Letter- Missed opportunity

Posted October 6, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

To the editor: Retailers in Thunder Bay are missing an economic opportunity from many physically challenged people, seniors and those suffering from other mobility-limiting health issues. Recently after vacationing in the U.S I realized just how important maintaining my independence was. I was able to freely shop in the big chain grocery stores, malls, home building and department stores. Here at home only a few stores offer motorized chairs or wheelchairs. Our bigger stores such as grocery stores and malls fail to understand that individuals still want and need to independently shop. Not all people have someone to assist them. In Wal-Mart’s remodeling of their store they have secured a fleet of four new motorized chairs. In our community, a few other stores have gotten on board. It’s great to offer wheelchairs but remember that a second party to assist may be required, which would lessen one’s level of independence.  I now fall into this category and have noted that when I am able to shop, I only shop at stores offering this specialized service and I tend to spend more money because I am positioned (using a motorized chair with a handy basket) to cruise each department at a comfortable turtle speed with ease and comfort. Other businesses should consider providing this service. If security is a concern, have those depending on using a special chair sign in, leave a document such as a health card, driver’s license or pay a fee upfront that would be refunded upon the return of the chair.  For many of us who depend on our retail stores to recognize and value our business, we applaud you. Our city is represented not only by the landscape of new buildings and waterfront property, it includes people who share their compassion, respect and sensitivity to others.  Many residents and visitors to our city will certainly thank you in advance for providing the tools that would allow them to continue to independently shop in Thunder Bay, the city with the Big Heart.  

Joan Kulmala, Thunder Bay

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Letter – Time for a change

Posted October 4, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

To the editor: With the municipal election upon us, it is time to review the actions of the mayor and city councillors.  As we look at the destruction of Marina Park, several questions arise.  To start with have the members of the waterfront development committee really served the citizens of Thunder Bay?  The waterfront development committee has stated that the infill of the harbour expanded the recreation area by 9,000 square metres at Prince Arthur’s Landing.   But did Marina Park really get bigger? In July 2009, the City of Thunder Bay officially sold 2.65 acres (10,724 square metres) of land in the middle of Marina Park to the developers for the purpose of building a hotel and condominiums A little math shows that the public space in the park actually shrank by over 1,700 square metres.  The recreation area in the park will be smaller, much smaller, when you add the loss of several hundred more square metres of land along the new fence line.  If you look closely, you will notice that the fancy new fence was built about a metre inside of the existing fence line, apparently to keep it on city property.  The total loss of recreation land at Marina Park is over 2,000 square metres.  This is a conservative estimate, as the new settling pond required for the hotel/condo development will take out another few hundred square metres of parkland and the CN Station has been leased for 99 years, taking it out of the public domain. There are more questions to be asked about the cost of the waterfront redevelopment.  A little more math shows the real costs of this so-called development on taxpayers.  In August, 2009, city council approved a contract for the infill of the waterfront and covering up of the docks for $8,414,164.  A couple of weeks later, city council approved a tender for the sewer and water servicing for $2,542,861.  That’s a total of $10,957,025.   The city is to be paid the paltry sum of $662,500 for the land in the agreement with the developers.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the net cost to the taxpayers. The fact is that taxpayers will have paid a net amount of over $10 million to create and service land for developers not to create additional recreation land.  This travesty continues. Marina Park is on a known brownfield – land contaminated by over a century of toxins from being a terminus for the railway and shipping. On Oct. 4, council will debate the costs of an additional tender for the remediation of this land, which is rumoured to be over $1 million.  Will the councillors do their job and question why the city is paying the costs to remediate this land?  Will they ask why this particular hotel development land is the city’s cost, when the council refused to pay for $300,000 to share the costs of remediating the land for a proposed Marriot Hotel at the corner of the Harbourview Expressway and Carrick Street?  Why is one hotel developer being favoured over another one?    Where were the voices of our elected representatives in these decisions?  Why did they not do the math before squandering millions of taxes on the Mistake by the Lake? City council members of the waterfront committee are: Mayor Lynn Peterson and Couns. Mark Bentz, Aldo Ruberto, Brian McKinnon, Joe Viridamo and Andrew Foulds.  Only Couns. Larry Hebert and Linda Rydholm have questioned this dubious use of tax dollars in a depressed economy. All citizens need to think carefully about our choices for mayor and councillors in the next election.  Can we afford to re-elect the incumbents who have saddled us with a massive new debt and given away public land that was developed for our city by previous councils?  What kind of councillors do we want next time?  Make sure your vote counts for a mayor and councillors whose decisions make sense, not nonsense.
 

Heather Woodbeck, Thunder Bay

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Letter: Bylaw changes favour construction, real-estate companies

Posted September 1, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

To the editor:
So once again the council will show that it is in service to local real estate developers and the construction industry by removing any input from people in the neighbourhood and allowing unrestricted development.
While I applaud the intention of increasing the residential density in the city, to allow multiplex housing to be put up anywhere will not facilitate this and removing the ability of residents in the immediate area to have any input will only breed contempt for the whole process.
I would urge council to turn this back to administration with instructions to come back with a comprehensive plan on slowly replacing aging neighbourhoods particularly near the downtown cores with modern high density, energy efficient housing that creates the kind of public and private places that people want to actually live and not simply provide rental income for the city’s slumlords.
Sometimes it is not the responsibility of government to come up with grandiose projects but merely to administer what is already there efficiently and responsibility for the benefit of everyone not just the influential few.

John Brewer,

Thunder Bay

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Letter: Metre maid

Posted August 26, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

To the editor: In his letter to Thunder Bay Source on Aug.13, Steve Safronuk calls attention to the term “cubic metre” on his water bill. He goes on to say that a metre is used for distance and a litre is used for volume. While he is correct he should know that a cubic metre is also volume. It’s a cube one metre high, one metre wide and one metre deep. In fact a litre is defined as a cubic decimetre. They are using correct terminology. I learned that in Grade 3.
 

Tony Gallo Thunder Bay

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Letter: City overspending

Posted August 26, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

To the editor: I was glad to see John Brewer’s “Feeling ignored” and Andy Wolff’s “It’s as bad as it seems” letters to the editor in last week’s edition of Thunder Bay Source. I especially agree with their points on how the city overspends on mega projects, has poor planning, how its citizens’ opinions are ignored, and especially how “the city is not being run for their benefit … it seems to be run for the benefit of the local construction industry” City council seems to have champagne tastes, but doesn’t seem to realize the vast majority of us are on a beer budget.  Most of us don’t have their white-collar jobs, there are less with blue collar jobs and many of these have cut back hours.  Many more citizens are working several Mcjobs.  It is well past time for the mayor and city council to take off their rose coloured glasses. If either Mr. Brewer or Mr. Wolff decides to run for city council, they have my vote.

Will Scheibler, Thunder Bay

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Letter: Number crunching

Posted August 24, 2010 by ThunderBayClassifieds.ca in Thunder Bay News | No comments yet

To the editor: In an article published in Thunder Bay Source Aug. 13, 2010 (Candidates not numerous), city clerk John Hannam says acclamations are rare in Thunder Bay, and that it’s unusual in Ontario for a city of this size to have any acclamations.  Mr. Hannam also states that “our average for the number of at large candidates is 19.5, so 19 or 20 are typical. The information from Mr. Hannam is vastly different than the information I extracted from the official election results distributed from City Hall to all candidates in each election and I have copies of them all since amalgamation. In the past 10 elections there have been nine acclamations, so how does Mr. Hannam see this as rare? The list of acclamations is as follows:   – 1980 – Joe Vanderwees,  – 1985 – Betty Kennedy and J.D. Polhill – 1988 – Ray Wainio and Al Laakkonen  – 1991 – Dick Waddington - 2000 – Bill Mauro  – 2006 Mark Bentz and Linda Rydholm Many so-called political experts state the ward system offers a newcomer the best opportunity to get elected because it is more affordable to the candidate and much easier to campaign in a ward than at large. Then the question is, why are there so many ward acclamations in Thunder Bay? Why the reluctance to run in a ward? The actual number of at-large candidates since its inception in 1985 are as follows:
- 1985: 18, - 1988: 10,   – 1991: 14,   – 1994: 18,   – 1997: 23, - 2000: 13,  – 2003: 20,  – 2006: 15 That’s a total of 131, which divided by eight elections equals an average of 16.4, not 19.5.
 

Lawrence Timko Candidate, McKellar Ward

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