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| Uhe Waterloo Chronicte is published exery Wednesday by the hairway t Group, owned by City Medha Group nc a subsidtart of Torstar Corp The content of this paper is protected by 1 opyright and may be used only lor \persuaal nun:â€"comtnercial purposes All ather rights are reserved and | . contmercial useas proinbited. In make use of this material you rust first abtam the pernussion of the \ ins nee ut the copyrnght WATERLOO CHRONICLE editonaleewaterloochronicle ca sportseewaterloochromele.ca salesi@waterlouchronicle ca vomposingé watertoochronicle.ca 279 Weber St., North, Suite 20 Waterloo, Ontario NZJ 3H8 Phone: 88b Uhe views of our columnisty are then own and do nut mecessarily represent thuse af the newspaper 623â€"3050, Bxt. 210 &\ cPd @ Copyright in letters and other materials submitted io the Publisher and accepted for publication emains with the author. but the publisher and its hcensees may freely reproduce them in print, electrome or other forms Our mailing address is 229 Weber St N Retail Sales Advertising Manager, Ext. 230 Sales, Ext. 223 The Waterloo Chronicle welcomes letters to the Editor They should be signed with name. address and phone number and will be verified for ww warerloochronicle ca accuracy No unsigned letters will be published Submissions may be edited for length . so please be brief terr Matii+ Bob Zarzycki Lynn Bartol in Publicatrins Miatl mair act yavement Nuamher Letters Policy Unit 20 Waterioo NZL UP2 auenal Standand Ser JSSNOHA 4410 qDDOAH7H HA0 han Audited circulation: 27,538 ® zn Normad ca Matt Miller Bill Pihura Hib 4384 wl 1 "Environment First" community since adoptâ€" ing that fuzzy, earth mother approach in 1989. It was reinforced during the "Imagine! Waterloo" visioning experiment in 2000 when preserving the environment ranked as the most important thing the city could do. Air quality, water quality and the preservation of greenspaces were linked to quality of life indicators in survey after survey turned in by citizens hoping to shape the future of this city. So what happened? The fear was that these were always nice ideals to have, as long as there wasn‘t a cost attached. And the city managed to do things on the cheap while mainâ€" taining those principles in the first few years that folâ€" lowed. We had notable successes, a lot of them volunteer driven, including the Communities in Bloom project and the 10,000 Trees planting program. t Seeing red over lack of green To be fair, they had to deal with debt burden from the last council that will take a generation of Waterâ€" loo taxpayers to get out from under. But you can only blame so much on RIM Park. That‘s when imagination â€" and creativity are most needed, when the financial constraints are the tightest. Instead this neophyte council went the traditional route of solving the problem of diminishing returns by expanding the property tax base. They quickly approved the Vista Hills developâ€" ment, despite previous councils‘ reservations of punching Columbia Street all the way through to the Wilmot Line. The shocker was when even Coun. Mark Whaley went along with the plan after making a name for himself in the community as one of the green team, pushing environmental projects like the 10,000 Trees program in the community. A lot of former supporters decided afterwards that he was just another politician dressed up in environâ€" mentalist‘s clothing (poncho and Birkenstocks exchanged for a dark business suit) when he could have cast a vote at least in principle against the plan. He said in office he had to represent all conâ€" stituencies, and not just the ones that he brought to the dance. Well, while the battle for Vista Hills is still being waged by petition at the provincial legislature and by the quixotic David Wellhauser at city council Monâ€" day night, the next major test of Waterioo‘s "Environâ€" mental First" policy comes March 7. That‘s when the dispensation of the Owens/McNally property comes to Waterloo council for the first time. While it looks like remnant land in the northwest comner of the city, the former Christâ€" mas tree farmer just behind the new Sir John A. Macâ€" Donald high school, is a water recharge site for the Waterloo Moraine. You remember the Waterloo Moraine, don‘t you? The source of 75â€"80 per cent of the Region of Waterâ€" loo‘s clean drinking water depending on whose numâ€" bers are more accurate. And with even the province now believing the more recharge land paved over, the greater the cumulative effect on groundwater resources, even that capacity might be in jeopardy. The province the City of Waterloo has been considered an Continued on page 11 BOB VRBANAC VIEWPOINT Hockey folks haven‘t enough brains to come out of the rain nests There were only three ways to be warm and comfortable on frigid days: put on heavy woolen clothing, drink lots of steamâ€" ing liquids, and just as you‘re about to open the door to go outside â€" don‘t. Slippery Time: Just about any day, you take your chances on the pavements. In any direction, it can be slip, slide and kaboom. Yes sir, you can collide with a fellow driâ€" ver without halfâ€"trying. Then there‘s the endless wait for the traffic cop and the filling out of papers. After that, at least you have to chat with your insurance folks a couple of times, and at least as often with the chaps at your garage. All in all, you can charge the trip as an errand run amok. Since a pinch of a fender is worth a fairâ€"sized tab, finally you just pay the levy and try to forget it. Ah yes, February is when you pay a neighbourhood kid $8 to shovel the driveway so you can get down to the Y to do some exercises. And I still remember that special curse for snowy weathâ€" er: "May you have a bad back, a big shovel and wet snow." _A Mite Lower: The Liberals Td and Paul Martin have slipped a l‘=== bit in the polls. It doesn‘t represent a heck of a lat, but it‘s samething of note. _ It‘s hard to understand how the Tories have gained anything. Their performance hasn‘t been that great. . e The Liberals are off by a couple of points, but that‘s perhaps because of those silly Chretienâ€"era giveaways or something.. If you really want to get depressed, look at an average day‘s mail and then consider how many letters are worth the postage. Say, it could be that‘s where the Chretien folks got their silly, hut expensive programs. 1 won‘t say how frightened people are, but when was the last time you saw anybady buy prune juice? For example, 1 just bought a sweatshirt ow, it‘s been cold. I just found out why they call it the whooping crane. It‘s from sitting on cold SANDY that says, "the best things in life are free." It cost $32.50. More Boomâ€"Boom: it looks as if the United States has guaranteed more years of war by standing firm for Iraq elections and subsequent stuff. George. W. is talking bigger day by day, but it seems to be taking his country deeper and deeper into war. _ _ He‘s been yacking like a Kentucky auc tioneer peddling the last of his tobacco. The casualty lists are climbing and nobody is coming home. It looks as if the bloodâ€"letting could go on for years. It‘s hard to believe that the Democrats lost out in the voting. _ â€" Now they can‘t look to the next election with optimism, so there‘s not much to look forward to. C But better cross your fingers! DY With the same folks in charge, we may not see NHL league in D play again. The things you learn from such clearâ€"theâ€"bodiesâ€"out coverage. Thus I discovered that Chris Taylor, a Buffalo Sabres forward, was the league‘s lowest paid player at $350,000 last year. That‘s more than I thought the league paid, and it‘ no wonder they‘re anxious for a contract. You must remember, of course, that the players were locked out by the boss men. Anyhow, the hockey wars are now left to other juniors. The bigâ€"league players can take an extended holiday. _ If left alone, they may have signed as a matter of course. Who knows? The Toronto Maple Leafs may inherit a good team With the U.S. budget in the shape it‘s in, you have to wonâ€" der. For weeks, he‘s been putting antifreeze in the U.S. cashflow. Out to Lunch: Well, the pro hockey folks â€" bosses and peons â€" have shown that they haven‘t enough brains to come in out of the rain. The season has been scrubbed for this winter, with some hopes for next winter.