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economist suntribune opinion thursday aug 15 2002 is stouffville only for wealthy families my house is so small when i have company i have to leave my little cottage near the lake measures 900 square feet the lot is about 140 feet deep the frontage is 45 feet i bought the property for two reasons it was affordable and i knew i could turn it into a home when it comes to provid ing adequate housing whitchurchstouffville has failed you can work in this town but you cant afford to live here theres little affordable accommodation for young people starting out for sin gles like myself or for seniors wantingneeding to down size as for lowincome fami lies and landed immigrants including refugees the message is clear take a hike my girlfriends daughter and her partner grew up in stouffville and would dearly love to lower their anchor here despite having saved about 35000 for a down payment houses in whit churchstouffville are out of their reach they are in their early 30s work in the service industry and earn about 53000 between them while they can wait on you hand and foot they cant live next door to you they feel snubbed other friends a retired couple had a plan sell their threebed room home in stouffville and buy a onebedroom condominium they had their eye on the seniors development slat ed for downtown on duffins creek trouble is after three years of red tape the project never got off the ground the couple has moved to aurora im not the only single woman living in musselmans lake the ham let is one of a very few places in whitchurchstouffville offering small affordable housing lake property is ideal for singles we buy the cottages and over time rum them into homes during the last two months i covered public hearings dealing with devel opers plans to build about 4000 new homes in whitchurchstouffville over the next 15 years the meetings attracted large crowds as was expect ed residents are not faying out the welcome mat they dont want whit- we do not tolerate landed immigrants struggling young couples with unplanned pregnancies waitresses mechanics store clerks joan ransberry churchstouffville to grow people object to small lot sizes anything with less than a 50foot frontage is a nono as well if the house isnt big it wont fit in people want big houses on big lots occupied by small families they want a mom and a dad and 12 kids a dogs ok providing its small and doesnt bark or poop at these meetings resi dents played the old draw bridge game it has one rule move in and pull up the drawbridge preventing any one else from getting in the words density and traffic congestion and lifestyle were endlessly repeated developers either pulled a noshow or avoided offering critical information such as how much would one of these small homes sit ting on a small lot cost lets be totally honest said one 12yearold this is not about affordable hous ing this is about how much money the developers can make did the child touch a nerve maybe however down the road this child had better stay clear of the service industry in order to call whit churchstouffville home in a decade or so she will have to be part of a fam ily that has an income in the 100000 a- year range so far so good we in whitchurchstouffville stand proud we do not tolerate landed immigrants strug gling young couples with unplanned pregnancies waitresses landscapers mechanics store clerks sen iors on fixed incomes or newspaper reporters living next door we dont let such riff raff buy houses in our beloved whitchurchstouffville we price them out with our 50- foot lot requirements we go to public hearings and play the drawbridge game we make so much noise the council of the day dances to our tune fur oldfashioned cabbage rolls cabbage rolls are a hot item in our store i imagine its because theyre so timeconsuming to make that few people make them at home whatever the reason they dont last long in our freezer especially when js bsflf a theyre one of this weeks 1 i features so come early and fm jhw l get them while they last m fb am container of 4 jisra w this reg 1095 mm jr week f new zealand range roughie this is one of the most flavourful and versatile whitefleshed fish available the fillets which are boneless come in generous jfh gpif a 70 off serving sizes and are just the thing to have if youre planning an indulgent dessert reg 1295 lb this week luebermes from northern ontario were into the plentiful part of the season when these become more reasonable in price so if you like to make pies or just have some frozen away in reserve for baking or snacking its a good week to buy these in the 11 qt size they freeze easily and keep a long long time 11 qt basket 15 lbs mrbakeryn has the blues us week mwpl we were just cruising along minding our own business when out of the blue came an avalanche of wild blueberries what had originally looked like a bleak year with blueberries has suddenly turned into a bumper crop and they all ripened at the same time so to make a long story short were baking blues this week weld blueberry custard cakes these are the ultimate coffee or tea cake wild blueberryalmond tarte its got a cooked blueberry filling with a hint of lemon in a toasted almond shortbread crust sprinkled with fresh blueberries and toasted almonds s wild blueberry and white chocolate cheese care really good wild blueberry scones wild blueberry lemon loaves this is my favourite v s wild blueberry pies with either our butter streusel or pastry top all at off these regular prices seedless grapes well have a good deal happening this week on both our thompson seedless and our red seedless grapes the california crop is in full swing and these eat really well from california lb this week mpperettes weve made a lot of these this week for our ad theyve got some heat theyre best with a beer in the other hand so i hear and theyre full of flavour king james plumsmums reg 129 100 g ea this week village grocer quality foods i love summer fruit its pretty much the high point of my produce life you can give me cherries any day over spinach on my monday trip to the produce terminal a couple of friends and i were talking shop and they asked if wehad bought the king james plums theyre a black plum with red flesh and they eat like candy when our coffee was done the first thing i did was buy some and my friend bryce is right theyre black and they do eat like candy and theyre quite large too aree jub t t ripened lb while they last fall well be receiving our fall mums early next week but well have to clear out any remaining plants and flowers at the store and ive instructed our flower ladies to do whatever they must to have them gone by the time i get back from our family getaway on sunday weve got a few hibiscus in bloom or soon to be in bloom a few larger ones for indoors a few bougainvillea some ivys indoor as well and some stragglers mm cookies weve made enough of these to keep all of our young shoppers happy this week well have the packs and larger singles which and 149 each off this week incidentally are a full quarter pound each specials in effect until closing sunday august 18 hours mon 1000500 tuesthurs 900700 fri 900800 sat 900600 sun 1000500 548 carlton road 9401770