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stouffville suntribune thursday june 14 2007 suntnbune 6290 main st stouffvile0nl4alg7 vrtwyorkregjoncom pubosher iari proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising markingpartnerships distribution director barryblack debravmer director circulation systems lynn pashko york region prindng generalmanager bobdean editorial development charge increase hard dose of reality theres no arguing that 6000 per house is a hefty increase in develop ment charges but york region says that is the added cost of growth in its budget new homebuyers can pay it or you as a local taxpayer can so the region has pushed its charge per new home from 16429 to more than 22000 industrial and commercial rates which had been kept down to encour age economic development are sky rocketing by 175 per cent the development industry says all this added cost will ultimately be borne by the homebuyer making the lack of affordable housing even worse which may be true but the shortage of affordable hous ing has everything to do with the way single family homes have dominated new construction the creation of a greenbelt and a places to grow policy that limits how much new construction can happen in new subdivisions means the cost of sin gle family homes is going to skyrocket regardless of development charges its about supply and demand and the increase in development charges is about making people pay the realistic cost of moving to york region we need the york durham sewer system or growth is impossible we need the viva rapid transit system to reduce traffic congestion or growth will be intolerable if added costs mean residential con struction slows down in york region most of us wont mind that at all perhaps the region should work with the development industry on a develop ment charges plan that creates incen tives for the higher density housing styles that support viva and conform to places to grow unfortunately the situation is now so dire regional council has been forced to abandon its reduced charges for indus trial and commercial buildings that cre ate jobs nobody expects the development industry to be happy about a 6000 increase in costs but if traffic is impossible and services lag nobody will want to buy a home in york region if the cost of growth drives taxes to outrageous levels nobody will want to buy here and if everyone continues to do things the same way they always have the problem is only going to get worse developers have every reason to partner with government to solve the regions growing pains letters to the editor municipal politicians should stay out of provincial nomination re bannon wins tory vote june 7 my husband and i were among hundreds of people who attended the oak ridgesmarkham progressive conservative provincial nomina tion meeting in markham june 2 this was our first time participating in this process and it was both enlightening and very disappointing in many ways there is always an advantage to arriving to events early you get to watch and observe what goes on without many distractions and what my hus band and i observed was very interesting the group supporting phil bannon seemed to have a common thread they all knew each other and there were many of them my husband and i both got the impression the group was from one area of town based on what we saw and after reading this week as to where mr bannon lived in ballantrae i would bet there was a large recruitment campaign on the part of mr bannon aimed at this one area another very enlightening note was whitchurchstouffville mayor wayne emmerson attended the event with three local councillors to support mr bannon mr emmerson ran for the federal liberal nomination not too long ago furthermore we all noted mr emmerson had voting wristbands on which would confirm the assumption that he is now a current mem ber of the provincial pc party as you are unable to vote unless youre a signed up member educated and having an interest in politi cal parties and processes i always understood politicians at the municipal level should truly remain invisible as to what parties they support on a personal level political colours should not be shown as it is never a good idea to mix municipal provincial and federal ideology when holding a municipal position with the majority of stouffville councillors at this meeting i guess we as taxpayers now know where their political ties lie the winning candidate played the nomina tion card and used the system to his advantage nothing wrong with finding a winning formula and using it our election process allows this situation to take place yet it also allowed current elected munici pal politicians the opportunity to vote in their friends at another political level which to me amounts to a conflict of interest for each of those councillors based on political protocol im sure all taxpayers in whitchurch- stouffville are not tory blue yet most of our councillors appear to have now shown where their allegiance lies and where their support will go at the provincial level it was a long and very disappointing day to watch our election process amount to such a farcical event and allow it to become a popu larity contest rather than a process to elect the most qualified candidate melaniecox stouffville off the top with jim mason coach celebrates mays cup victory brad may was still out in california hugging arnold schwarzenegger show ing off the stanley cup to jay leno and talking pucks with don rickles back in stouffville one of his minor hockey coaches was soaking it all in grant nesbitt who has coached 20 stouffville rep teams was hardly taking credit for brads 16year nhl career free of any games in the minors or his even tual date with stanley as an anaheim duck one year was the extent of the coachplayer relationship he said brad was seven playing for the stouffville polar bears novice rep team as soon as the zamboni left the ice one of the kids would place a stuffed bear at centre ice grant said after the warmup one would go back to get it but it always took at least two kids because the bear was stuck to the ice that was the old arena where the skate park in memorial park now sits one assumes future nhler brad was the best player on the squad not really grant said his older brother daryl was the better player back then but brad had a lot of deter mination he had heart he was go go go and he still is it just came later for him grant knows another of his players brad tiley who like brad was also bom in 1971 played in germany last season after a starry 14 years of mostly minor pro in north america eleven games in the nhl were sprinkled in he played in the memorial cup with sault ste marie he was the best player on his team in stouffville grant said but he never quite broke it i enjoy it i really do he said you see what youve got at the start of the season and then you compare what you end up with when its over and 999 per cent of the parents are good weve made some lifetime friends through minor hockey another crop is in the works grant who only coached his own son todd for three of the 20 years behind the bench will coach the pee- wee clippers rep team next winter letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntyibuncrescrvcs the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a ig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrewsyrmgcom advertising retail manager stacey allen sallenyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom distribution manager megan pike mpikcyrmgcom editorial 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