Madhunt Publishing Company
Alliston, Ontario
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Madhunt Publishing Company
founded March 22, 1999.

New Tecumseth Free Press Online
First Posted April 30, 1999

To email: Tony Veltri .

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'No written promise in the amalgamation agreement'

to the editor,

The submission from Beeton to Council regarding their proposal to replace Beeton Arena is as farsighted as it is shortsighted. The whole issue of replacing the Town's facilities is more than 50 years too late.

The Canadian Hockey Association and the National Hockey organizations take huge sums of money out of every small town's pockets so when are they going to put back into these same communities to enable them to sustain the best structured recreational winter program in Canada and the very essence of the game ice hockey arenas.

The most recent attempt to set in motion the Mayor's initiative for the minor sports fundraising was a public committee which was recently abandoned because not enough people showed up to meetings.

The issues leading to that decision was that the few parties that expressed interest in the project had difficulties formalizing in their minds how the funds were to be divvied up between the local organizations let alone the question of which urban community should have first dibbs.

While Beeton has gotten of their mark first as far as Tottenham and itself are concerned in this matter but somewhere in this mass of budget deliberations a cool million has been set aside for upgrading the Tottenham recreation centre. Could that be the last drop in the New Tecumseth Hydro Fund bucket?

Did I not read that the Development charges were to repay the monies used by the Town for non recreational or cultural projects were to be deposited to replenish this very same fund? Or, is that a smoke and mirrors kind of phrase that is local government-speak that gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling about the Town's future cultural and recreational programs?

If the promised report on the Town's future recreational needs are, is twice as clear as the previous one, it will be just full of a great deal of the usual gobblie gook government-speak phrases that will leave us all either mesmerized with its brilliance or total lost for words.

This last week it was reported in a Toronto major newspaper the very same plight confronts not only the GTA Dept of Recreation but all across Ontario as well as Canada in regards to replacing or even updating our outdated inventory of arenas. The most recent rink in the GTA owned and operated by the GTA Rec Dept. was built in the 1960s.

The whole question of funding both culture and recreation facilities in small town Canada as in New Tecumseth, Ontario will only be resolved and move forward if all three levels of government commit massive infrastructure [make-work] program and funding. Now who do we know that is the Fed's Minister of Sport? I wonder what original ideas that the Hon. Helena Geurgis has on this pressing matter.

It will also require towns like New Tecumseth to rationalize there needs in terms of the total population and not based on localized urban politics and our councillors need to be the most popular and re-electable.

There was no written promise in the amalgamation agreement as far as most of us know that promised all four parties they would be able to have and to hold for life their very own assets such as arenas for all times. There were no tablets brought down from the Mount by Moses or our mayor of the day in this regard and so let us be totally frank and brutally honest, New Tecumseth, Beeton, Tottenham and Alliston are not the promised land of recreational facilities.

Let us ponder on the proposed fundraising proposal of a $100,000 per annum for a moment. It is a very substantial commitment and for 10 years and is it our understanding of these very fine list of signatories to the proposal that these funds are to be raised within just the Beeton catchment area or do I suppose correctly that the net will be to cover out over all of New Tecumseth?

Why would north New Tecumseth be prepared to donate funds to Beeton or for that matter Tottenham. And, again why would Beeton's ice hockey arena/recreation centre needs come before others, such as Summer outdoor field sports whether they are centred in Allsiton or Tottenham?

The Town currently has four arena buildings that are operational. One of them arena is being used for indoor tennis whilst another includes an indoor fieldhouse. Beeton's is 60 years old and decrepit.

To cover off Beeton's future pressing needs for ice the Town has to seriously commit to ice the surface currently used for soccer which can be switched to a partnership in a retrofitted Memorial Arena on Nelson Street, West in Alliston..

It would be the very best idea for the immediate future needs and a solution is that the one million that has been ear marked for Councillor Jess Prothero would be to update and twin Tottenham arena. This would initially providing sufficient ice surfaces and time that both Tottenham & Alliston would share equitably with Beeton while their rink could be retro fitted as a fully operational recreation and cultural centre. centrally located for the whole Town of New Tecumseth.

The last block in the puzzle is to consider what is the realistic sustainable fee schedule for all recreational and cultural facilities and that the absurd practice of taking capital funds from the New Tecumseth Hydro fund or property taxes in order to subsidize the Department of Recreation's only obvious source of income and future funding out of profits for our new facilities, arena, playing fields with same facilities as our arenas.

At the sametime, I want to offer my congratulations to the Alliston Hornets organization and the loyal supporting cast of volunteers on their magnificent winning of the league championship and run through the Ontario finals. Go Hornets Go all the Way.

Gordon McInnes,
Alliston