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a jveekender march m 1987 weekender council member off base frank scarpitti is determined to stand up and be counted but the youthful markham re gional councillor seems to be sidestepping the normal forums markham council meetings to make his point by purchasing newspaper advertisements to get his message across to say such action is bizarre is understating the issue mr scar- pitis advertisement suggests that hes the only person who cares about councils decision to spend 23 million on a new civic centre while he has every right to purchase advertising space mr scarpitti is bypassing open pub lic council meetings where such issues should be debated and has decided to grandstand in news paper advertisements hes obviously worried about his lack of a distinctive image and is pandering to voters in a desper ate attempt to stake out an inde pendent position on markham council such efforts only show that mr scarpitti is substituting public re lations for solid performance as a regional councillor don bernard l small town boy will stay that way fifteen years of rural residen cy im afraid have rendered this excity slicker a little less than nimble when it comes to negotiat ing the maze that is the big city office tower as a member of a chamber of commerce that for years encour aged town residents to patronize local businesses and services i myself became sold on the famil iar simplicity of the main street strip if i cant buy it in town i just dont buy it but the recent cashing in of my real estate chips left me with a little chunk of change that re quired an investment strategy with a bit more pop to it than the daily interest offered by my favourite stouffville bank acting on a strong recom mendation from a friend i made an appointment to drive to the offices of a big city money man agement firm gleaming glass tower high rise traffic every where totally intimidating now on the aforementioned small town main street strip when you want to shop do your banking or see your lawyer or accountant you just pull up in front of the joint in your car and walk in simple not so with these shiny mega- storied office towers the only practical means of penetration of these babies would be by helicop ter i must have driven around this seemingly impregnable for tress three times before finally cracking the code to gain entr ance as big city logic so often has it access to a building that is on the left side of the road requires thatyou first turn right and head off in the opposite direction any signs that do exist are con fusing and misleading especially when you are reading them with one eye the other trying to sort out the scrum of drivers behind you as they follow so close behind as to suggest intentions of mating i finally found the appropriate underground parking lot after a dizzying number of circles in search of a vacant visitors parking spot i gave up and back ed into a little space with white lines painted all over it intended for firetrucks tanks or whatever emerging from this under ground patty stacker having written the number of my parking area boldly on the palm of my left hand i was thrilled to sec that there were two identical towers obviously some corporate plan ners idea of a really funny joke of course i tried the wrong one first when i did manage to ferret out the correct building through the process of elimination i quickly headed through the foyer to the elevator i was only 20 minutes late for my appointment by this time now elevators scare me i have this fear that some day im going to be trundled off to china in an elevator that forgets to stop on its way down due to a computer mal function i walked in watched the door close and heard a voice as i was alone in the elevator this caused me a slight anxiety it was of course the official voice of mr otis himself telling me that this car was going up lets hope so i muttered what the disembodied sucker didnt tell me was that this bus didnt make any stops until the tenth floor i wanted the fourth at this point i decided that if my new investment advisor was to sug gest putting any money into otis elevator shares i would decline in protest i somehow found my way into the suite of offices belonging to the money maestros but my jeans jacket and cowboy boots made me feel like well a country boy in the presence of these finan cial analysts in their tailored threepiece suits i listened attentively while the man tried to explain the differ ence between a convertible de benture and a sunroof speak slowly i implored him youre talking to a guy whose only pre vious investment experience saw me get sucked into sinking a cou ple of hundred bucks into an oil well with the unlikely name of red rocket explorations i when it was all over i rolled back into the comforting sur roundings t my little town and pulled up in front of the first busi ness establishment i encoun tered walked in humming a few bars of john cougar melon- camps small town told them what a terrific little business they were running bought something i didnt even need and headed back out the door yes sir small town thats me and darn proud of it jjconomistsun the tribune weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 published every saturday by metroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd mar kham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 second class mail registration number 1247 the markham economist and sun published every wednesday and saturday at 9 heritage rd markham is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajapickenng news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicoke advertiserguardian georgetown independent milton champion mississauga news newmarket era oakvillo beaver oshawawhitby this week richmond hilkthor- nhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune topic newsmagazine willowdalo mir ror metroland printing publishing and distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd nwtofsalhbweseotatlvev metroland ccwatpes493 don bernard jim thomas editors editorial department news editorjo ann stevenson reporters paula crowell steve houston chris shanahan atan shacklcton paul ptvato sports editorfrank king photographysjoerd wittevcen bill tanning patricia pappas advertising manager advertising department retail advertising managercharles canning retail- tern bernhardt lome hillier joann van maurik chris griffith real estate managerdorothy young real estatekaren heise classified managerdebra waller classified- phyllis ritchie joan marshman r stephen mathieu caroline thompson bronda marshall vv tv chris berrram manager business office shirtey lee irene ramsperger sharon graham jennifer hutt distribution manager distribution department assistant distribu tion manager- barry goodyear jean middlcton doreori deacon sandra kitclcy lea kitler suo hutton donna saxon distribution dept 2948244 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