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eoffisfk regional affairs regional politicians decide today whether to move forward with transit system or keep the status quo region to decide if its time to tackle transit by lisa queen staff writer york region councillors will prove today whether theyre parochial politicians only interested in protecting their empires or whether theyre looking to meet the needs of resi dents newmarket councillor diane humeniuk says humeniuk is chairperson of the regions transit task force while the group has made some headway in improving transit particularly for disabled residents the task force has been stymied by a limited mandate and political squabbles among officials who dont want to give up jurisdiction over their local transit systems but today humeniuk is drawing a line in the sand at a workshop two weeks ago she urged council to consid er either creating a regional transit department or better yet a transit authority like the ttc at todays council meeting councillors make the decision about whether to move forward or keep the status quo a sub standard network of disjointed systems theyll have to answer to their constituents if they dont proceed humeniuk said yesterday humeniuk and countless others have predicted gridlock in york and across the greater toronto area unless public tran sit is markedly improved only 5 per cent of commuters in york use public transit the worst record in the gta with another 400000 people coming to the region in the next two decades thousands of additional cars will be added to already overburdened roads humeniuk favours a york transit commission which would be established over the next 14 months because it would give transit more prominence a commission could either coordinate buses run by the four local transit departments meaning municipalities could keep their names on the sides of their buses or oper ate under a new york logo if council votes for a transit commission the tories would have to pass legislation authorizing the agency if council votes to make transit a regional department a m h fish market super specials many more instore specials a special thank you to our valued customers who continued to support us during the fire renovations sincerely mike helen lvaj fresh marlin steaks 599 lb vaj whole salmon 46 lbs 499 lb salmon trout fillets 599 lb 4793571 5051 highway 7 store 9 markham across from markville shopping centre finally an oreck floor care centre near you now brought to you by popular demand is the newest oreck floor care center come in and see the incredibly light incredibly powerful 8lb oreck xl or better yet take the oreck challenge and wjl try risk free for 10 days the compact canister is your gift when you purchase an 8lb oreck xl so come on in we service most brands the new oreck floor care centre youll wish we opened one a lot sooner gift with purchase bring ad centre 7780 woodbine unit 10 markham 9480090 triple majority is needed that means a majority of regional councillors would have to agree plus a majority of local municipal councils representing a majority of residents markham councillor gord landon is convinced the province would support either scenario even if local municipalities were opposed if york politicians showed they could improve transit service and that wouldnt be hard he pointed out councillors agreed five years ago to a regional transit system but it was never implemented a report by chief administrative officer alan wells going to council today talks about the advantages of improved transit the benefits that were described in 1994 are applicable in the present environment and are even more critical as traffic continues to increase and percentage transit usage continues to decline landon who believes a commission would give transit the clout it deserves said service in york is pathetic weve got toronto councillors david shiner and ttc chairperson howard moscoe sitting on our transit task force saying its a mess its just a bloody mess he said i agree with them now we have got just a bunch of disjointed systems landon would like to see buses operated by the commis sion under a york logo markham mayor don cousens wants existing transit sys tems to remain meaning municipalities names would stay on the sides of buses however coordination between the systems could be improved with input from a commission each municipality keeps its autonomous service but works to resolve the issues everybodys worried about he said i think every one of these issues is solvable or address able by having a voluntary sitting down of staff and politicians working more closely together 35 diskt5774 our price 799 300 us mailin rebate 430 price after rebate 1 10pack based on a 45 exchange rate ajax 16 harwood aveniro south amcahm 1015 goif unbroad 8ramptom k50sleeoj eotf eoj41c 80greototdme r3hyiwcyz- v buftunaiom 1881 foirvlew al srenl markham 3175hwy 7 trfwootm mississaoga wo aimio robd 593s r niwmaftket 130 davii driio oakv1us 2460 winmoo churem bmj sfxoau 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