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the tribune thursday nov 28 196s pe 19 paul w j mingay qc a the next two years in the development of this community may be the most critical and important in its history says paul mingay candidate for mayor of the new town of markham take two minutes to find out why they are important to you the new town of markham is at a vital crossroads in its develop ment the elected officials for the next two years will be charting its course for the next ten to twenty years this course can either move markham ahead toward a well planned community that will make it an even better place to live and work or it can turn it into the ugly sister of the amalgama tion family a sprawling area of taxridden stagnation the population has risen from 4000 in 1960 to almost 8500 in 1968 the projection for the next ten years will see this figure double as a consequence of our rapid growth civic debt has mushroomed to the point where only extremely careful plan ning can ensure that future requirements are met without ex cessive strain on the taxpayers essential services common sense tells us that as this expansion increases our new town will be faced with a pressing need for greater assess ment to provide essential services where will this money come from under the present type of municipal administration the resi dential taxpayer will have to foot the bill as a result of local government planning errors and shortsightedness these effects of haphazard planning in the past are already evident for example uncontrolled redevelopment is glaringly apparent in the commercial and residential section of our main st once this was our town centre it is rapidly becoming our town embarrassment the potential of this fully serviced area is nowhere close to being realized it contains a major share of the towns more expensive essential services yet it is currently being subsidized by residential taxpayers to operate as a trafficchoked escape route for commuting cottagers and heavy transports the most frustrating part of this and similar situations throughout the municipality is that they neednt exist with proper planning there is no excuse for them to continue let us give markham the functional and attractive town centre it so badly needs at least let us put these areas back on a pay-their- ownway basis no pieinthesky in my bid for the office of mayor i can promise no overnight miracles no big tax cuts my platform is a sound realistic and practical plan for intelligent development redevelopment and controlled expansion in the town of markham if and when it is no longer possible to avoid the prospect of amalgamation with our sister municipalities let us join them as a viable and vigorous entity a power to be reckoned with not as a disorganized weakling looking for a handout in ex change for our heritage sound planning needed for years we have gone to the polls with the vague promises of lower taxes and spending cutbacks ringing in our ears election after election the professional politicians trot out these tired and unfulfilled claims they back them up with a big smile and a hearty handshake and expect us to swallow it the sad part is that we usually do just that small wonder the average per capita civic debt in markham has risen from 18500 to 31700 in the past seven years one of the highest figures in ontario i am not a professional politician i am a practicing lawyer here in town a business administrator with fifteen years of legal and local government training behind me i have in the past served this community both as a councillor and deputy- reeve from 1964 to 1967 i was the chairman of the cenotaph committee and in 1968 i was a recipient of the centennial medal and was included in the new years honours list as a queens counsel this village soon to be a town has been good to me and my family for many years and i am earnestly concerned about its future if you feel as i do that the next two years in this communitys development are critically important and that a strong and knowledgeable hand is needed to guide it through this period then i respectfully ask you to mingay for mayor december 2nd for transportation or information call 294-