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I PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1984, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael lan Bi The only Whitby newspaper independently owi --e- an-d -r te -.-- WhiThV a &~id~ta%,f W h IT ith%,"Y idi-------t- urgess, Publisher - Managing Editor bv Whith-v resistants for whitbv r... d..t. Published every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 1:1 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, whitby, Ont. PO. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Regaîraîlon No. 5351 MICHAEL KNELL Community Editor VALERIE COWEN AdvertIsing Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351 Parking is stili the downtown core's major problem Talk to any downtown merchant these days and you'il find that they have one major complaint: there's inadequate parking facilities in the down- town core. Not only do the merchants have this particular complaint, but so do people coming downtown to shop. In a recent survey conducted by the Whitby Central Business District Improvement Area Board, 27 per cent of the consumers stopped 0M eu* w ow~~ ra omu Qg~adm' .......... p tu .i li ESTmo !P~TY~1WAW On the diplomatic circuit, Ottawa has the reputation of being the second coldest posting in the book. Shiyering, thin-blooded diplomats may not see it, but winter here constantly provides that test of character which separates the Canadians from the lotus-eaters. An Ottawa winter is what my dear friend Frank McGee calls "fight back" wheather. Frank's theory is sound, I think. It is simply that cowering indoors in the face of bad weather actually makes it worse. That if you get out in it, and do things in it, bad weather pales into insignificance. And that is the attitude that has prevailed in what Goldwyn Smith called this sub-arctic lumber town since Lord Dufferin was Governor General in the 1870's. Sandra Gwynn, in her wonderful new book on old Ottawa, called "The Private Capital" says that Dufferin imposed an English vice-regal style on this wilderness seat of government that has lasted, in some respects, ever since. You know the old line about mad dogs and Englishmen out in the noonday sun. Well, the English are just as mad in this northern colony as they were in the tropics. Here, they went out in the winter, and revelled in it. Dufferin, according to Ms. Gwynn, wallowed in winter. "He became the first in a long Une of proconsuls," she writes, "who, accustomed to an empire that nearly everywhere else was steaming hot, with punkahs waving, found winter and ali its panoply of blanket coats and bright red touques romantic and exotic." In short, with Dufferin, win- ter In Ottawa became the fashionable season. Ottawa society began to disport itself on the huge new toboggan slide at Rideau Hall and on the Dufferin's private rink. There was snow- shoeing on the grounds, and later, after the strange wooden slats had been introduced to Ot- tawa by an Englishman, skiing. Reading between the lines, I suspect that the milk-white complexion went out of fashion, and that red cheeks were in. The toboggan slide and the outdoor rink (now flanked by a curling sheet courtesy of Edward Schreyer) are still popular at Rideau Hall and so s winter generally. So with Lord Dufferin in mind, and Frank McGee cheering on the sidelines, to heck with galoshes. l'm watching the northwestern sky and waxing my skiis. while shopping In the downtown core said they would shop downtown more often if parking facilities were improved. In the board's survey of merchants in the core, 43 per cent said that the "lack of accessible parking (was) the major disadvantage of down- town shopping." 1 The board also malled a survey to residents in the Town of Whitby on.a random basis. Of those that responded, 39 per cent said that parking in the downtown core was "very poor." There seems to be a general concensus amongst the merchants, the consumers and the residents that parking Is one of the downtown's foremost problems. In ail fairness, it should be pointed out that the Town of Whitby has authorized the construction of additional parking facilities at locations scattered throughout the core area. But there is one other complaint being heard from the merchants. They don't like parking meters. They feel parking meters are a detriment to their business. They feel parking meters discourage people from shopping downtown. Af- ter ail, why should a consumer pay to shop down- town when he can shop at any one of the major shopping malls in this area and park for nothing? During the course of the last few months, the downtown board of management has been attem-. pting ta impiement a program which it hopes w 'ill1 make the core area a more attractive place to shop and will give Whitby a central focal point. While ail of its plans have merit, it seems that the questionC of parking could, quite easily, put a wrench in the warks. Now, this newspaper isn't about ta advacate ji that ail parking meters be removed from the down- I town core tomorrow but what we would like to suggest is that the downtown board take the Initiative and study the affect that non-metered parking has had In communities like Markham and Stouffville, where, we understand, parking meters are a thing of the past. If their experiences have been good ones, then perhaps the board could then approach Whitby Town Council, present their findings and ask the town fathers to take the appropriate action. However, we would like to stress, not only as Whitby's newspaper, but as a long time downtown business as well, that the resolving of our parking problems alone will not a vibrant and vital down- town core make. There are many other problems that have to be overcome, which are far too numerous to mention here. Much work has been done over the last few months by many dedicated and wellintentioned individuals, and before their efforts can come to final fruitition the parking problem has to be ad- dressed. We would also like to point out that parking meters represent a source of revenue for the town. If we remove that source of revenue then we may be creating an additional burden on the residential and commercial property taxpayer. That is one issue that has to be addressed. If we implement non-metered parking in the dawntown care then a general agreement shauld be arrived at by aIl merchants that neither they nor their employees will use those parking facilities. They will park off-street and leave those othèr tpaces available for the sole use of their customers. While there are no clear cut answers to this probiem, it is warth studying. You never know, ut ust might heip make dawntown Whitby a better place. Y - MMUUMMOMM 1 id A ned and operated t