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economist suntribune thursday jan 24 2002 stouffville tribune a metfolarid cohununity newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 publisher ian proudfoot general manager alvin brouwer editor in chief brenda larson director of advertising debra welter deputy editor debora kelly editor jim mason production manager pam nichols distribution manager barry black electronic communications manager john futhey classified manager ann campbell retail sales manager stephen mathieu inside sales manager stacey allen business manager robert lazurko office manager vivian oneil editorial no arguments on cop budget increase york regional police chief bob middaugh didnt have much of a fight for dollars at the regional budget table this year the police budget which amounts to more than 103 million this year focuses on todays hot button issues in recognizing we wantpro- tection from threats once considered outside the realm of probability from terrorists on the other side of the world to organized crime infiltrating our neighbourhoods to grow mari juana in hydroponic labs and carjacksuvs regional politicians nodded their heads in agreement and allocated the cash sthe budget is up 104 per cent over last years total of 936 million representing the largest single departmental increase in the regions 12billioh budget theoverall increase for regional taxpayers is 23 per cent or about 32 on the tax bill the bottom line policing in york region will cost you 130 this year its not a bad invest ment for the return in the past year york regional police under took or completed several projects that bene fited the community for instance the force expanded its ahubullying programs school safety patrols safe surfing programs safe- schools protocols and student crime stoppers the force held community forums throughout the region to listen to policing con cerns and issues from a diverse group of citi zens and the force has launched or is in the process of launching new units including hate crimes legal support search arid rescue arid property crimes what will the budget increase mean the force will hire 30 hew officers 24 of them for the front line and 28 civilians to meet increased demand a heavy emphasis will be placed on intelli- gence gathering as the force battles terrorism threats and hate crimes organized crime including biker gangs and druggrowing oper ations have also been identified by the com munity as high priorities for police to address with the combination of new styles of policing necessary to face new challenges and rapid regional growth there was no other alter native but to allocate the funds no arguments over money here letters to the editor box grove land swap puts development on prime farmland when i first saw the ontario govern ments ad in your paper jan 15 regarding the lands on hwy 407 and ninth line in box grove i was shocked i knew these lands were under threat i along with many others have expressed concern to the municipal provin cial and federal government in regards to these lands which have been own by the catholic cemetery board since 1979 later that same morning i came across another government of ontario ad this time on page 19 of the toronto star this ad con- cerns land at steeles avenue and reesor road this land is to be swapped to accommo date urban sprawl on prime agricultural land it will also encroach upon rouge park and the rouge river environment degradation is something i have come to expect from our elected offi cials whose- campaigns l believe are paid for by developers but i dread to believe this is how the catholic church would have itself portrayed i have personally heard markham mayor don cousens say we would be fools to pave our foodlands yet a cemetery is ok i have also heard him say no develop ment east of the little rouge river yet that is where he is willing to place a 170acre ceme tery as far as im concerned a cemetery is development it is a business i believe the harris government knows it will not win the next election therefore it is selling off public land preferably to its developer friends as a member of the catholic church i sincerely hope this is hot something the church would partake in bernadette manning markham thanks for supporting stouffville high school student art show the senior art students of stouffville district secondary school appreciate the community support for their images 2001 art exhibit this year latcham gallerys bud sanderson and maura broadhurst were verylhelpful in teach ing the students how to organize hangtheir works and create a very successful show thanks to tim hortons and ap for the food and lindys florist for the flower cen trepiece on opening night jan 11 the stouffville lions club supported the young artists presenting awards to marco bucci for computer graphics pam price for painting julie rennie for photography and thai muir for sculpture the exhibit continues at the latcham gallery 6276 main- st in stouffville until feb 4 senior art students stouffville district secondary school letters policy stouffville tyibune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity arid space write letters to the editor v9 heritage rd- markham 0ntl3p 1m3 email lettersdeconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 canadian circulations audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscriptionrates by mail 1 year- 6955 thursdays only stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajaxpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection east york 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york region you will see tall gleaming office towers iso lated in a vast sea of parking lots if you pull on- to oneof those com mercial addresses around 9 am on a weekday youll quickly discover those parking lots arent nearly vast enough employees are dueling over spots applying the principles of creative park ing or are circling pathetically around the packed lot waiting for somebody to leave when i used to drop my wife at work i would wonder how every employee at these factories could afford a car at the wages these places paid recently she has been trying to find a job where she could commute by public transit it has become clear for most jobs in york region a car is not an option its a necessity much has been made of the regions fiveyear 1 billion transit plan and theres no question we need to provide more regular service to and from more places if we are to have a workable tran sit system but what may be just as important is a concept discussed recently in markham and currently being applied invaughan transportation management associ ations are partnerships between gov ernments and business to get more employees to and from work the only one currently- operating in york region is the black creek transportation management association which crosses the border between vaughan and toronto in the general vicinity of york university the organization has only five member busi nesses but since one of them is the uni versity it represents approximately 60000 commuters although its a relatively new group and one of itsprincipalobjectives is to encourage a spadina subway exten sion it is doing its part to encourage carpooling but the trick of transportation man- agement associations is they use their clout to getroutes changed if a group of businesses in one area the business centres along hwy 7 and warden avenue and hwy 404 are being touted as likely spots can dangle a few thousand regular passengers in the face of the regional transit system they will have an excellent chance of dictating the bus routes but wait should a cartel of business es be able to influence public transit routes to promote more development gf course they should its all about putting more people on public transit and allowing traffic to move in areas that- are now gridlocked for businesses its about improving life for employees and freeing up valuable development lanov its hard to find a downside v trp sv