Blog Posts - OSHAWA ROSEMARY

OSHAWA ROSEMARY

Oshawa's New Accessible Beach Mats at Lakeview Park!

7/15/2019

As the Council representative on the Oshawa Accessibility Advisory Committee (OAAC) I can attest to the great excitement and pleasure the OAAC members and I experienced at Lakeview Park for the official launch of the Accessible Beach Mats July 11, 2019.

Lisa Hart, the 2019 OAAC Chair and a wonderful champion for a barrier-free Oshawa, when testing out the beach mats gave an uplifting response, captured by reporter Reka Szekely in the Oshawa This Week newspaper article: "“I got my feet wet, I’m just so darn happy to get my feet wet," she said as she dipped her toes, clad in pink Crocs, into the water."

The 6' wide beach mats will increase enjoyment of the beach and make mobility to the water easier for people using wheelchairs, scooters or strollers. They lead from the the boardwalk across from the accessible parking spaces in the beach parking lot at the end of Simcoe St. S. with one continuing into the water and another extending perpendicular to the east. They are highly visible and portable, and after Labour Day weekend will be stored for use again next summer season. This fall the OAAC will review feedback received and what adjustments may need to be made to further improve accessibility at the city's waterfront. To share concerns/ideas/suggestions please email the City at access@oshawa.ca

In addition to inspecting the new accessible beach mats, the OAAC members continued along the waterfront trail to conduct scheduled accessibility audits of both Harbour Park and Lakeview Park that same afternoon. Check out the video showing Lisa checking out the accessibility of the playground equipment.

Oshawa Downtown Streetscape Changes

6/29/2019

Oshawa Downtown Streetscape Proposed Changes. Kindly give your feedback on the Phase 2 study (focus is on widening the sidewalk on the north side of King St. E. between Simcoe St. and Ontario St. to allow more space for pedestrians, landscaping and outdoor patios/cafes. Note: Phase 1 was approved in 2018 and is to be completed (King St. E north sidewalk widening between Ontario St and Mary St.) Impact: all 12 parking spaces on the north side of King Street E. will be removed year round.

Help ensure the best plan is developed and implemented: On Wed., July 10th 8-9 am; 11:30-1:30; & 5-7:30 pm drop-in and share feedback directly with City staff, front lobby of La Quinta Inns, 63 King Street E.
For more info visit https://connectoshawa.ca/streetscape and take the on-line SURVEY https://connectoshawa.ca/streetscape?tool=survey_tool#tool_tab

Delegations denied by City Clerk with no opportunity for an appeal to Council

6/23/2019

I would like to have a vote on this...and am still attempting to find a way.

As an elected member of Oshawa Council I am 100% in support of voting 'yes' to allow citizens to speak to Council.

The City Clerk has written two individuals that their delegation requests for the Monday June 24th Council meeting are denied as certain sections of the Council Procedural By-law preclude them from speaking to Council.

I wrote the Clerk stating I personally have no objection to them speaking and asked why the rules of Procedure could not be waived to allow a 2/3rds vote of Council to hear.

The Clerk responded citing two sections in the By-law (which relate to timing of less than a year after a Council decision, and the subject matter of the delegations) as ultimately not permitting a waiving of the rules to allow Council to vote on hearing these delegations.

As I believe there should be a way to make an appeal to Council
I wrote back the following:

"The Region of Durham allows suspension of its Procedural By-law as follows:

APPLICATION
2.1 The Rules of Procedure contained in this By-law shall be observed in all proceedings of Council and shall be the rules for the order and dispatch of business in Council, and, where applicable, in a Committee or in the Committee of the Whole.
2.2 Despite Section 2.1 of this By-law, the Rules of Procedure may be suspended by a two-thirds majority vote.

And the City of Oshawa Procedural By-law states under section 3 INTERPRETATION:
Subsection 4 “If there is a conflict between two or more rules established by this By-law, or if there is no specific rule on a matter, the Chair will determine a rule.”

Would this apply since it seems the City of Oshawa’s Procedural By-law has no specific rule on suspending the By-law?"

I asked for the City's solicitors on this question. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds tomorrow.

Why bother some may ask...well, imo public access to speaking to Council is essential to ensuring local government is open and accountable. And yes, my opinion is also shaped by my personal experience. As a private citizen, from 2008 on, the number of times my neighbours and I would go to Council, attempting to protect over 1,200 acres of Oshawa farmland, and sit and wait, only to have our request to speak voted down, was extremely off-putting and made my resolve stronger to see better municipal governance.

That personal experience outweighs my recent experience as a Councillor being spoken to with dripping condescension and insult by one of the two people now making the delegation request. The way I see it, agreeing or disagreeing is human nature, but voicing our opinions is what makes us human, how we learn and key, albeit sometimes with momentous backlash and/or missteps, to humanity's progress.

Free Summer 2019 leisure swim at Rotary Pool, Centre St. S. Oshawa

6/22/2019

The Rotary Park Pool opened today and is offering free leisure swimming all summer long!

Earlier this year, at the March 18, 2109 Council meeting I was happy to move the following motion regarding Rotary Pool that prompted Oshawa Council to take an initiative to raise awareness of the only City owned outdoor pool remaining in Oshawa:
" that during the hours the pool is open to the public for non-instructional programming that there be no admission charge’.” Carried on the following vote Affirmative – Councillors Giberson, Marimpietri, McConkey, Nicholson and Mayor Carter Negative – Councillors Gray, Hurst, Kerr and Marks

I believe if enough Oshawa citizens enjoy free leisure swimming at Rotary Park, 254 Centre St. S. this summer and voice their support of keeping the pool open there is a chance it will be saved. Although the pool, playground and change rooms need major and costly improvements in the near future, this is the time to let us know how strong a desire citizens have to keep it open.

The previous Oshawa Council conducted a Feasibility Study of the Pool. In the report presented to the new Council in January 2019, the use of the pool and costs were reported as: "In 2018, the facility had an average attendance of 70.5 people per day. The 2018 annual operating budget for Rotary Pool and adjacent splash pad (including daily general maintenance, staffing and program expenses) was $105,000/year."

Flexible Traffic Calming Road Signs

6/19/2019

Copied below is my motion requesting that flexible traffic calming road signs be installed in the City of Oshawa. The motion was approved on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 by members of the Community Services Committee to refer to staff for a Report:

"Whereas to reduce speeding, the Municipality of Clarington has installed flexible road mounted signs at 16 locations across Clarington as part of a traffic-calming initiative to help with speeding, parking compliance and maintaining sight-lines;

Whereas the City of Oshawa would benefit with a similar program to improve traffic calming;

Therefore city staff investigate the costs to implement a similar program and this proposal be considered to be added to the 2020 budget."

Diversity & Inclusion Check

6/18/2019

Swimming against the current again...the City of Oshawa published this 14 page 'Inclusive Language Manual - Highlights' (copied below) . It looks pretty and seems quite friendly, but really??? I'm sorry, I question it.

Of course, some of it is fine. Yes, words matter. But imo there is an artificiality at play here. My concern is with the shaping of thought that is not any government's or organization's mandate.

About the cost, well on that topic...at Finance Committee today, I voted against extending the contract of the City's Diversity & Inclusion Officer, who was the author of this 'Manual'. In a staff Report on the Agenda, the Finance Committee was being asked to extend the D&I Officer's one year contract to 4 more years.

This contract extension commits half a million dollars of budget monies to continue the employment of one city staff person for that period. Yet the 2020 budget has not even been drafted, let alone deliberated, and we have not been informed of staffing priorities. It is a pretty sure bet the City will be needing to hire one or more engineers, planners and perhaps others such as firefighters etc. in the 2020 budget.

When spending other people's money, I am very aware we need to be accountable. I asked at the Committee, is spending on this particular position a pressing priority?

The Committee voted in favour of this spending and I alone voted no.

Peony Garden Festival This Weekend 10 am - 4 pm, 155 Arena St. Oshawa

6/15/2019

Experience Oshawa's fabulous peony garden this weekend! It's the City's 15th annual Peony Festival, June 15/16th 10am to 4pm 155 Arena St. A free event with displays of over 300 types of peonies in the gardens and 100's more inside the Children's Arena. Artisans, live music, food, gardening seminars, community displays and more.

Proposed New Flexible Traffic Calming Road Signs

6/15/2019

I am hopeful my request for flexible traffic calming road signs to be installed in the City of Oshawa will be positively endorsed by Community Services Committee members, seeing as the Notice of Motion I made at Council last week (copied below) is coming up for consideration at this Tuesday's Community Services Committee Meeting.

"Whereas to reduce speeding, the Municipality of Clarington has installed flexible road mounted signs at 16 locations across Clarington as part of a traffic-calming initiative to help with speeding, parking compliance and maintaining sight-lines;

Whereas the City of Oshawa would benefit with a similar program to improve traffic calming;

Therefore city staff investigate the costs to implement a similar program and this proposal be reviewed to be added to the 2020 budget,"

Oshawa Power Utilities Corporation AGM

6/14/2019

Attending the OPUC Annual General meeting I learned how many electric vehicles there are in Oshawa. Right now there are 80 EV owners in Oshawa and 40% of the EVs are Chevy Bolts and Volts.

That's just one tidbit from the pile of interesting information shared at the Ontario Power AGM meeting held Thursday, June 13, 2019 in the lovely new the Oshawa Convention Centre.

BEST STAT: Oshawa has THE LOWEST hydro costs in Durham Region thanks to the City owned OPUC, and in fact, according to OPUC President Ivano Labricciosa, Oshawa has one of the lowest hydro rates in the Province!

Oshawa is fortunate to have such a dynamic leader with Mr. Labricciosa, who not only shows his great appreciation for all OPUC employees and pride in the the organization's accomplishments, but also a keen interest in the expanding opportunities for improvement and growth OPUC is tuned in to, especially in the unregulated field enabling data, with lit service and the future of dark fibre.

The OPUC $2.5 million dividend to the City of Oshawa in 2018 was up $200,000 which is 9% over the 2017 $2.3 million.

Debating an Oshawa AirBnB By-law

5/29/2019

June 13th UPDATE: The debate and Council decision on an Oshawa AirBnB By-law has been delayed.

Previously I'd posted that a Report and proposed By-law was expected to come to the June 17, 2019 Corporate Services Committee meeting, but on June 12th staff indicated a change, that this matter was being postponed, as the Report was not yet complete.

Unfortunately it has been an outstanding work item on the Corporate Services Department status list since 2017 and is an issue of concern to a number of people.

In 2018, staff were authorized to initiate a public and industry stakeholder consultation process as detailed in Section 5.5 of Report CORP 18 51

The plan was to develop a Business Licensing class to regulate short-term rentals, taking into account feedback from the consultation process, and report back to the Corporate Services Committee in 2019. It is now expected in the fall.

In these past six months that I've been on Council I've been contacted by a number of people on this issue. I've learned that some are not only angry, but some deeply disturbed, actually afraid to live in their own home when a house on the street becomes an AirBnB party centre, with 60 or more people being dropped off any night, and monster speakers being hauled in to blare music. They've said calling the police just makes it worse as the partiers quiet down only for a short while. Then more Uber cars with partiers arrive and the noise ramps up again.

Below are a couple interesting letters related to an article in the Wall Street Journal on this topic:

"Lax Regulation on Airbnb Is Far From Consequence Free
It has negatively affected many of the beautiful, quiet and family-oriented neighborhoods of my town.
May 28, 2019 3:34 p.m. ET

I agree with your May 21 editorial “Making Room for Airbnb”: The company is making the hotel market more competitive. However, the majority of Airbnbs are being opened in residential neighborhoods never zoned for commercial use. Properties in nice neighborhoods are snatched up by companies who operate Airbnb and vacation rentals and hire property managers. It has negatively affected many of the beautiful, quiet and family-oriented neighborhoods of my town and brings our property values down. Zoning boards see dollars coming into the city and only hear one side of the issue, but residents are left to deal with the disruption.
Gina Stipo
Louisville, Ky.

I disagree that “disrupters” such as Airbnb and Uber should not be regulated. Older platforms in the same industries like hotels and cabs are regulated, and often over-regulated, yet the disrupters have entered the market claiming to be mere tech companies rather traditional service providers. This claim is a naked attempt to avoid regulations and taxes.
The same companies also dodge costs by not owning property or employing workers; they purport that their sole function is to collect money for booking services provided by their electronic platform. To foster true competition, local governments should free cabs and hotels (and other comparable industries) from the costs currently imposed on them by government and let then compete head to head with the disrupters. In the absence of this much-needed liberalization, proper and measured regulation and taxation of disrupters comparable to that suffered by the traditional hospitality and transportation industries is the only fair option.
Lars Kristiansen
Annapolis, Md."