The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

p i32007 suntnbune 6290 main st stoutrvilleonl4alg7 wwwyorkregioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black bob dean director circulation systems lynnpashko editorial do projects right or not at all think your christmas shopping bill is a tad high its nothing compared to the cheques whitchurchstouffville council is writing this month councillors approved 28 million worth of projects including a new arena with twin- ice pads an arts and culture centre in the old town hall and the widening of main street last week granted the population of is expected to reach 53000 between 2021 and 2026 and council wants to be ready with services and facilities but we hope the facilities are not just duplicates of existing buildings adding to stock but not the standard of local facilities the double icepad arena will be off weldon road behind sobeys and carries a price tag of just over 17 million paid entirely with develop ment fees in other words newcom ers are paying for the rinks through their house payments the rinks are to open in septem ber 2009 thats ambitious but not soon enough for the children already turned away from registering for hockey here because leagues are full and ice is completely booked town staff have been asked to look at increasing spectator capacity in at least one of the 300seat rinks that will cost but its worth it the main pad at the stouffville arena will hold several hundred but thats on cramped and cold benches hardly the standard for 2009 and beyond if this town ever wants to host ontario championship tournaments a better facility is a must if it wants to serve up ice to beer leagues and house leagues the proposal is fine the other big ticket building is the downtown culture and arts centre the 33rhillion price tag for the 19 on the park arts centre is a 5050 proposition the town will provide half the money while the remainder will come from community fundrais- ing and government grants we hope the centre doesnt become another 125seater room in a com munity where they are so prevalent it can be a catalyst to an improved downtown stouffville but this wont be the fullfledged theatre so many residents and groups wanted selling naming rights for both buildings must be investigated as it was for the lebovic leisure centre the bottom line is that we should do these projects right or not do them at all abcdefg hijk mn 0pqrstu vwxyz 130h name the christmas musicj v m il qelu m ttito ft s wmm humyrtfh 3h1m33g josavd 3x13mi 3 hi 3uhm v jo ormhf3m w t letters to the editor merchants should be accom modating to their shoppers not staffers re chamber president should be construc tive instead of insulting letter to the editor by sara marsala dec 5 i am new to the area i rent an apartment above a store on main street i read the suntribune as much as i can in between chasing after a 16 month old beauti ful little girl because i would like to know if its worth it to convince my husband of the investment to purchase a house in the area since he has to travel all the way to downtown toronto from stouffville to work i have been following your articles regard ing grwoth and the business district on main street why did i move to stouffville initially i had a few friends in the area the country close to the city is also what attracted me and what continues to keep me here i would love to raise my daughter in an atmosphere where i can escape urban sprawl and in a familycentred environment the irony is i am the urban sprawl i come from a large city and would like to escape it ms marsala said if there are niche stores that shoppers frequent because of their indi viduality of their exceptional service then the shopper should make the time to frequent them during their business hours while ms marsalas concerns regarding overtime pay for employees to stay open extra hours the lack of parking facilities and run down locations are legitimate what incentive do shoppers have to shop at your store it sounds like she is trying to accommo date a specific clientele if you dont want my money and if i want a niche store i can always go downtown toronto on bloor street or go to the markville shopping centre or go to main street union- ville for a niche store to accommodate my spending hours although i respect your opinion ms marsala i guess you dont want my money because i have to spend it when you want me to spend it as opposed to who is willing to accommodate me when my money is avail able perhaps my money is not good enough mary ann delorey stouffville we like mail do you have a comment on a story column or a letter to the editor send us a letter with your name and address you can mail it to 6290 main st stouffville l4a 1g7 email jmason yrmgcom fax 9056408778 please include a daytime phone number you can be contacted for confirmation letters must be signed off the top with jim mason revisiting an ugly but necessary chapter in stouffville history with streets of houses rising out of corn fields its hard to believe things were so different in stouffville 25 years ago there was only new home for sale i know because we bought it the canadian economy was in recov ery interest rates were coming down from the 20percent high watermark homes were being massproduced in other communities of the gta the 404 was pushing up the west side of whitchurchstouffville and go train service was oh the rails out of main street the community was as friendly and welcoming as ever making it an ideal candidate for growth right not even close a little something called a landfill site complete with tales of liquid waste seeping into the water supply and turn ing the dial up on the number of miscar riages and cases of cancer will do that as it turned out a health study revealed there was no true cause for concern the landfill on hwy 48 across from the maples of ballantrae was ordered closed by the province its history only pops up when town council receives unspectacular updates on its health or like last week when its owner proposed building a fuel plant on the site the very thought will no doubt raise the ghost of the concerned citizens of whitchurchstouffville the committee that fought the landfilll the province town concil and anyone else who got in the way of the closure it was an ugly chapter in this towns history pitting neighbours against each other the closing of businesses were blamed on the prostestors people left town but it was a necessary tale the landfill closed health scares were shot down and builders came back headed by locally owned fairgate homes welcome back stouffville jim mason is editor of the sun- tribune 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 suntribune reserves 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 l4aig7 jmason6yrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom interacttve media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandrewsyrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallenyrmgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbcuyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondcauyrmgcom production team leader sherry day sdayyrmgcom canadan ccab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 citified 18007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroiand media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroiand 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