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Right now. the committee was told. there are two alternatives to improve the railway tracks Waterloo could undertake a major program of beautification which would involve considerable expense to the city in excavating, draining, grading and landscaping. or it could begin minor cosmetic work on the tracks to install new Four years ago, Waterloo chief engineer Jim Willis explained, the city looked mm the cost of beautifying the railway area but rejected the idea because of cost. Basically what the city wants done. said CDC member Gerry O'Neil. Is that the tracks “be covered to get rid of the mud in order to make a place where people can walk " Deyman said that while statistics can be asked to write down any suggestions they " "tricky," national figures still show a migration have and submit them to committee members of people from the inner city to the suburbs Jim Ribvy at Alexandra School a Improvement of tracks now closer to real-t I The right-of-way has been a contentious issue in Waterloo for many years with the city complain ing about weeds growing on the tracks and the muddy state of the area in the sprung Ivan Kilborn. track and roadway engineer in CN's London office. appeared at the meeting to discuss improvement of the tracks including a proposal to put in a landscaped walkway along thv right-of-way. By Chronicle staff writer Improvement to the Canadian National Rail way ICN) tracks through uptown Waterloo is one step closer to becoming a reality lollowing yesterday's Civic Development Committee (CDC) meeting "It is really a mess," said Mayor Marjorie Carroll referring to the tracks And, she added. "it is a key to our uor" area that WP do something M' improve the appearanu- .. The public meeting was an attempt to gain public opinion on these recommendations. Ap- proval of presenting them to the board was unanimous but before a vote was taken a number of concerns were brought into focus. Questioned as to how he viewed the outcome of closing Alexandra school, Robert Deyman, a representative from the Waterloo planning de- partment. said the results depend largely on the proximity of the schools to which former Alexandra students will be sent and. more importantly. for what purpose the school site will be used. He suggested that if the property housed a facility with a community focus, the negative effects may be minimal. On Feb. arthe committee will approach the Waterloo county board of education with the recommendations that the school be kept open for the 1982-83 school year and that the present accommodation review committee continue to operate until November 1982, by which time they are to have prepared a list of alternatives. "I have a gut feeling that if this school closes we May see more and more rooming houses." said one resident. Another resident suggested that perhaps Wa. terloo was behind larger cities. such as Toronto, where the trend has people flucking back to the inner core. “If we close our school we may be stopping this," he said. Since the early 1970's declining enrolment has threatened the future of the school. An Alexandra Accommodation Review Committee, consisting of Bruce Scandrett, superintendent of schools. parents, trustees, representatives from the Wa- terloo planning department and Downtown Resi- dents' Association, a business official and Jim Ribey, have been meeting regularly. An overriding concern was the effect of a school closure on the downtown core. The long-tinte resident of Waterloo has raised eight children, all of whom attended the school, and her youngest child is still participating in the special education program offered there. She attended the meeting with the hopes that her two grandchildren will also have the opportunity to attend the BO-year-old institution. The grandmother's loyalty to the school, located one block from Waterloo Square on Alexandra Street, was echoed by many parents and concerned downtown residents. It's the type of loyalty "that has to be earned," said Jim Ribey, principal of Alexandra. By Terry James A grandmother who bundled up against the stormy elements and walked to the Adult Recreation Centre last Wednesday evening was among 50 persons who attended a public meeting to discuss the future of Alexandra public school. ALEXANDRA SCHOQL Meeting generates alternative ideas Committee members decided that a letter would be sent to CN immediately to inform the railway that the city would be requesting work be done on the right-of-way As well, a detailed report concerning the tracks will be compiled for the next meeting of the committee in two weeks. CN already had planned In tmprov" the King Street crossing, the committee was told City engineer Jim Willis suggested that since the section of track in Waterloo Square closest to King Street was above the parking lot it would have no drainage problem, and that section could be eligible for more extensive improvements However. Kllborn said, before anything addi tional is done by the company to correct the situation. he would like to receive trom the city a "letter outlining the areas of concern _ (we will) try to concentrate on what you sec as your priori ties '. But, he added, "at ttw samr time we like to be good neighbors, and if it is just a suggestion of prettying it up with some fine ballast (stone). that could be done " This. Kilborn said, would not be a permanent cure to the city's problems, but "it is a cheap measure of making it (the right-of-way) look a little better ., Responding to an inquiry from the committee as to what CN was prepared to do to improve the right-of-way, Kilborn said. "The railway is in a very tight economic situation (with) no extra money in the budget to spend on beautification." railway ties and use crushed stone in the railway Should the school board decide to comply with the recommendations put before them later this month. and Bruce Scandrett, committee chair man is optimistic at this point, committee members will be putting their heads together to come up with viable alternatives ' Residents will be invited to participate in discussions at least once before a final list of alternatives is presented to the board. In the meantime residents and parents are asked to write down any suggestions they may have and submit them to committee members or Jim Ribey at Alexandra School Carroll said council has worked hard not to do anything that would jeopardize the downtown schools. With regards to the re-alignment of William and Caroline Streets, she said council opted for a slight improvement as opposed to a more radical move which would have involved Alexandra school property. Mayor Marjorie Carroll said in an interview that she supported Woolstencroft's suggestion that alternatives be explored. She believes the site should remain as a school site "for some sort of educational purposes." The mayor, who has sat down with the accommodation review committee to discuss the issue, is very concerned about the possibility of two schools in the core area closing, coupled with the fact that Elizabeth Ziegler and Brighton schools, are not operating to capacity. The Waterloo county separate school board is consid- ering closing St. Louis school on Allen Street in June 1983. "The board has a tough decision. It's not an easy one," said Carroll. "In terms of closing two schools it's a bit much to expect the core area people to accept." The mayor said it would be nice to see the two schools working something out together. While this would create its own set of problems she said she doesn't believe they would be insurmount- able. She spoke against parents' suggestions that the French immersion program be introduced in the school to act as a drawing card, saying the program has already been established in commu nities where the most interest was shown. Waterloo trustee Lynne Woolstencroft. who prefers to call empty classrooms "available classrooms," is keen on looking into educational alternatives for the building. Off the top of her 'head she suggested it could possibly be used for a traditional academic facility, a wholistic school where the community gets involved in education, or a school specializ- ing in music and art or physical education and mathematics. Parents' fears were verified when they were told that should Alexandra be closed, it will never be re-opened regardless of how' many young families move into the area. The Civic Develop- ment Committee ICDCo has come up with an idea it hopes will alleviate parking congestion in uptown Waterloo. However. Gerry O‘Neil, cltiaen-at-larae on the committee. maintained that park- Alderman bop-I‘ll Thomas brought the issue of core pa rking to the committee':, atten tion arguing that the CDC should examine the construction of a parking structure, "We should take this in hand and give some direc tion to council." Thom as said. At yesterday's meet ine thr committee de vidvd to recommend to council that the city owned Herbert Street parking lot, which is now permit-only. be come a twu-hour free parking area, The permit arms. they suggested, should be moved to William Street, where the city uwns a larm- parcel of land CDC recommends more free parking And there was little doubt the night be longed to Waterloo's aldermen who. gamed Council chambers were jammed with some 150 cheering spectators. many of whom were volunteers working to organize the city's birthday celebra tions. The city's birthday cake. with its 125 cand- ies, was prominently displayed. That's probably the best way to describe Monday night's "mock" council meet- ing held to celebrate Waterloo's 125th anni- versary and to offi, cially open the city's newly-renovated coun- cil chambers and city offices in the Marsland Centre. Just good old fashioned fun. It’s back to 1tyrr in mock meeting By Melodoe Martinuk WATERLQ ittRt2OfeLAWEtNErttiFEituARY to, 1952 - PAGE 3 fCootmoed hum DauI‘ It something happen ing." "I don't like the idea that we are going to give up before we talk to one or two of the merchants." Erb will be going to merchants whose stores back onto the lane to gauge their in arrest in such a prof Waterloo. he said. should continue treat ing surface parking as it is now doing. But, a parking deck, 1t'Neil said. would only be a "white elephant." Alderman Robert Henry. chairman of the committee. agreed saying that "we should quit talking about the problem I can't find ing in uptown should be considered a "dead issue I don't believe that in the downtown there is a parking prob lvm." he continued, “Slight. but neces- sary. departures for the l850‘s" include electric lights, televi- sion camera. micro, phones and the very presence of women on council. she said. It was not possible to exactly re-create a council meeting from that time. said the Mayor. or as she was known for the evening. Her Worship Reeve, Marjorie Carroll. at the outset of the pro- ceedings. in costumes from the past, ad-libbed their way through a re-en- actment of a village of Waterloo council meet- ing dating back to the time of the city's incor- poration, 1857. The bylaws and issues quoted in the meeting were drawn from Village council minutes from 1857 to Henry. cttatrman or the As a result, parking l'OmmiUNK agreed would be handivr for oying that "we should those shopping on the quit talking about the east side of King Droblem l can't find Stmet.h¢-5a|d Moving slowly In an interview fol According to Henry there are presently two proposals ior the prop- erty which are being developed. and he said they "really look like they're golng to get off the ground,“ lowing the CDC meer ing, chairman Robert Henry said he was “on timiatic about develop- ment on CN lands. Boy, it looks good to me." “I don't know what the answrr is for park- ing," Henry said. "The recommendation is a definite step in the right direction; In an interview fol lowing the meeting. Henry called the rm ommendation a major accomplishment for the committee that there is a prob lem" with parking up town, he added As well, council de bated such contentious issues as, spending sum on the establishment of a brass band in the city: "before you know it they will be asking for an entire sym phony." quipped Alder, man Mary Jane Me As well, warned Car- roll. "politicians we are, performers we maybe, but profession- al actors we are not. If we make the occasion- al faux pas, please bear with us," she asked of the audience, The aldermen heard delegations asking that council act on the prob lem of animals running free on city streets, that coal-oil lamps be installed along King Street to eliminate the problem of vandalism in the town and that muddy city streets be improved. 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