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economist suntribune thursday july u 2002 stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 publisher iar proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly director of advertising debra weller editor classified manager jim mason ann campbell production manager retail sales manager pam nichols stephen mathieu distribution manager inside sales manager barry black stacey allen electronic business manager communications robert lazurko manager office manager john futhey vivian oneil editorial hard to sympathize with toronto trash woes torontos 16day garbage strike is giving city residents a dose of stinking reality those mounds of trash bags lining their streets packing their parks rilling the air with the sickeningly sweet stench of ripe garbage cooking in the searing heat are giving them an upclose and personal view of what they have been infucting on york region for nearly two decades after it became clear toronto council was incapable of dealing effectively with the labour issue torontos medical officer of health finally asked the province to order 25000 city employees back to work the legislature is to be reconvened today but ndp leader howard hampton said his party will stall backtowork legislation possibly for more than a week in the meantime the only ones in toronto enjoying the summer are the rats and seagulls the residents of maple who have lived with the keele valley dump since 1983 know just what toronto residents are going through they know all about foul odours dust seagulls and trucks rumbling around the neighbourhood they know what its like to be powerless against a confused ineffectual toronto council that cant agree on an effective strategy for dealing with garbage so they just let it pile higher and higher they know what its like to turn to the province for a solution only to find the obvious answer being stalled by political manoeuver- ing toronto residents will have to excuse their maple neighbours if they cant work up much sympathy toronto has proven to be no friend of the environment at least with matters north of steeles avenue the landfill built on the edge of the oak ridges moraine over an aquifer was scheduled to close long ago the city used a lift piling the garbage higher to keep the dump open to 2000 then extended it to 2002 then in june 2000 councillors tried to extend the dumps life to 2006 that was shot down by queens park earlier this year toronto mayor mel lastman tried to use the threat of keeping the dump open as a tactic to get more money from queens park maybe the past few weeks will give them a collective kick in the backside for their out-of- sight outofmind attitude toward trash opinion letters to the editor kinsmen kinettes seeking lost alumni and closed branches the kinsmen and kinette clubs of canada are seeking to find lost alumni and information on clubs that have for various reasons closed their doors your readers can be a great source of information to us in this search we are looking for the names addresses and any other pertinent information your readers can supply about relatives friends neighbours or coworkers who have been previously associated with a kinsmen kinette k40 or kette club whether they belonged to a club last year or 50 years ago we would like to find them to respond please contact me at the club headquarters 18007425546 ext 213 ore- mail to rporrittkinclubsca reneporritt project coordinator alumni services kinsmen kinette clubs of canada cambridge ontario hydro debt retirement charges a bitter pil to swallow there is a debt retirement charge called payments in lieu of taxes pils on our elec tricity bills pils are imposed by the energy competition act and are in essence proxy taxes this money will go toward paying down the debt left by the former ontario hydro in my may bill the debt retirement charge pil is 267 the rate is currently 0007per kwh will this rate remain the same or will it increase over time while this may seem to be a small charge collectively from all consumers the amount will be huge did we the consumers create this debt did we the consumers agree to give the hydro ceo and board such sweetheart remuneration bonuses and retirement packages did we the consumers hire this high salaried ceo the answer to all of these questions is a big no will we the consumers have to pay this pil indefinitely if ontario hydro had so much money that it can afford to pay the ceo and board such extravagant remuneration then it can afford to repay the stranded debt of the for mer ontario hydro i protest this charge we the consumers should not have to pay it this is a bitter pil to swallow amy y thompson markham letters policy stouffville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the newspaper reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham 0ntl3plm3 email lettersoeconsuncom stouffville tribune serving the community since 1888 ess dde canadian circulations 1 audit board member ontario press council canadian publications mail product sales agreement 1403419 subscription rates by mail 1 year 6955 itiursdays only stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajaxpickering news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independent acton free press kingston this week lindsay this week midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mississauga news newmarket- aurora georgina erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver oakville shopping news orillia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week peterborough this week richmond hillthomhillvaughan liberal scarborough mirror stouffville tribune todays seniois uxbridge tribune and city of york guardian phone 95 6402612 fax 905 2941538 classified i8oo7433353 distribution 905 2948244 d laributionccoasuncom telephone 905 2942200 416 7987624 fax 905 2941538 email newsroomeconsuncom dave teetzel omb running out of patience with environmentalists why cant municipal govern ments at least try to protect more green space from development you hear that question a lot in york region because the situation arises in all corners of the region a piece of land is judged to be envi ronmentally significant the land is owned by a developer who wants to build on it planners say theres nothing that can be done to stop it council gives the green light residents complain the town should have tried its luck at the ontario municipal board a recent case in markham offers some explanation of why towns dont sixteenth- warden limited wanted to build 44 homes between two rouge river streams near warden and 16th avenues this plan was opposed by the town the neighbouring residents and save the rouge valley system the environmental group was lobby ing for a wider environmental buffer to protect the habitat of the redside dace an endangered minnow long story short the developer won and save the rouge was ordered to pay the developer 10000 omb chairperson penny wyger ruled the group failed to comply with board procedure which resulted in an ineffi cient process that wasted a great deal of the boards time and the parties time ms wyger noted many of the con cerns expressed by the witnesses for srv were speculative and without merit do you get the feeling the real point of this judgment is to slap down uppity environmentalists who keep gumming up the approval process with longshot bids to protect obscure wildlife im sure glenn debaeremaeker wouldnt put it that way but he did say the ruling was meant to teach save the rouge valley a lesson for saying the omb should be abolished but regardless of how arbitrary and undemocratic the omb is it still holds the power to say yay or nay to any devel opment and to penalize anyone it decides is being frivolous the redside dace case could be seen as a warning the omb has had enough of politically correct tolerance for the viewpoints of environmentalists it will accept only hard and fast data based on sound planning principles understand that in the blinkered view of omb types do the right thing its the only planet we have and you cant eat money are not compelling arguments the ombs idea of a com pelling argument is so technical and complicated as to be incomprehensible to anyone but a professional planner that leaves municipalities and devel opers as the only ones who can play this game by upping the stakes the omb is making it more likely local governments will fold when their planners tell them to ft frtftttijrjjjt1 ryjr ajijt fl trm 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