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6 - "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2001 PUBLISHER, GEN. MGR. . .. .. Don Macleod EDITOR .............. Chris Hall Srember OFFICE MANAGER .. .. . Gayle Stapley ahadian ADVERTISING MANAGER. Deb McEachern Soi CNA REPORTER.............. .. .......Rk Davie Member Ontario Community Association Freelance - Heather McCrae, John B. McClelland Newspaper Assoc. PHONE 905-985-7383 Published every Friday by the Port P. Star i a treet - Port Perry, Ontario - L9L 1B7 FAX 905.985.3708 ry y by rt Perry Star Company Limited, 188 Mary Street - Po ry, On 9L 1B E-MAIL: editorial@portperrystar.com: advertising@portperrystar.com Oakwood - Manilla - Seagrave - Greenbank - Brooklin - Ashburn - Columbus - RR Oshawa Zephyr - Udora - Leaskdale - Sandford - Caesarea - Blackstock - Raglan - NeStleton - Yelverton - Prince Albert Distributed free in the following communities: Port Perry - Uxbridge - Sunderland - Little Britain - RR Lindsay Janetville BUSINESS OFFICE: Judy Ashby, Kathy Dudley, Janet Rankin, Lesley West ADVERTISING: Gini Todd, Cindy Jobin, Gail Morse, Janet Archer, Tracy Souch, Suzanne Sutherland PRODUCTION MANAGER: Pamela Hickey' Production Staff: Trudy Empringham, Daryle Wright, Arlene Cheel 'been, if not generally effective, then at least generally amusing. "great place to live, populated by community-minded people and gov- OPINION Not a bad year, here in Scugog Another year is about to roll into the history books and what a year it has been for the world, the country and the community. For Scugog it has been a year of getting things done. The new Port Perry fire hall is complete, the skateboard park is up and running (whatever the cost might have been it's done) and a new outdoor pool will be ready for the new year.' The plan to share services and projects between the three Dole townships is well on its way to being a reality. With it, better roads per- haps? The community efforts for a new ice pad are ongoing, building is proceeding along careful lines and work on the shoreline project is beginning to take shape. All are moving along nicely for the most part. Some things will carry over to the new year. A final decision on a number of new commercial developments, the parking fees at the hos- pital, not to mention the seemingly endless requests by the Lakeridge Health Corporation to various levels of government for funds that simply must come right this minute. But, for the most part, not a bad year for us locally. As Canadians we have seen the best and the worst of our politicians this year; watched a national party self-destruct and seen our MPs put aside partisan griping to help our neighbours to the south. Local politics, like those at the Durham District School Board, have But, for the most part, this community of ours continues to be a erned by men and women with a serious stake in the life quality here. So come on 2002, we're ready. Two-year-old Kylie Santella seems to be oblivious to the mess she's made of herself while painting in this photo submitted to The Star. We're looking for more good photos for this space, so if you have an interesting picture we could use for Photo of the Week, please drop it by The Star office, or give us a call at 985-7383. LETTERS DAD! DAD! Look AT MY) YOU CAN'T WEAR EARRINGS EARRINGS 'CAUSE YOU'RE A Guy! HA WAT HEYT THEYRE WELL, THAT'S R1GHT) BEAUTIFUL! J CERTAINLY AM A... To the Editor: I have followed with great interest the debate surrounding the proposal to build a new Port Perry Canadian Tire store, which was recently forwarded to Durham Region ' for approval. If understand correctly, this is but one of three new commercial developments that are in various stages of the planning process for Port Perry. All three are strip malls with major tenants in the wings and I HAVE THIS SUDDEN all three are planned for the periphery of URGE TO GO PLAY town. THE ACCORDIAN. ONLY CooL GuYS caAN WEAR EARRINGS | ; Having moved to Port Perry from North York last year and making the occasional drive along Dundas Street in Whitby and King Street in Oshawa, | know a thing or two about strip malls. Regardless of how you dress them up they are still ugly, encourage urban sprawl, are autocentric and are envi- ronmentally unfriendly. Here are a couple of quick examples and I'm sure you can think of many more. The Yonge and Steeles area of North York has a strip mall called Yorkville North that resembles nothing of its namesake. And regardless of how attractive the archi- tecture on the Second Cup building at the See more at: Raddicaltoons.com Plans should be made to expand downtown, not build new plazas corner of Thickson and Dundas in Whitby, it's not exactly where you want to take your sweetie for a nice evening stroll for a cap- puccino. But since this is the season to be jolly, I'd like to focus on solutions, rather than dwell on the impending problems. As far as | can tell, there are (at least) a couple of competing factors at play here. If it is really true that the residents of Port Perry "want more shopping opportunities", as Councilor Pearce suggests in The Star's article and it is also important that the Victorian character of the town and its downtown vitality are maintained, there really is only one solution Focus attention on the development (and re-development) potential in and immediately surrounding the downtown core. Encourage high quality, mixed-use (commercial, business and residential) development projects. Offer people the opportunity to work, live, shop, and play in one area. Enhance and grow the downtown area as the town grows so that it is a com- mercial focal point for both residents and tourists. Turn to Page 7