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Friday, June 5, 2020 7 Brooklin Town Crier The Effect on Small Business Owners, Like Me North Ward Councillor: Steve Lee We must do as much as we can to support small business. And when I say we are in it together or that I understand, I know about it first hand as I'm a small business owner myself. I run a wedding photography studio. We typically do about 100 weddings a year with a staff of 10 who count on these weddings for their incomes. The pandemic and provincial closures came right at the start of our season since It's a seasonal operation with all of our money and sales mainly coming between April and October. As you can imagine, this did a real number to both my business and the entire wedding industry. Right now, between the closures and restrictions to the size of groups of people, we are still shut down and far from being able to resume normal business anytime soon. Personally, I don't think I'll see a return to normal business until at least April of 2021 and the start of next summer's wedding season. So, for us, that is basically a one-year loss of sales, all while still paying rent and expenses on a closed studio and office. Since my business is almost exclusively weddings, we are not in a position to pivot quickly since weddings are booked years in advance. Yet I believe there is always an opportunity to be found with any disruption to a market. I've worked to position my business to take advantage of that when I'm allowed to reopen. Hopefully, with adjustments, I'll be able to bounce back and rebuild. What this has also meant for me is that I've now taken over more of the house responsibilities and helping the kids with their online classes. I am even taking online courses to add to my skills and start a business different from photography. At heart, I am an entrepreneur so starting another business just seemed the best option to weather through this. As a Town councillor, we are limited by what the municipality can offer small business. I worry we will see many businesses close in the coming months. The financial support must come from both the province and the federal government and we need to continue to work with them to support business even further. Recently Councillor Mulcahy and I have been compiling FAQs and webinar links to help small businesses with information. As the two Whitby councillors owning their own businesses, we have first hand knowledge of COVID-19's effects. We are listening to businesses and families and looking for ways to support them. We really do need to work as a collective to ensure our economy survives and we don't end up with empty storefronts all over town. I'm aware many want to support local businesses by shopping locally. This is great if you're able to do it. However I also understand it may not be possible if you've had to cut back. Please know that council will be there for you, too. I will say it again: we are all in this together. We need to support everyone in our community in whatever ways we can. Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) Arriving Durham Region's Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) cameras have been deployed and are in some school zones and designated Community Safety Zones on Regional Roads. At this time, the ASE cameras will be operating in data collection mode and no fines will be issued. Automated speed enforcement (ASE) is a modern tool used to help enforce speed limits in school zones and community safety zones--places where kids tend to walk, run, bike and play! Speed is a contributing factor in approximately one third of fatal collisions in Canada. Speed limits are not guidelines--they are laws. Reducing speed is the best way we can reduce the frequency and severity of collisions in our community. In Durham Region, ASE will be implemented in some school zones and designated Community Safety Zones on Regional roads. Durham Region is one of many municipalities across Ontario using ASE to create safer roads. This initiative is in support of Durham Vision Zero, a long-term plan to ensure a safe transportation system that sees no lives lost or serious injuries on Durham's roadways. How it works If a vehicle exceeds the posted speed limit in an ASE-enforced area, the ASE system captures an image that is stored and reviewed by a Provincial Offences Act officer. If warranted, an offence notice (fine), with a digital copy of the image, is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle within 30 days. The offence notice is issued to the registered owner, with no demerit points issued. The best way to avoid a fine through ASE is to follow posted speed limits. Fines will only be given to vehicles travelling over the speed limit. The fines for speeding in Ontario under the Highway Traffic Act are: Less than 20 kilometres per hour over the speed limit: $3 for each kilometre per hour that the motor vehicle was driven over the speed limit. 20 kilometres per hour or more but less than 30 kilometres per hour over the speed limit: $4.50 for each kilometre per hour that the motor vehicle was driven over the speed limit. 30 kilometres per hour or more but less than 50 kilometres per hour over the speed limit: $7 for each kilometre per hour that the motor vehicle was driven over the speed limit. School Zones: St. Issac Jogues Catholic School - Pickering (Finch Avenue) Brock High School - Brock (Cameron Street) Community Safety Zones: St. Mary High School - Pickering (Whites Road) Beaverton Downtown - Brock (Simcoe Street) Claremont Public School - Pickering (Central Street) Elizabeth B Phin Public School - Pickering (Altona Road) Ajax High School - Ajax (Bayly Street East) Sinclair Secondary School - Whitby (Taunton Road East) Anderson Collegiate Vocational Institute - Whitby (Anderson Street) Paul Dwyer High School - Oshawa (Rossland Road) Adelaide McLaughlin Public School - Oshawa (Stevenson Road North) St. Stephen's United Church - Oshawa (Simcoe Street North) Ontario Tech University/Durham College - Oshawa (Simcoe Street North) SJ Phillips Public School - Oshawa (Simcoe Street North) Beau Valley Public School -Oshawa (Ritson Road North) Vincent Massey Public School - Oshawa (Adelaide Avenue East) Eastdale Collegiate Vocational Institute - Oshawa (Harmony Road) Courtice Downtown - Clarington (Regional Highway 2) Goodwood Community Centre - Uxbridge (Regional Highway 47) Hamlet of Sandford - Uxbridge (Regional Road 11) Bowmanville High School - Clarington (Liberty Street) Sunderland Downtown - Brock (Regional Road 10) Cannington Downtown - Brock (Cameron Street) Oshawa Clinic Group to Whitby in 2024 Whitby residents will have better access to health care closer to home with the planned expansion of the Oshawa Clinic Group to Whitby in 2024. On Wednesday, May 27, the clinic submitted its site plan application to the Town, taking this project one step closer to becoming a reality. The new four-storey, state-of-the-art, 152,000 square-foot medical facility is to be located at the southwest corner of Des Newman Boulevard and Bonacord Avenue in West Whitby, an area anticipated to be one of Durham Region's fastest areas of growth over the next 12 years. The clinic is the largest multidisciplinary group practice in Canada. It will connect 85 physicians, including both specialists and family physicians. Through the clinic, residents will have access to a wide range of non-acute healthcare services, including cardiology, physiotherapy, fertility, men's health, audiology and psychology. The clinic will also feature a walk-in urgent care centre. "As Whitby continues to grow, we must ensure our residents have convenient access to a wide range of health services," said Whitby Mayor Don Mitchell. "Attracting Canada's largest multidisciplinary health clinic is great news for our town. My special thanks to Minister Mulroney, Associate Minister Surma, MPP Coe and MTO staff for expediting the land transfer needed to support the new clinic." Over the next 12 years, Whitby's population is expected to grow by more than 40 per cent.The new medical building, which will employ 250 people, will be a one-stop convenience for the majority of non-acute healthcare needs, including: cardiology centre, fertility clinic, men's health centre, sleep clinic, psychology centre, diagnostic imaging clinic, laboratory, a physiotherapy clinic and more. The urgent care centre will be open 364 days of the year.