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6 stouffville suntribune saturday july 28 2007 rstouffville msb e suntnbune 6290 main sl stouffville on l4a1g7 wwwyorkregioncom publisher ita proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising distribution barry black director circulation systems lynn pasliko york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor extending 404 not answer re hiuy 48 hot spot for collisions july 18 i question phil bannons logic in pushing for the extension of hwy 404 to save lives extending hwy 404 contradicts the provinces own smart growth policies which clearly state commuter and cottager convenience is not a valid reason to expand highways one of the myths of highway exten sions is that traffic congestion will ease yet study after study shows congestion is only reduced temporarily by the construction of new roads congestion tends to return within five years a university of california study showed that increasing highway mileage by 10 per cent led to a 9percent increase in traffic putting money into new roads also diverts it away from investments in public transit adding more highways and increasing the numbers of cars and trucks will not improve either environmental or human health in ontario cars and trucks are recognized as the dominant source of air pollution we know air pollution aggravates respiratory prob lems such as asthma contributes to lung cancer and damages the developing lungs of children and vehicle emissions are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases the major cause of global warming new highways open up our precious agricultural land and green space to devel opment pressures and everyone is familiar with the impacts of new development more gridlock and car crashes and calls from shortsighted decision makers for high way expansions janet may network director ontario smart growth network toronto what are we paying for recently i had a friendly argument with my neighbour about drinking bottled water as opposed to tap water i tried to explain municipal water is safe but that some people use additional filters to eliminate possible contaminants that could come from water pipes i use brita filters in a pitcher that filters 151 litres of water for one litre of water it costs five cents for the filter and two cents for a returnable bottle i purchased a halflitre bottle of water for 2 at markham theatre in may the water was aquafina bottled by pepsico inc with its source in mississauga the battle states that water for quebec is from the public distribution of mississauga so we are pay ing for the initial filtering so pepsico can bottle water and sell it in quebec brancomracic markham 47 wjm3ti if troubled toronto takes tumble we all fall with it its difficult to work up any sympathy for the city of toronto the city is flailing on the edge of total collapse but the people of toronto deserve what they get for electing a pack of idiots who cant sit still for a photograph let alone manage a city no comedy writer could ever come up with something as absurd as the story of toronto council the city is in the midst of a finan cial crisis things are so bad council has to think twice before spending 12 million to bail put theatre passe muraille compare and contrast that to newmarket councils rejection of the financial demands of the resur gence theatre company which somehow found the money to carry on in politically correct toronto of course no one dares question a 150000 grant to the gay pride parade however councillor michael walker did question if they should take a 9percent raise in the midst of a financial emergency his fellow councillors voted him down and with some gusto and theyre keeping their free golf too the province recognizing the citys financial needs gave council the power to levy new taxes mayor david miller pushed hard to tax land transfers and vehicle registrations thereby allowing him to keep his promise not to raise taxes well kinda sorta but his council rebelled decid ing to wait till after the provin cial election in the hope they can strongarm wouldbe premiers into coughing up a cash bailout mr miller doing his level best to make predecessor mel eastman look like the poster boy for calm and reasoned approaches threat ened to close the sheppard subway line cancel bus routes and close pools note that in the millerverse closing pools is preferable to charg ing user fees as every municipality dave teetzel in york region does hilarious it would serve them right if they sank into their own quagmire of stupidity except for one thing if toronto goes down it will take us with it a td bank report already shows serious cracks in the gta economy with 100000 manufacturing jobs lost since 2002 the report blames the rising dol lar and competition from china rather than political mismanage ment but the fact remains york will not be immune to a 416 crash while markham vaughan rich mond hill aurora and newmarket have all built up a business sector to help support our residential areas we are like it or not suburbs and if people dont want to do business in toronto they wont come here if toronto shuts down the sub way it just built kiss the york region lines goodbye so we have to be concerned about their problems im not suggesting for a minute the province cut toronto a cheque but we could work with the city on a more reasonable request part of torontos problems stem from the fact ontario cities are required to fund social services historically a provincial responsibility this downloading imposed under the previous conservative governments was the source of the muchdespised gta pooling policy it would appear many of the accomplishments premier dalton mcguinty will list in this campaign amount to rescinding policies of the previous administration but he hasnt undone the disas trous policy of downloading theres a promise he could make toronto without offending the rest of ontario does john tory want to prove once and for all he is not mike harris admit downloading was a mistake and fix it not even the ndp wants to talk financial bailouts but surely how ard hampton knows social services are a provincial responsibility reversing downloading would not singlehandedly save toronto city councillors would still have to get their act together to do that maybe some 905 councillors could offer professional develop ment seminars realistic budget ing 101 saying no to special inter ests making things work even if it doesnt fit your ideology or perhaps we could hold a bake sale letters policy the sunthbune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address thcsuntribunercscrvcs 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 dandravsyrmgcom advertising retail manager stacey allen sallenyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom canxmn oraixtofs mmbcr ccab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 sunthbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thornhill vaughan citizen the erabanner newmarketaurora markham economist sun georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing