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iated with pinball centres, says LeGros, such as WMWWMM ways LoGrosy such as oo io wmm’&fl on the Uprowe ues o 1 ortarer on c es ieaicaved they want i0 . . ) S D _ " wn PUStness Improvement Area (BIA), the organizaâ€" tion representing Uptown merchants. “‘h’flmmmmofthem&uy-mmhmfim ; mmmmmmmwmuuhm» store owner was approached to rent his store to an amusement .Centréâ€"operator: . hss . "Right now there are a few vacant stores in the core and we‘re concerned because these ty dbufimsumfimyyrwg i“‘“d!'tupmflu&yrflm Chs & LeGros says one of the BIA‘s primary concerns is the lack of space in the U area. ‘Mfimflm‘;fletypuufbuaiwshhupalotdfi because they tend to spread out on to the sidewalks. We don‘t have that kind of space in the core." ‘ _‘The BIA is also concerned with some of the secondary _ . ~he City of Waterloo has passed an interim control bylaw on the establishment of video and pinball game emesemert centres in the Uptown core and city staff will undertake a study of the current zoning and policies that curtently regulate the centres. * City council the bylaw in response to concerns raised by tzumm'hmvmntmmmxmmfim Council bans video arcades Border Shopping »$4500 $5000 Issues _ concerning â€" tourism, housing, industry, core developâ€" ment, water, the environment, and education were researched and evaluated. Recommendations for each issue were presented last week to the economic developâ€" ment committee in the form of a final report. "What â€" struck me was that here were the youth of our community, the future potential business leaders, and they had done a lot of research, talked to a lot of different peoâ€" ple," Harper said. "These are the young people who really don‘t have any experience in the busiâ€" ness world, but they‘ve done some research and come up with a paper that has isolated the issues and made comments that apâ€" peared to be ‘future‘ thinking." va, Jason Gawel, Brian Motz, and Steve Seergobin began their proâ€" ject by making a list of issues affecting Waterloo‘s economic deâ€" velopment, and then determined which issues were most imporâ€" Students Gloria: _fi;tagnol]i, Nicqla McLaughlin, Gibran Neiâ€" "Although the students‘ report would not be the official stand of the board, it would represent the feelings of the young people in our system," Kurek said. Jim Harper, chairman of the city‘s economic development comâ€" mittee, said the committee was asked early last year to do a strategic economic. development plan for the city, and decided to send a discussion paper to vaious institutions throughout the city for input. The separate school board was among the institutions, such as both universities, the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, the real estate board, and the Social Planâ€" ning Council, to be asked for input on the paper. But because participating in the project reâ€" quired a great deal of time, it was felt the project could be applied to economics study. St. David ecoâ€" nomics teacher Ed Kurek was approached by the board about the possibility of students particiâ€" pating in the discussion paper as a school project, and Kurek selected six Grade 13 students to become involved. And in responding to a strategic economic plan, initiated last year by the Waterloo Economic Develâ€" opment Committee, the students have provided city officials with a unique point of view. A group of students at St. David Catholic secondary school in Waâ€" terloo have a few ideas about improving the city‘s economic development. Deborah Crandall Chronicle Staff St. David students offer a â€"unique perspective on flg}grloo’s development Development in Uptown Waterâ€" loo was also an issue tackled by the students. The main problem with the core area, they conâ€" cluded, is that it has no central focus. Waterloo Town Square, A unified tourism board could advertise to draw tourists to the area rather than just a certain city. Money would be saved on advertising, and could be used to upgrade tourist attractions. We could emphasize our tourâ€" ism strengths like, obviously, Oktoberfest, and Sounds of Sum:â€" mer and the Buskers Festival," said :t?:dent Gibran Neiva. "We could draw people to the area, and then draw them to specific attracâ€" tions." Tourism, for example, the stuâ€" dents felt could be improved with a bigger budget, and that tould be accomplished if Waterloo could merge its tourism budget with Kitchener and surrounding cities such as St. Jacobs, Elmira and Elora. For six weeks, the students worked independently, researchâ€" ing, compiling information and formulating opinions and possible solutions to problems facing ecoâ€" nomic development in Waterloo. St. David students (clockwise from top left) Jason Gawel. Gibran Neiva, Gloria Bertagnolli, Steve Seergobin, Nicola McLaughlin and (absent) Brian Motz, have spent the past six weeks preparing a report for the city‘s economic development committee. Deborsh Crandall photo For six weeks, the students they said, acts more as a divider worked independently, researchâ€" than a central attraction,. and as a ing, compiling information and result of the parking lot sur formulating opinions and possible rounding it, seems separated solutions to problems facing ecoâ€" from the other Uptown shops Sm n oc i es e ie m BC "I was impressed that they had done enough research to give background and make logical conclusions to those issues," Harâ€" per said. "Like any of the papers we received, I‘m not sure that all of us agreed with all of their positions, but what impressed me was the thought process that went into it and the logic that they used." Harper said the issues the stu dents dealt with were similar to the issues "zeroed in on" by the responses received by other inst: tutions in the city, Issues such as inadequate park ing and vacant lots were also addressed. The group suggested the city look into some proposals for aesthetically pleasing parking garages, keeping in mind a smallâ€"town character s o t They suggested Waterloo Town Square be renovated and ex panded to bring it out to King Street and more in line with the rest of the Uptown area