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PAGE 22, WHITIPY FPRESs, WEDNESDAY,NOVEMER 2,1988 FROM PAGE 14 creatcd 29 environmental areas, you are supposed to make a bylaw for A' every one of those areas." At the same time they talk about density. The density is left to the Town. The Town can make the bylaws the way they want. What it would do then ie prevent the, ripofli and the attraction for the ripoff for the coning into this town. And it would automatically slow down deve- lopment. Fre Press: How would you deal with the. question of afford- able houalng? Affordable housing could be, very tastefizlly, put into many of the eub- divisions that do occur. B ut when you concentrate affordable housing, what you automatically do je create ýan eyesore and a problem. Because you are packing thern altogether. You are flot doing them a favor and you are flotý doing the peple around thern a favor. But to blend thern or mix them ii in dividual homes, or duplexes, within the total development, you wouldn't even know they existed. Free. Pres: What are the. limite to commercial growth? P.D.: There's a pro and a con. You should be able to do what you want with your property up to the criteria set by the majority. Secondly, you have people who inveet their money ini downtown. And to develop. without a set plan, and this je what's happen- ing. -Thefr ie no plan for commercial developing. It je spot zonmng. It je a reaction to plans brought in as opposed to having created an idea of how they want tlhe town to develop. If you are going to have commercial development,, there muet be a logic ,Elecétion' 88 behind it.> Put plazas ini an area whea the population can bear it and itVs not gong ta kill another part of town. Thre js a place for development but it has to be considered and sensible. Free Press: What about the future of Port Whltby? Do you support high rise developrnent? P.D.: We are back at it again. You have a developer moving in there and the Town je reacting to1 a plan.- Where je tiie plan for Port Whithy? Port Whitby is unique and there should have been thought put into Port Whitby 15 years ago when the officiaI plan was. pass.d. Now what's happened je you have ended up with a disaster now and we've got anotiier Metro. I have spoken ta people from Toronto, Oakviile, who have corne ta that lake even thougii we alI tiiink it's lousy,* because it s the only open ares t the. lake in the. whole reach- able area and we're going te have thr.e 22.story buildings tiiere. That's absolutely asinine. Fr.. Pross: This runicipality spende a large part of ie budget on sporte/ recreational - facilitieà but very littie on cultural facili- ties <except for the* library). Would you change that? P.D.: Cultural failties to me are an important asset to a segment of the town. With a population of 51,000, r'd 111< to see you afford - Pat Dooley eveiything. Let's put priorities on what's happening. Firat of ail let's get *a proper infrastructure for recreation. Once that's in place then we can start considering, as the population. gets ta b. 90,000 or 100,000, *we can start thinking in terme of building an expensive rnuseum, art gallery. But you've got ta h. kidding if you think you can pay for everything at onoe. Right now, tiie demand je for recreational fadil- ties. Fr.. Prose: You'talked- before about a closed goverrnent. Do you have any suggestions as to how it could ho opened up? P.D.: Juet open t he agendas so the people can pick them up one week ahead. The people ecreamn about not knowing wiiat'e going on at council. If you give tiiem the agenda a week ahead, if they don't know what's going on, then it'e their fault. Rigiit now, it'e the council'e fault. Free Prose: What are your feel- ingon diselosure of holdings?. 9.1).: If I felt that I were running for council, and that wae in effect, then tiiere would b. no problem at' ail. If I have business dealinge that are gong to b. affected either I wauldn't run for council or I would hand it over to someone who could handle it. If I arn gainfully ernployed witii a particular area wiichhM notiiing to do with the. Town, tiien I don't think it's anybodlys business. Free, Prese: How do you envi- son Whitby li sayo the yoar 2000? P.D.: That ail depende on how you permit the. development. Since there is no planning, nobody on earth has any dcea what thie tawn le goiniz ta .look like. Fr.. Press: Do you thlnk Whitby San maintain a separate Identity? P.D.: If we were ta b. smart now, tiiere je still room for a greenbelt between Ajax and Whitby, and tiiat's the. only ose left you could put is. Fre. Prose: What qualities would you brlng t. the. position that would sot you side frorn your opponents? P.D.: There aren't many peuple' who've given 25 ta -30 yeare of their life for service for the. people. rve epent 25 years in the. reserve army either in tii. Ontario regiment or cadets. The advantage of that je that I have been given the. training ta lead, to adminieter, ta organize. 1 wasn't ding this ta, make the. dollar. I wasn't doing this for the glozy. It was sometiig that I feIt was important and I did it. I worked with the. Ajax-Pickering-Whitby for Com- munity Living, I was the, treasurer. I'm the chairman of the. vocational services comxittee, rm the. fundrai- ser. rve worked witi the. Corridor Area Ratepayers -Association. Ney PROM PAGE 14 '1 initiatives aro needed to alleviate traffe problema? D.F.: I think a bypase around thie town via Durhamn Rd 23 (Lakce Ridge Rd) is really n.eded ta, talc. some of the. traffic not juet out of the. downtown core but froni Thickson Road asewell. With the. coming of the GO extension, I fear that-with the lack of planning of trafflc flow, we're going ta see old establisii.d neigiibourhoods destroyed in the. core ares. The extension of Burns St has been talked about for many years, aud then dropped and tallced about again - it je sornething that has ta b. pushed. Speed limitei residential areas have ta b. really enforced. But I think tii. moet important one is ta really improve our public transportation system. W. need ta get enougii buses tint we can get the people from their homes down ta the. GO station se they can leave their, cars at home without clogging the ronds. Service and convenience needs to b. improved. Whitby Fr.. Press:- What about roeeational faciitiee? D.F.: Recreation facilities has taken a low priority. Recreation was my major in university - its an ares that!s reaLly important - it provides people with not just guod physical health but good mental iiealth. In the east ward there je not one indoor facility. Talce a ride north ta somne of the emaler communities. - ike Woodville with a poulation of 600 Elecion'88 has a beautiful arena. r've taught for 15 years in Toronto in cammunity echools- the ides was not new ta, me. In the Inet electios the conunity use of echoole was something that I talked about. I feel like s ground breaker in thst ares but ite something that neede ta be furtiier explared. The. tawn- neede ta start mnking recrestion a priarity. I tiiink the. spproach to sew multi-nmiilion dollar facilies je not what people are loking for. There jes agaod proportion af thi.e et ward tint has notiiing. The, kids end up going over ta the Woolca Mal. that where they're hanging out, juet because they have nawhere ese ta go. I sm iioping that thi. cammunity use of Bellwoods school will help eolve that. Whitby Fr.. Prese:- Do yen tbink taxes are too high? D.F.: The total budget for tuis town ie in the area of n $118 million and the, eaet ward provides a good percentage of thnt. Whitby has ose of the higiieet tax rates in Ontario. People are asking what they're getting for it. Thie canuunity je going ta become too expensive ta liv,. If I arn elected I will sot support any tax iscrease for the next three years. Whitby Fre. Press- Do yen think theres a problern with "eloecf' goernment? m Dennis Fox D.F.: The b.ttam lise in ail the. problerne I!ve discussed je thie public's right of access to information. At ose time if you wanted an agenda, you could get it on a Friday afternoon and you could show up at a meeting on Monday ail prepared. With the present method, people are prevented frorn being prepared. There are too many beiid clased door decisions. I tiiink tuis wiiole conflict of interest policy neede ta b. seriously looked at. I think if council truly has the. concern ofthe comrnity at heart, there je 5noiiarm is sharing information. Whitby Fr.. Prese: What about affordablo housing? D.F.: I see affordable iousing as a two-pronged attack. You have twa levels of affordability: the young couple juet beginning and thos. that are disadvantaged.. The latter has caused a lot of usnecessary controversy. What I wauld suggest je tint in the newer subdivisions you put aside a lot of land, you put a sign right an the. land. Wiien people buy tiiere tiiey kniow from day ose what can b. built tiiere. If we are going ta create ýas atmoephere wiiere the. disadvantag.d cas b. assimilated into aur society, you dos't put tiiern inta tiie middle of a controversy. Whitby Fr.. Prose: Do you think we shoeuld contrel the amnt of commercial develop- ment? D.F.: I think growth needs t. b. controlled. I knaw for a fact'that at different time of the. years the malle in the. east ward have empty stores in tiiem. To build anotiier mal sud increase the competition je what pute tiiese people under. They ne.d the tirne ta establisii their business. Its not pragrees ta me ta have empty stores not payisg taxes.' Whitby Fr.. Press: What degree of protection should h. gîven t., heritage buildings? DYF.: To me th iiiitory and the. traditions of the Town have ta corne first. I look at it tint we 'have borrowed this eommunity sud we have a respossibility ta returs it in very good condition. Whitby Fr.. Prose: Tho Town spende a good porcentageo<f its budget on sports and recreational facilities and relatively littl. on culture. Do you think tlint eouneil should b. providing more cultural facilities? D.F.: I think its a disgrace that aur museum has had to rent maIl space. It indicates a very low priority, for heritage. -Surely council, business, service clubs suad the. hietorical society can work tagetiier ta find thé Whitby museum s permanent home. As a councillor I will work taward that. Whitby Fr.. Pr.sss Iow do you envision Whitby in the. y.ar 2000? D.F.: I fought againet Whitby b.coming a city. I took up-tii, largeet petition this tawn has seen on that one but the. time rnay corne for that t. bý properly addreseeed. I fear that unlees development je properly planned that we wilI juet become an extension of Scarharough. I dan't think we have ta build a wail around us but by implementing eound planning principles and architectural contraIs, and iinving by-laws written ini euch a way that tiiey are easily, enforc.d iscluding aiur own stringent, environmental standards, I thinkwe' can croate an atrnosphere where we' can preserve our identity. Whitby F r.. Proe.- What- sPecialqualities woud yen u bing to the position of cenneilor that seté you part from your OPPOnente? D.F.: Current coundil experienoe. I tiink ive had'a good trsck* record at council. Wiienever I went ta represent people or, causes I vey rar.ly.came awny a laser. rNe been effective. The people rve represented know that rve neyer bscked down or eompromised them regardiese of the. politice involved. rve dane the. beet I could for, tiiem. PROM PAGE 14 toward the. lakeshare. That lalcesiiore is an invalunhle asset tiat we have, and I would hope that the. council of Whitby and Durham Region would try sud extend tint into n park or recreational area or beautify tii. area in the. way Oshiawa has- and Pickering, to serne extent. Id like to se. the council get moving os Port Wiiitby. I think tiiat's obviously a cisaster. rm sot sure that I like wiiat I hear abbut tiie Coscan towers. I believe perhape eomething different tans that siiould go in tiiere. If you know of the. Bluffer's Park developmest in Scarborougi, tint je tiie type of thisg I think we eiiould b. lookisg at. I don't wast ta se. a Whiite Oaks down at the port of Whitby. Tiiere's tire. buildings proposed, you osly need anc more and we got Whiite Qake in tiie port. I don't think tiiat's what we eiiould use tint facility for, tiiat's ta. valuable for the public at large ta build it up and make it another llarborfront-type tiiing where the public cas iardly sec the lake for higii-riee buildings... Finally, from what I cas gatier, tiiere seems ta b, a lack of consultation. Thore is n feeling amnosg tic people tint the. council gues ahead and doee thinge, witiout discusing them witii the people tiey're affectisg, toan sufficient degree..I hope I csu do something about tint, maybe iold more frequent meetings in tiie comxnunities, in a iiallway in tii. community. There Sseeme ta h. good evidenoe of tint on tint thing (commercial develapment proposa») on Garrard. Osly recently Election '88 have the poiticians begun ta etart listening ta the people, before trying ta deal with it earlier. Related ta Garrard is the problem witi spot rezoning which I think je an offehoot of tii. fact that thc officiaI plan was set up many yeare aga.. .now, euddenly, we get n lot of spot redevclopment whichii j a bit tough of people wiio have invested their lifcenvinge on a piee of property. They suddcnly find tint wiiat they expected ta be tiiere for the foreseeablc future is not going ta b. there due ta spot rczoning. Tiat's where a little bit more consultation je required. Free Pr-es&- How wo)uld yen deal with the. question of affordablo housing? G.R.: The problem ie politicians say we need it, but wiiere are we going ta put it? I cas understand tint people in a neigiborhood of fairly high-priced homes have a cancers thnt affordable housing je going ta detract fron the. value of their property. It isn't correct, because I happes ta live is a fairly decent sort of priced house, and rm close ta lower cost iousing, and it doess't affect the. price on mny street at all because it's a well.run unit, it's coaperatîves. I believe that's tiie way . t. go - caoperatives. kree Pros: Thiismunicipality spende a largo part of ite budget m Geoff Ritso n on sports/ recroational facilities but very little on cultural facilities (exoept for the. library, if you want to include tint). Would you change tint at ail? G.R: The nature of people here and the generation that we're growing up with is sot the one that wns here 40-50 years ago. People now have expectations for this type of tiiing. Certain cultural activities - operettas, symphony orchestras, concert bands, theatre groups - has not got a universal appeaî. But it has got an appeal ta a certain section. A maturing town, of the size of tuis town, has got ta look ta providing tiose facilities if you want ta have balanc e. It's part of council's duty ta assist the funding of tint particular thîng. It's got a value and somebody's got ta psy for it. I don't have any problcm with public money being used for cultural amenities. Fre. Press:- The Inet few years have soen complainte about "closed"' governmnent. What would yen do t. open it up? G.R: I really don't if I cas agree with tint because, frankly, rve nover experienced it myseif. If rve got eornetiiing to say or want ta know, Ilil soon find it out. But I would imagine eveiybody doesn't feel quit. as cornfortable wîi tintt. Hlowever, I do understand frorn mome of my opponents that if you - wsut the agenda for certain meetings, tiey're sot issucd until the, day of the meeting. I thisk tiat's a valid commcnt. If somebody's interested in gctting information, tiiey siiould perhaps issue agendas so somebody cas prepare s0 thcy cas participate witii some degre. of knowledge in the debate or. discussions. Fre. Prees: What are your feelings on discloure <f your holdings? G.R.: Not totally. What money I have, iiow muci money I have, is my concern. But there is a seed to make sure tint tiiere is no conllict of interest. Fre. Press: Do yen feel tint taxes are too high? G.R.: They are igi, tiiey're iiigh tiirougiout Duriiam. If you want n quality envirosment, a quality town, s quality place ta live, there are no bargnins in thie world, unfortunately. You've got ta pay for it. If we want ta ke.p Wiiitby as a nice place t. live, eomehody's got ta psy for tii. quality of services we get. I tiiinl the, taxes a7re higier comparatively tin surrounding areas. And I think tiiey could b. reduc.d n bit. Fr.e Proe: How do yen envision Whitby ini, say, the year 2000? G.R.: If it keeps going like it ie. I wos't b. too happy. Free Press:- Can wo malutain a separato identity? Should w.? G.R.: Definitely. On. way je t. give every encouragement through plan. ning and support -tirough aur goversment ta develop this downtawn ares witii character. Fre. Prese: What special quali- ties would you brlng t. the posýi- tion of councillor tint sots you aside from your opponents? G.R: l'y. got professional trsinisg in a subject area, geography an d geology, wiiich 1 tiiink enables me ta understand some of the important duties of a councillor. I have training in urban planning, a little bit of a background in civil engineering. 1 ais. h ave a fair knowledge of iiow to deal with people because of the fnct tint if you're a teaciier, presumably you ehould know somethiing about tint as well. And l'ye got a very strong intereet in the. place in whicii I live. l'y, bees here for quite a while, 1 tiiink tiiere's chiallenges whicii I cas understand and I think 1 cas communicate. I think 1 can listes and 1 think I cas speak etrongly on behaif of people. Added ta tinat, lIy. got _gute (tiiat's wiiy you rusn for the. NDP) ...lIve got experience in* nego- tiating for the. teaciiers' federation. l'y. iield positions iprofessional organizations for mnny years. if I don't agre. witii something, Irm quit. prepared ta say it wiietiier ît's politi- caily ndvisable or sot. N'e got etrong convictions, and if 1 believe them 1 express tiier.n.l otiier words, -tiere's no bulîshit witii me (you'd better wipe tint out). been -with them on and off now for nearly 15 . years. When you start looking at rve been involved ini, Bluegrass Meadowe would have ,had their non-profit housing there, if-I hadn't gone to their meeting. It's as simple as that. Fm the one that rnade themn aware of their legal right. That!s becauee we dreW Up the Blue- grass Meadows plan 15 years ago. The D.com situation. Decom would 4~ave moved in. We (ratepayers ) took it over, and we decideid it wouldn't go in. We lost it actually, but becauso we embarraseed the, Liberal party so badly they decided it would be smart tp move it somewhere else. S. in the long run we dld win. I was then the vtce president of the ratepayers. I ogzzed and started the Durhamn fown Synrme Association. Iarn oreanizmg and running it, rrn the e . tor, dishwasiier, typefwriter, pre- sident and general manager of the Sown Symdrome Association of 8ntario. And rm creating this tiiing right acrose Ontario. We now have nwne local associations. So I think I cnh elp a litle bit. I have an idea rýa m doing. 1 Free Press: la there anythIng ý4ou would 1k. to add? P.D.: If I arn .lected, I don~t int.nd trua the ward. If the. members of ward four want someone to represent tliem, they are going to have to sýpport me to the MIt. And 1 mean the are going to have to corne out and piiys:cally make tii. time and effort to get out. Because rrn not going to b. ahIe to make the changes. The only way we are going ta get the cl:anges je ta have the. bodies sittingz tlheir looking over the council's shoul- dtrs and force the changes.