In a move to take the burden of clearing snow in regional roads off the shoulders of Oshawa, a letter has been forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Works Services, requesting his department to do maintenance on regional roads during the winter season.

For many years, Oshawa has shouldered the task of doing clearing work on the many regional roads across the city, this according to a report done by the works committee.

But that might all change before the cold weather ends, as recommendations were made during a works meeting which took place just recently in the area. These recommendations call for the region to do salting and plowing work on regional roads north of and including Bloor Street. The potential agreement also stipulates that the region must load and haul snow and create teams to do spring cleaning like street sweeping and road flushing.

If the deal pushes through, folks from Oshawa can breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief, seeing as they’ve done the hard work of winter maintenance for many years.

Furthermore, the money used on maintenance can now be used for other endeavors like the construction of new facilities, and projects to improve the community, certainly a good thing for Oshawa residents.

In a move to combat the harmful effects of commercials on children, Oshawa City Councilor Colleen Jordan urged provincial and federal governments to put a ban on all types of commercial advertising aimed at kids aged 13-years-old and below.

She notes that commercials showing the latest video games, junk food, and other products enticing to kids are detrimental to their intellectual growth, leading them to be more focused on “junk” items, instead of learning materials like books and the like.

Her motion has sparked debate among other councilors, with many thinking of it as a welcome improvement, while others think it would be a move that touches on parents’ rights.
While Jordan understand that it’s primarily up to the parents to watch over their children’s TV habits, many kids are still being left alone in front of the tube – without any adult supervision whatsoever.

According to her, these kids are at risk of “falling for” these ads that give the wrong impression on healthy living, and good nutrition. For example, a child who regularly sees junk food commercials will most likely beg his or her parents to buy the product, or will find ways to get it themselves.

Debates are still ongoing, but when it comes right down to it, there certainly is a problem with today’s advertising schemes.

The finishing of a regional courthouse in downtown Oshawa signifies yet another step in the right direction for the renewal of the city, said Oshawa’s Mayor John Gray in a ceremony to celebrate the structure’s completion a few days ago. The ceremony was held in the building’s spacious lobby, with the attendance of politicians, City officials, and judges.

With the building’s completion, Mayor Gray hopes that this builds into a trend that brings Oshawa back to its former glory after being affected by the recession.

The new and shiny courthouse is situated along downtown Oshawa’s Bond and Mary streets, replacing the former eight locations that played host to the city’s legal matters. Starting on March 2010, all criminal, civil and family proceedings will take place in the new building’s 33 courtrooms.

Although ready for occupancy and use, the new courthouse will take its time to fully open over the next few months.

The plan of constructing a new and more streamlined courthouse has always been in the region’s political drawing board for years. It was only in 2007 that government officials chose the city of Oshawa as the designated area for the courthouse.

Oshawa looks to be on a good run, and with a good head start for 2010, expect to hear some significant developments from the city.

Some sad news that just happened recently, Hazel Ashby passed away on the 22^nd of November, Sunday, at the age of 80. She was confined at Consulate Health Care in Sarasota, FL, where she fought against a disease in its late stages.

Hazel hailed from Whitby, Ontario, and was born on the 12^th of April, 1929. She was the daughter of Joseph Henry Ashby and Alice May Dingman.

After finishing high school, she moved on to enroll in the Oshawa General Hospital School of Nursing, together with her sister Helen. According to her, she lived in a time where young women grew up to be three things – married, a teacher, or a nurse. Hazel chose to be in the medical field, largely due to her independent nature, and her desire to travel as well as help people she met along the way.

After moving to California to work for local hospitals in the Fresno, San Jose, and San Francisco areas, she met and fell in love with a promising medical student, Arved Ojamaa, who she later married in 1953.

Since then, she has devoted her life to working in hospitals, moving to and from cities like New York and Kansas.

Oshawa locals who remember Hazel will sorely miss this woman who spent much of her time caring for the sick and in need.

Figures from research done by the Royal Bank of Canada show that the combination of bidding wars and higher interest costs have resulted in a significant drop in housing rates – the first time this has happened in five quarters.

According to the bank, home ownership costs have gone up, something that hasn’t happened since September of 2008. Evidence of this hit on the housing market can be proven with the release of the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index, which indicated that housing prices in September rose to about 1.3% from the month before, the fifth straight month that prices have soared.

Marc Pinsonneault, who currently serves as the National Bank Financial Group’s senior economic analyst, notes that the activity is correlated to an improvement in market conditions over 2009 to date, with more homes selling than the ones coming up on the market.

Furthermore, statistics released this month by the Canadian Real Estate Association show that this trend doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. According to the group based in Ottawa, existing home rates rose up by 20.7% last month from October of last year, by far the largest percentage leap in the last 20 years.