The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

A session that lasted into Tuesday morning with emotional, often bitter exchanges featured debate on the city‘s role in helping pay for the cleanup of the coal tar mess at the site of the new Waterioo City Centre on Regina Mere weeks before it shuffles across Uptown to become a major tenant in the CN Real Estate building, the city has uniquely presented its landlord with a housewarming gift by offering to share the cost of the coal tar cleanup. The costâ€"including the cleanup of cityâ€"owned propertyâ€"could be in the neighborhood of $1.5 million for Waterloo taxpayers, but the city is hoping to recover up to 80 per cent of its share through the sale of adjoining lands to CN, as well as through subsidies from the provincial Ministry of the Environment. To borrow from Dylan Thomas, things did not go gentle into that good night at Waterloo city council Mondayâ€"and more than old age was burning and raging at the close of day. â€" â€" But if this is a housewarming gift to CN, the card won‘t be signed by everyone at the council table. Several aldermen, especially Andrew Telegdi and Brian Turnbulli, feel the city is being taken for a ride on the issue, not only in kowâ€"towing to private interests, but also in selling off lands at bargain basement prices to reduce losses. Much of the debate focused on the desire of the city to avoid ackward legal entanglements with its soonâ€"toâ€"beâ€" landlord in order to maintain a positive working relationship with CN, a company that will have a major influence on the future of the Regina St. strip. But aside from the numbers, of how much the taxpayer will be hit, even above and beyond the discussion of the city‘s legal or moral responsibilities, the betweenâ€"theâ€" lines question central to the debate isâ€"to what degree will the city allow itself to jump into bed with private enterâ€" prise? We don‘t like the idea of CN Real Estate, or any other company for that matter, being in a position of carrotâ€"dangling to get what it wants. We likewise don‘t appreciate the notâ€"soâ€"subtle inferences that had the city not coughed up, it would have led to a dicey landlord/tenâ€" ant relationship at the City Centre. We are most uncomfortable with the precedent set in this caseâ€"will top city officials now deal with all business concerns in a ‘"nonâ€"adversarial manner‘‘, whatever that gobblespeak means. We truly wonder, after its wild goose chase in the courts re firemen arbitration, why the city is so shy about using the same system to challenge this issue. And if the development had housed solely private enterprise firms as tenants, how then would CN have handled the dilemma®? We realize the entire coal tar issue is an unfortunate, sticky (no pun intended) situation. But council‘s decision Monday is hardly the "winâ€"win‘" situation portrayed by some interests. It is hard to believe that sometime down the road, this deal is not going to come back to haunt us, especially those on council who may have allowed the promise of progress crowd out their mandate of :spo;ibly representing the best interests of the people of ate s Ald. Turnbull said it marvellously: ‘"‘What if CN struck oil three months after the purchase? Would they deal us in? I sincerely doubt it." Second Class Mail Registyation Number 5540 establizhed 1854 So do we, Brian, so do we. Address all correspondence to Waterioo office, 45 Erb St. E., Wateriloo, Ont. N2J 117. Telephone 886â€"2830, News and Sports line 886â€"3021. Waterioo Chronicle office is located in the Haney, White law office building (rear entrance, upper floor). Parking at the rear of the building. Open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Housewarming Publisher: Paul Winkler Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a division of JEMCOM Inc., owner. Publishing address 225 Fairway Rd. S., Kitchener, Ont. Typesetting and Composing: Fairway Press Senior reporter: Melodee Martinuk Reporters: Mark Bryson (news) > Richard O‘Brien (sports) Circulation Manager: Greg Cassidy : Jerry Fischer Paula Hummel, Gerry Mattice z: Maureen McNab MHY 29. 1987 â€"It is written One particular expression that I‘m having a hard time with these days is ‘"Hey, it‘s just like having Christmas in July." Three times in recent weeks in three different sets of circumstances, I‘ve heard folks blurt that out, once when a modest lottery prize was won, once when two cans of pop came down for the price of one, and once in a sloâ€"pitch game when a dropped fly resulted in ‘‘Hey, it‘s just like having Christmas in July." While I assume that the intent of the expression is to convey happiness at an unexpected windfall, why July? I don‘t mean to be picky, but if the idea was to pick a month diametrically opposite to December calendarâ€"wise, well, is June getting a fair shake? I think not. And if the delight factor at receiving gifts is the motivator, well, shouldn‘t the expression be "Hey, it‘s just like having Christmas in February, or March,‘"" those dreary times of year so far removed from next Christmas that any gift would be deemed heaven sent? **You idiot, Campbel!," a close friend remarked, "the reason for the expression is that July is so opposite December weatherâ€"wise, the last thing people think about at this time of year is Christmas. Julyâ€"hot, humid, sand and surf; Decemberâ€"frosty, frolicky, dreamin‘ of a white Do you sometimes wonder where certain expressions come from, or wonder exactly what they are supposed to mean? Christmas. You generally don‘t think about having Christmas at this time of year, but when something neat and unexpected comes along, it makes you think of Christmasâ€"Christmas in July. Get it, picklehead?" Hmmm, I‘m still not sold, but could you imagine if Christmas did happen to fall in July? Could you imagine the difficulty we‘d having celebrating it? Hard to picture, isn‘t it, especially during those dreaded periods of sultry, unrelenting heat. Take Christmas carols, for instance. Could you, in the middle of last week‘s heat wave, have sat down in front of a roaring hearth and sang Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. More likely, you would have struck up the parody Deck The Halls With Air Conditioners. mistletoe at the end of the diving board ,of the boss‘s pool. And we‘ll give a pass to the egg nog in the punch, Zombies or Bâ€"52s will get the job done in July, thank you very much. The office Christmas party? Have to hang the **. . . With CN, we even subsidize their statue in the (Mayor) Marjorie Carroll courtyard. If this resolution passes, 1 would suggest that the name of the courtyard be changed to the ‘long suffering Waterioo taxpayer courtyard,‘ * â€" â€" â€" Rick Campbell Chronicle Editor Ho, ho, ho tradition of City Centre site. â€"SEE PAGE 3 Ald. Angrew ‘l‘dofi complaining about the agreement reached between the city and CN for the massive coal tar cleanup on the Waterioo That‘s fine, but if it is all the same to you, Christmas in December is aces with me, a blanket of white, a roaring fire, turkey and all the trimmings, and Jack Frost on the window sill. Christmas in July just doesn‘t hack it. Of course, should a lottery prize, however modest, come my way, I may be open for reâ€"evaluations. But it best hurry . Just like Christmas in August has no ring to it whatsoever. That favorite Christmas pastimeâ€"visiting relaâ€" tivesâ€"well, I‘m not really sure that would be a good idea at this time of year, either. The weather may be better than December for travelling, but the construction congestion and traffic tieâ€"ups would have to be dealt with. Plus the fact that all 842 of your relatives would converge on Auntie Jean and Uncle John‘s place because they have central air, temperatureâ€"controlled pool and bestâ€"stocked bar in the family. Hardly jives with the traditional values angle. And appetite wise, well, this just isn‘t the time of year to sit down to a meal of turkey with all the trimmings, is it? Would you have been able, at any time last week, to toss back turkey, mashed potatoes, turnips, corn, dressing, and plum pudding for dessert? Fat chance. Maybe turkey a la king and side salad. Just maybe. However, all would not necessary be doom and gloom if Christmas came in July. sending Christmas cards to friends and relatives. Someone at the post office is always on strike in the fair weather months, so your cards would never reach their destinations. What‘s that, you say they rarely if ever do in December, either? Naturally, Rudoliph the Redâ€"Nosed (he forgot to use sun screen) Reindeer would continue to lead the pack zipping St. Nick (decked out in Hawaiian shorts and sandals) all over town. Those gifts you getâ€"golf balls, tennis rackets, a new bikeâ€"hey, fire ‘em right into action, no need to wait until the snow melts. And just think of your Christmas tree as a natural deâ€"humidifier, soaking up all the moisture in your basement, staying fresh and green for weeks, without watering. And can you imagine in the middle of a July heat wave heading out to midnight Mass or a church service when the temp outside is 94 celsius? It would certainly give wayward parishioners inside an idea of what life after death holds in store for them should they not rally to the path of righteousness. Yes, indeed. Jn y