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Page 10, Whltby Free Press, Wednesdiay, March 8, 1995 Petition ask s for Dundas Street crossovr B y Mark Reesor It's oniy &a matter of time before a senior gets killed or seriously hurt crossing Dundas Street, Ton oprations commit- tee membèrs were told Monday. Robin' Thompson presented councillors with a 1,000-name petition asking them te instaîl a pedestrian crossover on Dundas Street east of Centre Street. He initiated the petition, which was placed at Dundas Medical Centre, after watchin from his 209 Dundas St.W. office window as'seniors, «mnany who are not physically capable,» attempt te cross the buy four- lane street te get te the centre. "These people physically do not have the sitrength or the stamina te go acrosa that road, neyer mind walk ail the way east or west (te the nearest intersec- tion)... uThere have been so many near misses that I have wit- nessed... I sit in mTy office and look at this al day." Public works directer Wayne Hancock told committee that in- stalling a crossover would mean rernoving at least tIiree parking spaces on the northi side of Dun- das te ensure moterists can see pedestrians. It would also slow traffic he added, nting thatcouncil âeci- ded i 1991f not te instaîl a crossover because it would be 80 1994 INAL LEAROUT A1 J SENTRA XE 4DR 5 SPD A/C SENTRA XE 4DR AUTO SENTRA XE 4DR AUTO A/C ALTIMA XE 4DR AUTO ALTIMA GXE 4DR AUTO A/C SIR ALTIMA SE TOP-LIE DEMO AUTO OUEST XE LOADED MINI-VAN HUSTLER PICKUP 5 SPD 179100 169205 14,990 139990 189225 15,990 205175 175975 24e375 21,675 275175 23,095 269190 239190 149570 .139320 159865 149615 179415 16,1 65 "Air Conditioning "Dual Air Bags iT - " Premium UphoIsteyeJrs DURHÀfÀAI V FA VOURITE 1IMPORT À»4 close to the Brock and Henry streets intersections. For the same. reason, the Ontario Mins~ of Taspor- tation won't help pay for the crossover, says Hancock, mean- (to the risk)," Thompson said, ing the Town would have te Committee asked staff to care- cover the entire $25 000 cost. fully monitor the area and recei- "I don't think $29,000 is a heli ved Hancock's report for informa- of a lot of money by comparison tion. Another Town tax freeze PROM PAGE 1 if approved, this will have marked the third consecutive ypear that council has held the une on t axes in Whitby. In 1993, taxes were frozen for the first time in more than a decade and last year, taxes drop- ped an average of 1.2 per cent.. Although he was prepared te p ut forward a no-tax increase budget, finance chair Don Mit- chell wondered if council was putting politics ahead of practi- cahity. "I'm not sure it's a god idea especially in light of the federal budget » said the north ward couneilior., (cTdue province will whisk it (uts in transfer payments) along te us and I see that as a pro- blem," hie said. "A zero budget is possible, but I wonder if it's prudent. So much is stacking up in '96.» For example, constraints pla- ced on Ontario's public sector workers by 1993'o social contract corn e off next year and wage demands will be at the top of unions' agendas, Mitchell war- ned. While he does not believe economic- conditions have changed that much, "people are going te expect something,'. Mit- chell said. .The full effect of Ottawa's deci- sion to slash transfier payments by $2.5 billion - a $1-billion i to -Ontario alone - will also not be feit until 1996, Mitchell noted. "Past practice shows that the province will paso this on to.the ]Region and Town,» hie said. A-fre staff to bic hired For the first time in recent year, the budgjet provides for the hiring of additional staff. In his introductory letter, Townadministrator BiR Wallace points ont that from 1991 to 1994 Whitby's populiation in- creased by 15 per.cent whiie the number of municipal empioyees decreased by nearly 12 per cent. "It is no longer possible to continue to provide existing levels of service to the expanding public without additionai, human resouroes,» Wallace states. New positions. include three fuli-tine firefighters; eight schooi, crossing guards; a bylaw enforce- ment offilcer;i two public works engineers and extra staff at the senior citizens' cehtre and Ross- land Road recreation compiex. "Wherever possible, the cost of employment will be recovered by user fees," Wallace notes. Mitchell added that the extra fire departmnent personnel are required as a resuit of the new fire hall on Taunton Road. Mitchell said the budget ao provides for the design of one or more ice pads at t he Iroquois Park arena, but stressedl that this does flot commit council te building a'new facility. (A recent staff report indicates that a $20 increase in hourly ice rentai rates would eliminate the projected annual subsidy of $296,690 for two pads. (However, council is awaiting the outcome of discussions with the major ice user groups before taking such action.) "It looks like that with an increase in ice rates we can finance it, assuming the fill rate is there,» said Mitchell. « I know Oshawa is planning on a, four-plex and that would mean six more in the area.' Mitchell was referring to last Friday's announcement of a proposed *18.6-million four-rink recrea- tion complex in south Oshawa. Although he agreed that 'fine tuning' might possibly lower the budget a littie more, Mitchell saidronly a drastic shift in ideo- logy couid bring about significant reductions. "Do we build arenas? Should we contract ont garbage collec- tion? That's a philosophical, argui- ment and there's been no move te that yet.» Major proposais ini the two budgets include the following: *$1 million te purchase an nieified property for a future parking lot' $ $00é'600 te improve the Town's Ïiniormation systems; * $2.7 million for road con- struction, the bulk of it in Brook- lin te accommodate sanitary sewers and watermains; * $263,000 for sidewralk con- struction' * $4û~,000 for the Garden Street grade separation; * $239,000 to replace six public works department vehicles, * *400,000 for a new *ihitby Transit bus; * $347,500 te iniprove existing parks; * $968,000 for developing new parks; * $1.7 million for expansion of the senior citizens' centre; * a $1.65-million grant to cover operating costs of. the Whitby Public, Libary. O3Tr L SOCIAL- CONTRACYs RIGNYS DENIED '110 WEEK MýARCH BREAK? DON T BELIIEVE THE LIE! »Because of Bob Rae's imposed Social' Contract, Durham Board of Education sohools wilI be closed for four days. This has-resulted in fewer professional development opportunities for your child's teacher. Teachers, administrators, school boards, and.the Royal Commission on Learning ail recognize the benefits of professional growth. Teachers have been forced to forfeit théir professional development days. This does not in any way suggest that we can afford or are in favour of cancelling professional development days now or in the future. Please bear with us through these difficult times. Durham Public Elemneury end Secondary Touchers [NISSANI 11995 PA THFINDER il WD - 1