIBO, Beaver Lumber ...theo mnan o&rs of 'tiiese businesses didn't h ave tii. chance te, vote. "Head offices in Toronto don't. ~ioadamn about what goos on clown here. There was no oppor- tunit~ for local managers te irote. IÀciitental said ah. would b. wrilling te have council re-exa- mine both tiie DBIA boundaries and tii. tai, as long as it doos not scrap the entire concept. . We have te realize that tus is a special place in Wbitby and it Eiould not b. allowed to leteriorate,» ah. said. «I'm teld by a lot of custemers Lhat's why they Moved to Yhitby. "The. downtewn has a unique %haracter sud I csu't understand dso mistaken in claiming that ton. of the board members «have ndividually contributed" to âther carnival., «I know of at least three mem- era wiio volunt.erod sud spent, lot of money te iielp promot. it County Town Carnival),» ah. aid. As for tiie «4iscrepanci.a» aile- «They (board) worked witi tiie clerk's office. Arzb-tiiey (mer- chants) taking shots at tiie clerkes office?" shoUsMked. Scott. eciioed Savag.a's beliof that downtewn morchants can eiat witiiout 'being forced te contribute te a msudatery asso- ciation. «They're doing oxactly wiiat we propsedand tiiey should be applauded,» ah. said, while ac- knoledingthat council muet stil mxea decision on the DBIA, board'srequest. qI have no problem witii a BIA, but don't take mon.,y from people who don't wsut it sud can't afford it.» Scott said her "ideal" DBIA would b. limited te tii. im- mediate downtown core sud r.- strictod te merchants on the street level and not, professional offices abov, tiie retail outlets. If there is tebe a DBIA taxit siiould b. aSsess.d on a per unit basis, ratiier than square foo- tage, Scott added. WHITBY MARKETING director Peter LeBel- shows Whitby's new home page on the World Wide Web. - Photo by Mmk Reosor, Whby Foe rou Whitby plugs ito inomation highw*ay By Mike Kowaloid The Town of Whitby la driving tii. information higiiway sud taking some passengors along for tiie ride. Witii only a few tapa on the keyboard, computer usera around the world can now loarn anything sud everything about Wiiitby. Whetiier it b. Bowmanvile or Barcelonia, Ajax or Australia, an 'encyclopedia' of the. Marigold community sud its inhabi- tants ila no w available te, individuals or businesses witii accesa' tte Internet. As part of an overail plan te entice potential investers te, Whitby, the municipality has ernbark.d on a new promotional acheme designed specifically for the. computer ago. ConceiveDby the Town's marketing sud. economic develop- ment d.partrnnt, a 70-page World Wide Web site witi tiie potential te b. read by more than 30 million Internet usera was launciied st month. .Developed by a local flrm, NetMedia Productions, At a cost of $3,000, the. web site offers an extensive package of facta on tii. lifestyle of Whitby'srosidents, investmient potential sud teurisrn attractions, among ita many features. Details on the. tewn's education sud tra'inng opportunities, dernogaphica, labour force, infrastructur, sud'taxes can b calleup on computer acreens in only a few moments. «Individuals sud companies can now access information on a roadily available basis," said marketing directer Peter LéeI. "TMis will facilitate opportunities te6 market tii. community in Canada sud around t he world.» As LeBel explained, tiie decision te have Whitby go «on-lin.' was su easy one te, make. «It'a a fairly inexrpensive wa!y te, get your message out,» lhe sai ctin afigure of about $350 annually for 700 hours on «Once you've ivested in computera sund hardware, it's juat a matter of getting Internet service.» One of tiie features of tii. Town's web site la tii. ability te monitor tii. number of organizations/peole wiio have viewe-d tiie information on the, World Wid, Web(WWW). Tues, «uits» wiIl b. rocorded on a montiily basis sud will tel LeBel sud his staff if Whitby's web site in attracting attention., Tuhe web site will aise b. connect.d to other WWW sites se that -organizationa can link inte tthe Town's site when browsing otiier sites on the. Internet Information will b. tipdated on a regular basis sud tii. web* site can b. expanded te offer services of a more local interest, sucii as rocreation propramsand building permits. On. of tii. few municipalities in tiie Greaâter Toronto Area te, go this route sud especially te this extent LeBel hopesl Whitby's initiative will pay big dividends down t1h road. «More sud more companies are doing business this way,' hie said. «Ites important that we b. tiiero teo.» For tiiose surfing.tii. nternet Wiby's web site con b. ,ac- cessed athittp:/wwYw.town.whitb.on£&a