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economist suntribune july i 1987 c3 darts and laurels for markham grace vale city advantages gordon mcconachie cant stop progress kathleen griffin special report maxine share markhams growing pains are worth putting up with editors notereporters kath leen grilfin and maxine share conducted a lengthy series of man on the street interviews to find out how markham residents feel about our town and wrapped up the poll with an analysis of the general feeling which appears be low their random sampling of the respondents is an insight into the towns strengths and weak nesses read on our recent survey of markham residents assured us of one thing although many people are frus trated by isolated issues they love this town responses to the question what do you like best about mar kham flowed easily and gener ously when asked what they liked least about living here there was more thought morehesitanc- y indeed a reluctance to say any thing negative however after some reflection most people were able to recall something they werent satisfied with dislikes nothing not so for mary kennedy she hemmed and hawed for several minutes before declaring there wasnt anything she didnt like about the town even though i regret the rapid growth its nice to be on the ground floor of a growing com munity she was apologetic that she couldnt think of anything de rogatory to say no apology necessary mary when issues such as transporta tion and education did crop up the verdict was divided all we can conclude from our exercise is that our town is very easy to get around in but the- roads are too congested by the same token our schools are very good but our edu cational facilities are very bad and while this is a very family- oriented town there is nothing for teenagers to do growth is good and the people we interviewed were adamant growth is a good thing for markham that is ruining the smalltown color of our little hamlet confusing perhaps but the views collected here are just a small crosssection of the diverse attitudes inherent in our town it is town council thats ultimately held responsible for the issues that form these attitudes residents vocal about town charm traffic woes ken williamson too big heres what your neighbors had to say about the town in general wishlist style they markhams municipal council are doing the best they can i guess you cant stop what they call progress gordon mcconachie first is the schools there arent enough facilities second is roads we need hwy 407 now not in 20 years its a friendly family- oriented community that atmos phere has stayed in spite of all the expansion donna martinello you feel you make a contribu tion to the community youre not lost in the shuffle mary kennedy i love it here i have no prob lem gettingaround the buses are convenient and i dont need a car gloria williams a theres more than adequate shopping and schools michele wilkie its touristy and you like to show friends you have city living advantages within a suburban setting grace vale pam mccord nothing to do the increasing population doesnt bother me were still keeping our quaintness paul collard if you didnt have a car how would you get around the transit system isnt that great judy johnston e its boring its okay if youre 19 or older but if youre not theres nowhere to go and nothing to do pam mccord i came from scarborough be cause it was getting too big now markham is getting too big ken williamson i wouldnt have the markham festival in june do it in spring when people are anxious to get out diane pepper keep the trucks off main street because of the noise and pollution marlene robertson gloria williams convenient buses mary kennedy making contribution paul collard still quaint diane pepper earlier festival judy johnston poor transit service marlene robertson banish trucks michele wilkie lots of shopping donna martinello friendly atmosphere v-