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economist sunsuntribune saturday jan 17 2004 tstouftvok suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouffirille on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot letters to the editor agencies should demand answers from yellow brick house if you become a homeless woman or child or are trying to escape an abusive rela tionship in the markham and stouffville area you will be directed to yellow brick house in aurora it is one of the two womens shelters in york region the other one is sutton unfortunately some major cracks in the foundation have recently been exposed management recentiy demanded its employees vote on a collective agreement that would result in the termination of sev eral longtime frontline workers while many remaining employees would receive sub- stantial wage increases in recent years executive director filomena williams has been quoted in local papers about a lack of funding for the shel ter if this is the case why are raises being offered workers are not asking for raises would the money not be better used to do much needed repairs at the shelter it also seems management has tried to squash support for its workers from the women staying at the shelter it is time the government agencies that oversee this public foundation start demanding answers from its board of direc tors and executive director yellow brick house provides an important service to our community but right now its foundation is being shaken to the core hopefully it will not fall down mark cooper markham union reps comments on labour relations unjustified re town employees at loggerheads jan 10 comments made by canadian union of public employees business agent brian atkinson were uncalled for and unjustified who does he work for or represent the employees or municipalities it would appear he is trying to make points with municipalities by painting markham employees with a bad brush his comparison of 350 markham employees to 32000 city of toronto employees is uncalled for and unjust toward the whole 905 mem bership if there have been grievances filed then it is the unions job to adequately represent the employee by the time mr atkinson becomes involved in the situation the arbi tration process it has been authorized by a number of local union representatives opinion editor in chief advertising director debora kelly retail flyer sales business manager nicole fletcher robert lazurko advertising director director of classified real estate production events management john futhey gordpaolucci ty creates higher taxes for road repair and will inevitably decrease residential property having experienced mr atkinsons type of representation as a former cupe mem ber i can say this good luck because youll need it rick price maple mayor moved quickly to get vandorf rink operating open letter to whitchurchstouffville mayor sue sherban i would like to extend my appreciation for your prompt and speedy response to our concerns regarding the vandorf community park we in vandorf gormley appreciate your great effort in getting our skating rink in order i wish you could see the over whelming response from this area including teens and young adults the other night we had more than 30 people come out to participate in a friendly game of hockey some of the people who knew us the people who have been involved with the flooding and maintaining of the rink thanked us for bringing it all together for them we feel it has been a great success so far i truly believe we chose the right per son for our mayor please extend our appreciation to kelly batt brian tew and leisure services director tom graham for getting the job done so quickly john berenguer vandorf york region needs integrated rapid transit system york region has a population equivalent to edmonton ottawa and calgary what is quite dissimilar is those urban centres have integrated rapid transit sys tems over the last decade southern york region has grown exponentially employment is competing statistically with torontos central business district yet it offers fewer transportation alternatives municipalities with effective transit sys tems function more efficiently in that light york plans to create a rapid transit system which will begin operation in 2005 a publicprivate sector consortium will enhance our civic surroundings while reducing the financial burden on taxpayers and the region will control all assets with the authority to establish fares and service lev els its no secret elected officials have been challenged by increased traffic from new development this traffic decreases air and water quali- values public transit is a fundamental invest ment for the future it also confronts the north america mentality that the automo bile is the primary source of transportation studies have shown an effective transit system substantially alleviates congestion this would enhance the quality of life kirk sutherland markham tolls should offset damage done by vehicles re liberals may be able to keep 407 promise editorial jan 8 i use hwy 407 and i agree with the economist sunsuntribunes stance motorists ought not to criticize toll hikes when usage is on the rise each of us chooses whether or not to use hwy 407 with its long exit ramps and gradual curves the 407 is a wellengineered safe high way certainly as tolls rise drivers will question just how much this safety and convenience is worth fair enough if some drivers opt out in general toll highways have a big potential benefit they communicate and pass on more of the true total costs of driving in the form of costs borne by our environ ment from toxic vehicle emissions directly to motorists themselves in ontario however much of this poten tial benefit was thrown away for good when the tory government sold the highway to private interests since that time toll proceeds which if the 407 had remained in public hands could have been used to fund public transit infra structure plant trees in urban areas and build wmdmills to generate clean renew able energy for our homes are instead fun nelled to foreign corporate interests in other words 407 tolls levied on motorists are not spent on compensating for the envi ronmental damage done by us drivers the provincial liberals are now tempted to wrestle with 407 management over toll levels what a waste of our governments time my advice to dalton mcguinty let the 407 owners do what they want with tolls as long as they honour their con tractual obligations i predict tolls can climb a lot higher without overall usage shrinking convert 400series highways in ontario to toll roads but keep them in government hands i would happily pay 15 to drive up hwy 400 on a friday afternoon if i knew toll proceeds were funding initiatives to reduce our damaging and unsustainable reliance on motor vehicle usage bruce rhodes richmond hill letters policy the stouffville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number rame and address the tribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the tribune 9 heritage rd markham on l3p1m3 email letters9econsuncom editorial editor jim mason newsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane jtflncyi7igcom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom classified manager ann campbell acampbeuymgcom real estate manager mike rogerson mrogersonyrngcom production production manager pam nichols pnicholsymgcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilymgcom york region events managing director debra weller dwellerymgcom shows manager staceyallen sallenymgcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052942100 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified i-800- 7433353 fix 8534626 distribution 9052948244 33bim canadian ontario press circulations aodit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing lid a vtodyowned subsidiary ojtorstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hm and thornha vaughan crraen markham economist 4 son stouffville suntribune georgia advocate york regfon business times north of the oty yorkregwncom and york regan printing