Wonderful Wonderful Ward 1! The Door to Door Campaign Experience & Follow-Ups

As the 1st election Advance Poll opens today (noon - 8 p.m @ Civic Rec Centre, 99 Thornton Rd. S.) I'm taking a moment to share some of my campaign experiences these past couple weeks.
 
Ward 1 has many wonderful attributes, along with some areas for improvement.

I'll start with saying how enjoyable it is walking our  Ward 1 neighbourhoods east to west between Ritson and Townline and south to north between Taunton and Conlin. (I will write about the Ward 1 rural community in another post).

Blessings during this time:  ♥ the weather has been wonderful, sun and blue skies, ♥ being warmly met by so many constituents, ♥ seeing their dogs,  ♥ beautiful gardens and a Little Street Library!

Who says Oshawa residents don't like politicians? These past 12 days I've been welcomed inside for tea, coffee (which I've taken rain checks on) ♥ seen a lot of smiles, heard a lot of people in Ward 1 say they are happy with their community and City ♥ been given a couple large garden tomatoes (best tasting ever!) and learned some gardening tips (Zinnias are on my list to plant for 2023!) ♥ observed with great relief that the Region is now beginning the installation of a proper bus stop at the north east corner of Ritson and Conlin (something I wrote to Durham Region Transit about last November after many residents raised this concern) and watched with interest the clearing out of the Wilson Rd. N water retention pond. 

I want to thank those who spoke with me about their concerns, which are also my concerns, the need for:

• Larger Stop Sign and improved road paint line markings at Coldstream Ave and Ormond Drive intersection;
• Larger Stop Sign and adding cross walk lines at Clearsky Ave and Greenleaf Gate
• Stop Sign on Greenhill Ave between Wilson and Harmony, which I had been working on and narrowing down the location as the question was which intersection. Corner residents on Greenhill Ave, at Clearbrook Drive and also at Chilliwack Street were in support, but it now seems strongest confirmed support is at Greenhill Ave and Jack Glenn Street.
• Signage for No Parking between Certain Hours on a section of Greenhill east of Castlepoint west of Harmony Rd.
• 4-way stop at Riverton St and Black Cherry Dr
• 4-way stop at Skyview  St and Blackwood Blvd
• Police enforcement on Grandview St north of Coldstream Ave in the evening around 10 p.m. when vehicles seem to be racing
• More playground equipment at Stonecrest Parkette, where children line up and wait a long time for the swings or slides
• More connective links to the City's walking and cycling trails
• Traffic lights at Ritson Rd and Conlin Rd need timing adjustment and a left turn signal for southbound traffic
• an asphalt path from Kurelo Dr to Mackie Park 
• install flex bollards like on Britannia Rd E to help slow traffic
• Traffic lights at Clearbrook Dr and Taunton Rd (I was happy to answer that they will be installed by the Region of Durham shortly - concurrent with the construction of the new leg of Clearbrook Dr that will go south of Taunton Rd E. In fact the road extension south of Taunton to the new plaza (with Farmboy as the expected commercial tenant) is just commencing and the lights will be installed during this  road work project.  (See this week's Notice from Region of Durham "Lane Restrictions on Taunton Rd. E."  In the Notice, the "Why" states: To construct a new intersection in support of a new development — and that would be Clearbrook and Taunton!)

​Although some concerns that were expressed to me were beyond the reach of Oshawa's local government (such as the high cost of groceries and gas), you may notice that many of the above concerns point to how 'good neighbourhood planning' is key to avoiding certain  issues...hindsight may be 20-20, but time for City planners, developers, their consultants and Oshawa Mayor and Council members to realize the need is now for 

1.    better subdivision and site plan design,
2.    improved quality parks and trails and 
3.   a modernized, more functional road network design with more roundabouts for smoother traffic flow and safety.