The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 38

TUESDAY, APRIL (, 2004 it. 1 jr Welfare maze needs fixing Finding realistic ways to solve major social problems is far more useful than merely identifying them, but too few social scientists seem to realize that. The latest example is a report from three professors, including one at Carleton University, on how poorly Ontario's welfare system treats women fleeing abusive relationships. W9 JtANLEVAC, IHtOllAWAOIIIZbN when they have been charged with a crime. Why? Because there are none in the province.

The 13-year-old girl who is charged with assault is attempting to her psychiatric problems with four different medications, but she is sitting in a youth jail. This is the second case in the last few months and nothing has been done about the issue. The government needs to realize that this lack of facilities needs to be fixed. Patients as young as 12 should receive the care they need so that they do not remain depressed and suicidal for the rest of their lives, or worse, kill themselves before they finish high school. The government needs to do something about this, and soon.

CAITLIN WALL, Ottawa City takes more, gives less Re: No representation without taxation, April 2. Councillor Clive Doucet has a lot of nerve in his opinion article portraying rural councillors as undemocratic while he defends amalgamation. In my nearly 50 years, no single issue has ever called out for democratic process as much as amalgamation, a fundamental change in the way we were governed. Yet former premier Mike Harris knew that the people of Ottawa-Carleton would never have voted in favour of amalgamation, so he forced it upon us without a referendum. With the 6.5-per-cent tax increase that council slipped through last year and this year's 2.9-per-cent increase, tax increases have outpaced inflation since amalgamation.

At the same time, we had service cuts immediately after amalgamation and further jts in this year's budget. The city takes more and more, and delivers less and less. It's time for councillors such as Mr. Doucet to admit that amalgamation has been a failure. Instead of pointing fingers at rural councillors, he should be championing the cause of de-amalgamation.

Then, he, rural constituents and the people of greater Ottawa-Carleton will all be happier. RICHARD DEViTT, Nepean Let the voters decide Re: McGarry would limit mayoral terms, APRIL 2. Politicians' tenures should remain up to the voters to decide in the ballot box. If a politician needs to be replaced but is determined to remain, it's up to other citizens in the ward to organize, choose someone among themselves and join together to defeat the incumbent. If the ers continue to elect incompetent politicians, it is because the opposition either has not chosen a presentable and persuasive candidate, or because the opposition is fragmented among supporters of a multitude of opponents who are too self-absorbed to coalesce for a common purpose.

I object to Brian McGarry's musings about why "centre-left" politicians might tend "to hang around a long time" while "business people have to get back to their careers." Perhaps, for the centre-left people, the public interest comes first in their list of priorities. If they have impressed their constituents with their conscientiousness and devotion, then surely the voters are not wrong to keep re-electing them. I don't mind if politicians stay around long enough to become skilful and prudent in their defence of the public interest. RICHARD HOOE MACY, Ottawa Paula Bedard says Lynn Sax berg's review of David Bowie's concert seemed to go out of its way to ignore the music. Bowie concert needed a review, but got a fashion critique Women who have left abusers are supposed to be exempt from some of the rules, but the researchers found they often don't know that.

The researchers are right to recommend that welfare recipients be helped to understand the program they're depending on. They're right to recommend an increase in welfare benefits, which the Tories cut 21.6 per cent in 1995 and never raised for inflation. It's not fair to penalize recipients for un-proven fraud. It's bad policy to claw back earned income dol-lar-for-dollar, giving welfare recipients little positive incentive to find work. But there's little in the report to prove that some of their other recommendations are based on anything other than ideology.

One says that welfare rates "should not only meet basic sustenance needs but should allow for equitable participation in "eliminate the mandatory work requirement," another says; "more subsidized housing units are needed and these units need to be more welcoming to women," says a third. These are multibillion-dollar ideas, sung out from an ideological hymnal with no direct evidence that they'd work, or even that they'd be needed if unjust rules were fixed. The authors of the study dc. their own research, and the women they care about, a disservice with overreaching conclusions. OTTAWA CITIZEN The four-year study, supported by $74,500 in federal grants, shows that since Conservative reforms in the late 1990s, the welfare system has been nearly impossible for abused women to navigate.

It then leaps directly from identifying the problem to a 34-point solution that could be expressed in just two: boost benefits and loosen the rules. None of the resumes of the researchers invalidates their findings, but their backgrounds do cast doubt on the impartiality of their hunt for solutions. Janet Mosher is a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School who also works at a community legal clinic in Toronto's poor Parkdale neighbourhood. The other two researchers are Queen's University political scientist (and self-described anti-poverty activist) Margaret Little and Carleton social-work professor Pat Evans, whose work has focused on feminist analyses of social policy. The findings are disturbing.

Most straightforward are the stories that the "snitch line" for welfare fraud is often used by abusive partners to get back at women who have left them. There's the requirement that mothers pursue the fathers of their children to get child support: as one of the women interviewed for the study points out: "You're running from him, for God's sake." Work requirements are difficult to meet amid custody battles or when an abuser makes harassing visits and phone calls. Fruits of true-blue rivalry Re: Reality bites for past-his-prime rock legend at Corel 3. After attending the David Bowie concert, I would not characterize Lynn Saxberg's article a concert review, but more a fashion commentary or artist "critique," as there was next to no review of this rock legend's performance and obviously still-legendary talent. How did she miss hearing that marvellous voice and truly musical performance? Interestingly, the crowd was comprised of persons from their late teens to mid-50s, and they all seemed to relate equally to the music.

Didn't Ms. Saxberg notice how much everyone was enjoying the "ultimate chameleon's" performance? And what about that impeccable band? I disagree with Ms. Saxberg's preference to focus on Mr. Bowie's hair and movement around the stage, rather than to illustrate why she described the band as such. Each musician was evidently a talent on his own and contributed his own element to this ensemble.

As for the choice of songs, I imagine the crowd would have been disappointed if they hadn't heard a representation of this artist's numerable hits of the past two decades. It seemed from the lack of detail in the review about the musicality of the concert, that the actual performance was of less interest to Ms. Saxberg than making the point of when a jacket was removed, or if the artist walks like his wife. PAULA BEDARD, Gatineau Unprecedented effort I am quite surprised at Lynn Saxberg's critical review of David Bowie's performance. If she could have appreciated his 32-song show, she might have cheered along with us as David Bowie threatened to turn the concert into a six-hour event! (We got halfway there anyway.) She might have laughed along with us as he interspersed his songs with his af fable humour.

David couldn't get enough and we were treated to an amazing encore. He was in top form and would outdo any performer half his age. Ottawa fans don't know how lucky they were to be given such a fantastic performance. It's really quite unprecedented, rivaling shows in the likes of Dublin and Berlin during this tour. If you want further proof, even the Toronto crowd, which was double the attendance of the Ottawa show, was only treated to 26 songs total, which proves that a bigger crowd isn't always better.

ANNA NfTSCHKE, Almonte Newer is not better Re: Somerset was a special place to see a movie, APRIL 2. I can't believe that progress is considered tearing down an old theatre so the site can be either turned into new housing or useless stores that are unnecessary for the area. It is disappointing that a new theatre was built a few blocks away from the Somerset theatre. In today's society everyone wants newer and, better things, so they would obviously go to the newer complex rather than the old one. It is disappointing that the theatre wasn't better advertised around the area because I am sure that it would have got a lot more business.

Surely it was unnecessary for the actual building to be torn down. As an old structure, it could have been turned into something historical or even a new retro movie theatre. SAMANTHA SHAW, North Gower Recurring problem Re: Suicidal girl, 13, pleads with judge for psychiatric help, APRIL 2. Ontario has a problem when youths between the ages of 12 and 15 cannot be placed in a forensic psychiatric facility ous donations to charity throughout the season.) It seems that every spring hockey fans in Ottawa and Toronto work themselves into a playoff frenzy over their Ontario rivals for the Stanley Cup. Everything from Coach Pat Quinn's quips to Leafs cheer-leading by the CBC commentators and brawling from Tie Do-mi drives fans to distraction.

Bringing a donation to a game shows that we haven't completely lost perspective. Ottawa lost a very big hockey game on the weekend, but we aren't crazed fans burning with rivalry. We can still think of those who can't afford a proper meal, let alone a ticket to the game. Besides, maybe that loss was just a ruse to make the Leafs overconfident before a big fall. OTTAWA CITIZEN Congratulations to the fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The long-suffering Leaf faithful saw their team win a conclusive regular-season victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, a resounding shutout at the Corel Centre. They also took up the challenge thrown out by Ottawa council, making a donation to the Ottawa Food Bank if they wore a blue Toronto hockey jersey into Ottawa's arena. Leafs fans, and some Senators fans too, showed up with all kinds of food donations, sometimes decorated with homemade labels. Donation boxes overflowed an hour before the game. In all, the Ottawa Food Bank collected about seen tonnes of food.

That's in addition to the $5,000 the Maple Leafs organization already donated to the food bank. (The Senators organization makes its own gener OTTAWA CITIZEN CITYDESK The Ontario government is aiming to reduce the amount of waste in landfills by diverting more to recycling. The five-year plan aims to have 60 per cent of waste recycled. We'll hear if it's attainable in our city on Ottawa Citizen Citydesk at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.

on Rogers Television Cable 22. YOUTH CULTURE LOSES AS THEATRES FADE ft-" 1-J. KATE HEARTFIELD our first movies Star Wars, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. in small theatres. We had our first dates Ghost, When Harry Met Sally, Pump Up the Volume, Do the Right Thing in small theatres.

For some of us, the theatre was the Somerset. But where the Somerset was, there will be a sorely needed grocery store expansion and apartments. Not everything that's old is worth keeping in petrified form. Better a larger grocery store than an empty old theatre. And better anything at all than an ugly old schoolhouse with boards in the windows.

In May 2001, 1 wrote on this page about the sorry state of Our Lady's School in Lowertown, whose owner had held onto it for 20 years without developing it. In 2004, Our Lady's School marks its centenary. The boards are still in the windows. It does serve one purpose: a reminder of what not to do with downtown properties. I walked past Our Lady's School to get to Chez Lucien on Murray Street the other night.

Chez Lucien has only been around two months, but it captures something of the old Lowertown sensibility. Gerry Daoust, the owner, named it after a deceased friend, a bartender at the Chateau Lafayette. The new Chez Lucien is also a tribute to a tavern called Chez Lucien, which once served the working people of Lowertown. Somehow, despite the pricey beers and the dead writers on the walls, the new Chez Lucien has something of that watering-hole feel to it. It might be the white apron on the bartender, or even the sports on the big-screen TVs.

The challenge of urban development is to balance the old and the new. Once in a while, we get it right. Ottawa freelance writer KATE HEARTFIELD appears in this space every Tuesday. a movie, or not seeing it at all. Alain Miguelez is one of themi He's a city planner, who spends his spare time researching the history of Ottawa's theatres.

His book on the subject is coming out within a year. "I tell the story of about 100 theatres, which for a city this size is pretty incredible." Mike Rivest, of Lery, goes through the old newspapers and records of North American cities looking for theatre listings, year by year. The results are on his website: www.movie-theatre.org His site lists some of the many theatres that, at various times, graced what is now central Ottawa: the Victoria, the Nola, the Elmdale, and the Westboro in the west end. The Imperial, the Odeon, the Regent, the Capitol, the Rialto and the Phoenix in Centretown. The Towne in New Edinburgh.

The Strand near Billings Bridge. The Rideau and the Francais on Rideau and Dal-housie streets. The Elgin. Place de Ville. There was the Avalon in the Glebe, "Where Sound Sounds Best." There was the Rexy on Somerset: "The Home of Talking Pictures." Imagine Sparks Street with a couple of small, quirky movie theatres.

The Bytowne is one of a very few things keeping Rideau Street from the doldrums. It's hard, picturing all those red curtains opening on a Saturday night, not to think of the central Ottawa of 50 years ago or even 25 as a much more interesting place to be a young person. Mine is the last generation to have come of age in the single-screen movie theatre. We iaw Inevitable, but sad nonetheless. One more symbol of the slowly eroding culture of our slowly eroding youth.

The loss of Ottawa's movie theatres is, in large part, a neighbourhood-specific loss. Small movie theatres once mushroomed downtown. Now they are a thing of the past. And downtown Ottawa has an uneasy relationship with the past. There are still mainstream theatres at the World Exchange Plaza and Rideau Centre malls.

And there are the two old single-screen holdouts: the May-fair Theatre (Bank Street and Sunnyside Avenue), and the Nelson, now revived as the independent Bytowne Cinema (Rideau and Nelson streets). But downtown residents these days ften have to decide between trekking to a big box in a suburban parking lot to see At Chez Lucien, a new bar in Lowertown, a friend mentioned something she'd seen from the window of the Number 2 bus that day. "They've demolished the Somerset Theatre," she said. There was a moment of silence, an intake of breath, as though we'd all just been kicked in the guts. We knew the demolition was coming.

The Somerset, built in 1937, has been closed for four years. But we'd let it slip our minds. Another movie theatre gone. SUBMISSIONS We welcome opinion articles on local matters or personal experiences of interest to other readers. Contact: Patrick Dare, City Editorial Fages Editor, at 596-3718.

E-mail: Cityeditthecitizen.canwest.cc Fax: 726-5858. Mail: City editorial page, 1101 Baxter Ottawa, Ontcrio, Canada, K2C3M4. LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR We welcome Letters to the Editor, which must be exclusive to The Ottawa Citizen. Please include your home as well as telephone number, for verification. Mail: Letters to the Editor, Ottawa Citizen, liCi Baxter Ottawa, Ont.

K2C 3M4 Fax: E-mail: lettersthecitlzen.canwest.com Citizen Online: www.ottawacitizen.com Letters Editor: Kurt Johnson, 596-3785. 'J mi 1 a ease.