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inside ers 6 ransberry 7 sports 34 classified 36 4 mayor wants arts and culture committee to look at using main floor of old town hall community calendar event barbecue roast beef dinner when saturday july 13 5730 pm where stouffville royal canadian legion p gone fishing you jl can try your luck without leaving york region or the ground serving whitchurchstouffville since 1888 50 cents including gst 40 pages thursday july 11 2002 to reach us 905 6402612 bucking the trend on york regions trains buses improved service attracting more riders by jeff mitchell staff writer while ridership on public transit systems throughout the gta declines york regions sta tistics buck that trend york region transit ridership was up 7percent during the first four months of 2002 a figure pri marily attributed to improved service said irene mcneil man ager of service planning with the authority we are bucking the trend ms mcneil said this week i think probably the most important factor is weve put in so many improvements to ser vice a report from the toronto transit commission issued this week said ridership in most municipalities throughout the i gta has been either flat or in decline the ttc anticipates eight million fewer riders this year than last part of that decline is chalked up to the drop in tourism in the city in the wake of last septembers terrorist attacks in the united states the terrorism chill notwith standing however declines in ridership have left transit officials in gta municipalities scratching their heads in york meanwhile there is a feeling of optimism ms mcneil said the public appears to be responding to system see local page 11 markham stouffville scrambles to cover 4 million shortfall by lisa queen staff writer despite receiving 20 million in additional provincial funding york region hospitals are scrambling to find ways to cover a 15 million financial shortfall markham stouffville hospital southlake regional health centre and york central hospital are con templating running deficits bor rowing money from the bank dip ping into reserve accounts or pleading with the tories to hand over more money so they can serve the needs of their growing commu nities as part of an additional 645 million handed out last week by the tories to ontario hospitals bring ing their funding to a record 94 billion markham stouffville received 33 million southlake got almost 66 million and york central was granted more than 10 million which was one of the single largest contributions to a commu nity hospital but markham stouffville was looking for another 4 million southlake was hoping for 3 million more and york central was eyeing an additional 8 million however while hospital admin istrators are hoping the ministry of health will hand over more money to address their ballooning volumes due to york regions high growth they arent blaming queens parkfor their funding woes instead they argue the ongoing funding shortfalls hospitals face every year go to the heart of the see rising page 10 golfing in technic0l0ur staff photosjoerd witteveen gord smith from left brent stachel gord stowar and gary courts added some colour to the tee at the sleepy hollow golf and country club during the eighth annual whitchurchstouffville mayors charity tourney on tuesday the tournament raised more than 15000 for youth activities in the community see page 29 for more mtujms0isim special 5995 2 wheel alignment inspection with print out 5995 3995 includes toe adjustment only power steering flush 7995 9495 6995 4 wheel alignment inspection with print out includes toe adjustment only 2 wheel alignment power steering rush with print out 1 3990 8995 4 wheel alignment a power steering rush with print out 17490 1 0995 jb barthau xi jewellers 6312 main st stouffville 64044i 3