Oh my, it looks as though I've kicked a beehive. Be that as it may, I can not resist the opportunity to clarify my position on the subject and, perhaps, gently shed a little light on some assumptions made about me. I am a long-time resident of Oakville having moved here in 1973. I lived on Tansley Drive and used to babysit for some of the Toronto Blue Jays that moved into those "new" townhouses. Remember the baby blue Honda Civics with the team logo on the door? I do in fact remember that north of the QEW was, for the most part, farmland. I used to spend many happy hours trap shooting at the Oakville Rod and Gun Club. The club located near Upper Middle Road and Sixth Line is now the Oakville Legion.

I was a student at Queen Elizabeth Park and graduated there in 1978. It has since been closed and rezoned for housing. During high school I worked at the senior citizens' residence on Lakeshore Road in Bronte. That was when Bronte was pronounced Bronny and not Bron-tay. After high school I worked as a waiter at the County Club -- it's now a financial services office after the fire. I also used to work at the Dairygold Cheese Factory on Speers Road, which has now been torn down. I had a part-time construction job at Tim Hortons head office on Wyecroft Road. My first apartment after high school was at the northeast corner of Kerr Street and Speers. It is now being torn down to make way for luxury condominiums.

I am not new here.

Pining away for the times when we saw cows in pastoral splendor happily munching hay along the fences of Third Line does not make our city a town. Driving along the QEW west bound during daylight, from Ford Drive to Burloak Drive, does not in any way give me a sense of a quaint little town along the shores Lake Ontario. The Tribute Homes Condominium project south east of Sixth Line and Dundas will be a town on its own. The new hospital and all the new housing that is going to be built along Dundas Street north to Burnhamthorpe Road somehow diminishes that small town feeling in me.

The love of our city is universal among our residents. Everything that makes Oakville highly livable and lovable has given us so many reasons to call this place home. We have much to appreciate and celebrate. Our history, heritage and architecture are sturdy foundations to build upon. You townies can call this city a town 'til the day you die, but it does not change the fact that we are a city.

It will be a happy day when we will rename Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth lines to proper street names. How about Donovan Bailey Boulevard, or Otto Jelinek Road, or Larry Cain Avenue, or Sandra Post Street?

Oh, and by the way, when I pay my taxes I write City of Oakville on the cheque. You might not believe that we live in a city, but the folks at City Hall who cash my cheque know the truth!

Steve Edgar