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whats old is new again peter bramwell 83 of green gables nursing home receives hoards of hugs for donating this handmade fam ilyheirloom quilt crocheted by his mother camille when he was a young boy the quilt was grand prize in a raffle to raise funds for cancer research kathleen gordon left won the draw conducted by yvonne salmon activity coordinator for green gables liz lightfoot fundrais- ing chair for the markham stouffville unit of the canadian cancer soci ety was on hand to accept a cheque for 300 photo by steve somerville i the tribune tuesday june 16 1998r 3 work with region officials fight for move schools lisa queen staff reporter threats are heating up in york region to halt new home con struction until schools are built we will certainly say any subdivision will hot proceed if schools arent built in time to accommodate children vaughan mayor lorna jackson assured school officials thursday public school board chair bill crothers and other officials from both york boards were at the regional council meeting to com plain about provincial changes to education funding they fe upset queens park is insisting every classroom throughout the region be filled before a new school is built in a worsecase scenario that could mean students in one end of the region would have to be bused to empty classrooms at the other end of the region before the board can request funding for any new schools newmarket mayor tom taylor has already called for all york mayors and school boards to meet with yorkmackenzie mpp frank klees over the funding issue upset at the growing number of school portables in his town taylor wants to find a way of making new school construction a higher priority jackson called on the boards to work with towns and cities if board officials fear a new school willbe delayed in any new sub division she advised them to- contact local councillors and ask them to halt the planning approval process markham deputy mayor frank scarpitti suggested they should start warning new homebuyers that it may be years before a pro posed school is built in their sub division the issue of delayed school construction has been a headache for years in york region in the past the province insist ed threequarters of a new subdi vision be occupied before a new school was built that has forced the boards to bus students to older overcrowd ed schools and pack them into portables but mayors and councillors who point out the greater toron to area is on the leading edge of huge growth are now threat ening to use a new weapon to deal with the problem municipal affairs minister al leach assured them this spring that they can stop new subdivi sions until they are satisfied all services are going to be in place including everything from schools to roads gta mayors set up a task force in april to investigate whether they should slap a moratorium on development as a way of negotiating more school funding from the province last month richmond hill became to first municipality in york to officially threaten to use the tactic town facelift now underway joan ransberry staff reporter youre lookin good stouffville tonight a committee struck to give downtown stouffville a much- needed facelift is delivering- a whatsdohe and whatstocorne report committee chairman eric button said the meeting which- is being held at the train station will give people a chance to discuss the health and future wellbeing of the business community in downtown stbuffville the first steps to improve the downtown are now being completed and we wish to start planning for further improvements said button the long awaited makeover has begun soon all the dull gray cement planters that line main street will be gone ugly signs will disappear weeds will be pulled new benches will be in place beau tiful flowers are already hanging from the upgraded lamp posts even the fire hydrants are being repainted down the road the street lights will be dimmed giving the down town a softer and more appealing look the meat and potatoes of the reju venation plan featuring a tradition almixedformal theme was unveiled in march members of the local business improvement area bia and its revitalization committee have been very busy bia member lorretta lavell has visited businesses and is giving an overview of whats in and whats out for the downtown core the plan includes removal of all planters on main street j removal of unnecessary signage painting lamp posts black erecting hanging baskets library lane will have entrance promenade baskets done in the town colours blue and yellow new benches new garbage receptacles a much improved maintenance and fertilization program fire hydrants painted a blue and yellow garden con test for bestgarden bed best bal cony and best window display town colours will be used in flower beds at appropriate sites throughout town including at the municipal office on civic avenue upgrade of services including street sidewalk cleaning and weed pulling armed with a modest budget including 15000 from the town- the committee under the direction of lavell is doing the job teachers fear mass firings from page 1 strikes across ontario next fall mcqueen would typically handle negotiations for a teachers union local once each year but he already has four scheduled teachers view the new funding formula as an attack on unions some even believe the government is setting the stage for a mass firing h i dont think they could possibly fire that many teach ers and still have a school system said mcqueen toronto alone has 8000 teachers there are a lot of new teachers out there but not that many none of us want a strike we want settlements if it is part of a larger scheme they have proven to be devi ous so they are capable of doing whatever they choose to do but york mackenzie mpp frank klees said there is no plan brewing at queens park to fire teachers if a mas sive strike occurs i think were optimistic that at the end of the day the process will bring a resolution klees said yesterday the process is in place everyone has a right to take advantage of due process and when the process is fol lowed and the decision made i expect there will be com pliance klees pointed out the new funding formula has pro vided 130 million more for teacher salaries than was available last year should a strike occur klees suggest ed there wouldnt be much support from taxpayers who were stung by the provincewide action last fall if teachers feel they are justified in withholding ser vices oncagain at least it willjbft a jggal strike the tribune is pleased to present ff hm nominations for the whitchurchstouffville citizen of the year will be accepted until friday june 19 1998 at 500 pm i would like to nominate for citizen of the year name address please attach supporting reasons for your choice one nomination per person pleasenominations with no supporting reasons will not be considered i mail or drop off your nomination to he tribune 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a 1e21 everyone reads the tribune r ii r p t t1 tv